Sets Appeal

by Virginia Taylor

  Sometime, not too soon, she would explain to the most gorgeous, supportive, and generous man in the world about her inheritance.

  * * * *

  Six weeks later, Vix and Jay attended Steve’s and Lonny’s big white wedding in the enormous reception area of Lonny’s favorite restaurant, just outside the city center. Lonny looked suitably chaste in a white lace designer gown and Steve was crammed into a dark suit. He now had the beginnings of a rock-star haircut, his biker shave growing with suspicious speed. Lonny had decided to update his look.

  After dinner, the tables were cleared and a rock band took over. Each member of the band had a different hairstyle, each with dyed sections and shaved sections. Apparently, Lonny had made them a hit by deciding on their look. Stylist to the Stars, she was now calling herself.

  Vix wished she could have merged into the crowd but she had come dressed for a wedding in an evening gown of pale yellow organza lined with silk, a very conventional outfit compared to all the others. In one way or another, most of the guests were famous, among them musicians, actors, television personalities, and even sports stars. Lonny’s wedding would feature as the wedding of the year. If Tim had played his cards right, he would now be mixing with the sort of crowd he would impress instead of being a non-entity living in another state. Somehow, he seemed to have earned his just reward instead.

  During the night, Vix enjoyed herself speaking to all sorts of people she wouldn’t normally meet. Though, if she continued as a set designer, she would meet plenty of different and interesting people, as she was discovering lately. The Fringe Festival had begun and she had three small “gigs,” the first as a painter of a couple of floats in the parade, and the next as the set designer and painter for a trio of opera singers.

  “But for you, these two wouldn’t be married.” Jay curled his arm around her waist.

  “The alternative would have been too hard to bear.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  She raised her chin. “Don’t doubt it. I wouldn’t ever have let her have you.”

  He whirled her into his version of a slow waltz. She didn’t care that he hadn’t been taught. He had natural style, either that or the sort of style she preferred. He simply held her and moved. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

  “And I love you.”

  “Two more weeks and then we’ll be married, too. I think your father disapproves of our cohabitation.”

  “Are you marrying me to please your new boss?”

  “Nope. I’m marrying you because I love you. I plan on spending the rest of my life with you.”

  She flung her arms around his neck. “That’s good, because you’re never going to get rid of me. And I’m not going to wear white, like Lonny.”

  The first time she had married, Vix had had a big white church wedding. Jay had left her to decide the type of wedding she would like when she married him. “Surprise me,” he’d said. And so, she hadn’t given him a single detail about their wedding.

  He stopped moving his feet and kissed her. “Have you chosen your gown yet?”

  “Yes. What do you think about scarlet?”

  “The color?”

  “Of course the color.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  She’d never had a chance to surprise anyone before, being so boringly conventional. The idea of surprising Jay on their wedding day had taken hold and she had found more enjoyment in hinting than she ever would have expected. He was as easy to tease as he was easy to please, the great big gorgeous hunk. She couldn’t wait to see his expression when he saw her wedding outfit.

  “It might be somewhat theatrical.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  Chapter 16

  Whatever you want. Jay couldn’t imagine why he’d said that. Since he had asked Vix to marry him after the first night of High Society, she had been holding secret meetings with her stepmother, her grandmother, and Sherry, whom she had asked to be her maid of honor. He had no idea what the ladies were planning but even if Vix decided on a themed wedding, he would go along with her. Her first wedding had been a travesty. Her second would be a marriage.

  During the next two weeks, even the guys began to speculate. “What if you have to dress up like an actor in one of those musicals?” Steve asked, his expression ghoulish. For his own wedding, he had only been requested to wear the suit Lonny had chosen, and he admitted he had gotten off far more lightly than he had expected.

  “I would love that,” Sherry answered, laughing. As the maid of honor, she knew the theme—but nothing would make her drop a single hint, even when Luke had begged on Jay’s behalf. “I can see her as the princess and you as the prince in Once Upon a Mattress, all dolled up in green tights and a nice wooden sword.”

