Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [113]
Clayton was grinning. “St. Thomas? Will I get the chance to preapprove the clothes you bring along?”
Syneda smiled. “Do you think you need to?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly they were laughing together.
“If you think for one minute, Clayton Madaris, that you’re going to start dictating what I can or cannot wear once we’re married, you’re out of your mind. We need to get a few things straight. No man is going to—”
Clayton kissed her to shut her up. When he lifted his head, his eyes gleamed with amusement. “One thing is for sure, sweetheart, with you I’ll never be bored. I can’t wait for June to get here.”
“Neither can I,” Syneda said, pulling his head down for another kiss. “Neither can I.”
Chapter 26
A beautiful day in June
Clayton Madaris glared at the seven men standing on the other side of the room. Three of them, Alexander Maxwell, Trevor Grant and Trask Maxwell, were his closest friends. Two others were his brothers-in-law, Daniel Green and Raymond Barnes. But his full glare, the darkest it had been in months, was directed at his two brothers, Justin and Dex, who stood nonchalantly by the window.
“What do you mean Uncle Jake’s not coming?” he finally shouted after taking in the announcement Justin had just made. “He has to come! He’s in the wedding!”
Jonathan Madaris, dressed elegantly in a white tuxedo, stood leaning against the mantel as he watched his youngest son begin pacing the length of the room in angry strides. He could feel the tension growing in the room. Clayton was a nervous wreck as it was, and at the moment the last thing he needed was his brothers playing devil’s advocates. He made a quick decision to intervene before he had a murder on his hands instead of a wedding.
“All right, settle down, Clayton. Jake will be here. He called and said he’s running a little late but he’ll make it in time for the wedding. Justin and Dex were just teasing you.”
Jonathan then turned his serious attention to his other two sons. “Justin Stuart and Dexter Jordan, behave yourselves. Your brother is nervous enough as it is. Don’t make matters worse. And I might add that at least he thought enough of me and his mother to let us share in his wedding day. Something neither of you did.”
Justin grinned at his father’s observation. “I would have loved having you and Mom at my wedding, but if you’ll recall, I didn’t know about the wedding myself until an hour before the ceremony was scheduled to take place. You have Clayton to thank for that. He schemed with Lorren to pull that one off. So he won’t be getting much pity from me today.”
Dex Madaris, whose charcoal-gray eyes were warm with amusement, chuckled throatily before coming to his own defense. “I would have loved inviting you and Mom to my wedding, but unfortunately I had to move fast and marry Caitlin. From all appearances, Clayton was trying to make a move on her. I didn’t know at the time that he was doing it just to make me jealous.”
Clayton had stopped his pacing to listen to what his brothers were saying. He couldn’t stop the slow smile that spread across his lips. “The way I see it, both of you owe me a lot of gratitude for Lorren and Caitlin. Without my intervention neither of you would be happily married men.”
Dex and Justin looked at each other before smiles of agreement covered their faces. It was a known fact that they loved their wives dearly. “You do have a point there, li’l bro,” Justin said, grinning.
“However, your situation hasn’t changed. Although we were teasing you about Uncle Jake, you still have to deal with your other problem. There’s no way Gramma Madaris is going to let you see Syneda before the wedding,” Justin continued. “It’s a tradition that the groom sees the bride for the first time on their wedding day when she walks down the aisle. So the way I figure it, you have a couple of hours to go.”
Clayton began his pacing again. “This entire thing is totally ridiculous. Gramma has deliberately kept Syneda from me all day.”
Jonathan Madaris shook his head. “You know how your grandmother