Epilogue
Now this is a good day to marry."
Nasim glanced over at his best man. Arif looked rather dashing in his tuxedo. Nasim pulled uncomfortably at his tie and almost wished himself into traditional robes. When in America, however, he was doing as his Ginni wished. He folded his hands in front of him.
"Amal picked the date—she now has Ginni believing the stars hold our fates."
Arif smiled. "And you don't? Fate brought you the right wife, Nasim. You should think kindly of kismet."
He opened his mouth to answer, but the string quartet changed from Vivaldi to the traditional bridal march. Nasim pulled at his bow tie again. Sweat trickled down his back. The heat of Louisiana wrapped around him like an invisible, wet towel, far more intense than the heat of the desert. The heat had little to do with how his heart jumped, however. His bride had just appeared.
She walked down the aisle in her red wedding dress, richly trimmed with gold, her veil in place, and her father holding her arm. In the front row, Jamie-Sue Leeland dabbed at her eyes. She sat ramrod straight, a huge, white hat half obscuring her face. Nasim's family sat on the opposite side of the aisle, all in traditional robes and no doubt sweltering just as he was, despite the shade of the oak trees that dotted the Leeland plantation.
White chairs lined the garden lawn. Ginni walked between them, down the deep blue carpet that created an aisle. She reached him under the arbor decked with gardenias and white roses, and Aldrich Leeland gave Ginni's hand to Nasim.
Aldrich leaned in. "You make her happy, or I’ll have her nana put a gree-gree on you that’ll have boils breakin' out all over."
"Daddy!" Ginni threw off her veil and shot her father a frown. “Not funny!”
Nasim gave a shrug. He glanced over to his family. His mother had actually made the trip from Paris to Louisiana to attend. He still didn't know what to make of that or how Ginni had talked the woman into coming, but he would deal with that later. For now, he had a bride to wed for the second time.
Ginni had wanted her family at her wedding—and what his Ginni wanted, she got. It had taken some months to arrange all the visas. And settling a deal with Leeland Enterprises had smoothed the path a good deal, for Aldrich Leeland had senators who owed him favors. At least with Ginni in the family, Nasim knew the deal would not end up to the disadvantage of Zahkim. Ginni would not allow that.
He took her hand and bided his time as the ceremony began. It seemed thankfully short. Plus, he got to kiss Ginni at the end of it. That he held to be an advantage. Whistles and cheers greeted him taking Ginni in his arms. When his lips touched hers, he forgot about that. Forgot everything but the sweet taste of her, the caress of her fingers along the back of his neck, the soft moan she gave.
And then someone was thumping his back, and photos had to be taken and a cake cut, and he had a second first dance with the bride.
Whirling Ginni over the dance floor in his arms, he smiled down at her. "I think we should marry often. This is a good excuse to have another honeymoon."
She grinned up at him. "Ah, cher, every day is our honeymoon. But you were wrong about this being like business. Handshakes come and go. But this…this, cher, this is a deal that is set to last forever."
He laughed and danced Ginni to the edge of the floor and into the darkness outside the lights where he could kiss her as he wished, as she deserved, and as he knew he would every day of his life.
End of The Sheikh's Unexpected Wife