Once More With Feeling Read Online Free Page A

me.” Her eyes were back on his, and she smiled. “Absolutely nothing. Brandon is the past. Who knows better than I that you can’t run away from the past, and who knows better how to cope with it?” She squeezed his hand. “Come on, show me the costumes that are going to make me look sensational.”
    After a quick, final glance at her face, Wayne walked over to a gleaming Chippendale table and pushed the button on an intercom. “Bring in Ms. Williams’s designs.”
    Raven had approved the sketches, of course, and the fabrics, but still the completed designs took her by surprise. They had been created for the spotlights. She knew she’d sparkle on stage. It felt odd wearing bloodred and silver sequins in Wayne’s brightly lit, elegant room with mirrors tossing her image back at her from all angles. But then, she remembered, it was an odd business.
    Raven stared at the woman in the mirrors and listened with half an ear to Wayne’s mumbling as he tucked and adjusted. Her mind could not help but wander. Six years before, she’d been a terrified kid with an album shooting off the top of the charts and a whirlwind concert tour to face. It had all happened so fast: the typical overnight success—not counting the years she had struggled in smoke-choked dives. Still, she’d been young to make a name for herself and determined to prove she wasn’t a one-shot fluke. The romance with Brand Carstairs, while she had still been fresh, hot news, hadn’t hurt her career. For a brief time it had made her the crown princess of popular music. For more than six months their faces appeared on every magazine cover, dominating the newsstands. They’d laughed about it, Raven remembered, laughed at the silly, predictable headlines: “Raven and Brand Plan Love Nest”; “Williams and Carstairs Make Their Own Music.”
    Brand had complained about his billing. They had ignored the constant flare and flash of cameras because they had been happy and saw little else but each other. Then, when he had gone, the pictures and headlines had continued for a long time—the cold, cruel words that flashed the intimacies of private hurts for the public eye. Raven no longer looked at them.
    Over the months and years, she had grown from the crown princess to a respected performer and celebrity in her own right. That’s what’s important, she reminded herself. Her career, her life. She’d learned about priorities the hard way.
    Raven slipped into the glistening black jumpsuit and found it fit like a second skin. Even her quiet breathing sent sequins flashing. Light streaked out from it at the slightest movement. It was, she decided after a critical survey, blisteringly sexy.
    â€œI’d better not gain a quarter of an ounce before the tour,” she remarked, turning to view her slim, sleek profile. Thoughtfully, she gathered her hair in her hand and tossed it behind her back. “Wayne . . .” He was kneeling at her feet, adjusting the hem. His answer was a grunt. “Wayne, I don’t know if I have the nerve to wear this thing.”
    â€œThis thing,” he said mildly as he rose to pluck at the sleeve, “is fantastic.”
    â€œNo artistic snub intended,” she returned and smiled as he stepped back to survey her up and down in his concentrated, professional gaze. “But it’s a bit . . .” She glanced at herself again. “Basic, isn’t it?”
    â€œYou’ve got a nice little body, Raven.” Wayne examined his creation from the rear. “Not all my clients could wear this without a bit of help here and there. Okay, take it off. It’s perfect just as it is.”
    â€œI always feel like I’ve been to the doctor when I’ve finished here,” she commented as she slipped back into her white slacks and orchid blouse. “Who knows more about our bodies’ secrets than our