by Liz Fielding
Niall looked about ten feet tall, he thought, as his cousin looked at his wife protectively, adoringly.
Come on, he urged impatiently. Come on.
Bram entered next, with Flora. She was wearing a simple tailored mandarin jacket in silver and blue, with a long blue silk skirt, her hair piled up loosely so that soft tendrils fell about her cheeks. Bram grinned at Jordan as he and Flora took their places. To see his cousins so happy was a joy in itself.
Then a hush fell, the music changed from Handel to Wagner, the classic bridal entry, and he turned and saw India. A shaft of light behind her left her in silhouette as she paused, glanced back for a moment to ensure that her posse of tiny bridesmaids was ready. Happy, she turned to her father and placed her hand on his arm, before leaning towards him and tucking her veil to one side in order to kiss his cheek.
That done, she looked ahead to where he was waiting and began to move towards him. A vision in gold and white. His life, his heart, his love.
With every step of her long walk down the broad aisle of the church her gaze remained fixed upon his face. She drew level with him, handed her flowers to someone and then, as he reached out his hand to her, placed her own in his. He took it, held it. And with his eyes he silently vowed to her, as he soon would before God and the congregation, that, having won her against all odds, he would never let her go. That he would honour her, love and cherish her, for the rest of his life.
As if she could read his thoughts, she gently squeezed his fingers before she turned to face the clergyman.
‘Dearly beloved…’
Afterwards, outside in the milling crowd, India went straight to her mother and hugged her. ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ she said. There had been tears at their meeting. Long and, for both of them, sometimes painful explanations. A lifetime of memories and regret.
‘You can’t begin to know how glad I am that I came.’ Pamela Claibourne looked to where her ex-husband was chatting to his new son-in-law. ‘How happy I am that Peter found me again.’
It was enough. Today the past was forever put behind them. There was only the future.
She paused briefly with Jordan, posing with her sisters and their new husbands outside the lych-gate of the church while a curious press took photographs, before they walked back hand-in-hand through the garden. ‘I see the gold,’ Jordan murmured, leaning close to murmur in her ear. ‘What happened to the burgundy?’
India looked up at him, making no attempt to hide her smile as she extended her left hand, where her ruby and diamond engagement ring nestled against her new wedding ring. ‘This is enough for public display, don’t you think? We aren’t running a PR exercise here.’
‘True. Even so, I didn’t think you’d be able to resist just a touch—’
She grinned. ‘Did I say I’d resisted? You wouldn’t want me to be too obvious, would you? Or maybe you’d like me to lift my skirt and show off my garter?’ And, leaving her new husband to catch his breath as they reached the marquee set out on the riverside lawns, she took her place in the receiving line to greet their guests.
CELEBRITY magazine
We’re delighted to bring our readers stunning photographs of the recent wedding of India Claibourne and Jordan Farraday, partners in our favourite department store. The presence of her mother, after many years’ estrangement, clearly brought special joy to India.
Peter Claibourne, the bride’s father, whose recent heart attack caused such concern to his family, was looking fit and well, and rarely left his former wife’s side. Friends say that the two, who met again recently when Peter was convalescing, have become very close.
The bride’s half-sisters, Romana and Flora, seen here with their new husbands, chose this wonderful occasion to have their own marriages blessed.
Their stunning gowns, while individual in style, each had an exquisite bodice in a difference colour, made from a stunning new fabric discovered by Flora during a visit to the beautiful island of Saraminda.
Jordan and India have left for a leisurely honeymoon in the United States before India takes her place at the head of the new board of Claibourne & Farraday.
We wish them all well in their new lives.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7238-9
THE TYCOON’S TAKEOVER
First North American Publication 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Liz Fielding.
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