Here Comes The Bride

Reese was so incredulous, she couldn’t speak.

“For months that man has been in agony waiting for you to leave the show so you two could be married.”

She shook her head. “If that’s true, then I’m the last person on the face of the earth to know it. Why didn’t he ever say anything to me?”

“He said it every time he took Carly in his arms. Couldn’t you feel it? When he kissed you at the altar, every woman on the set stopped breathing. Your lovely hat fell off and you didn’t even notice because you were too enthralled with that gorgeous new husband of yours.”

“He warned me the hat might get in his way when it came time to kiss me.” The brides in Greece wear garlands. That should have been a clue. “But honestly, Elaine, I thought it was all play-acting from beginning to end.”

“No man is that great an actor, Reese. Or woman. The way you responded to him, everyone on the show knew how you two felt about each other. Your great love affair has been the only topic of conversation on the set for the last year!”

“All this time everyone’s known how I’ve felt about him?”

“If you could see your eyes when you look at him…It’s something you can’t hide. What’s so wonderful is that he can’t see anyone else but you when he comes on the set. Like Phyllis said today, the love between you and Alex has been a beautiful thing to watch.”

“I still can’t believe it. He told me he’d been in love with another woman all of last year.”

“He was. That woman was you! You were his secret girlfriend-until you became his wife today!”

Good heavens.

“If this has come as a complete surprise to you, blame it on Lilian. From what I understand, he made a promise to her a long time ago. I don’t know the details. That’s something private between the two of them. I’m sure he’ll tell you when he’s ready. You didn’t fight with him tonight, did you?”

“No.” Her voice wobbled. “I asked him what kind of strange joke he was playing. That’s when he left.”

“So he’s still in agony…” Elaine’s voice trailed.

At this point, Reese needed answers only one man could give her.

“Elaine? I’ve got to hang up.”

“Call me when you get back from your honeymoon.”

Honeymoon…

Should you decide you want to be my wife, you know where I live.

CHAPTER TEN

ALEX stepped out of the shower and hitched a towel around his hips to shave. It had been forty-five minutes since he’d left Reese’s condo.

Obviously it was going to take more than one kiss from Prince Charming to bring Sleeping Beauty awake. He would give her another twenty minutes, then he wou-

The ringing of his cell phone was the most satisfying sound he’d heard in a long time.

He picked it up and checked the caller ID. R Bringhurst. After clicking on he said, “Reese?”

“Hi.” She sounded breathless.

“Hello yourself.”

“We…need to talk.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Are you at your apartment?”

“Yes. Where are you?”

“In the foyer of your building.”

Alex sucked in his breath. “I’ll let you in.”

After ringing off, he pulled his robe from the hook of the bathroom door and shrugged into it. Then he walked down the hall to the living room. This day had been a long time in coming, but, as his grandfather had taught him, anything worth having meant you had to work hard for it. “Patience, my boy.”

For a full year, patience had been his mantra. Now if the gods were kind, it would pay off.

The knock on the door coincided with the thundering of his heart. He opened it immediately and there she stood, his raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty. Her fragrance filled the aperture.

She’d changed into a periwinkle-blue top with a kelly-green skirt. The dynamite combination brought out her coloring and the voluptuous mold of her body.

Her gaze studied him as if she were seeing him for the first time. In a way he supposed she was. Always before she’d thought of him as her costar.

Tonight she was finally seeing him as Alex Kieris, the flesh and blood man who had shown up on the set every weekday morning as she had. One moreover who wanted her with every fiber of his being.

“Come in.”

He stepped back, giving her the space she needed. Up to this point he’d done all the running. The rest was up to her now. In the next little while he would discover whether she couldn’t live without him either. If he’d misread the signs…

After shutting the door, he followed her alluring figure into his living room. His furnished apartment was half the size of Lilian’s. The man who’d lived here before had decorated it in a neo-contemporary style, but Alex found it sterile and lacking a woman’s touch. He couldn’t wait to vacate.

She swung around. It caused her hair to swish against her cheeks. “I called Elaine.”

Her admission came as no surprise. Since Lilian’s death, Reese had drawn closer to the other actress.

“You needed verification that we were legally married today?”

He watched the flush that broke out on her face. “She told me it was a real pastor who performed the ceremony.”

Alex cocked his head. “We’re married in the eyes of the law, but only if you want to be. If not, then I’ll give you an uncontested divorce. My intention wasn’t to cause you grief.

“The last thing I would want to do is force you to fight me in court because you didn’t know you were taking vows in front of a certified clergyman.”

She rubbed her arms, a gesture she only did when she was nervous or unsure of something. “Elaine found the whole thing very romantic.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I’m still in shock, Alex. What possessed you?”

“I’m surprised you would even ask that question. Surely it’s obvious I’m in love with you.”

In the still of the room, he could hear her shallow breathing. “Since when?”

“Since the day we met on the set and read our lines to get a feel for each other. It was love at first sight for Carly on Fabio’s part. I don’t know about you, but I’m afraid the same thing happened to me.”

The woman trembling in front of him remained silent. It could be an answer of sorts. He had yet to find out.

“If there’s any truth to what Soap Craze says about us being the magic couple, I owe it all to the fact that Reese Bringhurst sprang into my world full blown and I haven’t been the same since. Before I left Greece, if someone had told me an American television actress would be the woman who set me on fire, I would have scoffed at the mere idea.”

She shook her head. “You have a very strange way of showing your interest.”

“There was a reason for that.”

Reese stared at him with a baffled look in her eyes. “I’d like to hear it.”

“Would you like to sit down first?”

“No.”

He folded his arms. “After two weeks of working together, I approached your aunt about asking you out.”

“Why would you do that?” she demanded. “I’m my own person.”

“Probably because in Greece it’s the way to do things in polite society. If you were a Greek girl, my