After the Storm (All I've Ever Needed)(34)

Stephano was particularly pleased that he could park his ‘baby’, as he called his car, securely in the building’s underground car park. Natalie teased him that they would have to leave one child at home alone if they had more than two since they couldn’t get a third child seat in the back of the car. He promised to give it up when that time came, but begged her not to have triplets the first time around because he needed time to get used to the idea of letting his first ‘baby’ go.

Her brother, Natalie knew, would be the first in line to take it off Stephano’s hands if and when that time came.

Surprisingly Nathan had objected quite strongly to her dating Stephano. She knew that he was overly protective because of the abuse she’d suffered at Michael’ hands, but it had been a shock when he met Stephano and had mistaken his confidence for arrogance. He warned Natalie that Stephano was a player, threatening, “If he messes with you, Sis, I swear I’ll give him twice the beating I would have given that bastard Michael if I’d known where he lived.”

Nathan was an inch taller at 6’4”, but their shoulders were almost equally broad. While Nathan tapered dramatically to a lean waist, Stephano’s torso was bulkier. Nathan had studied karate as a child and had competed for the local club. He still had a lean, muscled fighter’s body and with his karate skills would no doubt deliver some lethal blows to Stephano’s anatomy. Stephano, on the other hand, could probably bench press her brother’s weight. If he caught Nathan in his muscular arms there would be little escape, but he would have to catch him first—she had witnessed Nathan’s fleet footwork when he’d competed and won against much older boys. She would hate to see them fight. It would be a tough contest and for her there would be no winner.

But Stephano had invited Nathan out for beers and they seemed to have talked man to man and come to an understanding. Then he’d pulled the coup de grace, arranging for them to have an afternoon of boys’ fun in his car at Silverstone Circuit. It had been shameless bribery, Natalie knew, but she loved Stephano for going out of his way to defuse her brother’s antagonism. It would have been tough if both of her close male relatives treated Stephano like he had committed a crime; her father was still barely civil to him. Her mother had taken one look at Stephano when Natalie had brought him round for a formal introduction and winked at her daughter in understanding. Later, when Natalie had been helping her bring the platters of food to the dining room she had whispered, “Oh! My! God! He’s so hot!” She’d told Natalie not to worry about her father, it might take years, she’d said, but he would eventually come around.

Her father had grudgingly admitted, though, that he’d been impressed with Stephano’s confidence when he had formally asked permission to marry her later that evening. Her father had been as friendly as a rabid Rottweiler, his words, when Stephano had requested a word in private, but Stephano had not let that fact faze him. He’d made his request and promised to try his best to make her happy.

Stephano’s parents had been welcoming, as he’d promised her, although his father hadn’t said very much. In many ways his father reminded her of her own with his quiet ways and his love of reading the newspaper and watching sport. The meeting of their mothers to plan the wedding had gone well, with only a few heated disagreements over details, which they had eventually managed to sort out between themselves.

Natalie’s and Stephano’s colleagues took the news of their relationship well, though Morgan teased, “So he’s the big spender. Now I know what the two of you got up to when you,” he curled his elegant fingers into quotation marks “worked late.”

“We worked, Morgan,” she insisted, blushing as she remembered the memorable occasion when they hadn’t.

“You mean you worked it.”

“Do I have to get Stephano over here?” she threatened.

“Yes, get your big, bad man to come over here to beat up little, skinny me just because I’m telling the truth!” he flounced off pretending to be offended, but he was chuckling.

He and their other colleagues all attended the reception after the registry wedding Natalie wanted. With few close girlfriends she had never envisioned a large wedding and Stephano had been happy to have a simple, elegant wedding, and a lavish reception afterwards.

Natalie’s strapless, silk organza and satin hand-embroidered, sweetheart wedding gown echoed that understated elegance. Stephano looked magnificent as always in a crisp white shirt and dark charcoal suit which emphasized his broad shoulders. He didn’t used styling gel as he did for the office and a mischievous curl fell across his forehead, adding to his roguish appeal.