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me a chance to show you, to prove it to you.”
    He smoothed her hair back from her brow and gently held her face between his hands. “I’m absolutely sure I would be happy with you. But my life is a quiet one, and I would never want to make you miserable for a moment. To see all that light go out in your eyes would kill me.”
    â€œI only want you and a life together,” she said. “I don’t want silly parties! I don’t want crowds. Only you, David.”
    He kissed her again, a wild, openmouthed kiss full of happiness and joy, a dream kiss. Lulu held on to him and kissed him back with everything she held in her heart, everything she hoped for. It was a kiss to end all kisses.
    Suddenly she heard an explosion, and for an instant she thought it was her heart, bursting with too much happiness. But then there was another bang, and another. She opened her eyes and turned to see fireworks bursting in the sky outside the window.
    It seemed like the perfect sign. Everything was different now; everything was going to be full of light from now on.
    â€œLook!” she cried. She climbed out of the bed, wrapping the sheet around her like a toga as she hurried to the window.
    She could see the shadows of the party-goers, clustered at the edge of the lake as fireworks shot high above the water. Plumes and comets of sparkling red and white arced across the black sky like beacons of victory, and Lulu clapped her hands in delight.
    She heard David follow her from the bed, and his arms slid around her to pull her back against him. She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, and everything in that moment seemed perfect and right.
    â€œIsn’t it beautiful?” she sighed.
    â€œAbsolutely beautiful,” he answered.
    And Lulu knew that from that moment on, no matter what happened, they would be together. That was surely the most beautiful thing of all.

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Amanda McCabe wrote her first romance novel at the age of sixteen in Algebra class, an epic starring all her friends as characters! That story will never be published (and she nearly failed Algebra), but now she’s the RITA-nominated, award-winning author of many other books and novellas. She lives in Oklahoma with two cats, a Pug, and a bossy miniature Poodle, and loves dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network—even though she doesn’t cook. Visit her at www.ammandamccabe.com for Behind the Book information, contests, and upcoming releases, and at riskyregencies.blogspot.com.

ISBN: 978-1-4592-0010-4
    Girl in the Beaded Mask
    Copyright © 2011 by Ammanda McCabe
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