Page 196 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

Then he turned. ‘Come on. We have a marriage licence to procure.’

It was a fifteen-minute drive from the marriage licence bureau to the Bellagio Hotel where Dom had told her he had booked a suite for them to freshen up and dress. Their wedding would be held in the intimate East Chapel.

A suite for less than four hours in one of the fanciest resorts in Las Vegas.

A marriage in one of their posh chapels.

Dom was not sparing any expense.

Did Dom not know that he could have booked a drive-through wedding and saved all the fuss, along with a fistful of dollars? Not that she was going to mention it. She was done with making light of it. He’d been thoroughly unimpressed with her comment about the Heavenly Wedding Chapel.

And then she saw the curved white walls of the Bellagio Hotel, a central tower flanked by two wings. It rose from the desert like a standing butterfly holding its wings aloft.

And Mari knew why Dom had chosen this venue. Because sure, this might be a Las Vegas wedding, but it was no cheap wedding chapel affair. Dom wasn’t splashing a fistful of dollars for nothing, but because nothing but the best would be enough to satisfy any doubters that their hasty Las Vegas wedding was anything but genuine.

The two-bedroom penthouse suite Dom had booked was opulent and sumptuous and looked out over the Bellagio’s famous fountains, not that there was any time to enjoy the view. The wedding planners at Bellagio had thought of everything. They’d organised a hairdresser who coiled Mari’s hair into a sleek updo before the make-up artist took over. Finally, a dresser arrived to help Mari into her ivory gown, a minimalist sleeveless design with freshwater pearl beading to the shoulders and draping across the open back. A small train pooled at her feet.

Her team declared her done, cooing their approval as they packed up their gear. There came a knock on the door.

‘Marianne,’ Dom said, ‘are you ready? It’s time.’

Mari blew out a breath and took one last look in the mirror. She almost didn’t recognise herself. The make-up artist had done something clever with her eyes, making them appear larger, the eye shadow shade accentuating the green of her eyes. Her hair was styled in a romantic updo, tendrils framing her face, the clever chestnut highlights added in Melbourne gleaming under the lights. She stood while her dresser went to the door. ‘She’s ready,’ the woman said. ‘Come take a look.’

She opened the door wide so Dom could see inside the room, to where Mari was standing, waiting for his reaction. Hoping for his approval. After all, he was spending a lot of money and she wanted him to be satisfied. She wanted to think she looked the part, not for her own sake but because of Rosaria, she told herself.

Dom didn’t speak. He just stared, looking her up and down and up again.

‘Breathtaking,’ he announced. Her team squealed with delight while Mari’s every cell shimmered. Because Dom was his own kind of breathtaking, in a snowy white shirt, dark suit and a charcoal-coloured tie at his throat. And that was just what he was wearing. His gaze hadn’t left her, dark eyes filled with wonder. Wonder, and something far more elemental.

‘But I think there is something missing.’

‘What?’

He crossed the carpet between them and pulled a box from his pocket.

‘Surely we’ll do wedding rings at the service.’

‘Not a wedding ring,’ he said. ‘A gift for you. I found them downstairs.’

Them?

‘No,’ she said, afraid of what was inside. ‘You’ve already spent too much on this wedding.’

‘It’s a thank-you gift, nothing more.’

He held open the box and Mari’s eyes opened wide. A pair of exquisite Edwardian chandelier earrings met her gaze. She looked up at him. ‘Please tell me they’re not—’

‘Diamonds? What kind of wedding gift would it be if they were not diamonds?’

‘But it’s too much.’

‘It’s exactly the right amount of much.’

She shook her head. What he’d just said did not make sense. None of it made sense.

‘Try them on,’ he said.

‘All right.’ She removed her favourite shepherd hook pearl earrings she’d been wearing, thinking they would do perfectly, and replaced them with the diamond chandelier earrings before turning to the mirror.

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