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  "Cheers," Ben said as he opened his beer.

  "Cheers," Nicole raised her wine glass in a toast and spilled some of it on her skirt. She ignored the stain, hoping that Ben wouldn't notice it, but he was already absorbed in the sports news. Nicole sighed.

  "Typical man," she thought to herself, sitting back on the couch and beginning to relax a little. The wine was having the desired effect on her nerves and she was starting to feel a bit more at ease.

  "Would you like some more wine?" Ben asked.

  "Yes, please," Nicole passed him her wine glass which he promptly refilled and he helped himself to another beer from the refrigerator.

  "I think your business idea is inspired," he said as he plonked himself back down on the couch beside her. "Thank you," she said primly, drinking her wine quickly.

  "When do you think you'll venture back on the dating scene?" Ben asked her directly.

  She almost choked on her wine."I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."She really hadn't considered moving on with her love life and getting back on the dating scene any time soon. She'd never imagined herself being with anyone except her fiance.

  "Paul's a fool if you ask me," Ben said, eyeing her over the top of his beer can.

  "Do you think so?" Nicole looked at him curiously.

  "Yeah, you're gorgeous," Ben replied, looking at her with his unwavering gaze.

  Nicole felt herself blush.

  "You're even more gorgeous when you blush," he teased.

  "Cigarette?" she asked, shoving the cigarette box in his face.

  "Oh, ok." Ben looked stunned. She almost pushed a cigarette up his nose in her haste to cover her embarrassment at his compliment.

  "We'll have to smoke outside," she said as she bounced up off the couch."Ev hates anyone smoking in the apartment."She ran to the balcony and pulled the doors wide open. Ben followed close behind her. The cold night air hit her face and she winced with the shock of it.

  "It's a beautiful night." Ben stared up at the stars twinkling in the sky above them.

  "Yes. I love cold nights like this when I can see the stars," Nicole shivered slightly.

  "Are you cold?" Ben asked gently as he moved closer to her.He pulled off his sweater and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  "Thanks," she smiled shyly up at him, breathing in his musky scent.

  He smelled of lemon soap and expensive cologne. He held her gaze for a moment and brushed a strand of her hair out of her eyes. He gently touched her face and tipped her chin up. Then he bent to kiss her, all the while stroking her hair. She closed her eyes and felt his soft lips on hers. He kissed her gently; long and slow and pulled her close in his arms.She could feel his heart beating through his shirt. He held her tight, sliding his arms down her body and pushing himself against her. She moaned softly as his kisses became more urgent. She kissed him back.She wanted him and she knew that he wanted her. She closed her eyes and indulged herself in his tantalisingly gentle touch.

  "I want you," he whispered hoarsely. His eyes were dark with lust. She lost herself in his kisses and the heady scent of his cologne. "Let's go inside," he said, taking her hand in his.

  She followed him hesitantly. She began to feel unsure of herself and she couldn't stop thinking about Paul. Every touch and kiss from Ben felt like a betrayal of her ex-fiance."I'll be back in a minute," she said. "I need to use the bathroom." She closed the door softly behind her and locked it. "What's wrong with me?!" she whispered to herself as she washed her hands and brushed her teeth. She splashed cold water on her face. "I can't do this.” The cold water seemed to have woken her up suddenly. "I don't want to sleep with Ben. It's too soon after Paul."

  Paul was the only man she'd kissed or slept with in her life. It didn't feel right to have kissed someone else. Her head was spinning; probably a combination of too much wine and too much flirting."How am I going to get out of this?" she asked her reflection in the mirror.She stayed locked in the bathroom for as long as she could.

  "Is everything ok?" Ben asked when she finally re-emerged from her hiding place. "I was about to come looking for you. I thought you might have fallen down the toilet."He laughed at his own joke.

  "I'm fine." Nicole managed to force a weak smile. "I'm going to bed, Ben."

  He almost leapt off the couch.

  "I'm sorry, Ben, that wasn't an invitation. I don't want to get involved with anyone right now. My head's a mess after my breakup with Paul. I'm sorry."

