“Gorgeous. My brother is a very lucky man… and he knows it as well,” Lucien stated grinning.
The whole house had been transformed with ribbon and flowers while Lily had been upstairs with Sylvia being primped and waxed.
Taking hold of Lily’s hand, Lucien brought it up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss to her knuckles before wrapping it around his arm, and not forgetting Sylvia, he held his arm out to her and escorted both ladies outside.
Lily pulled up short as she took in the transformed ranch. The marquees for the reception and dancing had been set up to one side of the barn, which had also been decorated in lilac, pink and white ribbons. Everything was transformed with the ribbons from the house to the paddocks close to the house. The horses had been moved into the far pastures so as not to ruin the day with the racket they could make.
The transformation was amazing and brought tears to her eyes.
“You ready?” Lucien asked.
“Yes. Yes I am.” Lily turned to look at him and saw him shift slightly, his nerves clear in the way his fingers clenched together and his gaze looked everywhere but up. She knew he was trying to hide it from her and that he was willing to suffer through this for her brought tears to her eyes. “Lucien, thank you for doing this for me,” her voice cracked slightly on the emotion working its way up her throat – she felt loved by everyone in her new family, “I know how much you’d prefer not to, but it means a lot to me. I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather have walking me down the aisle.”
Lucien opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“I’ll wait over there,” Sylvia interrupted, putting some distance between them.
Lily had momentarily forgotten Sylvia was walking with them.
“Lily, I love you.”
Lily’s eyes opened wide in shock, which caused Lucien to laugh and flash his gorgeous smile.
“I love you like a sister, Lily. You’ve made my brother a *, but we wont get into that today.”
Lucien’s laughter deepened as she swatted him on the arm. “There isn’t a great deal I wouldn’t do for you. I hope you know that. And if Michael screws up again, although I think he’s learned his lesson, but if he does, don’t hesitate to come to me again. I’ll always be there for you. Now considering how me and the others have been winding Michael up all day, I think we need to get a move on.”
Chapter 5
<><>M<><>
Standing with three of his brothers in front of everyone while waiting for Lily to show up on the arm of Lucien, was damn nerve racking. The fact that his brothers had spent the morning telling him Lily had probably snuck away, or even worse, that she’d run off with Lucien hadn’t helped any.
He’d finally settled down over his possessiveness towards Lily and accepted the fact she was best friends with one of his brothers. It hadn’t been easy and every now and again he would have to stop himself from making a comment, which Lily found amusing and would plant a hot kiss to his lips before disappearing for coffee with Lucien.
Glancing around him, Michael saw all his family and friends; employees of McKenzie Holdings were all smiling in his direction with quick glances towards the back to see if Lily had arrived.
She didn’t have far to walk, just from the house where they’d both spent the night in separate rooms. That had been hard, having never slept apart from Lily for about a month, but he’d managed it.
Sebastian nudged him, which caused Michael to look at his brother, who was looking towards the back of the seats.
Michael followed his gaze and his breath stopped at the same time as his heart started to beat wildly in his chest.
“Breathe, Michael,” Ramon whispered into his ear.
He let out the breath, which had gotten stuck in his lungs at the vision of Lily, while he watched her walk down the man-made aisle on the arm of his brother.
Lily never once moved her gaze from him as she glided closer and closer to him, with a slight smile on her lips and eyes bright as the sun.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen as she came to a stop beside him. Lucien took hold of her hand, kissed her knuckles before placing her hand into Michael’s. He gave him a serious look and then stepped back to stand beside Michael and his other brothers.
“Breathtaking,” Michael whispered to Lily before leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. “I missed you,” he said against her lips, finding it difficult to pull back.
Lily smiled and caressed his face with one hand before pulling back when Sebastian started to cough rather loudly.
Hearing a few snickers in the background Michael and Lily smiled at each other before turning to face the front so they could be married.
The whole wedding seemed to pass in a blur, one minute they where exchanging rings and the next he was being asked to kiss the bride, which of course he had no problem with.