“And now we’ll have another male on the O’Connell team,” Sean said. “Well, he’s a Lucchesi, but you know what I mean.”
“He’s a good guy,” Keir said. “He’s crazy about Fallon.”
“And he knows how to win a battle without spilling blood,” Cullen added. “I mean, I’m sure Ma had her heart set on making this wedding at the Desert Song.”
“She did. But your sister and I explained that the castello means everything to us.”
The O’Connell clan turned as one. Stefano stood in the doorway, wearing a tux, looking as serious and as nervous as they all figured a man was supposed to be on his wedding day.
“I just want to tell you…I love Fallon with all my heart. I know how you cherish her and I promise you, I’ll cherish her, too.”
There was a moment of silence. Then Stefano’s soon-to-be sisters-in-law sniffed and reached for the lace hankies they’d conveniently tucked into their gowns. His new brothers-in-law cleared their throats. And Mary Elizabeth, looking as regal as a duchess, beamed at her growing family as she sailed into the room.
“For the record, once I saw this magnificent castle, I wanted the wedding here, too.” Mary looked at Stefano. “It’s time,” she said softly.
“Yes,” he said, and the smile that lit his face made the women weep all over again.
* * *
Fallon and her bridegroom took their vows on the terrace, beneath a bower woven from a dazzling array of flowers.
It was better to stick with one or two varieties, the wedding planner had told them, but Stefano and Fallon smiled and said they wanted roses and tulips, orchids and hyacinths, violets and pansies and wildflowers.
The breeze was gentle and warm, scented by the sea and the flowers as it whispered over the assembled guests.
Stefano held Fallon’s hand throughout the ceremony. His eyes never left his bride’s face. Her scars were still there, but they were invisible to her, to him, to anyone who knew her.
They’d written the vows themselves, so the words had special meaning. And, though nobody knew it, they’d already planned another ceremony only for the family at the Desert Song. But this ceremony, this place, would always be their very own.
The last words of the ancient ritual that binds man and woman through all eternity sighed away on the breeze.
“Stefano,” the justice said, “you may kiss your bride.”
Stefano smiled and gathered his wife into his arms. “Cara,” he whispered, “Ti amo.”
Fallon smiled, too. “Mo ghrá,” she whispered back, “gráim thú.”
Sean shifted closer to Cullen. “What in heck was that?”
Cullen cleared his throat. “Fine Irishman you are, bro. It was Gaelic. She called him her heart and said she loved him.”
“Wow.” Sean smiled. “Serious stuff.”
“Very.”
Cullen watched his sister kiss her new husband. He looked at his mother and his stepfather, holding hands like a pair of kids. His dark blue gaze moved to Keir, who stood with his arm around Cassie. Keir’s hand was on his wife’s hip but his fingers were splayed possessively over her rounded belly.
Cullen’s throat tightened. The world seemed to tilt. He remembered a woman. A night. A memory that was little more than a whisper in the matrix of time.
“Cullen?” Sean leaned in. “You okay?”
“Sure.” Cullen cleared his throat. “Warm out here, that’s all.”
“What you need is a glass of champagne.”
The string quartet began playing the recessional. Stefano and Fallon turned toward their guests, who rose to their feet, smiling and applauding. The O’Connell brothers shook hands, kissed the women in their family and Sean, always ready for a party, reached behind a flower arrangement and held a magnum of Cristal aloft.
“Ta-da!”
The O’Connells cheered. Sean popped the cork, Keir produced glasses, and the pale golden wine began to flow.
“This’ll cure whatever ails you,” he told Cullen.
“Sounds like a plan,” Cullen replied, and the world turned right side up again.
* * * * *
Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of Dani Collins’ next book,
UNTOUCHED UNTIL HER ULTRA-RICH BILLIONAIRE
To avoid destitution Luli needs outrageously wealthy Gabriel’s help. The multi-billionaire’s solution…? He’ll secure their futures by marrying her! But after sweeping Luli into his luxurious world Gabriel discovers the chemistry with his untouched wife is priceless…
Read on for a glimpse of
UNTOUCHED UNTIL HER ULTRA-RICH BILLIONAIRE
CHAPTER ONE
BORN IN THE Year of the Dragon, Gabriel Dean was dominant, ambitious, passionate and willing to take risks. He jumped for no one.