  He looked disappointed."There's no need to apologise," he said quickly. "I understand. I know you've been through a lot recently and you're right not to rush yourself."

  She walked him to the front door and reached up to kiss him on the cheek."You're a gentleman," she smiled.

  "Don't tell anyone," he winked at her as he walked towards the elevator.

  "It'll be our little secret," she laughed as she closed the door softly behind him.

  Chapter 9

  "Where do we begin?" Evette surveyed the huge pile of letters that were stacked high on her living room table.

  They'd been inundated with applications for their wedding planning service, Elite Weddings, since they'd placed an advertisement in the national newspaper the previous week.

  "My inbox is overflowing with emails too," Nicole groaned.

  They'd spent most of the month building their website with Jack and Ben had been very supportive with their marketing campaign. Elite Weddings already had several thousand "likes" on their Facebook page and there were almost three thousand people following them on Twitter.

  "I can't believe how quickly it's taken off!" Evette exclaimed.

  "I'm absolutely thrilled," Nicole smiled at her sister. "We'll soon have to hire staff to help us with our work-load if we keep going at this rate."

  "It's very exciting!" Evette's face was alive with enthusiasm for their new project.

  "Where do we begin?" Nicole reiterated her sister's question.

  "You can stick the kettle on, make tea and start opening some letters and I'll pop across the road to the bakery and treat us to some yummy cream cakes," Evette said, as she grabbed her coat and keys.

  "Good idea. There's nothing like a cup of tea and a cake to start any business meeting."

  "How are you getting on with the applications?" Evette asked, half an hour later, as she handed a gooey cake to her sister.

  "I'm loving it," Nicole could hardly tear herself away from reading the latest application. "It's fascinating to read these letters. This one is from Deanna Ferguson and her fiance David Yates. She's an aspiring artist and teaches art to autistic children and he's a paediatric nurse."

  Nicole showed her sister their photo. Deanna was an attractive woman, aged thirty two with long, light brown hair. Her hazel eyes were framed with heavy black eyeliner and lashings of black mascara.David had black, floppy hair and honest brown eyes. The couple had their arms wrapped around each other and were beaming at the camera.

  "They look very happy together," Evette agreed. "They've certainly written a lot about themselves." Evette waved the bundle of papers with Deanna's neat handwriting under her sister's nose.

  "Great!" Nicole said. "The more details we have on our clients, the better our insight into their requirements. Tell me more about them."

  "Well, she says she loves art. She enjoys the outdoors; horse-riding, skiing and canoeing. She likes running and has recently participated in a triathlon!"

  "She's making me feel guilty," Nicole said, swallowing the last of her cake. "What does she say about love?"

  "She and David have been dating for two years. They got engaged last month and they have a three year old daughter. She writes that she'd like a Disney themed wedding, as her daughter is in love with Cinderella and she wants them both to be dressed like princesses."

  "Does she have an email address?" Nicole asked.

  "Yes, she included her email and telephone number."

  Nicole opened a spreadsheet and began to type.

  "What
are you doing?" Evette asked curiously.

  "I'm setting up a database of our clients. We'll need to arrange interviews and then we'll cross-reference against our notes and hopefully we'll soon be able to start making some dreams come true. Who's next?"

  Evette ripped open another letter and began to read. "Our next application is from William Kennedy."

  Nicole typed William's name onto her spreadsheet.

  "Oh my goodness," Evette exclaimed. "He's sweet! Listen to what he wrote."Evette cleared her throat. "I believe that there is someone for everyone and like the swans I've been lucky enough to find my mate for life."

  "It's corny," Nicole cringed. "I thought I'd found my soulmate in Paul, and look how that ended."

  "I think it's cute," Evette protested. "There still is a lot of love in the world. Have you heard from Paul recently?"

  "I changed my phone number. He kept calling and texting me, begging me for forgiveness. I even had to change my email address. He says he wants one more chance to prove how much he loves me."

  "Hmmm, are you thinking about trying again with him?"Evette anxiously searched her sister's face for an answer but Nicole looked at her blankly.

