The only part that was slightly sad was that Connor’s mother and brother didn’t attend.

His mother was still under heavy psychiatric care. She wouldn’t have even known what was going on, according to Connor. As much as I disliked Lenora Templeton, that news saddened me. I only wanted her out of my life. I didn’t want her to end up like this.

His brother had checked himself into rehab. Though he sent his congratulations, Vincent told Connor that he didn’t think he could attend, knowing what Miranda had done and how she had met her end. He felt he was still in too precarious a situation emotionally to leave the safety of the rehab center.

I know that Connor still bore a lot of anger and hurt towards his mother and brother, but he would have liked to have had them there – as long as they behaved themselves.

Things were improving, though. His mother was gradually getting better, and Connor had worked out a deal to take over as interim CEO of the Templeton Group while his brother was in rehab. There was also talk of him buying out Vincent and his mother’s stock and folding his family’s empire into his own operations – which would make his company one of the biggest energy providers in the world.

Overall, their absence was a mixed blessing. It was a reminder of all the pain Connor had suffered the last four weeks, starting with losing his father – but on the other hand, his mother couldn’t cause us any further pain by embarrassing me in front of the other guests.

Of course, my parents made up for her in that department.

“So when do I get a grandchild?” my dad asked first thing at the reception.

“DAD!” I hissed as I turned beet red.

“Gerald, stop,” Mom rebuked him. “They just got married.”

“Thank you!” I said.

Then Mom whispered to me, “But we wouldn’t mind sooner rather than later, dear.”

Oh God.

But it wasn’t all annoyance and embarrassing comments. One of my favorite parts of the day was when my mother came up to me after the ceremony and took my hands in hers. “Oh darling, you look absolutely beautiful,” she smiled, tears welling up in her eyes.

I cried happily right along with her.

“You do, Lily, you’re radiant,” Anh beamed.

Anh! If there’s one consolation in the whole Miranda nightmare, it’s that Anh remained safe and sound and untouched by most of it. But having her there as my bridesmaid was the best possible antidote to all the horror. It reminded me that everything good in my life had survived, and it prompted me to be grateful for the people I loved.

Anh was having a great time, too. Most of that had to do with the guy who walked her up the aisle. As best man, Johnny had finally gotten a day off from his job as my bodyguard, and he was taking full advantage of it – from sneaking kisses with Anh behind the shrubbery, to burning up the dance floor with her at the reception. He had the barest hint of a limp from his injury during the gun battle, but you couldn’t tell unless you knew what to look for. It was the happiest I’d ever seen him – and her, too.

The one person who wasn’t the happiest I’d ever seen them was Sebastian. After his turn officiating the wedding was over – which he nailed, by the way – he was very happy for us, but he also seemed distracted. He mostly kept to himself during the reception.

I figured I knew why.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked as I walked up behind him on the palatial grounds by the lake.

“What? Nothing,” he said hurriedly – but I saw where he’d been looking.

Javier was over by the punch bowl talking to Abby.

A year before, the night of the ball when I won Connor back, Javier had done my hair and Abby had done my makeup. After they finished, I looked more beautiful than I had in my entire life.

Now it was my wedding day, and I had wanted Javier and Abby to work their magic again. I was sensitive to Sebastian, though, and so I had cleared it with him the week prior. Sebastian had claimed he would be fine seeing Javier again as ‘just friends,’ but the look on his face had told me that maybe that wasn’t quite true.

And now his behavior at the reception was bearing out my suspicions.

“Have you talked to him?” I asked.

“Who?” Sebastian said, entirely unconvincingly.

I gave him a ‘give me a break’ look worthy of Sebastian himself.

He knew he was being pathetic, and he sighed. “Just a few pleasantries. ‘Hi. Good to see you. Lily’s upstairs, second door on the right.’ That sort of thing.”

“He seems a little sad,” I mused as I watched Javier talk to Abby.

“You think?” Sebastian asked, some hope drifting into his voice.

“He certainly was while he was doing my hair.”

“Really?” Sebastian said, the hope coming into full bloom.

“Ohhh yeah. Real mopey. Tried to put on a brave front, but I could tell.”

