Of course, Luis’s announcement that they were already married had caused some shock and consternation, but, once the surprise had died down, no one had truly minded. Instead, every one of their guests had been only too happy to attend the ceremony in the cathedral—only now the ceremony was to mark not their wedding but the renewal of their vows and to have their marriage blessed by the archbishop.
‘Tired?’ Luis questioned softly, hearing her sigh.
‘A little.’ Isabelle nodded. ‘It is very late.’
In Spanish style, the ceremony hadn’t started until seven in the evening and there had been a huge party to which all the village had been invited.
‘I’ve danced my feet off.’ She laughed, reaching up to unpin the beautiful lace mantilla she had worn instead of a traditional veil and then rubbing her temples wearily. ‘And my ears are still ringing from all the fireworks.’
The first firecrackers had been set off as they had emerged from the cathedral and the explosions had continued all through the night, only dying away, reluctantly, as the faint pink threads of dawn had begun to creep through the night sky.
‘It was a wonderful day!’
Through slightly misty eyes she looked down at her hand, softly touching the ring that gleamed there. A new ring for a new beginning.
It was of an unusual design, two hands holding a heart between them. And inside the ring was engraved the words, ‘No tengo nada, porque darte.’ The design was taken, Luis had told her, from a ring that had been found in a sunken Spanish galleon. And the words meant, ‘I have nothing, for it is given unto you.’
‘The best day of my life.’
‘The best?’
Luis had come behind her, strong fingers stroking the exposed nape of her neck, massaging weary muscles.
‘Better even than our first wedding?’
Emerald eyes meeting bronze in the mirror, Isabelle considered thoughtfully, then slowly she nodded.
‘Our secret wedding was wonderful—magic—but I was so young then. Little more than a child. I loved you but I was immature and unrealistic, I was just a girl; I didn’t really know what I was doing.’
‘And now?’
The way that the massaging fingers stilled on the back of her neck told her without words just how important this was to him.
‘Now, I know exactly who I am—what I want.’
His slow smile was her reward, and the glow in his eyes intensified a thousandfold.
‘And that is?’
In a rustle of fine silk, Isabelle got to her feet and laced her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his in a deeply loving kiss.
‘Now I’m a fully grown woman, my darling, with all of a woman’s love for my man.’
‘Is that a fact? So tell me…’
Once more those tanned fingers were busy behind her back, but this time they were unfastening swiftly and efficiently the silky ribbons that laced up the bodice of her dress.
‘How do you feel about showing me exactly what this grown woman’s love involves?’
Isabelle’s smile grew, became wider, positively beatific.
‘I thought you’d never ask. I can’t imagine anything I’d like more.’
‘A Dios gracias,’ Luis muttered fervently. ‘Because if I don’t make love to you right now I swear I will—’
‘You won’t have to,’ Isabelle interrupted, pushing her fingers into the black silk of his hair and drawing his mouth down to hers for a long, deep, passionate kiss. ‘Because I feel exactly the same way.’
And as Luis swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the bed she smiled again in anticipation of the perfect end to a perfect day. It had been a day of public ceremony and public celebration but now, at last, this private time was theirs.