  "I feel numb about the whole situation. I thought I'd still be in agonising pain. I think about him every day and I miss him lots. Everyone tells me that it'll get easier in time, but it's not getting any easier for me. It's not getting harder, so I suppose that's a blessing. I guess it will fade eventually."

  "Well, maybe you should talk to him," Evette suggested.

  "Maybe I will talk to him, but not now or any time soon. I need to get my head together and find out how to live my life my way, without him. I didn't realise how much I depended on him and that wasn't healthy. It was as if my main focus in life was how I could make him happy.I was constantly striving to be the perfect girlfriend for him and I can see now that I forgot about me along the way. All I ever thought about was Paul. What does Paul want to do? What does Paul think? Rarely, if ever, did I think seriously about what I wanted or needed. Anyway, never mind me. Please continue reading," Nicole instructed, getting ready to type again. "Planning other people's weddings is helping to keep my mind occupied and stops me thinking about Paul."

  "Ok. William says that he hasn't asked his girlfriend to marry him yet because he wants to whisk her away when all the plans have been made. He wants to surprise her. How cute is he?" Evette couldn't stop smiling at the letter.

  "Steady on, sis," Nicole laughed.

  "He writes that his friends describe him as being charming, witty and somewhat geeky. He writes that this is his first and only time being in love and he hopes it's forever. How's that even possible?"Evette looked at her sister in amazement. "He's thirty years old and he's never been in love before. Wow."Evette was finding it difficult to comprehend what she'd just read.

  "It's not that hard to believe," Nicole said, pausing in her typing. "I'm twenty eight and Paul is the only man that I've ever loved. I admire William's honesty. Anyway, we're not here to judge people. We're trying to make their dreams come true."

  "I suppose you're right," Evette grinned. "William says that he's based in the USA at the moment and won't be able to be here in person to help with the wedding plans! How's that going to work?"

  "Hmm, it might be difficult." Nicole looked puzzled. "Remember, sis, there are no problems, only solutions."

  Evette made pretend gagging noises. "I think you've been over-indulging on the self-help books again Nicole."

  "Maybe a little," Nicole laughed.

  "Seriously, how will we plan his wedding if he isn't even going to be here to look at the venues for the reception and the ceremony?"

  "Perhaps he already has an idea for the venues."

  "Would you honestly trust your fiance to choose your wedding dress?" Evette asked incredulously.

  "He might have good taste. I know that I'd have trusted Paul to choose my dress. He has excellent taste and always knew exactly what suited me."

  "Well, most of the men that I know wouldn't even have a clue where to begin," Evette disagreed.

  "I suppose that's why William has been clever enough to hire the two of us. We can email him with links to everything anyway. I'm sure we'll work it out perfectly."

  "I like your optimism, sis. Lucinda Tyler is next. She's a funny one," Evette laughed. "She says her name's Lucinda but everyone calls her Cindy. Whatever happened to plain old Lucy?"

  "Carry on," Nicole said, suppressing a smile.

  "She writes that she believes in reincarnation and has many memories of her own past lives! She's done a lot of travelling and in the past five years she's lived in France, Scotland, Denmark and Australia."

  "Lucky her," Nicole said enviously.

  "She's fluent in French and Danish and writes that she once dated a celebrity actor, but she's not at liberty to tell us his name!"

  "How very mysterious of her," Nicole chuckled.

  "Her favourite song is "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John, because it reminds her of her mother, who died when she fifteen. She loves most animals, except cats. She says they give her the creeps! She likes to play the violin and sometimes gigs in pubs and at weddings. She met her fiance at her friend's wedding. He's a carpenter and very good with his hands."

  "Too much information," Nicole cringed.

  Evette laughed at her sister's reaction."She says she's in between jobs at the moment but all she's ever wanted is to be a full-time mother and homemaker."

  "Aww, she's an old-fashioned romantic at heart," Nicole sighed, as she added Lucinda's name to her quickly growing list.

  Chapter 10

  "There they are, our first clients," Evette whispered nervously as she and Nicole walked towards Kian Corr and Amanda Egan.