“Huh…”

“You should go over and talk to him.”

“No… I don’t… I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sebastian whined, wringing his hands.

“You know… a very wise man told me something once.”

Sebastian gave me one of his epic eye rolls. “What.”

“‘Go and claim your man.’”

Sebastian looked surprised, and then the tiniest hint of a smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “Well… whoever told you that, he was rather wise, I’ll give him that.”

“I think that wise man ought to follow his own advice.”

Now there was fear in Sebastian’s eyes. “Oh – no – I don’t think that’s such a – ”

“Do you want him?”

Sebastian looked back at Javier, and I could see the wistful longing in his eyes. “…yes.”

“Then go on up and say, ‘I’m yours, you’re mine, let’s cut the crap.’”

Sebastian gave me a sideways look. “When I told you that, it was supposed to be more about the attitude than anything literal.”

“Do it however you want to. Just go do it, that’s all.”

He went back to whiny. “I don’t – ”

So I hauled off and slapped him on the butt. HARD.

“OW!” he yelped, and took a few steps forward just to get away from me.

“GO,” I ordered him. “Go and claim your man.”

Sebastian looked over his shoulder. Javier and Abby were looking at him, their attention drawn by the butt-slap and the yelp.

“Oh God,” Sebastian whispered.

“Too late to back out now,” I said gaily.

He glared back at me as he started walking towards Javier. “I will get you for this,” he hissed.

“You can thank me later,” I laughed. “You can even call me your Fairy Godmother.”

“You’re certainly dressed for it,” he muttered, then cleared the distance across the lawn.

I couldn’t hear the exchange, but Abby smiled and gave Sebastian a hug, then discreetly left a minute later to go get some more punch. She even gave me a wink as she left.

Attagirl.

I kept watching, and within a minute both Javier and Sebastian were full-on beaming and laughing.

“My work here is done,” I said to myself contentedly.

“I don’t think so,” a familiar voice said in my ear.

“Mmm,” I smiled, my eyes closed, as Connor’s arms wrapped around my waist. “What kind of work did you have in mind?”

“I thought we might sneak off to an upstairs bedroom and start the honeymoon early.”

I looked back at him in shock – though I was a little turned on, I have to admit. “Connor! We have 400 guests here, we can’t just go running off and – and – ”

“And make love for the first time as husband and wife?” he whispered in my ear.

When he said that, my heart fluttered and my knees went weak. But I still couldn’t stop myself from playing hard to get. “We already made love as husband and wife back on that island, remember?”

“Yeah… but I want to be inside you while you’re wearing that wedding dress. And I want you now.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, seriously turned on.

“Come on,” he said playfully, and tugged at my hand. “It’s our wedding, we should do what we want.”

I looked around furtively, making sure no one was trying to track us down for something.

“…okay,” I gave in.

We ran inside the Italian palazzo like two high school kids sneaking away to have sex. We laughed and dodged guests, waiting behind pillars until we could rush up the marble stairs unseen.

We reached the threshold of the master bedroom.

He turned to me and smiled. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

I’d made him wait three days, so our wedding night would be special.

I mean, pretty much every time was special, especially since we’d stared down Death and come out the other side.

But you know what I mean.

“Three days isn’t that long,” I chided him, but considering how turned on I was at the moment, it felt like an eternity.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant today. Marrying you.”

He literally swept me off my feet, one arm behind my back and another under my wedding dress at the knees. He held me against his chest as he grinned at me.

“Hello, Mrs. Templeton,” he said.

I burst into the biggest smile ever. “Hello, Mr. Templeton.”

We kissed as he carried me over the threshold of the bedroom and shut the door behind us.

Lots of suspense, romance, and hot sex - and you’ll finally understand how Lily and Connor came to know Eve, since they make a special guest appearance in the book. Volume Two, the conclusion of the series, will be out in Spring 2016.

Special thanks to Alejandra, without whom I might have never finished this book. And also to Patricia Schoon, who always does a fantastic job of editing my manuscripts. Thank you, Trisha!

Thank you for reading THE BILLIONAIRE’S WEDDING! If you liked it, would you please leave a review?