Bedding the Billionaire (Book 3) (Legacy Collection) (43 page)

Victor Andrade stood at the head of the table and the room fell silent.
“It i
s my g
reat pleasure to open my home–
well, the Andrade home
–
”
H
is brother raise
d
a glass of wine to him with a tolerant smile. “
…
to our new family.
Some people become family through blood.
Some people through marriage.
Others
find their way into your life and your heart through friendship.
Raise a gla
ss to all of our family tonight
…those who share our name and those
who
we have come to care deeply for. There is no greater fortune than to be surrounded by so much love.
Dominic and
Abby,
may your life and your table always be as full as it is tonight.”

Dominic raised his glass and drank to the toast.
Everyone followed suit.
Abby used her napkin to wipe away te
ars
that were running freely down
her cheeks.

Jake looked to his left and saw his parents watching him quietly.
He lifted the child on his lap and held her out toward his father. “
D
ad, do you want to hold her?”

His father took her into his arms as if she were the most fragile of creatures.
“So, this will be our first grandchild?”

Jake’s heart swelled. “Yes. Lil had the biological father sign off his rights before she was born.
I’m going to adopt her the same day I marry Lil.”

His mother took her from her husband and hugged her. “Jim, it looks like we’re going to have to start believing in Santa Claus.”

His father turned and looked at his son and said, “We will, Jake. This time we will.
I could even write an algorithm to prove how he could make it around the world in one night.”

Colby reached out and pulled on her future grandfather’s nose.
He laughed, “This one is going to be trouble, Jake.”

Jake smiled and
glanced at Lil. “Just like her mom.”

Lil turned around when she heard Jake’s voice.
“What are you talking about?”

Jake put his arm around Lil and said, “How every life needs a little chaos.”

“Wait, I’m the chaos? You’ll pay for that!”

He laughed.
He didn’t mind the way she doled out punishment.

In fact, he rather liked it.

His father asked, “Jake, whatever happened to Jeremy?
We haven’t seen him in days.”

“It seems that his makeover is going to take longer than we thought.
The consultant we hired thought it would go faster if he was on site for a while.”

Lil
laughed.
“
Sounds serious.
He’s that determined to get
Alethea
?”

Jake nodded
solemnly
. “
Men
will do al
l sort
s
of crazy things for women
. He did give me a gift, though, before he left.”

Lil cocked her head to the side.

Jake took out his phone and said, “He hacked into
a certain
new
s
station’s
files and made a ring tone for me.
Now whenever you call me, I hear this.”

Lil’s voice played clearly from his phone when he pressed a button. “
Of course I find Jake Walton sexy, who wouldn’t?”

Lil slapped his shoulder. “Out of that whole interview, that’s all you heard, wasn’t it?”

Jake nodded with a huge smile on his face.

He played it again and held the phone out of her reach when she grabbed for it.
“It’s all that mattered.”

Lil met her sister’s eyes in the mirror and dabbed a happy tear away before it could smudge her makeup.

“Are you sure the veil is on securely?”
Abby asked.

“I can have the stylist check it again, but I think short of stapling it on, it’s as secure as it gets.”

Abby turned and Lil was once again moved by the
glow on her sister’s face.
The paparazzi would love her – not that they would have a chance to snap a single photo.
With the Andrade’s blessing, the couple had flown less than a hundred guests to
Isola
Santos
for a highl
y private wedding.
Immense air-conditioned tents
covered the lawn and led to a discrete area that would allow the couple to marry with the ocean as a backdrop to their ceremony.
There was only one photographer and he’d signed a non-disclosure contract.

Although
Alethea
was not attending the wedding, she’d se
nt a wedding present–
a schematic breakdown o
f the weaknesses she’d found both at Dominic’s engagement party and in his plans for the island wedding.
Abby hadn’t warmed up to her enough to invite her to the wedding, but
she was beginning to soften her stance against her.
After all,
Alethea
had
played a role in saving
Corisi
Enterprises.

The only one who wasn’t presently happy with
Lil’s
best-
friend was Dominic’s head of security.
Rumor had it
that he was furious when he read her report
, especially since she’d noted that he was “easily distracted” from his duties.
That was Al, making friends wherever she went.

My sister is getting married today.

Today.

Three weeks
hadn’t been much time to prepare for a wedding, but since th
e budget had been so generous–
it had come together seamlessly. Amazing
what people could accomplish
whe
n they worked on commission and the bride could have whatever she wanted.

Concepts for wedding dresses had arrived
almost immediately
from several well-known designers and
it was no
surprise that Abby had chosen
something simple: a white strapless
,
silk gown with layers of lace
that covered both the dress and Abby’s arms and shoulders
in the classic style of Grace Kelly.
Her bouquet
was a
nosegay
of white wild orchids, white peonies and mini calla lilies.
Abby’s most stunning accessory was the huge smile that hadn’t dimmed since she’d met Lil for breakfast that morning.

Lil looked down
her own iridescent, charcoal chiffon dress.
The body of it was shirred and fitted from the strapless, ruffled bodice to the
mid-thigh
hemline that boasted a detachable flowing skirt.
Mrs. Duhamel
had
found the perfect
compromise-
dress, floor length to
satisfy Abby and
sizzling and short in one easy step
for Lil
.
Nicole and
Maddy
had been easy to talk into wearing the spicy bridesmaid’s dress, but Zhang had been an altogether different matter. She
had
also
been the
wildcard in the wedding party.
Maddy’s
husband, Richard, and Nicole’s fiancé, Stephan, were natural choices for groomsmen.
Maddy
convinced Abby that choosing a groomsman
for Zhang
had to be done as carefully as if they were matchmaking.

Lil smiled at the memory of how they had fi
nally chosen a fourth groomsman.

Dominic had declined on having a bachelor party, saying that he’d had quite enough wild
days in his past.
In the spirit of that decision
,
in lieu of a
bachelorette party
the women had
gathered at one of Dominic’s homes
with a few bottle
s
of champagne for a high tech slide show
of men Dominic knew well enough to
ask to be part of his wedding
party
.

Maddy
had
suggested that, to keep it fun, the candidates
must
either be royalty or
be
on Forbes list of most influential men
.
The selection process was as much fun as any
night on the town would have been.
Maddy
cued up the photos on a large screen in
the home’s
private movie theatre
.
Nicole read a detailed description of each man.
Pro
s
and cons were dis
cussed and then
Maddy
used her
P
hotoshopping
skills to superimpose Zhang and the potential escort
into the same photo walking down an aisle, arm in arm.

Even if
the candidates
were wildly inappropriate, some were kept in the proposal packet simply for the humor of it.
Too tall.
Too short.
Too old.
Too young.
Too greasy.
Too uptight.
Too much facial hair.
Too
bald
.

At first Zhang had stoically held to her stand that she had no preference.

Lil
poured her a glass of champagne.

“
No, thank you
,” Zhang politely refused the beverage.

“Everyone drinks at weddings,” Lil insisted.

Zhang motioned with her hand at the movie theatre around them and said, “This is not
even
the wedding.”