Long Time Coming
Rochelle Alers
The Whitfield Brides series
You’ve met Ryan, Jeremy and Sheldon—the Blackstones of Virginia—and now it’s time to meet the Whitfields of New York. In this Arabesque trilogy, you will meet Signature Bridals’ wedding divas: Tessa, Faith and Simone Whitfield. These three women are so focused on their demanding careers that they’ve sacrificed their personal happiness. Within a year, though, each will encounter a very special man who will not only change them but change their lives forever.
In Long Time Coming, wedding planner Tessa Whitfield never imagined that opening the doors of Signature Bridals to Micah Sanborn would lead to their spending the next twelve hours together after a power outage hits her Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood. Her vow never to mix business with pleasure is shattered when the Brooklyn assistant district attorney offers Tessa an extraordinary friendship with a few special surprises that make her reevaluate everything she’s come to believe about love.
Wedding cake designer Faith Whitfield, who owns the fashionable Greenwich Village patisserie Let Them Eat Cake, has all but given up on finding her prince, and refuses to kiss another frog. But when she least expects it she discovers love in the passionate embrace of pilot to the rich and famous, and modern-day knight-in-shining-armor Ethan McMillan in The Sweetest Temptation.
After a disappointing marriage and an ill-fated reconciliation with her high school sweetheart, floral designer Simone Whitfield wants nothing to do with men. She’s content to run her business, Wildflowers and Other Treasures, in the greenhouses on her White Plains, New York, property. In Taken by Storm, Simone witnesses an attack on a federal judge and suddenly finds her cloistered suburban life turned upside down when U.S. Marshal Raphael Madison from the witness protection unit is assigned to protect her 24/7. Although they are complete opposites, Simone and Raphael come to share a heated desire and a love that promises forever.
Yours in romance,
Rochelle Alers
Dedicated to Lieutenant Robert Gonzalez—
a special thanks to one of the NYPD’s
best and brightest.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
—Ephesians 5:31
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 1
Tessa Whitfield unlocked the front door to the Brooklyn Heights brownstone where she lived, had set up Signature Event Planners Inc. and Signature Bridals—where she’d established a reputation as the consummate wedding consultant.
It was mid-October and, to her relief, the wedding season was winding down. Four months ago she’d coordinated the wedding of the season for sports hero Ashton Cooper and bestselling African-American novelist Jadya Fyles. The elegant ceremony was held in the Grand Hall of the New York Public Library, where the high-profile couple had met three years earlier.
Tessa had arranged for a reception for a thousand in Bryant Park under gauzy multicolored tents that turned the half-acre park in the middle of Manhattan into a wonderland. Media coverage included People magazine, which reported the wedding was “Exquisite! Lavish! Joyous!” The New York Times society section gave it a full page, and it was reported that Oprah had called for an interview for her magazine O.
The spectacular wedding had catapulted Signature Bridals to Manhattan’s elite A-list of wedding planners, and Tessa’s phone rang constantly for her services with requests from hip-hop stars, high society and the Euro elite.
Closing the self-locking door, she walked through the foyer, down a hallway and into a gourmet kitchen. She set her canvas bag filled with fresh fruit and vegetables on a stool at the cooking island, then made her way into her office to check her telephone. A blinking light indicated a message. Tessa pressed a button on the console.
“This is Bridget Sanborn. I was scheduled to meet with you tonight at six-thirty, but I can’t make it. I told you that I was on jury duty, and now I’ve been sequestered. I know this is the third time you’ve rearranged your schedule to accommodate me, but I’ve come up with an idea where you won’t have to cancel tonight’s meeting. I’ve asked my brother Micah to keep the appointment for me. I hope to meet you soon, and thank you again for your infinite patience.”
“You’re welcome, Bridget,” she whispered, then blew out a breath at the same time she shook her head.
Tessa had only agreed to accept Bridget Sanborn as a client because the frenetic spring and summer wedding season was over. She hadn’t met the children’s book editor but knew instinctively she had her work cut out for her. Bridget had gotten engaged over the Labor Day weekend and planned to have a formal New Year’s Eve wedding at her parents’ Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, home. Most brides planned their wedding a year in advance, but Tessa had less than three months to coordinate the Sanborn-Cohen nuptials.
An antique clock on the fireplace mantel chimed the half hour. It was five-thirty. She had an hour before Micah Sanborn’s arrival. Unlike his sister, she hoped he’d keep the appointment.
Tessa thought about preparing and eating a hastily prepared dinner but changed her mind. She would wait until after she met with the prospective bride’s brother, then sit down at the table in her dining room instead of the one in the kitchen’s breakfast nook and eat without having to watch the clock for her next client.
Returning to the kitchen, she removed a New York steak from the freezer. It was too large for one portion, so she decided to save half for another meal. Forty-five minutes later, the marinated steak and bowls of mixed baby greens and wedges of yellow pear tomatoes and sliced potatoes in cold water sat on a shelf in the refrigerator.
Micah Sanborn mounted the steps to the brownstone in the tony Brooklyn neighborhood. He glanced at the shiny brass plate affixed to the wall of the three-story structure, engraved with Signature Bridals. Admiring the solid oak door with stained-glass insets, he rang the bell and waited as the seconds ticked off.
“Who is it?” a woman’s voice came through the small speaker over the mail slot.
“It’s Micah Sanborn.”
Seconds later, a soft buzzing disengaged the lock. Micah pushed opened the door and stepped into a foyer. Pale oak floors reflected the warm glow from wall sconces and an Art Deco-inspired ceiling fixture. A winding staircase with a mahogany banister led to the upper floors. Turning to his left, his gaze lingered on an exquisite bouquet of fresh flowers in an orange-glazed clay vase on a side table. The vibrant hues of pink,