As they climbed the age-old stone steps to the room where the ceremony would take place Seth’s stomach muscles clenched hard. For the first time since she’d died, all those years ago, he couldn’t seem to conjure up Louisa’s face. A momentary sense of panic rolled through him. Was he starting to forget her?
As he tussled with the idea, he followed the steward through an arched doorway into a beautiful serene chamber, where it seemed that time had stood still for centuries. The atmosphere was as hushed and reverent as inside a church. But aside from the tangibly almost holy atmosphere, he found that he hardly registered much else. Not even the historical artefacts and paintings on the walls surrounding them claimed his attention as they might have done if he hadn’t been about to undertake something as momentous as this marriage.
The anticipation of seeing Imogen again and the fear that she might be regretting making this commitment to him after all wasn’t exactly reassuring. Their final words last night had been undeniably awkward and stilted as they’d bade each other goodnight. Seth had been feeling selfishly disgruntled that she hadn’t succumbed to a little more intimacy with him, and Imogen had angrily suggested that the deal they’d made was cold and devoid of feeling.
He wanted to reassure her that he genuinely cared about her feelings, and that if it was what she wanted he’d aim to make things up to her by giving her a wedding to remember. He had even relented and had a photographer from a reputable style magazine in attendance, so that he and Imogen would have some pictures to mark the event.
His hope was that she would have some nice memories of their wedding and that they would eventually help make her forget about the humiliation of being jilted at the church by her ex-fiancé, as well as show her family and friends that she was more than capable of making good decisions.
He was more than a little stunned when he realised that his feelings for Imogen were becoming disturbingly stronger day by day, hour by hour and moment by moment. Lost in thought, he was jolted when Aziz nudged him.
‘Mr Broden?’ the other man said quietly. ‘Your bride is here.’
Seth turned round and was immediately struck dumb. What confronted him was a vision of the loveliest woman he had ever seen...dressed in the exquisite silk and lace wedding gown he’d bought her. To set off the beauty of the dress Imogen’s alluring chestnut curls were crowned by a delicately arranged floral headdress. Against her breast she clutched a small bouquet of ravishing white camellias.
Her incandescent beauty astounded him. She was quite simply bewitching. He walked towards her, then dazedly came to a standstill, and for a second or two his words deserted him.
‘Hello, Seth.’ Her prettily painted coral lips curved in a tentative smile.
‘You look utterly enchanting.’ Keeping his words low, for her ears only, he went on, ‘Just as though you stepped out of a dream.’
He held out his hand and she gracefully accepted it. Any tension that might have previously seized her ebbed away, and her beautiful brown eyes shone like twin candles, lighting the way on a moonlit night.
‘You look pretty good, too,’ she told him. Her cheeks dimpling, she took her time surveying the flawless grey tuxedo, waistcoat and matching silk tie that he wore. ‘Just like a movie star.’
‘As long as I please you...that’s all that matters, sweetheart.’
An elegant woman dressed in a formal navy blue suit stepped forward just then to introduce herself as the celebrant. She asked, ‘Mr Broden? Miss Hayes? Are you ready to be married?’
Seth had told her that she looked as if she’d stepped out of a dream and from that moment on Imogen felt as if she inhabited one. During a beautifully conducted ceremony they made their vows and she officially became Mrs Seth Broden.
Nothing could have been more surreal than the moment when Seth put the diamond-encrusted platinum ring he’d bought on her wedding finger. She only wished she had thought to buy one for him. Would he have minded if it had been a far simpler affair than the one he’d given her?
But then she thought, Surely love is far more valuable than any jewel or diamond?
CHAPTER TEN
THE SENSE THAT she must be dreaming stayed with Imogen for the rest of the day—throughout the wedding breakfast that followed and afterwards, when they were toasted with champagne by Celia Bamford, their witnesses, and some of the friendly hotel staff.
She felt as if she was in some kind of trance. Oh, she talked and she smiled at people, and ate some of the incredible food that had been prepared for them, but her ability to remember who, what and where seemed to have deserted her. All she seemed to be able to focus on was Seth. He stayed by her side the whole time, catching her hand if there was the merest hint of her being monopolised by anyone else, and sending her a smile that conveyed to her that this was their day. Nothing else would take precedence.