His eyes widened and Giovanni put his hand up, whispering to my father so low even I couldn"t hear. My father gasped. "Truly? He is?" He looked out and over the crowd, his gaze landing on Nicholas. "Come forward, Nicholas Balda.s.sare."
Reluctantly, Nicholas obeyed. He came to a stop next to me, his arm coming around me in a protective manner.
My father smiled wide. "This, indeed, is a joyous day. It is the day I offer my daughter"s hand in marriage to a man who will always love and honor her." He looked at Giovanni. "And it is a day I publicly acknowledge my grandson, Nicholas. He is under my protection now. To harm him or...." Kerrigan motioned to my stomach. "His younger sibling, will be considered an act of war."
I lost it then, crying so hard that a hiccupped sob came from me. I went at my father, tossing my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
Giovanni and Nicholas had to pry me off him. Nicholas nudged me. "If I call him Pops, will you laugh and stop crying. Seeing you upset makes me want to hit s.h.i.t, erm, stuff."
The crowd laughed again.
"I"m sorry," I whispered. "I can"t help it."
All the men around me looked down at my stomach. "Hormones," they mouthed.
Giovanni took my hands in his. "My King, if you would do the honors of cementing my claiming upon Gwyneth it would make calming her down much easier and perhaps salvage body parts she may unintentionally rip off should her mood head south."
Tipping his head back, my father roared with laughter.
So did Nicholas.
Once they were done, my father proceeded with the ceremony. It was done in ancient Fae so I got about none of it, but it didn"t take a genius to figure out when he"d gotten to the part where Giovanni and I were officially wed according to Fae law because Giovanni grabbed me to him, his lips crashing down on mine. His kiss was explosive. I ate at his mouth and ran my hands over his shoulders to the back of his neck.
Vaguely, I heard someone clearing their throat but I ignored them. It wasn"t until Nicholas actually pried Giovanni and me apart that I realized my father was there, looking incredibly uncomfortable. I gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."
"I"m not," Giovanni said, yanking me back to him, kissing me tenderly. When he broke the kiss, he turned us to face the crowd.
My father put his hands on our shoulders. "I now give you Mr. and Mrs. Giovanni Balda.s.sare. Or, the Princess and her husband."
The crowd roared, clapping and standing for us as Giovanni kept hold of me, walking down the center aisle. I scanned the audience for Caleb and Pallo but found no sign of them. It wasn"t until we were at the back of the hall, near the doors that I found them standing side by side, waiting for us. Ken was there, as well.
The three men pulled me into their embrace and then took turns shaking Giovanni"s hand. When it came time for Pallo to shake, he punched out fast, going for Giovanni"s jaw.
Giovanni caught Pallo"s hand in mid-motion. "I take that to mean you are not offering your blessing to me?"
"Oh ...." Pallo narrowed his brown gaze on Giovanni. "I planned to offer it after I hit you."
"I see," Giovanni said, releasing Pallo"s hand.
Pallo looked down at me, his expression softening. "It has always been my wish for you to find happiness, Gwyneth." He stared at my stomach. "Sophie will be as amazing as her mother and ...." He nodded to Caleb, Ken and the three stooges to his right-James, Caradoc and Mikhail, "guarded always."
"Thank you, Pallo," I said, hugging him again. I kissed his cheek. "That means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me." And he did.
James, Caradoc, and Mikhail were next to approach. Caradoc embraced me tightly, lifting me off my feet. If I hadn"t known better, I"d have sworn he sniffled. When Mikhail hugged me, he turned me in a circle. "Take care of him always, Gwen. He doesn"t hand his heart to just anyone."
"Aside from reincarnated lovers and deranged sorceresses, you mean." I winked.
He laughed and set me down gently. "Speaking of deranged sorceresses."
"You found her?"
"No." He glanced at Pallo and Caleb. "But we did track Malita down."
My smile widened.
Caleb took hold of my hands. "Mikhail and Pallo wanted to wrap her head up and give it to you as a wedding present. I trumped that."
"She would have enjoyed it more than cookware," Pallo said with a grunt.
Mikhail snorted. "So would I."