  “Nice wooden sword. I’m not touching that one,” Luke said, grinning evilly at Jay.

  Sherry glared at her husband. “You know what I meant.”

  Kell ruffled Luke’s red hair. “You’ll need to keep your conversations above the navel, my lad. Ladies present,” he said, indicating Sherry.

  Sherry glowed with pleasure. Vix had made a difference to Jay’s whole family, not that either of Jay’s brothers normally had potty mouths, but none had perhaps given Sherry a chance to be treated like a grown-up, responsible woman. All three Dees had known her since she was fifteen and had never particularly treasured her as the wife and mother she had been since she was eighteen.

  Now in regular conversations with classy Melissa Tremain and even classier Margaret Tremain, Sherry had developed a modicum of poise, and had even shortened some of her vowels. She was still as cute as a button, though. Luke had married well, despite Jay’s original qualms about him being tied down so young.

  “At least we have the venue sorted out,” Jay said peaceably. “The great outdoors.”

  “Have you seen the place?” Kell glanced at him. “It’s all very well to get married in a garden and I don’t doubt Vix’s father has a good one, but if it’s too good, we won’t have a shipload of fun.”

  “No, I haven’t seen the place but I don’t mind if you don’t have fun at my wedding. You have too much fun, normally. I would like to see you with one date for a change, a nice respectable female who doesn’t need to drag along a girlfriend for protection.”

  “I’m taking two to your wedding,” Kell said, shoving his hands into his pockets and angling a challenge into his jaw. He was the best-looking Dee, a noir hero type, with dark hair and blue eyes. “One for Trent. Or, who would he ask? No one he could present in respectable company, that’s for sure. I’m doing this for you. You don’t want all your single mates turning up in the Tremains’ garden with a crate of beer, ready to drink himself into a stupor to celebrate your loss of freedom.”

  “And you bringing a woman for Trent will guard us against that? You do realize, surely, that all my so-called mates have been invited, and that would be my brothers, a couple of lads from the university, Lonny and Steve, and Trent. None of you are likely to embarrass me.”

  “Except me,” Kell said, his electric eyes flashing dangerously. “With two women.”

  Kell was still an enigma. He had said from an early age that he would never marry, but neither of Jay’s brothers had been brought up in a two-parent household. Neither remembered their mother and both had been too young to recall anything other than the rages of their drunken father. How never deciding which woman he preferred to date would save him from falling for one was a mystery only he could explain. Safety in numbers, he had said.

  “I am pleased and proud you have learned how to share,” Jay said in a voice that could only belong to an older brother waiting for a swipe.

  Kell duly obliged, though merely half-heartedly shouldering Jay a couple of steps. “What are we supposed to wear? Is it casual since it’s in a garden?”

  “If Vix is plotting some sort of theme, it will be for me, not for her guests.” And her guests they were. Jay hadn
’t been expected to pay for a thing. Vix’s grandmother had insisted on paying. She would also be paying for Jay’s wedding outfit, which she said was her wedding gift. She also said that when she died, her two grandchildren inherited all her money anyway and Margaret may as well spend some the way she wanted beforehand. “I would suggest smart daywear, not jeans and a T-shirt.”

  “Do you think I don’t know the difference between smart and comfortable?”

  Jay grinned. His brother had a nighttime life Jay had ceased speculating about some years ago. Kell couldn’t attract his night-clubbing women if he dressed badly. Neither of his brothers would shame Jay. Both were tall and good-looking and both were naturally courteous. Though, even the tough males from the Dee family would be overwhelmed, faced with Vix’s wealthy connections. Jay sure was. He would have much preferred Vix to be anyone from nowhere, but she happened to be Vix and the only woman he wanted. He had to bear being married way out of his comfort zone because he wanted only her.

