Alex looked down at her and lifted his eyebrow. "Don't tell me. You forgot my name again." He looked exasperated, but Heather could tell that he wanted to laugh.

"Of course not. You didn't say your middle name, and I just I realized I don't know what it is."

"Ah." He leaned down and whispered it into her ear.

"Perfect." She smiled through her tears, and once again gazed up into his eyes. "I Daisy Devreaux Markov take thee Alexander Romanov Markov..."

As she went on, Alex squeezed her hand real tight, and Heather would have sworn to God she saw tears in his eyes, too.

Sinjun rose and stretched until he was about thirty feet long. Sheba got all nervous-looking and started clinging to Heather's dad's arm, which had to be a first. Heather wasn't too crazy about the tiger herself, but she wasn't a wimp about him like Sheba.

Sheba'd surprised everybody by giving Sinjun to Daisy as a wedding present, and Alex already had somebody building this really cool tiger compound behind his house in Connecticut. It sure must be nice to be so rich. Although nobody'd said anything definite about it, Heather had the feeling Tater might end up spending the winter in Alex's barn in Connecticut, too, instead of staying with the other elephants in Tampa.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Daisy and Alex looked at each other, and for a minute it was like they'd forgotten anybody else was around. Finally Alex remembered it was time for the kiss part, and he really laid one on her. Heather couldn't tell for sure if he was frenching her, but she wouldn't have been surprised. While they kissed, Tater dusted both of them with hay, just as if he thought the stuff was rice.

Everybody started to laugh, except for Sheba, who was still watching Sinjun.

Daisy let Sinjun's ribbon leash drop from her wrist. Then she made this funny whooping sound and threw her arms around Alex's neck. Alex picked her up and twirled her, but he held her real careful so he didn't hurt the baby or anything.

When he was done spinning her, he kissed her again. "I've got the best Markov woman of them all."

Daisy got this real saucy look on her face that even Heather thought was pretty cute. "And I've got the best Markov man."

They were acting so silly that Heather started being embarrassed for both of them, except that she was kind of crying, too, because she liked happy endings.

Then she realized it wasn't an ending at all. As she gazed around at all these people she loved, she knew that everybody here was just getting started.

Acknowledgments.

A number of generous people helped with the research for Kiss An Angel Kiss An Angel. I am especially grateful to my mother, Lou Titus, who worked so hard on the initial background material. Also, the reference librarians at Nichols Library always manage to come through for me, as does Linda Barlow. Additional thanks to Kacy Frazier, the staff at Brookfield Zoo, David Morgan, and the World Circus Museum for answering my questions.

My special appreciation goes to Jill Barnett, whose thoughtful critique of this book rescued me from craziness. And my editor, Carrie Feron, who has given me the best gift a writer can receive: the peace of mind to write.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips c/o Avon Books 1350 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10019

About the Author.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of our biggest women's fiction stars soaring onto the is one of our biggest women's fiction stars soaring onto the New York Times New York Times bestseller list with bestseller list with Dream a Little Dream Dream a Little Dream. She's the only four-time recipient of Romance Writer's of America's prestigious Favorite Book of the Year Award. Susan delights fans by touching hearts as well as funny bones with her wonderfully whimsical and modern fairy tales. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is also a wife and mother of two grown sons.