Ruthless Husband, Convenient Wife
Page 17
As it was, most of the guests said it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever attended.
Ryan and Penny were married under a bower of almond blossom. They exchanged rings and vows and the minister proclaimed them man and wife.
The snows of winter were long gone, and the green, green meadows of Northcote were bright with wild flowers under a blue sky. The guests, many of whom had come from other countries for the occasion, danced and feasted, or wandered around the great house, admiring the timeless beauty with which it had been furnished, renewing old friendships and fostering new ones.
Children played everywhere; party frocks were stained with fresh grass and party suits were torn clambering on the sensational jungle gym that Ryan and Penny had built on the lawn.
It was a day of joy and celebration.
The bride and groom danced together, never taking their eyes off one another, until their guests loudly demanded some attention, and they had to separate and mingle with the crowd, and bestow smiles on others.
But in the late afternoon Ryan took Penny’s hand, and they slipped away from the festivities and ran upstairs to their bedroom, Penny holding her white organza gown up with her free hand.
He led her to the window, as he had once done months earlier, and they looked out.
This time, instead of moonlight and snow, the landscape was decorated with sunshine and flowers. A warm sun was shining down on their wedding guests, who thronged the gardens or danced to the strains of sweet old tunes.
The great trees, so old and mighty, wore headdresses of green leaves. But everything had the same unearthly beauty as it had that night, long ago, when she had tried to leave him behind, and had failed.
‘Do you remember that you once told me I would tire of this place?’ he asked her, taking her in his arms.
She smiled. ‘Yes. I said you would want to be able to pop into Harrods for caviare and crackers.’
‘I said then that I was too soon for you to understand. But I know you understand now.’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I understand everything, my love. I know you bought this house for me. For our children to grow in. So we could make a life together in it.’
‘I love you so much, Penny,’ he said, looking into her eyes. ‘It took us a long time and a lot of heartbreak to get here. But now that we are here, I know that it’s been worth everything—and that I would do it again tomorrow, in a heartbeat.’
‘Me, too,’ she whispered, her mouth close to his.
Then they were lost in their kiss. The music of the orchestra drifted up to them from the flowery gardens below, and in that joyous melody there was no shadow that it would ever end again.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3436-3
RUTHLESS HUSBAND, CONVENIENT WIFE
First North American Publication 2009.
Previously published in the U.K. under the title THE ALPHA MALE.
Copyright © 2003 by Madeleine Ker.
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