I kept hold of Caleb"s hands and teared up. He bent, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. "None of that, Gwen. Did you feel it? Did you feel Kerrigan breaking the bonds that should have never been?"
I nodded, too emotional to speak.
Caleb kissed me again and Giovanni cleared his throat. "I have a fondness for you Faerie but do not think you can continue making out with my wife and live to tell the tale."
His wife.
Hearing it made me cry harder.
Caradoc looked at Giovanni. "Master, you broke her."
Caleb smiled, running his finger over my cheek. "No, Caradoc. These are happy tears. Plus, I think her hormones are out of muck with the pregnancy."
"If one more person blames my hormones for my tears I"m going to ...."
Giovanni wrapped an arm around me. "Bella, no killing the wedding guests."
That made me laugh.
James approached slowly, his blue gaze wide and locked on my stomach. He walked clear around Giovanni, making Pallo and Caleb snicker. When he got to me, he leaned in to hug me but kept a large distance between our bodies, leaving his fingers barely brushing my shoulders.
"James?"
"Yes, luv?" he asked, his voice squeaking.
"What are you doing?"
"Hugging you," he replied "Uh, this isn"t a hug."
Caradoc cracked a smile and it caught me off guard. "He fears rubbing against your stomach in any way. Perhaps he thinks it is catchy."
"Or he"s scared he"ll b.u.mp Gwen"s stomach and end up impotent until Sophie is of age to accept him."
"And," Mikhail lifted a dark brow, "who gave him that idea?"
Caleb pursed his lips and shrugged, doing his best to look as if he"d had nothing to do with it.
Pallo flashed a bit of fang. "Or, he fears Giovanni will kill him for being near his child, even if she is still within her mother"s womb."
Ken laughed. "Look at the kid. It"s all of the above."
Someone touched my shoulder and I found Nicholas there. He and Pallo were now standing face to face. I looked at Nicholas. No words were spoken between them and that was probably best. I did however catch the telltale sound of Nicholas growling before Pallo"s eyes swirled quickly with flecks of red and black before returning to chocolate brown.
Guess it was too much to hope all would be blissful and right in the world, even if only for an hour. Giovanni led me out away from everyone and into the corridor. He stared down at me, his gaze intense. "Bella, the reception will begin in a few hours. Of course, for the guests, it starts sooner. I believe your father has the Ballet of the Dammed set to perform for them prior to our arrival.
"Do I even want to know what they do? It doesn"t involved dancing on rotting corpses does it?"
"Rotting?" He shook his head. "No. That would leave a smell."
I did my best not to laugh as he walked me through the castle corridors, holding my hand, knowing the place well. "Giovanni, where are we going?"
"To your room." He licked his lower lip. "I only have you to myself for a few hours. Hardly seems long enough."
I grinned. "Mr. Foreplay, a few hours is likely to kill me."
Dragging me into my room, he laughed as he began yanking his ceremonial robes off, casting them aside, revealing his designer attire beneath. He made quick work of it as I shut the door. I locked it and Giovanni spun me around gently, his fingers going to the straps of my black wedding dress.
I know. I know. White.
It wasn"t like I didn"t make a play for it but you trying to talk the King of Darkness into a white wedding. I was d.a.m.n lucky my father gave on the releasing of doves in place of bats.
"Bella," Giovanni whispered, his mouth finding mine. I moaned against him, my hands roaming over his steely chest.
He eased my dress down, exposing my b.r.e.a.s.t.s to him. A Cheshire cat smile spread over his handsome face. "They are getting bigger."
"Like that, huh?"
"Very much." He bent before me, capturing a nipple in his mouth. He sucked, making my body tingle before he showered kisses down my stomach. He stared up at me as he inched my dress over my hips. A silly look came over him.
"Giovanni?"
"Three hundred years, Bella. That is how long our engagement was. I thought this moment would never come. Words cannot ...." He choked up and I bent, too.
"I love you." I tugged, trying to convince him to the go to the floor with me.
He refused to, choosing instead to sweep me up and off my feet. My dress pooled on the floor. He carried me to the oversized bed. "The floor is no place for you, Bella."