  Her second marriage would be full of love and laugher and a ready-made extended family, all of which and whom she handled with style. As arranged, the day before she married she moved out of her own house to spend the night with her family in the Tremain mansion, where the ceremony would be performed.

  In the early morning on the late March day of the wedding, a zippered suit bag and a large box was delivered to Jay’s house, as expected. He showered and shaved and put off opening either package until just before he expected Luke, his best man, to arrive. After all the sly hints, Vix’s first reference to scarlet backed up with her placing him in front of the TV one night and forcing him to sit through Gone with the Wind, he dreaded finding a velvet jacket in the suit bag, and a black cravat and a top hat in the box. The guys would rag him forevermore. Only for Vix he would stand tall and proud dressed as Rhett Butler, though the thought made him groan with pain.

  Finally, the hour arrived and after stripping to his jocks, he drew a deep breath and opened the box, inside which he found another two boxes. The first held a pair of black shoes made from shiny soft leather, including the soles. The soles? Gray socks had been packed into one. The other held small red flowers on pins. He assumed he would wear one and Luke the other as a corsage. So far he saw nothing alarming. The shoes were pure quality and he wouldn’t speculate about the cost. He had to get used to this sort of thing.

  He could choose to be ultra-macho and insist his wife lived on his income but that wouldn’t take into account hers, which would be a reasonable wage when she worked. It would also include her fixed income, which was anything but reasonable. One day, his would match hers, of that he was convinced.

  For the past month, he had been working for her father in his massive office in the most junior position as a draftsman. From there, he would work his way up. This had been his dream for the past six years and, now achieved, still filled him with pride. He had earned his place by sheer hard work, not by romancing the boss’s daughter, the beautiful woman he would marry in an hour or two. Steeling himself, he unzipped the suit bag. Gray. His breath whooshed out with relief.

  Vix’s grandmother had chosen a light woolen suit for him, a plain, beautifully cut gray masterpiece. She had added a crisp white shirt, which he instantly donned. He pulled on the trousers of the suit and searched around for the tie, which happened to be rolled in the pocket of the suit jacket. Placing it under his collar, he laughed. Scarlet. He would wear a red tie for his wedding. Likely Vix would be wearing a red dress. He examined himself in the mirror and thought he looked respectable.

  His doorbell rang and he let in Luke, who strode ahead of him through the house. “Hey. The kitchen looks great. You’ve finished the whole thing. Those glass doors let in a heap of light. I might put them in my house.”

  “Once we had finished the garden, it seemed crazy not to put in the doors. It was Vix’s idea.”

  “I thought you were going to sell the place.”

  “I’ll put it on the market when we get back from our honeymoon.”

  “So, now you’re having a honeymoon?” Luke planted his hands on his hips.

  “The weekend in the Tremains’ country house. They have a guesthouse there. The boss won’t let me take any more time off than that, being a new employee and all.”

  “He’s going to take it out on your hide.”

  “Yes. No son-in-law perks. Nice suit.”

  Luke glanced down at the dark gray suit he wore with a burgundy-striped tie. “I hired it. They tried to buy me one, but they can’t buy all the Dees.”

  “They can’t buy any of us,” Jay said in a growl.

  Luke laughed. “I told Vix I would probably never have another occasion to wear a suit and so she let me be. Do you reckon Kell will wear a suit today?”

  “No idea. Here, pin this flower somewhere.” Jay handed over the tiny red corsage and Luke didn’t flinch as he attached the flower to his lapel. He even pinned on Jay’s without a word of cheek and then he escorted Jay out to his newly washed pickup.

  “When I first met her, I never would have guessed she was related to the rich Tremains,” Luke said, backing his car out of the driveway. “She wouldn’t throw out that old paint. She sure doesn’t spend the way a rich person does.”

  “I guess that’s why rich people are rich. They make every cent count.”

