Santiago's Command (16 page)

‘Why else do you think I asked you? Cancel that question. Next time you’ll probably get it into your head that I’m asking because you match my hair and tie?’ It seemed safer to leave no room for error, Santiago decided as he took her in his arms, drawing her warm soft body into his and feeling the anger drain from his body.

His smile made her heart turn over.

‘You love me …?’

‘With all my heart,
mi esposa …
with all my heart.’

She shook her head. ‘This doesn’t seem real.’

He bent his head and fitted his mouth to hers. Lucy gave a sigh as she pulled back whispering, ‘I love you, Santiago.’

When they came up for air she was sitting on his lap and had no idea how she’d got there—being there was enough. Being with Santiago was enough, it was everything.

When Lucy tore herself away from him to change she
found her dress hanging freshly pressed, waiting for her. Slipping it on, she smiled at her reflection. The shift with the ruffles around the neck was a shade paler blue than her eyes. It clung, emphasising the curves of her hourglass figure.

When she returned to the cabin Santiago was in a dark lounge suit, the jacket unbuttoned to reveal a grey tie dark against his immaculate white shirt. He looked sleek and sophisticated and utterly gorgeous.

His face lit up when he saw her. ‘Nobody will be looking at the bride. You look absolutely incredible.’

Tears of emotion flooded her eyes. In her opinion all eyes would be on her handsome fiancée. ‘God, please don’t make me cry.’

‘You wish me to be nasty to you?’

Lucy gave a watery laugh. ‘About us—do you mind if we don’t tell my family today?’

He stiffened, the look of wary hurt in his face bringing her rushing to his side. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to tell them—I do want to,’ she declared enthusiastically. ‘To yell it off high buildings! It’s just today is Gianni and Miranda’s day. I wouldn’t want to steal their thunder.’

His face cleared and he drew her to him. ‘Of course you don’t, because you are a kind, thoughtful person with the tendency to put other people’s feelings above her own, combined with a desire to steal my prize possessions.’

Her eyes went round as she stepped back and gave a guilt-stricken gasp. ‘Your car! I forgot. I’m not sure where it is actually. I sort of … double-parked. There might be a fine …?’

‘I will bill you,’ he promised.

Hand in hand they left the plane, then Santiago handed her into the waiting limo.

Arriving with Santiago at her side was the proudest moment of her life. He went out of his way to be charming and
members of her family who commented on him all said the same thing:
a keeper, Lucy, don’t let him go
.

Lucy, who had never cried at a wedding in her life, had tears rolling down her cheeks during the simple ceremony in the flower-decked village church. When the couple exchanged their vows Santiago, who held her hand tight all through the ceremony, looked suspiciously misty-eyed himself.

Like many of the other guests they drifted outside where a band played music and people danced under the fairy lights strung through trees.

The band began to play a slow number and Santiago pulled her into his arms.

‘You can dance,’ she discovered.

He smiled. ‘This was a beautiful wedding.’

‘It is, and everyone loves you.’

He stopped circling and tipped her face up to him. ‘There is only one person whose love I need.’

‘You have it, oh, you have it,’ she promised in a voice that throbbed with emotion.

Without warning he let out a war cry and picked her up, twirling her around until she begged to be put down.

Back on terra firma she turned her loving eyes on the man beside her. Lucy’s heart swelled with love as she looked at him. ‘I don’t think any day could be more perfect than this,’ she said huskily.

‘Our wedding day will be.’

‘Don’t put your hat away, Maeve—it looks like another Fitzgerald wedding to me.’

Lucy turned with a smile to the aunts walking past and shook her head. ‘No, not a Fitzgerald wedding, Auntie Maggie, a Silva wedding, but don’t advertise it until this one is over.’

‘Why, darling,’ her aunt retorted, ‘you two have been advertising
it since you walked in holding hands and why not? Ain’t love grand!’

‘Extremely grand,’ Santiago agreed, his eyes on his bride-to-be.

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

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First published in Great Britain 2012
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Kim Lawrence 2012

ISBN: 978-1-408-97439-1