Diego, the best man.had arrived this morning, and Charlie had met him for a few moments before the ceremony. He and Jake had been room-mates at college and were old friends, and he was almost as handsome as Jake.
'Right, that's it,' Diego cried. 'I need a drink.'
Charlie flung her posy into the crowd, and Amy, her bridesmaid, caught it amid much laughter. A few moments later Amy stepped forward and handed Charlie her suit jacket and her purse. 'Enjoy your honeymoon and have a wonderful life.'
'Thanks.' Charlie grinned.
'Thanks,' Jake echoed. 'Pressure of work means the honeymoon is on hold for the moment, unfortunately, but the wedding night isn't. Though we won't even have that if the damn car doesn't show up. I need to have a word with Dave,' he muttered darkly. Pressing a swift kiss on Charlie's smiling lips, he added, 'Wait here, I'm going to find out what's happened.'
Charlie watched her new husband stroll purposefully towards the hapless Dave. If she knew Dave, he had probably hijacked the car and covered it with bottles and cans and cheesy comments. She heaved a sigh of pure delight. This was the happiest day of her life.
'Big sigh for a new bride,' Diego said, reappearing with a glass of champagne in his hand.
'A sigh of pure happiness,' Charlie answered, slanting Diego a brilliant smile before her gaze sought out her husband. He looked so devastatingly handsome in a tailored silver-grey three-piece suit and she watched as he gesticulated wildly with one hand towards the drive. He was so very Latin, and she loved him.
'Changing your name from Summerville to d'Amato obviously suits you,' Diego said and drained the champagne.
'Yes, it does,' Charlie murmured, not paying much attention. All her thoughts were with Jake and the night ahead.
'Are you any relation to the artist Robert Summerville?' Diego asked.
'Yes, he was my father. In fact he was responsible for my meeting Jake,' she offered, remembering the first time she had seen Jake in the art gallery.
'Ah! Now I see,' Diego exclaimed. 'You have known Jake for much longer than I thought. I did wonder when he said he was getting married in two weeks. He is not the type to act in haste. But you must have known Anna when she lived with your father. You met Jake through her—or at her funeral, perhaps?' He shook his dark head. 'Her death so soon after your father's demise was such a tragedy.'
Charlie's brow furrowed as the full import of Diego's words sank in. Suddenly the nude painting Jake had bought when she met him loomed large in her mind. With it came the conviction she now had a name for her father's ex- lover—Anna—and if Diego was to be believed, she had been a close personal friend of Jake. But why hadn't Jake said anything?
Feeling a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the sunny weather, she slipped on the short jacket that matched her dress. 'You mean Anna with the beautiful long dark hair, almost to her thighs?' she queried softly, describing the woman in the portrait.
'That's her. So you did know her. It was a sad business all around, no? But what am I thinking of?' Diego grinned. 'Forgive me. Today is not a day for recalling past losses. Life is for celebrating.' He drained his brandy glass. 'Jake is a very lucky guy to have found you. I wish I had seen you first,' he added with a teasing, slightly inebriated glint in his eyes.
'You're a charmer.' Charlie smiled, but with difficulty. Diego had aroused a suspicion in her mind. There was a mystery here she did not understand. But he was right: this was not a day for recalling the past, but for looking forward to the future. Jake loved her, Jake had married her, and nothing was going to spoil her day.
'I was always the charmer,' Diego asserted, sliding an arm around her waist. 'And Jake was always the worker. But he did have his moments. Mostly with engines, rather than women,' he added drolly. 'Though he did once take a girl out on a powerboat he built, and it sank. Needless to say, she never spoke to him again.'
Twenty feet away Dave listened to Jake's tirade before slapping him on the back. 'Relax, Jake, the car will be here in five minutes. I understand you intend keeping our lovely Charlie in Italy? I hope you realise you're a very lucky man. She's an all-or-nothing kind of woman, so you'd better take very good care of her. We're all going to miss her at International Rapid Rescue. But I've told Charlie we'll be looking forward to seeing her back after she has the baby.'
'You...what?' Jake's black brows arched in amazement, and in the next few minutes he discovered he did not know his wife at all. That Charlotte would willingly risk her life in search and rescue all over the world appalled him. His head reared back, his eyes searching for her across the heads of the guests, and narrowed angrily when he saw she was talking to Diego, and the devil had his arm around her.
'Forget about Charlotte ever working again, Dave. I have other plans for her,' he threw over his shoulder as he made a beeline for her.
'What is this, a mutual admiration society? Get your arm off my wife, Diego.'
'Spoilsport.' Charlie grinned. 'Diego was just telling me about your college exploits.'
'Was he indeed?' Jake put his own arm around Charlotte, drawing her close into his side. He said something in rapid- fire Italian to Diego, who responded equally quickly, then turned a grin of pure devilment on Charlie.
'I am sorry you have to leave so soon, Charlotte. I feel I was just getting to know you, but I understand Jake's haste.' Taking a card from his pocket, he gave it to Charlie. 'This is my number. If you ever get tired of this jealous bozo, give me a call.'
'Basta, Diego, and stop trying to pick up my wife on our wedding day,' Jake growled.
'As if I would.' Diego winked at Charlie. 'Though I have tried with the lovely Amy—unfortunately she's already taken. But I now have my eye on a rather attractive barmaid.' Waving his empty glass, he said, 'Wish me luck,' and headed for the bar.
'Diego is fun. I like him.'
Moving her supple body in front of him, Jake looked down into her luminous sapphire eyes. 'Not too much, I trust; you're my wife now.' With his free hand he cradled the back of her head and kissed her passionately.
A scarlet-faced Charlie heard the cheers of the guests, and Dave's yell that the wedding car had arrived, in something of a daze. Jake took an exaggerated bow, and she had to laugh as he swung her into his arms and carried her to the waiting vehicle.