To Make a Marriage(18)

'I can see you've been very busy this morning, Adam,' Andie interrupted.  'But shouldn't you have consulted me first about the type of engagement  ring I would like? You-'

'I thought the emeralds would go with your eyes.' He shrugged. 'But if you have other ideas … ?'

An emerald and diamond engagement ring sounded wonderful, especially in  view of the fact that until yesterday she hadn't known she was going to  have one at all. But, even so, Adam instructing the jewellers that was  what they were to show her was just another example of his  high-handedness.

'Not particularly,' she dismissed, turning to pick up her bag. 'I would just like to do my own choosing, if you don't mind.'

'I don't mind at all,' he accepted, taking a light hold of her arm as  they left the apartment. 'Your father has some good news too. He's  managed to secure a church wedding for us at three o'clock three weeks  on Saturday,' he announced.

'It's not what you know but who you know,' Andie muttered, her earlier  excitement giving way to irritation. She had the feeling much like being  on a runaway express train-with her merely a helpless passenger!

'Quite honestly, Andie, I don't care how Rome managed it,' Adam stated  as he held the car door open for her to get inside. 'Besides, that extra  couple of weeks will allow time for any other arrangements we want to  make.'

'It will also allow time for me to look even more pregnant,' Andie pointed out.

Adam turned to smile at her as he got into the car beside her. 'I told  you, Andie; you look beautiful. Pregnancy obviously suits you.'

She was also, she inwardly acknowledged, starting to sound like a  shrill-voiced harridan. She really didn't have any objection to any of  these arrangements-apart from the fact that her father and Adam seemed  to have taken over! Besides, she didn't want Adam to think he was  getting a shrew for a wife …

'I'm sure it will all work out,' she replied noncommittally.

Adam reached out and squeezed her hand. 'I'm going to be the model husband and father,' he assured her huskily.

Andie couldn't help it, she spluttered with laughter. 'Now that I just  have to see,' she chuckled once she felt able to talk again. 'Adam  Munroe, one of the world's most eligible bachelors, a model husband and  father! Do you have any idea how to go about achieving that?'

Adam arched arrogant brows at her laughter. 'Your father managed it, so why shouldn't I?'                       
       
           



       

Her humour faded completely. Her father had 'managed' it because Barbara  had been his wife and the mother of his children; Adam only had her.

'Perhaps you're right,' she responded flatly, turning to look sightlessly out of the car window.

She had known in Majorca, when she'd accepted Adam's proposal, that this  marriage was going to be fraught with emotional tension. But actually  living it was completely different from knowing it …

'What did I say wrong now?' Adam asked softly at her continued silence.

Andie forced her panicked feelings back into the recesses of her mind.  There was no reason, absolutely none, she told herself firmly, why her  marriage to Adam shouldn't be a complete success.

'Nothing.' She reached out and lightly touched his arm.

The choosing of her engagement ring was much more fun than she had  imagined it would be, Adam's indulgence knowing no bounds as he  encouraged her to try on any ring that took her fancy.

There were no prices on any of the rings-the exclusivity of the  jewellers clearly indicated that if you needed to know the price then  you couldn't afford it!-but even so some of the jewels were so big as to  be garish in Andie's eyes.

The ring she finally settled on was definitely not in that category, an  emerald and diamond cluster, one large emerald surrounded by eight  smaller diamonds.

'There is a wedding ring to complement this particular ring,' the male assistant told them.

'I-'

'We'll look at it,' Adam answered the man firmly. 'And a plain gold wedding ring is suitable for me,' he added decisively.

Andie turned slowly to look at him as the male assistant moved  unhurriedly to get the requested rings. Adam intended wearing a wedding  ring?

He looked at her in amusement at her obvious surprise. 'A model husband and father, remember?' he teased.

'And that includes wearing a wedding ring?' She couldn't say she wasn't  pleased that Adam intended to wear this public announcement of being a  married man; she was just stunned that he was choosing to do so.

