The Pleasure King's Bride (15 page)

Six months on...

“Mummy looks so-o-o beautiful,” Alicia breathed on an ecstatic sigh.

Vikki Chan smiled at the child’s focus on her mother, who did indeed look as beautiful as a bride should. Truly Jared’s bride, Vikki thought indulgently—a tiara of pearls holding her veil, a magnificent necklace of pearls around her throat and pearls studding the diamond pattern on the guipure lace of her strapless bodice. A big silk taffeta skirt billowed out from her hips—extravagant, graceful and lustrously sensual. Altogether, Christabel presented a vision that surely had Jared’s cup of pleasure running over.

She was right for him—her wonderful little boy who had become such a man. Tommy was a delight. Nathan was Lachlan all over again. But Jared had always been her favourite—so sensitive and perceptive and receptive, his mind alive to the life in everything, almost Chinese in his appreciation of how nature shaped both good and bad for reasons of its own, the unseen influences that nevertheless did influence important outcomes—winning or losing.

Jared knew how to win. Instinctively, intuitively, he got it right. He had the gift for it. And he certainly looked the winner this evening—so tall and handsome and splendid in his formal silvery grey suit. Even the high peaked white collar of his dress shirt and the silk cravat looked perfect for him. A truly magnificent man. He made her feel very proud.

And having the wedding here in Broome for the whole town to see her boy and his bride...it was an occasion to savour in the days to come, talking it over with her old friends. A touch of honour, too, having Chinese lanterns hung around the grounds. It was a fine choice having the wedding at the Mangrove Hotel, out on this big lawn overlooking Roebuck Bay. Soon the moon would rise....

“Alicia King,” the child lilted, trying out the name. She looked up at Vikki, her big brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “Now that Mummy’s married to Jared, I’m not going to be Alicia Valdez any more. I think King sounds better, don’t you, Vikki?”

“It is a fine and honourable name, Alicia, and a great blessing to be one of the Kings of the Kimberly. They are a family to be proud of.”

“I love having a family,” the child declared feelingly. “Now I’ve got a father like all the other girls in my class at school, and when Tommy and Sam fly me back to King’s Eden after the wedding, Miranda said I could help mind her baby.”

Vikki nodded to herself. People, not money, gave the real riches of life.

“I hope Mummy and Jared have a baby,” the child rattled on. “Then I’d have a brother or a sister. Do you think they will, Vikki?”

“In time, little one. We must always wait for good things to happen. There comes a right time and that is the best time.”

*
* *

“Let’s sit down, Miranda.” Sam rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law. “I
need
to sit down.”

Miranda laughed and accompanied her to the closest vacant table. As Christabel’s matrons of honour, they’d been standing for a long time, throughout the wedding ceremony and then the photograph session, and Sam was four months pregnant, though it barely showed. It didn’t show at all in the princess line dress Christabel had chosen for them, and the midnight blue colour was definitely slimming. Flattering for her own figure, as well, since it was only a month since she’d given birth to Matthew and she wasn’t yet back in shape.

“All I can say is, thank heaven the morning sickness is over. Pregnancy does not suit me,” Sam declared as she sank onto a chair. “I get so tired all the time.”

“This, too, will pass,” Miranda advised, taking the chair beside her.

“Where’s your gorgeous baby boy? I need a reminder of what’s at the end of this.”

“Nathan has him, parading him around the guests.”

They both laughed. Nathan doted on his son.

“Tommy’s going to be the same. He’s so cock-a-hoop that we’re having a girl.”

“Well, it will be the first one born to the King family for three generations.”

Sam grimaced. “I always wanted to be a boy myself. I’m not good at the female thing, Miranda.”

“Nonsense. Boy or girl, I think you just have to let them follow their own nature and enjoy them for what they are. Besides, you’ve been marvellous with Alicia and you’ve said yourself she’s a delightful little girl.”

They both turned their gaze to Christabel’s daughter who was chatting away to Vikki Chan, her vivacious face alight with excitement. She’d been a bundle of excitement all day, being a flower girl at her mother’s wedding and so happy to be getting Jared as her father.

“You’re right. I do enjoy Alicia,” Sam conceded.

“Please God we never get some nasty investigative reporter connecting her to the Kruger heiress,” Miranda murmured. “She’s such a lovely natural child.”

“Good thing Rafael had fixed up the Valdez identity so it was legal. It made everything easier for them.” Sam nodded to where Rafael Santiso and Elizabeth stood together, watching the bride and groom while they enjoyed a private tête-à-tête. “He’s covered his tracks here, too, with his personal interest in Elizabeth.”

“I doubt that has much to do with covering his tracks,” Miranda said dryly. “Rafael is seriously courting her, Sam.”

“So it would seem. What does Nathan think?”

“He thinks she should go for it. What’s Tommy’s reaction?’’

“If it makes her happy...”

“Look at her. She’s glowing.”

“Fatherhood definitely suits you,” Tommy declared, his eyes dancing in amusement at the sight of the itty-bitty baby snuggled in the crook of his brother’s arm. Nathan’s towering height and big frame made him look like a giant compared to the smallness of his newborn son, yet he was a very gentle giant with Matthew, and Tommy was actually moved by the love so clearly emanating from his older brother.

“It’s great, Tommy.” Nathan grinned. “And it’s great you’re having a daughter. Got any names picked yet?”

“Sarah heads the list at the moment.”

“It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? Three weddings, a son for me and a daughter for you on the way.”

“Plus an adopted daughter for Jared.”

Nathan laughed. “Miranda heard her practising her new name as they were getting ready for the wedding. She was reciting Alicia King in front of the mirror and looking very smug about it.”

“What do you think will happen when she gets to eighteen?’’