I kissed his jaw line.
"Ti amo," he whispered, laying me out before him, spreading my legs wide before thrusting into me.
I cried out and clung to his shoulders, surprised he"d skipped the foreplay.
For you, Bella, I am willing to do anything. But you should know I fully intend to have my way with you many times over before we head down to the guests.
I stiffened. "Giovanni?"
"Our souls are linked now, Gwyneth. As are our minds. Forever."
Pressing my lips to his, I knew I"d found my Prince Charming, my fairytale ending.
THE END.
Mandy M. Roth loves hearing from readers. You can read more about her other New Concept t.i.tles by visiting www.mandyroth.com or send by emailing
Excerpt from THE GUARDIANS by Mandy M. Roth, available from New Concepts Publishing.
Chapter One.
I propped my feet up on the Formica table and leaned back in my chair to see if Brady was done filming his scene yet. He was already running an hour and a half behind schedule. Typical, but it still p.i.s.sed me off. Since he was my ride home, I was stuck. I didn"t really mind. I"d also come prepared with things to do while I waited. Watching him work was rather amusing. It was especially funny when he and his co-star didn"t see eye to eye as was the case now.
The skinny redhead in front of him was having trouble getting into the "zone" in regards to chemistry. She was supposed to look like she couldn"t get enough of Brady in a sensual, erotic sort of way. That hadn"t happened as of yet. Instead, she was coming across as a giddy teenage girl who might faint at the slightest bit of attention from him. Sadly, I think that"s exactly what she was.
Every time Brady moved in to her to say his lines, she giggled. I wanted to buy her an ice cream cone and the newest heartthrob magazine before sending her on her merry way. Yeah, I was that annoyed with her. It didn"t help she"d started aggravating me about forty minutes earlier, leaving me no choice but to do mischievous magikal things to her from afar. Since I didn"t have to actually lay a hand on her, I looked innocent. Only Brady knew what I was doing. He was the only person present who was aware I was more than human. Each time I zapped the redhead, he laughed so hard they had to restart the scene. His running behind might have had something to do with my shenanigans but it was so much easier to point the finger of blame in another direction.
David, the director, yelled "cut" and announced another break. At this rate, we"d be spending the night at the studio. The lights came on and the set cleared almost instantly. I couldn"t blame the crew for being in a hurry, I was a little sick of it all too. Though, shocking the redhead did make me giddy.
Brady grabbed his long-sleeved, white cotton shirt and tossed it on, not bothering to b.u.t.ton it. The solid wall of tawny muscle left showing made me do a slight double-take. He was certainly a fine specimen. That much was for sure.
He nodded towards me. His tousled blond hair was purposely messy, styled in one of those shorter cuts, leaving the top about two inches long and the sides and back cut close. Brady"s hair routine consisted of pouring a glop of gel in his hands and running them through his hair. That was it. Anything above that was primping in his book and just wasn"t done.
Sadly enough, our rituals weren"t altogether that different. I tended to avoid the gel and just let my hair air dry. I had little room to comment on his laziness. Especially since most people a.s.sumed I was high maintenance.
As he neared, I spotted smudged lipstick on his face and laughed. Leaning forward, I grabbed my red handbag and tossed it to him. "Catch, Casanova."
Brady wrinkled his nose and sighed. "Is it bad?"
Looking up into his blue eyes, I snickered. We"d been through enough of these types of scenes to know he was covered in lipstick. "It sort of looks like you"ve been attacked by an entire team of Great-Aunt Ednas, who all took turns laying one on you, but it could be worse." I snorted. "They really should take that off her. It doesn"t do a thing for her. Light peach would have been a perfect color for her. It wouldn"t show so bad on you and it"d bring out her eyes."
Brady chuckled and opened my handbag. "You know, when you go all girlie you make me wonder how we ended up friends." Reaching into my bag, his eyes widened and the color drained from his face as he pulled out a handful of condoms. "Madelyn?"
I grinned. "Yes?"
"What are these?"
"Brady, you of all people, know what those are. Don"t even pretend like you don"t sleep with every girl who throws herself at you."