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Anna hovered, alone, just out of view from the guests and the man who stood waiting at the top of the aisle. She felt an ache in her chest. There was no father to walk her down the aisle. No friends eagerly waiting to see her exchange rings, no family to witness her join herself to another person before guests, the priest, the sun and sky. She was so surprised to find want in her breast. The want that made her ache and tears press against the backs of her eyes. The want that made her wish so very much that she was doing this for love. That the man who would place his ring, his ownership, on her truly loved her. She had seen so many different versions of Dimitri over the last few weeks: the demanding, uncompromising man; the vengeful angel; the father to her child...the seducer, full of the dark promises he’d made her that night she’d agreed to be his wife.
She peered around the pillar that had been her protection until now, looking up at the large, sprawling family, all talking away and creating more noise than she could have expected for such a solemn event. Seated at the front, beside Eleni and her husband, was Flora with Amalia, happily babbling away with the older woman.
This was why she was marrying Dimitri. Not because of flowery words and promises she would neither have trusted, nor believed. Happy-ever-afters were for other people. Anna was making a life for her daughter, providing her and even her own mother with a security that she was simply not capable of by herself. This was what forced her to put one foot in front of the other as she began the long walk down the aisle to the man she would spend the rest of her life with.
* * *
As Dimitri saw Anna walk towards him, something stirred within his chest. She looked...alone. She had no one to walk with her, no one amongst the guests. Had he done that to her? Guilt poked and prodded painfully somewhere deep within him. She had no one to protect her...protect her from him. He had told himself time and time again why he was doing this, why she had forced him to do this.
But could he blame her? Her actions and decisions had been in defence of their child. Protecting her from a man who had been imprisoned, and was then said to have fathered a whole brood of illegitimates across the globe. Would he have not chosen to cut a person like that from his daughter’s life? Within his own realisation, he could only hope that one day she too might understand what had brought them to the altar.
Now, seeing her make slow and steady progress towards him, he made a silent vow. The moment his ring was on her finger, she would be his to protect, just as he protected their daughter. The weight of that silent promise was heavier than anything he’d ever experienced. And for a moment he thought he’d felt it settle about his shoulders like a physical thing. Until he realised that it was Danyl, his best man, standing beside Antonio, his other best man, having thrown an arm about his shoulder.
‘She is a thing of beauty, my friend.’
Yes, Dimitri acknowledged, she really was. The low neckline of the dress, exposing the deep tan of her skin, teased and hinted at a sensual promise that she had yet to offer him. The swirls of lace detail covering her chest and arms drew his gaze across her upper body, and the soft silk skirts kicked out each time she took a step closer to him. Desire pooled low in his stomach. The dress hugged every curve of her body, clinging tightly to her chest and arms, but the low neckline made his hand itch to slip beneath the fabric and feel the softness of her breast. She was the last woman he had touched, and she would now be the last woman he would ever touch. And he would touch her. He would have her. But only when she came to him.
The light caught on the tiny diamond earrings in her ears, making them sparkle in the setting sun. That was how he had imagined her during those dark days in prison, the light that pierced the darkness around him, the one memory he had clutched to him. If he had imagined her wearing a white dress, about to take his ring, he had purposefully removed the thought from his mind the day he’d thought she’d used him for money.
As she drew level with him he caught a momentary look of uncertainty, of doubt, but it was replaced with determination in a heartbeat. He knew the strength of will required to force away demons, and that called to him.
* * *
As the priest began, Anna turned to Dimitri, hoping that her eyes expressed the thanks she felt at the service being conducted in English. But as the words wrapped around her heart, she felt full of a kind of sadness rather than joy. Dimitri’s voice rang with such sincerity as he promised to love her, to honour her above all else, and she wondered whether that could ever be true.
Lost amongst the words and her feelings, she almost missed the moment when the priest pronounced them man and wife. Dimitri turned then, giving her one last breath before his head lowered to hers and his lips claimed her for eternity.
The kiss was everything, overpowering and all-consuming. His lips unlocked hers, and the moment she felt his tongue against hers she was lost. Her arms came up around his neck of their own volition, clinging to him as if he were her only lifeline. Desire drenched her from head to foot as he brought her body against the hard muscles of his chest, pressing her breasts against his steel torso. She felt his thighs against hers, through the thin material of the silk skirts, and the evidence of his own desire pressed between her hips, shocking her, making her lose her breath to his mouth, the kiss, to him.
She was oblivious to everything but Dimitri...until the first spattering of something hit her back and caught in her hair. Then another wave of the tiny little bullets pelted her arms and back again. That was when she heard the cries from the guests and looked up to find rice caught in Dimitri’s thick, dark curls.
‘Did no one warn you?’ he asked, his eyes serious, belying his playful tone.
For a second she thought ‘no’. No one had warned her about such a kiss. The kind that battered away the walls around her heart, the kind that destroyed her promises not to share his bed.
And then she realised he meant the rice. She’d helped Flora, Eleni, Nella and many more female family members fill hundreds of little bags full of rice rather than confetti. She hadn’t expected them all to be used, but the rice was working its way under the lace, catching in her hair as much as Dimitri’s. His dark, midnight-blue suit had little white dustings from where the rice had been slung at him.
In a second she was caught up by the wave of emotions coming from the guests—the joy and happiness was palpable on the air. Through the noise she heard Amalia squealing with delight and turned to see her scooping awkward fistfuls of rice and raining them down on Flora’s skirts. The laugh she couldn’t prevent fell from lips still bruised from Dimitri’s kiss, and she realised that she was still encased in his arms.
‘That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh since that night three years ago, agapi mou,’ he said for her ears only. The laughter subsided and she looked at him with sombre eyes, until another wave of rice hit them yet again, and Dimitri raised his arms about her as if to protect her from the onslaught. That one small action touched Anna more than she could ever have imagined, soothing some of the ache that lay in her heart.
* * *
The chaos from the dance area of the incredible hotel holding the reception was something to behold. Dimitri looked on as Antonio stood with his phone pressed to his ear, presumably whispering sweet nothings down the phone to his fiancée, who had been unable to make the trip. Danyl looked bored as he entertained yet another hopeful candidate for the position of his wife. The dark-haired woman beside him looked more interested in Dimitri’s cousin than Danyl, he thought ruefully.
The place beside Dimitri at the head of the table was empty, his father having made his excuses to leave almost the moment dessert had been served. Anna was just bidding his stepmother a surprisingly fond farewell, Eleni’s fingers brushing over the pearl bracelet Anna was wearing, a smile in his stepmother’s eyes Dimitri had never seen before. Eleni caught his gaze just before she left, nodding at him in a way that poked at something in his chest.
All the guests seemed to be having a wonderful time. Flora was at her table with the now sleeping Amalia resting against her shoulder. It reminded him that Anna had no one for her here and prompted his question to her.
‘Would you have wanted your mother to be here? Or, your...?’ He trailed off, realising how crass it was to bring up her father.
Anna turned to him as surprise was replaced by the heavy sigh that escaped her lips. ‘My mother would have probably made a scene, and... I made my peace with my father’s absence three years ago.’
He frowned at the timing, but her words provoked a different thought.
‘Is that why you didn’t try harder to tell me about Amalia?’ He knew his angry words were wrong the moment they left his lips. Hurt slashed her cheeks pink.
‘I thought we put all this behind us when I agreed to marry you. If not—’
