In Bed With...Collection. Emma Darcy
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her whenever she rested her hand on his chest or shoulder or next to her bouquet…a pear-shaped emerald—almost a heart—its vivid green hue emphasised by a border of white diamonds set in yellow gold. She had never seen anything like it…so very special, unique…and he’d chosen it for her.
For Bryce to value her so much…she did want to marry him!
It felt right.
They moved on to the chapel.
It was decorated with sumptuous floral arrangements.
A pianist sat at a grand piano, playing Celine Dion’s song—‘I’ve Finally Found Someone.’
A marriage celebrant smilingly beckoned them forward.
Somehow it didn’t matter that the chairs on either side of the aisle were empty. Sunny thought fleetingly of her mother and sisters, but they had had their weddings. This was hers and Bryce’s, and it belonged to them, no one else.
The civil ceremony performed was a simple one. There was no sermon, no gushy sentiments. To Sunny, the words seemed all the more meaningful for their straightforward simplicity.
When Bryce spoke his vows, his gaze remained steadfast on hers, and his voice carried a quiet solemnity that seemed to seep into her soul, spreading a sense of peace and dispelling any worries about a future with him.
She spoke hers just as solemnly, meaning every word of her commitment to him and their marriage. It was very real now. There was no going back from this moment. They would go forward together and make the best of whatever life served out to them.
Bryce had bought two gold wedding rings, one for her, one for him. It touched her that he wanted to display the fact that he was married—a bachelor no more—a husband who cared about his commitment to her.
‘With this ring, I thee wed…’
He had to take off the emerald ring to slide the gold band into place, but the removal was only momentary. Sunny stared down at the dual rings on her finger, fitting perfectly, brightly shining proof that she now belonged to him.
‘I now pronounce you husband and wife.’
Such fateful words…
Sunny poured all her hope for a good future with Bryce into the kiss that followed, and from him flowed a fervent eagerness to get on with it.
The wedding certificate was filled out, placed in a special holder, and given to Sunny—a lasting memento of a momentous day. The pianist was playing ‘All The Way’ as they thanked the marriage celebrant and the official witnesses.
They turned as a wedded couple to walk back down the aisle, and the words of the song were running through Sunny’s mind, echoing what she hoped would prove true. At least she wasn’t carrying any false illusions about this marriage. It was a matter of making it right, not expecting it to just turn out that way without having to work at it.
‘Where is the Bryce Templar wedding?’ a woman’s voice shrieked, blowing the music right out of Sunny’s ears.
Her step faltered as Bryce squeezed her hand hard, having come to a halt himself. Not only was tension ripping through him but any trace of a benign expression was gone, replaced by grim anger.
‘Too late? Just finishing?’ the woman’s voice shrilled, then broke into furious determination. ‘We’ll see about that!’
Sunny jerked her gaze from the startling reaction from Bryce, just in time to see the woman burst through the entrance to the chapel, charging at battle pace before coming to a heaving halt at the start of the aisle, her gaze ripping Sunny up and down, then stabbing at Bryce.
‘How could you?’ she screamed at him.
The wild intrusion and the ear-piercing outrage was a total show-stopper. Sunny could only stare at the woman in a tumult of confusion. Who was she and why was she on the attack?
‘How could you do this to me?’ the woman demanded fiercely of Bryce, apparently deciding to ignore the bride beside him as though Sunny were nothing.
‘Very easily, Kristen,’ Bryce answered coldly.
Kristen? He knew her, then? It wasn’t some complete madwoman on the loose?
‘You ruthless, callous pig!’ came the blistering indictment. Her face screwed into vicious fury. ‘You’ll pay for this!’
‘Oh, I expect to,’ Bryce drawled, a fine edge of contempt in every word. ‘But not as much as I would have paid…had I married you.’
MARRIED!
Bryce had been going to marry this woman?
Even as Sunny’s mind jammed with shock, her eyes swiftly took in everything there was to take in about his first choice—very, very classy with her polished blond hair falling in smooth perfection to her shoulders and cut to feather inwards from her ears to her throat, a stylishly artful frame for a face that was classic model material.
So was her body, though she wasn’t quite as tall, nor as long-legged as Sunny. In fact, she was much better proportioned, her figure looking very sexy in a straw linen wrap-around dress and lots of gold accessories—chain belt, sandals, bag, bangles, necklace—all shouting the kind of money Sunny had never had at her disposal.
Bryce’s contemptuous comment had acted like a smack on the face, but the jolt of it only lasted a few seconds. The pent-up fury was unleashed again, propelling the woman forward, her arm upraised to deliver a very physical slap to Bryce’s face.
He caught her wrist before violent contact was made, holding it in a vice-like grip. ‘Back off, Kristen!’ he commanded in his steely voice, lowering her arm and slowly releasing it as he emphatically asserted, ‘It’s over. I told you it was finished this morning.’
This morning? Sunny glanced sharply at Bryce. Before or after she had agreed to marry him? There was a very disturbing question of integrity here.
He sensed her glance, caught the worry in it, and instantly answered, ‘Before you woke up, Sunny.’
Even so, he had gone to bed with her first. Had he been testing her out before giving up Kristen?
‘Damn you, Bryce!’ his ex-fiancée stormed. ‘I would have backed down if you’d given me the chance.’
‘No chance.’ He released Sunny’s hand to put his arm around her shoulders in a very possessive and reassuring hug. ‘I now have the wife I want.’
‘A bargain basement bride, no doubt,’ Kristen jeered, switching her gaze to Sunny, her grey eyes blazing scorn. ‘You didn’t even have the sense to marry him in the State of California.’
Which totally bewildered Sunny. What did California have to do with getting married?
‘I’m sure it’s beyond your comprehension, Kristen,’ Bryce bit out coldly, ‘but Sunny didn’t marry me with an eye to a divorce settlement. Nor did she put a price on having a child.’
Money? Was that the currency of marriage in California?
‘Then more fool her, with your record of using women as you please. Sucked her right in, did you, Bryce?’ Kristen mocked savagely.
Sunny’s mind whirled around this hasty marriage in Nevada—all Bryce’s doing…except for her consent…which he’d started working for as soon as he’d had sex with her!
‘I think women tend to draw from men what they put out themselves,’ Bryce commented coldly. ‘Users do get used, Kristen. It so happens Sunny is a different breed to you.’
‘And such a convenient windfall for you,’ she flashed back at him. ‘Except this cheap move of yours is going to cost you, Bryce. Cost you