Relief that she had been wrong about Elise gave way to a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had chased after Kyle in a fit of jealousy and had ended up intruding on what must be a very private moment. A moment that did not include her, because Kyle was not visiting Elise or any other old girlfriend. On the day of his wedding to her, he was visiting Nicola and Evan, the wife and child he had loved and lost.
* * *
Three hours later, hours that Eva had filled by first getting her hair and nails done then sitting in the kitchen sipping tea, she finally started to get ready for her wedding.
An odd, shaky relief filled her when she heard Kyle's Maserati return. After those moments at the cemetery, her imagination had run wild and she had half expected him to walk away from the marriage.
Although, why would he? she thought flatly. After all, to Kyle it was only a marriage of convenience.
The heat of the day grew more intense and oppressive as Eva changed into the dress Sophie had designed for the simple church-and-garden wedding. A strapless gown with a tight bodice and full, romantic skirt, the dress was made even more gorgeous by the fabric, which was a soft, pale-pink-and-rose-print silk with an ivory tulle overskirt.
Unfortunately, when she came to fasten the dress, which had about thirty tiny cloth-covered buttons at the back, she could get so far and no farther.
Taking a deep breath, she checked her watch. She was running to schedule, but she hadn't considered she would need help dressing and now she was out of time to call someone to come and help her. Another one of the little details she should have thought of, but which, in the rush to get things done, had escaped her.
She glanced out the window at the smooth sweep of lawn she had made sure was mowed and manicured, to where a group of men were setting up a white tent. Walking back to the mirror, she examined her reflection. Her hair was perfect, falling loose and tousled down her back, the soft waves held with hairspray. To match the dress, she had pulled a swath back from her forehead and fastened it with a clip studded with fresh flowers.
Turning, she tried to do up a few more buttons using the mirror, but when the silk-covered buttons kept slipping from her fingers and her arms began to ache, she gave up on the job. Ideally, Jacinta should have been here to help her, but her last text had explained that she'd had car trouble and would meet her at the church.
After checking the time again, Eva stepped out into the hall and went in search of Kyle, hoping against hope that he hadn't left for the church. A door swung open. Kyle emerged from his room and she drew a breath. In a charcoal-gray morning suit, with a white shirt and a maroon silk tie that subtly echoed the deeper color of the roses on her dress, Kyle looked breathtaking.
She half expected him to say that he knew she had followed him that morning, but instead his gaze simply swept her and lingered. She found herself blushing at the soft, intense glow that seemed to make his gaze even bluer.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to see you until the church."
"Jacinta's having car trouble, so I've lost my helper." She turned and showed him the buttons she hadn't been able to reach and tried not to sound too breathless and panicky.
She had always wondered why brides got so uptight and nervous. Now she knew. There were a hundred and one things that could go wrong. Right now she was beginning to wonder if anything would go right. "If you could do the rest of the buttons?"
"No problem. I was going to break the rules and come and see you anyway."
Swallowing at the intent way he was looking at her and feeling utterly confused because she had convinced herself that the attraction he had felt for her had fizzled out, Eva led the way into the sitting room where the light was better and waited for him to fasten the last remaining buttons.
Kyle gently moved her hair aside. The backs of his fingers brushed her skin, the small searing touch making her breath come in. She closed her eyes and worked at controlling her breathing as he systematically fastened each tiny button.
When he was finished, she opened her eyes and remembered that she was facing a mirror and that Kyle had been able to see her face the whole time. She blushed and hoped like mad that he had been too busy with the buttons to notice that she was having a minor meltdown.
He met her gaze in the mirror. "I expected you to wear white."
She stiffened a little at the reference to her virginity. "I'm over the white dress. It would have reminded me too much of my last wedding."
"The Dolphin Bay extravaganza."
"Which, luckily, paid for the dress."
He produced a case that he must have set down on a side table while he dealt with the buttons. "You should wear these today."
Still off-balance at her response to Kyle, she opened the box and went still inside when she saw a pair of diamond studs and a pendant that matched her engagement ring. "I can't accept these."
"You're an Atraeus bride and these are wedding jewels, a tradition in the Messena and Atraeus families. Mario would have given you a set if he had been alive, and Constantine will expect it." His expression softened. "Aside from that, I want you to have them."
A blush of pleasure went through her that Kyle wanted to give her a special wedding gift, even if he had tacked that bit on the end. The mention of Mario and of Constantine Atraeus, the formidable head of the Atraeus family and CEO of The Atraeus Group, made her feel even more strained. Family was important and celebrated in the Atraeus clan, even if she had never been quite sure that she had been accepted.
Kyle took the pendant from the case and unclipped it. "You don't have to wear them for me. Wear them for Mario."
"That's not fair."
"It wasn't meant to be. Turn around."
She turned and found herself once again facing the large mirror that sat over the mantel of the fireplace. As Kyle fastened the pendant, her heart turned over in her chest. Framed by the carved gilt frame of the mirror, they could have been two people who belonged in another era, another time. She touched the pretty jewel where it hung suspended in the faint hollow of her breasts. Such a small thing, yet it added an indefinable air of nurturing and belonging that made her throat close up. Like the engagement ring, she loved the pendant, not because of its value, but because of what it said about hers. "It's beautiful. Thank you."
Feeling strained and a little misty-eyed, she took the diamond studs when Kyle handed them to her. After removing the pretty pearl studs she had inserted earlier, she fastened them in place. As she did so, she couldn't help being fiercely glad that the wedding to Jeremy had not gone ahead.
Kyle had been right. For all Jeremy's plusses in terms of a convenient marriage, he had been superficial and utterly self-centered. He would never have offered to buy her even a token engagement ring, and he had expected her to pay for the wedding rings and a new wardrobe for him. "This is turning out to be an expensive wedding for you."
Kyle grinned as he checked his watch. "Lucky for me I have a bank."
* * *
Half an hour later, the limousine Eva had ordered arrived. Still feeling flustered but relieved, she attached the ivory tulle veil that slid in just above her rose clip, picked up the bouquets for herself and Jacinta that she'd ordered from her favorite florist, grabbed her handbag with her cell and strolled out to the car.
A tall dark man was leaning down, speaking to the limousine driver. He straightened and half turned and she went into shock all over again as she recognized one of her Atraeus cousins. "Constantine. What are you doing here?"
Normally, Constantine was based on Medinos, the Eastern Mediterranean island that was home to the Atraeus, Messena and Ambrosi families. Occasionally, he and his wife, Sienna, spent time in Sydney, where The Atraeus Group had an office, but he seldom came to New Zealand.
Constantine grinned. "I heard there was a wedding, so I came to give you away."
She was glad she had thought to remember her handbag because now she needed a handkerchief. Juggling the bouquets, she found one and tried to delicately blow her nose so her makeup wouldn't be spoiled. "Who told you?"
"Kyle rang a couple of days ago, so I cleared my schedule. Sienna and Amber came with me. Lucas and Carla and Zane and Lilah were in Sydney, so they hitched a ride in the jet."
Meaning that quite a large chunk of the Atreaus family, with almost no notice, had dropped what they were doing in their high-powered, fast-paced lives to be at her wedding. Eva sniffed, abruptly overwhelmed. With Mario's death, she had been feeling more and more cast adrift, and her natural instinct was to cut ties and minimize the hurt. But it seemed that the more she tried to walk away from this family, the more they found ways to tie her to them.