AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was before she laid eyes on the strapless, sweetheart gown in ruched ivory silk chiffon, and her neglected romantic soul demanded she buy it. So she had, because she touched the dress she imagined magic.
A magical marriage filled with light and laughter and love.
A magical mirage of a handsome groom with stars in his eyes and a bride who believed in the happily ever after she'd always dreamed about.
A magical mystery that despite their motivations for this marriage they were embarking on something truly wonderful today.
Taking one last look in the mirror, satisfied she hadn't streaked her makeup in a fit of misplaced sentimentality, she shook her head. Magic wasn't real and she was foolish to dream of anything other than what this marriage was: a business arrangement.
She slipped off her robe and padded across the room to the wardrobe, her fingers trembling as she slid the zip open on the dress's carrier bag. Every metallic slide, every crinkle of the thick plastic, every rustle of silk chiffon, brought her closer to her wedding and her stomach twisted as she reverently lifted the dress out.
Emotion clogged her throat and she swallowed several times as the soft flowing skirt cascaded to the floor in a silken ripple. The dress was a dream and her breath whooshed out as she steeled her nerve and slowly, carefully, stepped into it, wishing she could channel some magic.
Closing her eyes, she tugged at the bodice, smoothed the skirt, ignoring the sick churning of nerves gone awry as the reality of marrying Nick hit home, hard.
Almost faint from anxiety, she took a deep breath, another, before opening her eyes…and gasping.
She looked like a bride.
But it wasn't the divine dress or the fancy hairdo or the immaculate makeup that made all of this real.
The starry-eyed expression in her frightened gaze said it all.
In spite of every sensible thing she kept telling herself, she looked like a bride on the brink of marrying the man of her dreams.
Chapter Sixteen
Brittany's breath caught as she stepped off of the portico and got her first glimpse of her husband-to-be.
Nick stood under a beautiful poinciana lush with vivid crimson blossoms, his black tux framed against the vibrant colour. With the sun setting behind him casting a golden glow over everything, and the fairy lights strung through the trees twinkling to life, the entire scene was surreal.
It shouldn't be this romantic, this enticing, this special.
This wedding was all business.
Tell that to my heart, she thought, as she took a tentative step, her stiletto sandals skidding as they hit the sandstone pavers.
She couldn't see Nick's expression from this distance but as she walked towards him the shadows cast from the blossoms cleared and what she saw took her breath away all over again.
Honest to goodness, undiluted, happiness.
Why would he look like that? He was the one who'd proposed this ridiculous arrangement in the first place, had made it more than clear what they'd get out of it.
So why the proud expression of a man who'd glimpsed his real bride for the first time?
Her heart hammered in time with her steps, beating a rapid rhythm as she all but tripped towards him, eager to get this over and done with.
While the setting might be picture perfect and her groom beyond handsome, this wasn't how she'd envisioned her wedding ceremony. Sure, the groom might be the same guy she'd imagined, but that was a lifetime ago. So much had happened, so much had changed, and she was a fool if she thought for one second that anything about this marriage resembled her dreams of years gone by.
The closer she got, the louder her heart roared, until she could barely hear by the time she stood next to him, a nervous, trembling mess.
'You're a beautiful bride,' Nick murmured in her ear, so close his warm breath raised a trail of tiny goosebumps along her neck, and she knew while this marriage might be all business on paper, she wondered how on earth she'd manage to keep it platonic in the bedroom.
'Thanks.'
She cast a nervous glance at the civilian minister in a white suit, and a pair of bored witnesses in hotel uniforms. Her eyes squeezed shut as she dragged air into her lungs.
How had it come to this?