His signature detachment, however, was not impervious to his grandmother’s ringtone.
The distinctive tinkle of a brass tea bell might have struck some as a sign of affection. And yes, he had seen her shake such a bell on two of the three occasions he had spoken to her in person, but sentiment was not a gene either of them possessed.
No, the bell was a practical choice, being odd enough to draw his attention no matter what was going on around him. Mae Chen’s missives were financial in nature, time sensitive and always lucrative. He didn’t need more money, but he hadn’t joined the eleven zeroes club at thirty by ignoring opportunities to make more.
Therefore, at the first peal, he held up a finger to pause the roundtable discussion of an energy takeover that would make him the de facto owner of a small country. He turned his titanium smartphone onto its custom-made back and touched the sapphire crystal screen.
Transmitted from Luli: Your grandmother has experienced a medical event. Her instructions in such case are to promptly advise you that you are her designated heir. Contact details for her physician are below.
That was new information.
In one fluid move, he tagged the doctor’s number, picked up the phone and rose to leave without explanation. He moved with purpose from the room, more disturbed by the label heir than by his grandmother’s condition.
For one thing, Mae was far too bellicose to suffer anything for long, particularly ill health. She would be on her feet before this call was picked up.
As for Gabriel being her heir, she wouldn’t stipulate such a thing without attaching a symphony’s worth of strings. She had been trying to maneuver him into a beholden state for two decades. It was the reason he had kept his interest in her fortune objective and made no assumptions about his entitlement to it. He religiously returned her invitations to invest with equally advantageous opportunities of his own. Tit for tat, scoop for scoop. No obligations incurred on either side beyond reciprocal courtesy.
“A stroke,” the doctor advised him seconds later. “It’s unlikely she will survive.”
Her transfer to the private clinic had been swift and discreet, the doctor continued.
“I expect this will cause ripples through the financial districts when it’s announced? I didn’t know you were her grandson.”
While Gabriel’s agile brain sifted through the implications of his grandmother being incapacitated, possibly disappearing from his life altogether, the inquisitiveness of the physician’s tone penetrated. He could hear the man’s thoughts buzzing like an annoying mosquito. Buy? Sell? Were there properties that could be snatched up before they were officially on the ma
rket? How could the fine doctor take advantage of this news before anyone else?
Thanks to their mutual exchange of information over the years, Mae had expanded from relatively stable investments in real estate to tech and renewable energy, precious metals and that fickle mistress—oil. None of that could be left without a sitter.
Gabriel assured the doctor he would be there as soon as possible. He messaged his executive assistant to reschedule the meeting he’d abandoned. He also told her to clear his calendar and notify his pilot to ready the jet. As he headed to the elevator, he glanced at the nearest face at a desk and said, “My car, please.”
The woman quickly put her call on hold and his chauffeured Rolls-Royce Phantom arrived at the curb as he pushed through the revolving door at the bottom of his building.
The humidity of a New York summer hit him in the face, but it would be monsoon rains in Singapore. His butler kept his jet packed for all climes and occasions, though. His grandmother kept a room at her house for him, not that he had ever used it. Invitations had come periodically, maybe to discuss the fact she was designating him her heir. He also owned a building of flats in that city. The top one was designated for his use, so he never took his grandmother up on—
“Gabriel!” A woman moved into his path and dipped her sunglasses to reveal her fake lashes and waxed brows. “I thought you might like to take me to lunch. It’s Tina,” she reminded after a beat where he only stared, trying to place her. She splayed her hand on the upper swells of her breasts where they were revealed by her wide-necked blouse. “We met at my father’s retirement party last weekend. You said you liked my song.”
He must have been speaking out of politeness because he had no recollection of her voice, her father or the party.
“I’m traveling,” he dismissed, and stepped around her.
If there was one thing he needed less than more money, it was another social climber throwing herself at him.
He slid onto a cool leather seat and his driver closed him into the air-conditioned interior.
Gabriel glanced at the square face of his gold Girard-Perregaux and calculated the approximate time until he would land.