Читать книгу Worlds Apart - Kay Thorpe - Страница 8

ON THE face of it, the wedding went off without a hitch. Susan would have preferred that it take place in church, but with no dates available until well into August, Logan had refused to wait.

He had made the arrangements himself, and insisted on paying the bills. With personal savings at a low ebb, and an utter dread of being in any kind of debt, John Gregory had been forced to pocket his pride and let matters take their course.

Despite every precaution, news of the impending nuptials had spread through the town like greased lightening. Emerging from the register office to find a whole crowd of well-wishers hanging around the doorstep, Caryn put on a brave face and tried to ignore the fact that most of them were here out of curiosity alone, not through any genuine interest.

Apart from Jane, she had invited no one outside her own immediate family. Logan, however, had extended his list to include several friends. It had been quite a shock to see Margot and Duncan Ashley among them, although the former appeared happy enough to be there. Wearing apricot silk, she outshone every other woman in the place—including the bride herself in Caryn’s own estimation.

In place of a formal reception, they were to eat a buffet luncheon out at Whitegates. Later, she and Logan would leave for the Cotswolds, where they were to spend what she knew would be an idyllic few days at a small but exclusive country hotel he knew of. Caryn could well understand his reluctance to leave his mother alone for any longer time under the circumstances. Less than a year, the medics had said, but that could mean more or less any time.

‘Happy?’ he asked, when they gained the comparative privacy of the hired limousine at last.

‘Totally,’ she said, closing her mind on the image of her parents standing there so forlornly on the pavement. They were to follow on in one of the other cars.

‘They’ll get used to it,’ Logan advised, taking an accurate guess at her thoughts as her face clouded a little. ‘It isn’t as if you’re going to be far away.’

Caryn summoned a smile, a shake of her head. ‘I know.’ She looked out through the windscreen at the sunlit streets, feeling a swelling sense of wellbeing. ‘I hope this weather keeps up—for the next few days at least.’

Logan’s smile was slow. ‘I dare say we can find ways to entertain ourselves even if it doesn’t.’

The very thought of what was to come doubled her pulse-rate. There had been no opportunity over the past few days to indulge that desire they both so obviously shared, nor would she have wanted to do so. What she wanted was a wedding-night to remember—the first time of sharing a bed with the man she loved. It had been a wonderful experience two years ago, but tonight would be better still. Tonight there would be no shattering comedown, no heartbreak to be gone through. Tonight, and all the other nights to come, Logan would make love to her as her husband. They would be together for all time.