Love Redone Read Free Page B

made of stone.  In other words, his adult life.
     
     
    * * *
    Her favorite time of day, dawn chasing the overnight sky away, was creeping up the horizon as Shannon plunked a mug of steeping tea down onto the hand-hewn, rustic outdoor table in the middle of her bougainvillea-covered terrace.
    She liked the quiet solitude that greeted each new day when she left the comfort of her bed and started her daily routines.
    This was her time —thirty minutes of early-morning yoga and undisturbed contemplation followed by several steaming cups of her favorite black-tea blend as she simply enjoyed the views, scents, and sounds of a newly awakened day.
    Sometimes, especially after a restless night like the one she’d just emerged from, she really needed this peaceful interlude before her busy daily life exploded. It seemed now that she was enjoying a bit of success and notoriety, she had even less time to spend appreciating being in the moment , so every opportunity she found to devote some time to centering became a high priority on her agenda.
    Rounding up on twenty-nine years old, Shannon Reynolds found herself running a highly successful event -planning company in laid-back Southern California.  Her accomplishment four years earlier as a young and innovative party planner who had stopped Hollywood in its own dramatic steps with an over-the-top, no-holds-barred movie premiere for the latest family blockbuster had shot her onto the celebrity event scene like a cannonball.
    Her passion for the cleverly written series of books that featured half-human teen-age elves and fairies battling an ancient curse being passed through the ages of humankind, had given her a unique vision for the premiere. Even the most hardened and jaded from the entertainment industry had been blown away and this single achievement had made her a “must have” for every and any A-List affair, be it business or pleasure, from that day forward. 
    To put it simply , her business, Belle Events, was the best of the best due entirely to her magical vision and the almost empathic way she understood and interpreted the wishes and desires of her handpicked clients.  She could make a fabulous event happen with only a set of markers and a ball of twine if she had to. 
    Not every occasion she created came with the eye -boggling type of budgets something like a Hollywood Studio or a major political party could muster, and she was proud that the clients she chose were based on what she could give rather than what the business would make.
    Her calendar was full for the next month with one party or top -drawer event after another. She liked being booked solid and enjoyed the ever-changing projects she’d taken on, but something had been shifting recently.  Something deep inside her, hidden away in a corner of her being that never saw the light of day, was suddenly restless and throbbing to life. Something that she knew better than to take out and examine, for some things are best left sleeping.
    Still, no amount of denial or clever redirection of her emotions seemed to be working lately.  Restless, sleepless nights had been agitating her sense of calm, making her feel uncharacteristically moody and tense for months.
    Looking around her lovely hideaway terrace, Shannon breathed a troubling sigh, for she didn’t like where this reverie was headed.  Being busy and successful was her duck and cover for a personal life that was empty and isolated. No manner of achievement was going to alter her preference for a solitary existence.
    Oh, she’d had tons of friends when she was younger.  Had spent her youth and early university days excitedly exploring new places with new people and generally embracing everything life had to offer.
    At least that was until fate had slapped her up hard and she’d been forced to learn a cruel lesson about men and their unerring penchant for seduction and deceit as long as it got them what they ultimately wanted—a warm body in their bed to