LITMIR.BIZ

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Laurel pointed out.

      “—But you’ve never met his other close friend.”

      “Rakin Abdellah?” Laurel had heard plenty about the grandson of a Middle-Eastern prince with whom Eli had become close friends at Harvard. “Such a pity he didn’t make it to the wedding.”

      “He’s here!” Kara put her glass down beside Laurel’s, then slid onto the stool in front of the dresser. She picked up a wide-toothed comb. “Eli introduced us when he came up to congratulate us after the ceremony.”

      Laurel hesitated in the act of taking the comb from her sister. Was it possible….?

      “Where was I?”

      “It must’ve been when Flynn swatted the flower girls with the ring cushion and you went after him before he caused more chaos.”

      Waving the comb in the air, Laurel spread her hands. “How typical! I always miss the man. Every time Eli caught up with him when Rakin visited on business, I had something else going on. Maybe we’re just never destined to meet.” But she couldn’t stop wondering whether the tall, lean man responsible for that shock of awareness during the ceremony could possibly be Eli’s best friend.

      “What was he wearing?” she asked Kara urgently.

      “Who?”

      “Rakin!” Laurel shook her head at her sister. “The man you were telling me about.”

      “I don’t know—the only man whose clothes I’m focused on today is Eli.”

      Laurel laughed at her sister’s goofy expression. Dismissing the hunk, she started to smooth Kara’s hair where the veil had been fastened earlier. “Speaking of Eli, you’d better re-apply your lipstick,” she told her sister.

      Kara slanted her a wicked look via the mirror. “What’s the point? It will only get kissed off again.” Then her gaze narrowed. “Laurel, you’re wearing red lipstick!”

      Laurel shot her younger sister an indulgent look. “If you’ve only just noticed it can’t be such a big deal.”

      “You’ve decided to go ahead with your plan to stop playing it safe!” Kara had stilled. “I know you told me you were going to spread your wings and work on being a bit more uninhibited, but I hadn’t seen any more signs of it since I warned you to take care—and not to go too crazy.”

      “Can you see me, Miss Responsibility, going crazy?” asked Laurel with a light laugh.

      “Okay, I shouldn’t have told you to be careful—I’ve been wishing I never said anything. You should have some fun. What about getting Eli to introduce you to Rakin?”

      “Don’t you dare!” To stop her too observant sister from interfering, Laurel said, “Did you notice how protective Cutter’s been of Mom today?”

      “I think everyone did. He didn’t leave her side.”

      “I think Cutter will be good for her—he seems to genuinely love her.” Laurel patted the final wayward strands in place and stood back to admire Kara’s hair. To make sure it held, she added the lightest spritz of hair spray. “And he risked a storm of scandal by coming forward to tell the police that Mom had spent the night of Dad’s murder with him. That’s what got her out on bail.”

      “I offered to plan a small wedding for Mom—elegant and discreet. But Mom was dead against it. She doesn’t think they can get married until a decent time of mourning Dad has passed—”

      “That’s ridiculous.” Just the idea that her mother was letting what people thought rule her life caused Laurel to see red. “Mom must do what makes her happy.”

      “I agree Mom deserves a little happiness after discovering the sordid details of Dad’s secret life, and if marrying Cutter gives her that, I’ll be his biggest fan.” Kara swiveled around on the stool and examined Laurel. “And I didn’t notice your lip color because I was too busy getting married.” She clearly wasn’t about to let Laurel off the hook. “But now I’ve noticed. I’m interested—I want to know what you’re planning to do next.”

      Laurel could feel herself coloring. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to do next herself. Confessing to the existence of the List, and worse, to imagining living out some mind-boggling fantasies—even to her sister—was way too much to bear.

      “It’s hardly world changing,” she said off-handedly, thinking about her frivolous desire to eat ice cream in bed.

      But that still left more….

      Item No. 5, Gamble all night.

      Item No. 6, Travel to exotic lands.

      Okay, maybe they were a little world changing….

      Tilting her head to one side, Kara said, “Hmm, you’ve never worn red lipstick—you always say it’s too obvious—so that’s already a pretty big change.”

      Red lips clashed with her auburn hair. It was trashy. And trashy was a sin. Leaning past Kara to avoid her sister’s gaze, Laurel pretended to inspect her lips in the dresser mirror. There were no smudges—nor likely to be, unless she found someone to kiss.

      Which brought her back to How to Get a Life.

      Item No. 3 on the list was Flirt with a stranger. Her cheeks grew hot. Unlike most Southern women Laurel was a rookie in the art of flirting. Since entering her teens, she’d only had to look at a male to have him cross the room to meet her. Sometimes she’d hated the kind of attention her features brought. To deal with it, she’d cultivated a polite manner with no hint of flirtatiousness. The facade had served her equally well in her dealings as public relations director of the Kincaid Group. So why on earth was she adding an item like Flirt with a stranger?

      Maybe she should’ve made that Kiss a stranger. The renegade thought startled her.

      “You’re blushing. Is it a man? Is that the reason for the red lips?” Kara’s voice broke into Laurel’s musings. “Is that the reason you won’t let me ask Eli to introduce you to Rakin?”

      “No man,” Laurel denied, wishing that her complexion didn’t color quite so dramatically. “The red lips are for me alone.”

      For one mad moment she was tempted to tell Kara all about the List. Then she cringed and the impulse passed.

      Telling Kara would be insane. And Kara would start fretting again about Laurel exposing herself to danger—and the last thing Laurel wanted was to cause her sister to worry on her wedding day.

      She drained the last of the champagne, then set her glass back down on the dresser. She caught another glimpse of her lips in the mirror above the dresser.

      What would it be like to kiss the gorgeous dark-haired man from the church?

      The shocking visual of crushed red lips sent a frisson of heat coursing through her.

      Laurel came to her senses. What if he turned out to be Eli’s friend? How trashy would that be? She’d always been the good eldest sister … the one to do as she was told. To study hard for excellent grades. To obey her curfew. She’d always set an example for her sisters to follow. No mini skirts. No ear studs and torn jeans. No shameless behavior with boys. No wild flings.

      No trashy makeup …

      She turned away from the mirror, intending to say something light and funny to her sister.

      Only to find Kara had risen to her feet and was still watching her.

      “I have to admit red suits you, Laurel. Makes you look like a movie star. Glamorous. Sexy. You always wear beiges and creams. I take back all my cautions, you should break out more often.”

      Laurel’s heart lightened as she followed her sister to the door. “Careful! I might take that as permission to do something reckless.”

      Kara

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