Page 46 of Legacy of His Revenge

James Carney had avoided the harsh punishment originally planned by a vengeful Matias, but life had changed considerably for him. With the company no longer in his hands, he had been paid off and dispatched down to Cornwall where he would be able to lead a relatively quiet life, without the trappings of glamour that had been gained from his underhand dealings with Tomas Rivero. Occasionally he dropped Sophie an email and occasionally she answered, but she had no affection for the man who had made her mother’s life and her own a nightmare of having to beg for handouts and always with the threat that those handouts could stop at any given moment.

Matias was in possession of the company, which his father should have jointly owned, and it was now a thriving concern, another strand in his hugely successful empire.

But it was with Eric where Sophie felt the greatest flush of pleasure, for her brother could not have been made more welcome by Matias and he was developing skills that still continued to amaze her. He was no longer living in his own little world, really only able to communicate with her, his carers and a handful of other patients. Now, he was making strides in communicating with the outside world, without the fear and panic that had previously dogged him, and she could only think that Matias’s patience and little innocent Luciana were partly responsible for that progress. And maybe, she occasionally thought, he was intuitive enough to realise that the sister who came to visit him was no longer stressed out. He was safe for ever. He had begun a specially adapted computer course and was showing all sorts of talents hitherto untapped.

Sophie thought of her daughter as she was driven to the church. Luciana would be there, with her nanny, and although the ceremony would mean nothing to her she would enjoy the photos when she got older.

Sophie breathed in deeply as she stepped out of the chauffeur-driven Bentley and then she was in the church, as nervous as a kitten to be marrying the man who meant everything to her.

Matias turned as everyone did, as the music began to play. This was the final piece of the jigsaw. He was marrying the woman he loved and he could not have been prouder.

The breath hitched in his throat as he looked at her walk slowly up the aisle towards him. The cream dress fitted her body like a glove. She had returned to her former weight and all those luscious curves were back, tempting him every single time he looked at her. She was holding a modest bouquet of pale pink flowers and her veil was secured by a tiara of rosebuds that mimicked the flowers in her hand.

She was radiant. She was his. Possessiveness flared inside him, warming him.

He’d never contemplated marriage but now he knew he wouldn’t have been complete without it, without her having his ring on her finger. And the wedding could not have been more to his taste. He might be a billionaire, but this simple affair was perfect.

‘You look stunning,querida,’ he murmured, when she was finally standing beside him and before they both turned to the priest.

‘So do you.’ Sophie gazed up at Matias. He did this to her, even though she saw him daily, even though he was as much a part of her life as the air she breathed. He made her breathing ragged and he made her heart skip a beat.

The special girl in my life, Matias thought with a swell of pride. Well...one of them.

He looked to the back of the church and there was the other one, being cradled by the nanny, fast asleep.

Matias smiled and knew that this was exactly where he was meant to be, and much later, when all the revelry had died down and the last of the guests had departed, he felt it again, that flare of hot possession as he gazed at the woman who was now his wife.

The following morning, they would be off on their honeymoon. Luciana would be there, as would her nanny and his mother.

‘Why are you grinning?’ Sophie asked, reaching to undo the pearl buttons of the lavender dress she had slipped into after the wedding ceremony had finished.

Sprawled on the four-poster bed in the hotel where they would be spending the night before flying by private jet to one of Matias’s villas in Italy, he was a vision of magnificent male splendour. He had undone the buttons of his white shirt and it hung open, exposing a sliver of bronzed, hard chest.

‘I’m grinning,’ he drawled, ‘because not many newly-weds take the groom’s mother with them on their honeymoon.’ He beckoned her to him with a lazy curl of his finger and watched, incredibly turned on, as she sashayed towards him, ridding herself of her clothes as she got nearer to his prone figure.

By the time she was standing next to the bed, she was wearing only the lacy bra that worked hard to contain her generous breasts and the matching, peach-coloured lacy pants.

Whatever he had to say to her flew through the window because he couldn’t resist rolling to his side and then sliding his finger under the lacy pants so that he could press his face against her musky, honeyed wetness, flicking an exploring tongue along the crease of her womanhood and settling to enjoy her for a few moments as she opened her legs a fraction to allow his tongue entry.

Then he lay back and sighed with pure pleasure when, naked, she lay next to him and slipped her hand under his shirt.

‘You and Luciana mean the world to her,’ Matias said softly, ‘and I want to thank you for that, for taking the sadness out of my mother’s life and...’ he stroked her hair and kissed her gently on her full mouth ‘...I want to thank you for being my wife. You put the sound and colour into my world and I would be nothing without you.’

Sophie pushed aside his shirt and licked his flat brown nipple until he was groaning and urging her down as he unzipped his trousers.

‘I love you so much,’ she whispered. ‘Now you’re going to have to keep quiet, husband of mine, because it’s our honeymoon and there are a lot of things I want to do with you before the night is over...’

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