She’d had a restless night’s sleep. Dreams of the non-wedding had swirled around her mind in disjointed tangles. One minute she’d been getting ready, Brendon fluffing up her dress and Georgie slipping on the garter, Olivia smiling at her as she walked down the stairs at the hotel. Then she’d been outside the church, her precious heels sinking in the gravel, the gravestones all around her looming large and ominous, much bigger than they really were, more like cliffs trapping her in. Suddenly she’d been at the end of the aisle, her father slipping backwards, getting smaller, her mother and Olivia shrinking too so that she’d been all alone with Dylan. The emotions of the moment had raced through the dream, tightening her throat, squeezing her chest. The vicar’s voice had boomed. Dylan had gripped her arms. In a flash she’d been running, racing, charging down the aisle towards the outside, to the fresh air so she could breathe. But as she’d held her dress high, gripping the taffeta, she’d stumbled, one heel caught in the ground, fastening, sticking to something she couldn’t see in her dream. It had held her there, solid. She’d yanked and pulled, had put all her effort into releasing her foot but it had been no good. She’d been trapped. Trapped forever in the church with everyone looking at her and Dylan walking to get her, pick her up and make her his.

She’d woken hot, sweaty and breathless with her pulse loud in her ears. It had taken a few moments to realise it had all been a dream and not true. She hadn’t fallen in the aisle, sure she had stumbled and lost a shoe, but she’d made it out into the open. She’d found freedom and claimed it. The bruise on her twisted ankle had lasted for several days, but at least some weird Devil hands hadn’t reached from the red carpet on the church aisle and held her fast.

Thank goodness.

A pile of mail sat on her mat. Hopefully she’d have some orders, the more the better. Now was the time—as Georgie and Brendon had said—to throw herself into work, and luckily there was plenty to be getting on with.