Wedding-dress designer Chloe Allen had it all!She had her first celebrity client, a debut New York fashion show, even a happy engagement…her third, but who was counting? Then a catwalk catfight revealed her fianc?’s cheating ways and the media had a field day. To be painted as unlucky in love was a curse in her profession.As brides-to-be rioted to return their Chloe originals, Fianc? No. 2 rode to her rescue. Financier James Elliott IV couldn’t let her – or his secret investment in her business – suffer. They would play up a reunion romance for the cameras and get Chloe back on track. He had it all sewn up – but would their tabloid ruse turn into the real deal?
The Bride Blog: news of all things bridal.
Wedding-dress designer Chloe’s shocking video confession: she never really believed in love. After three failed engagements, did wedding-dress designer Chloe Allen put a secret curse on all her gowns, so that no one else would get a happily-ever-after, either?
The question on the minds of brides-to-be everywhere: how could anyone marry in a Chloe gown and ever think their love will last?
Word is that brides are storming Chloe’s showroom in Brooklyn, demanding to return their dresses and to get their money back, much like the old-fashioned run on a failing bank.
How long can the House of Chloe hold out?
Time will tell, dear brides.
Time will tell.
Dear Reader,
Some time ago, I became obsessed over the sheer number of wedding dresses for sale on Craigslist. (I’m a writer. We do odd things like that.) Were people just not staying married anymore? And dumping their poor dresses, too? Or were they never making it down the aisle? Had they maybe found other dresses they liked better, after already buying one?
Were they young married couples, broke and really needing money? Was there no sentiment left about the wedding dress? And then I started to think … what if you were the designer of those dresses, and suddenly, all of these women started returning your beautiful gowns? It might look like the problem wasn’t the women, but the wedding dresses …
Which is when I discovered Chloe, a wedding-dress designer who fears she’s cursed in love. Which is a real problem, because nobody wants to buy a wedding dress from a designer who’s cursed in love.
Teresa Hill
About the Author
TERESA HILL tells people if they want to be writers, to find a spouse who’s patient, understanding and interested in being a patron of the arts. Lucky for her, she found a man just like that, who’s been with her through all the ups and downs of being a writer. Along with their son and daughter, they live in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, with two beautiful, spoiled dogs and two gigantic, lazy cats.
His Bride
By Design
Teresa Hill
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Chapter One
Dreams did come true.
People had always told Chloe Allen that, but she hadn’t quite believed it until the lights in the tent went down, the music rose and she had the world of New York fashion at her feet. If they loved her designs, Chloe would get absolutely everything she ever wanted.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” she whispered to her cousin and first assistant, Robbie, who’d been hovering by her side the whole morning. Her business manager and accountant, Addie, who she claimed as a sister, was in the back somewhere, as was Robbie’s twin, Connie, her second assistant. This was truly a family business.
“You can throw up later,” Robbie said. “Right now, you have to do one last check of the models and start the show, before something happens.”
“What do you mean, something happens? Something bad?”
Because Chloe felt it. Even standing in the dark, surrounded by the models in all her beautiful dresses ready to walk that runway, she felt like something bad was coming.
Robbie gave her a little shove to the spot by the entrance to the runway, thrusting her into the spotlight, and from there it was all a blur until it was time to send the last dress down the runway. Eloise, the snottiest model of all, stood before Chloe, pouting that usual model pout, except it always seemed extra-pouty when aimed at Chloe. She took off, doing that odd, abrupt model strut, the dress in ecru-colored silk charmeuse swishing and swaying beautifully as she walked down the runway.
The crowd was on its feet, cheering madly.
Chloe started to cry, couldn’t help it.
She’d done it!
The models lined up and took one more turn around the runway, all together. Chloe fell into step behind Eloise and her pretend groom, who as Chloe understood it was actually Eloise’s boyfriend of the moment.
They got to the spot where Chloe’s fianc'e, Bryce, a fashion photographer, stood covering the show, and their friends in the audience started calling for Bryce to join Chloe on the runway. He jumped up there, lean and fashionable in black jeans and a plain black T-shirt, smiling that dazzling Bryce smile, giving Chloe a kiss on the cheek. They stood at the end of the runway with Eloise and her model groom/boyfriend, cameras flashing from all directions.