'Yes, it does,' he told her with certainty. 'I-'

'Here we are, sir, madam.' The assistant returned with the matching  wedding ring to Andie's choice of engagement ring, and another tray  containing an assortment of male wedding rings.

Her own wedding ring was shaped to fit around the cluster, also studded  with emeralds and diamonds. But, to Andie's amazement, Adam took as much  time choosing his wedding ring as she had her engagement ring, finally  settling on a thin plain gold band. She had to admit, it suited the  long, artistic slenderness of his hand.

Although Adam wasn't quite so happy with his own choice when Andie insisted on buying it for him!

'That was unnecessary,' he told her stiltedly when they left the shop a  short time later, Andie's engagement ring firmly on her finger, the two  wedding rings packed away in their respective boxes.

Andie reached out and touched his arm. 'Not to me,' she assured him. If  he intended wearing a wedding ring, then it was going to be one that she  had bought for him. Otherwise it just wouldn't mean the same thing.

He seemed about to say something else, but then thought better of it. 'Thank you,' he finally accepted.

She gave a mischievous smile. 'You're welcome. Not very good at  accepting gifts yourself, are you?' Her own rings must have cost several  hundred times more than Adam's wedding ring had cost her.

He grimaced. 'Probably because I've very rarely been given any.'

Andie looked up at him thoughtfully. 'Not even when you were a child?'  she probed gently, realising, and not for the first time, just how  little she really knew about his early years.

Adam gave a bitter laugh. 'Especially not then!'

'But-'

'Leave it, Andie,' he grated. 'I promise I'll try to be a little more  gracious about accepting the next time you give me a gift, okay?' he  added with deliberate lightness.

But Andie wasn't fooled for a moment. What sort of parents had he had  not to know the joy of receiving gifts from them at Christmas and on his  birthday … ?

There was still so much about Adam she didn't know, so many facets she  wasn't aware of that had made him the man he was today. Well, maybe she  didn't know them now. But she would. Oh, yes, in time she most  definitely would!



Adam watched her face as they entered the dining-room of the restaurant  he had booked for lunch, knowing by the pleasure that lit up her  features as she saw her father and Audrey already seated there, along  with Andie's sister Harrie and her husband Quinn, that he had done the  right thing in inviting them here to share in their celebration.                       
       
           



       

Up until this moment, he could only hope that he was doing the right  thing in organising this surprise for her. Although he had also realised  that by presenting a fait accompli to her family today it was going to  be less awkward for Andie in the future; the last thing she wanted, or  needed, at the moment was to go around explaining herself to all of  them.

'We'll go out with Danie and Jonas separately once they're back from  their honeymoon,' he assured Andie as they went to join the rest of her  family at the table.

She turned to give him a glowing smile, emerald-coloured eyes  over-bright with unshed tears. 'Thank you.' She squeezed his arm  gratefully.

They might have started this off all wrongly, Adam had decided as he'd  lain alone in his bed the previous evening, but that stopped right here.  Andie deserved to have the best, and a celebration lunch for their  engagement was going to be the start of it.

'My, my, my,' Harrie said as she stood up to congratulate them both. 'Some people will go to any lengths to throw a party!'

Andie laughed softly. 'It's Adam's party.'

'Our party,' he corrected firmly.

Harrie reached up to kiss him warmly on the cheek. 'You've been an  honorary member of our family for so long, it will be nice to make it  official.' She smiled at him.

Adam glanced at Andie, realising she was very close to letting those  tears overflow and spill hotly down her cheeks. 'Show Harrie and Audrey  your ring, Andie,' he instructed teasingly. 'While us men get down to  the more serious matter of studying the menus!'

Lunch was a resounding success, Andie relaxing completely in the company  of her family, laughingly happy, even indulging in a sip of the  champagne Adam ordered for a celebration toast.

Now all he had to do was try to get her to become that relaxed in his  own company. All he had to do … ! That wasn't going to be so easy.