“Best thing would be to give that inheritance away. Have Rafael administer it for charities. Alicia won’t need any of it with Jared as her dad.”

“And Christabel doesn’t want a bar of it. I’d guess her influence will soak in over the years.”

“Sure to. She’s one very strong lady.”

Tommy shook his head over the traumatic train of events that had eventually landed Christabel in Broome. “Hell of a thing—what she went through.”

Nathan looked over the milling crowd of guests to where his youngest brother stood with his bride—the woman he’d fought for and won. “She’s got Jared now,” he said quietly. “I think for Christabel, he more than makes up for everything she suffered in the past.” His vivid blue eyes twinkled at Tommy. “I’d have to say our kid brother wins the white knight award.”

“Oh, I don’t know. We did pretty good for Miranda, don’t forget. Saved her from a king rat.”

“True. And I’m glad Rafael Santiso didn’t turn out to be another king rat. I suspect he’s going to sweep our mother off with him.”

They both turned to assess what was happening on that front.

“You know, Nathan, for an older guy, he’s certainly got a pouncing panther air about him.”

“Mmm...not unlike Dad in many ways.”

Rafael Santiso felt he had been very patient. It was time for Elizabeth to decide.

“So,” he said, eyeing her with mocking challenge. “We had Tommy’s wedding four months ago. Nathan’s son has been safely born. Miranda is handling motherhood without any panic whatsoever. The planning for Jared’s wedding has reached its culmination and is currently being perfectly executed. Your youngest son is now married. Samantha’s baby is not due for another five months and I shall point out that unlike Miranda, Samantha has a mother of her own to see her through to the birth.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Is there any reason you cannot leave the Kimberly and fly to Greece with me?”

She affected surprise. “I thought you were returning to Europe.”

He shrugged. “Athens is on the way. I hold a small Greek island in trust. Very private. Very beautiful. It is the perfect place for relaxation after such a busy six months.”

“It has been busy.”

“And frustrating,” he said darkly.

Her magnificent eyes twinkled seductively. “I’ve never been to a Greek island.”

His heart swelled with hope. “You have only to say yes.”

I can, with a free conscience, put myself first now, Elizabeth decided. How it would be with Rafael, she didn’t really know—such a different kind of life—but she wanted to try it, wanted to explore the feelings he stirred in her. It wasn’t too late to take a new path, she thought. It was never too late. She had been static for too long. Life was to be lived.

She smiled at Rafael, thinking how exhilarating it was for a woman to feel desired by such a fascinating and desirable man. “I can’t think of any family need to keep me here, so yes, I will go with you.”

“You will?” His handsome Latin face broke into a triumphant grin.

Nothing to lose and everything to gain, Elizabeth told herself, and made the decision firm. “I will.”

Jared curved his arm around Christabel’s waist as they stood at the fence edging the grounds of the hotel, facing out to where the full moon was rising, a glowing red ball pushing slowly up from the horizon beyond Roebuck Bay.

“Happy?” he murmured.

She smiled. “You know I am. Though I do wonder how your mother feels about us living in Picard house. It’s been hers for so long.”

“Now that I have you, she’s passing it to us, Christabel. She’ll be gone by the time we come back from our honeymoon.”

It surprised her. “Where is she going?’’

“With Rafael.”

“She’ll really leave all her family to be with him?’’ A flash of concern in her eyes. “It’s such a high-intensity life he lives, Jared.”

He smiled, his confidence in his mother’s ability to rise to any challenge stronger than ever. “Invigorating, Vikki says. And she predicts he’ll treat her like a queen.”

Christabel released a long contented sigh. “I have to admit he’s been good to me. Amazing in taking care of the problems with Alicia.”

“You don’t mind giving up your family in Rio?” he asked quietly.

She shook her head. “They want the money. When I went to them for help, they thought I was mad to leave. It was Rafael’s hand behind the scenes that made them give the help I needed. It was the same when Laurens proposed marriage. They thought only of the money.”

The eyes she lifted to his held no regrets. “My life is here with you. So is Alicia’s. She loves
your
family, Jared. And so do I.”

The last little niggle about all the decisions they’d made in the past few months was erased. He nodded towards the bay. “It’s starting.”

Christabel swiftly turned her attention to the unique phenomenon that was special to Broome. It was most spectacular during the equinoctial tides of March and September when the sea could rise and fall ten metres. At such an extreme low tide, and if the sky was clear as it was this evening, the pools of water stretching across the exposed mudflats reflected the light of the moon, providing the illusion of a staircase—a magical staircase opening up from the huge glowing sphere as it rose above the horizon.

The first red bars were appearing now.

A night to remember, Christabel thought, for so many wonderful reasons, and this...what she was watching now... seemed like a reflection of what Jared had done, hauling her out of darkness and setting her feet on a path with him, a path where every step was a magical experience, glowing with his love for her.

The moon turned to gold as it lifted higher, creating a flight of golden steps coming closer and closer to them. They’re for us, Christabel thought—the staircase to a golden future together. And she rested her head on Jared’s shoulder, and knew she didn’t need anything else. She had everything she wanted in the man who held her.

“I love you so much, Jared,” she whispered. “Thank you for rescuing me and making this happen. All of it. You, me, Alicia...”

“Oh, I was only thinking of my pleasure,” he teased. “After all, it is my pleasure to love you.”

She smiled, her heart singing at the thought of going to bed with her
husband
tonight. Her true husband in every sense. The staircase to the moon was wonderful, but nothing—her mind flitted through the exquisite memories Jared had already given her, her body instantly zinging with anticipation of so much more to come—absolutely nothing, she thought blissfully, could be more wonderful than being
the pleasure King’s bride!