Della's House of Style by Donna Hill

Author:Donna Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250084354
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Sweet Surrender

Rochelle Alers

This novella celebrates:

My editor, Glenda Howard

—for believing in me the first time, and for trusting me to do it again,

and Tami Bryant

—who helped me over the hurdles.

Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.

Matthew 23:12

Chapter One

Maria Ynez Parker watched the tall man approach her manicure station, her penetrating gaze measuring his fluid stride, the precise break of his tailored trousers over a pair of highly polished black wing tip loafers, the casual drape of a matching navy blue suit jacket over his broad shoulders, and the crisp fabric of a pale blue cotton button-down shirt he had paired with a solid navy blue silk tie.

Her large brown eyes were fixed on the lines furrowing his high, intelligent forehead and compressed lips. His grim expression indicated annoyance. And she knew instinctively that his displeasure had something to do with the young woman who had come with him into Della’s House of Style for a complete makeover for her high school prom.

Maria was also aware of all the female gazes following the man’s retreat from the front of the upscale, full-service salon to an area where tables and chairs were set up for manicure and pedicure services.

All conversation tapered off, then stopped completely inside the renowned salon, with its stark white walls and a distinctive pastel pink and blue marble-tiled flooring. The swollen hush was as smothering as the heat inside a crowded New York City subway car during the summer, as stylists, shampoo girls, the receptionist, the masseur and the aesthetician, who were waiting patiently for their next clients, watched Cameron King bear down on the incredibly talented nail technician.

He had come into the salon a week ago, requesting to speak to the new owner, Della Frazier. Even before he left Della’s private office, gossip swirled throughout the salon as to what he did for a living, as well as his marital status. The more resourceful salon employees had uncovered that Mr. Cameron King was CEO of King Financial Services, an accounting and investment company that had recently relocated from a prestigious Wall Street address to a town house in one of Harlem’s historic districts popularly known as Striver’s Row. The amateur sleuths thought themselves quite clever once they had unearthed this information, but were frustrated because a week after Cameron had walked into Della’s for the first time, they still had not uncovered whether there was a Mrs. King.

If there is a Mrs. King, then she’s a lucky woman, Maria told herself as the object of her musings stopped several feet from her. He’s perfect, she thought. A little too perfect, she added.

* * *

Cameron King tilted his head at an angle, staring down at the woman who had been selected to do his niece’s nails. The woman Della had identified as Maria Parker was sensuously stunning, even though his impassive expression indicated total indifference to her looks. His eyes narrowed slightly behind the lenses of his thin black wire-framed glasses as he took in everything about her in one sweeping glance.

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