  They'd arranged to meet the couple in the bar of The Cedars Hotel, one of Cork's most exclusive hotels. Nicole recognised them immediately from the many photos that Amanda had sent her, mostly of herself. She and Evette had also become "friends" on Facebook and Twitter. Evette had spent many hours trawling through Amanda's hundreds of Facebook photo albums and they were constantly tweeting each other on Twitter. It already felt like they were the best of friends, well, online best friends. It remained to be seen how they would get along in reality.

  "Deep breaths. Head up, shoulders back. "Nicole repeated her mantra to her sister as she strode confidently ahead. Evette scuttled behind her, trying her best to cover her nerves with a stiff smile.

  "Evette, Nicole, my darlings! We meet at last!" Amanda jumped to her feet as soon as she saw the sister's approaching. She smiled widely at them, displaying a perfectly even row of dazzling white teeth. She grabbed their hands and kissed both their cheeks in greeting, leaving a bright red lipstick mark on their faces. Evette narrowly avoided kissing her on the lips. She was quite taken aback by the other woman's overly-enthusiastic and rather unexpected greeting. Amanda was treating them as if they were her long lost best friends.

  "It's nice to meet you both," Nicole replied primly. She tried her best to regain her composure after Amanda's assault.

  "It's great to put a face or faces to the emails," Amanda said in her loud, obnoxious voice.

  It was all Nicole could do to restrain herself from asking her to tone it down a notch. She could tell already that Amanda would be a force to be reckoned with. She seemed like a very opinionated woman, who more than knew her own mind. She was fairly attractive with a trim figure, despite having had her sixth child less than two years previously. She'd posted lots of "before" and "after" photographs on her Facebook page, detailing her strenuous diet and weight loss regime. Evette had already signed up to a six week Pilates class when she'd seen Amanda's toned results.

  Nicole held out her hand in greeting to Kian, who was standing quietly beside his fiancee. Amanda hadn't bothered to introduce him. He looked a little uncomfortable. Kian was a farmer who had recently inherited the family farm from his father. He was a quiet, unassuming sort of man, who acted as if his suit wa
s wearing him, rather than him wearing the suit. It seemed that he would rather have been anywhere else other than in such a flashy hotel bar.

  "Champagne, ladies." It was a statement, more than a question, as Amanda was already filling two champagne flutes for Nicole and Amanda.

  "Cheers!" They clinked glasses loudly.

  It was obvious to the sisters that Amanda had had a glass or three of bubbly before they'd arrived. They sat awkwardly on their bar stools, sipping their Champagne and making polite small talk. Evette was secretly glad of the alcohol as her nerves were slowly beginning to abate.

  "What made you decide to become wedding planners?" Amanda asked curiously.

  Evette almost choked on her Champagne.

  "It's something that I've wanted to do for a while," Nicole replied easily. "I like the idea of making people's dreams come true."

  "You're very sweet," Amanda smiled.

  "I suppose choosing a wedding planner is as personal as choosing a marital bed. "She laughed loudly at her own joke, while her fiance squirmed uncomfortably beside her.

  "Yes, indeed it is," Nicole agreed. "If you choose well your wedding planner will become your best friend, cheerleader, stylist, confidante and shrink."

  "What happens if I've made the wrong choice?" Amanda asked.

  "You won't have to worry about that," Nicole sounded very convincing. "For the next few months, Evette and I will be on hand to help you deal with any problems. We'll help you to perfect your theme and deal with the most difficult of suppliers. We will take a lot of the wedding pressure and stress off you so that you can get on with your daily life."

  "It sounds like a match made in heaven," Amanda sighed happily. "I certainly never have enough hours in the day. It's not easy juggling six children, a grandchild, a fiance and a wedding!"

  "That's where we come in," Nicole said easily. "Wedding planning has a nasty habit of snowballing and taking over lunchtimes, evening and Saturdays. You may not have the time to deal with all the phone calls from suppliers and pound the pavement to find your dream styles, which is where your wedding planner comes in. We will handle the stress for you and we will help you to achieve your vision. Once we have a clear view of what you like and of course what you don't like, we'll be able to tackle the suppliers for you. This means that you will only have to attend the vital appointments, where the important decisions can be made. This leaves you free to focus your time where it is needed the most."