"Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake 12 - Incubus Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

board, too. Oh, well.
At last, they were man and wife. We all turned and the reverend presented them to
the church as Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Kirkland, though I knew for a fact that Tammy
was keeping her maiden name, so really it should have been Mr. Lawrence Kirkland
and Ms. Tammy Reynolds.
We all fell into two lines. I got to offer my arm to Detective Jessica Arnet. She
took the arm, and with her in heels, I was about five inches shorter than she was. She
smiled at me. I’d noticed she was pretty about a month ago, because she was flirting
with Nathaniel, but it wasn’t until that moment that I realized she could be beautiful.
Her dark hair was pulled completely back from her face, so that the delicate triangle
of her cheeks and chin was all you saw. The makeup had widened her eyes, added
color to her cheeks, and carved pouting lips out of her thin ones. I realized that the
orange that made most of the bridesmaids look wan, brought out rich highlights in
her skin and hair, made her eyes shine. So few people look good in orange, it’s one
of the reasons they use it in so many prisons, like an extra punishment. But Detective
Arnet looked wonderful in it. It almost made me wish I’d let the wedding lady talk
me into the extra makeup. Almost.
I must have stared, because she frowned, and only then did I start forward, and
take our place in line. We filed out like good little wedding party members. We’d
already endured the photographer for group shots. He’d be hunting the bride and
groom for those candid moments: cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet, removing
the garter. Once we got through the receiving line, I could fade into the background
and no one would care.
We all stood in a line as we’d been drilled. Bride and groom at the front of the
line, because, let’s face it, that’s who everyone is really here to see. The rest of us
strung out behind them along the wall, waiting to shake hands with mostly strangers.
Tammy’s family were locals, but I’d never met any of them. Larry’s family were all
out-of-towners. I knew the policemen that had been invited; other than that, it was all
nod and smile, nod and smile, shake a hand, or two, nod and smile.
I must have been concentrating very hard on the people I was meeting, because it
surprised me when Micah Callahan, my official date, was suddenly in front of me.
He was exactly my height. Short for man or woman. His rich, brown hair was nearly
as curly as mine, and today his hair fell around his shoulders loose. He’d done that
for me. He didn’t like his hair loose, and I understood why. He was already delicate
looking for a man, and with all that hair framing him, his face was almost as delicate
a triangle as Detective Arnet’s. His lower lip was fuller than his upper lip, which gave
him a perpetual pout, and being wider than most women’s mouths didn’t really help.
But the body under his black tailored suit, that definitely helped make it clear he was
a man. Wide shoulders, slender waist and hips, a swimmer’s body, though that
wasn’t his sport. From the neck down you’d never mistake him for a girl. It was just
the face, and the hair.
He’d left his shirt open at the neck so that it framed the hollow in his throat. I
could see myself reflected darkly in his sunglasses. It was actually a little dim in the
hallway, so why the sunglasses? His eyes were kitty-cat eyes, leopard, to be exact.
They were yellow and green all at the same time. What color predominated between
the two depended on what color he wore, his mood, the lighting. Today, because of
the shirt, they’d be very green, but with a hint of yellow, like dappled light in the
forest.
He was a wereleopard, Nimir-Raj of the local pard. By rights he should have been
able to pass for human. But if you spend too much time in animal form sometimes