  She’d made every cent count in his house, which she had finished renovating with his help on weekends. The place looked so good that Kell wanted to buy it but she wouldn’t let Jay sell to him. “He doesn’t need a value-added house like this one,” she said in a severe voice. “He needs one he can add value to, so that he can make money and end up without a mortgage in no time. He’s talented enough to do everything you did, and so he can.”

  Apparently she had the same plans for Sherry and Luke, who didn’t appear to mind at all. Jay loved a very astute woman.

  The trip to North Adelaide where James Tremain owned an enormous two-story mansion fronting the parklands seemed to take minutes. The traffic sped by while Jay concentrated on the crease of his trousers, rechecked the red flower, stretched his toes in his new shoes, and shot his cuffs, trying to listen to whatever Luke was saying. Vix wouldn’t back out at the last minute, and yet, he still had a lingering doubt that he was good enough for her.

  The doubt remained while he fidgeted from foot to foot standing beside Luke under a garden arbor heaped with white flowers. Water trickled from the vase of a Greek maiden who stood in the center of a fountain, distanced from him by a box hedge and a flower bed. Guests, possibly no more than thirty, sat on white chairs on the lawn and the sun shone mildly in the clear blue sky, the weather perfect for his wedding.

  His gaze wandered to Vix’s family, the women dressed in patterns of red, Melissa wearing red and white stripes and Margaret in red and white dots. Her brother wore a white shirt and gray trousers. The wedding photo would be perfectly coordinated and he huffed a laugh. He would have to expect his photo in the paper for the first, and hopefully last, time because of this wedding.

  After probably a short wait, though to Jay the time stood still, Vix appeared with her father. Jay watched, transfixed as she walked slowly toward him. She wore a red and pink flowery dress and her unforgettable smile.

  The ceremony lasted for seconds before she was finally his. The string quartet played “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” “I do,” he said for the second time, smiling into her eyes.

  She slid her fingers to the crook of his elbow. “Cause all I want is you,” she said, leaning into him, her lips curving with mischief.

  “You know,” he said during the wedding toasts, “I don’t think it’s such a good idea for us to continue the dopey tradition of naming our children in alphabetical order.”

  “I agree. I got to thinking about Quockadile and although it’s a brilliant name for a boy, when he got to school, he’d be called Quockadile Dundee for sure. A better first name would be Che.”

  Hi
s glass missed his mouth. “I was never quite sure why I fell in love with you. I thought it was because you were smart and funny and sexy.”

  “And?”

  “You are.” Also, just plain wonderful. She’d made sure Steve married Lonny and to do that, she had to let the whole team know she was Jay’s secret lover, not the sweet good girl they’d thought her. She’d made sure her family accepted Jay. She’d made sure of a job for him in South Australia without compromising his pride in the least. He couldn’t see the attraction in bad girls when he married one so absolutely good. “What about Dan Dee? Or for a girl, Can Dee?”

  His possibilities were limitless, now he’d found her.

  Don’t miss the next book in Virginia Taylor's Romance By Design series . . .

  Two unsuspecting lovers stumble upon the blueprint for love . . .

  Calliope Allbrook takes a job in lovely, sunny Adelaide, Australia, hoping to lose herself in her work as a balm for her broken heart. And if it weren’t for the handsome hunk renovating the house next door, Calli would never even have looked up from the garden she is designing for her latest client. But rugged Kellen Dee is just the cure the beautiful heiress needs. After all, he has no idea who she is, so he certainly won’t see her as a meal ticket. Then there’s the fact that Kell’s deliciously sexy—and incredibly good with his hands . . .

  From the moment Kell takes her in his arms, he knows Calli is more than just a fling. Then the blue collar bachelor learns he’s not sharing his bed with just any woman, but the wealthy daughter of the man who could make Kell’s construction business a success—and Kell the kind of well-heeled man worthy of Calli’s love. But he’ll have to be careful his ambitions don’t trip up his heart . . .

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