Possessing Bella Ch. 25

Stephen watched her with a smile. Even he had been surprised by how wonderful their relationship had become once she had let go of all the fear and worry she had about serving and pleasing so many Masters. Rather than resenting the amount of time she spent at the company he appreciated her commitment and enjoyed the conversations they had over dinner about their days apart. Sex through the week though was never as satisfying as when they were here and even though they had come to eat and take a break his hunger for Bella was such that all he wanted to do right then was bend her over the bench he sat at and fuck her senseless again.

He groaned and restrained himself secure in the knowledge that they would not be returning to the city this week. He had insisted that she take the week before the wedding and the three weeks following the wedding as leave from the company. He had been surprised when she had not attempted to voice some concerns about that the time away from her business. He flipped through the portfolio again knowing what it contained as he had monitored every aspect of the wedding ceremony and banquet.

They had almost finished eating when there was a loud banging on the glass doors that led to the covered patios making Stephen frown and turn toward the darkness outside. "Bloody Arek," he mumbled and rose to go and unlock the door. Arek pushed past Stephen and was followed into the room by Mike and Mark Millar, who stood either side of the big man.

"Don't you look adorable," Arek grinned at Bella and picked her up putting her on his shoulder and turning back to Stephen. "There is just something infinitely sexy about a girl in a man's shirt and nothing else, nice choice my friend." He smacked Bella's ass as it sat over his shoulder grinning. "Now as it I see it, you have two choices, SteelHart. You can fight off those two goons in which time I would have made away with your bride to be, or you can come and have a bucks party like every other red-blooded man and bloody well enjoy it."

"You fuck," Stephen growled and felt a hand fall onto his shoulder and saw Arek walking with Bella to the side door.

"So fight it is then?" he stopped and asked.

"You can't expect me to leave Bella here alone," Stephen growled angrily.

"The girls will come in as soon as we leave," Mark laughed, "We're not totally devoid of feeling."

"Fine," Stephen grumbled, "Put her down."

"Good choice," Arek smiled widely. He placed Bella on her feet and took the shirt from her, "You little princess have two minutes to run into that tower and find some clothes of her your own and some shoes for him." He threw the shirt she had been wearing at Stephen and popped her on the ass again pushing her toward the tower.

"Yes Master," Bella squeaked and ran into the tower. "Thankfully Stephen had not stopped to take her luggage up to the bedroom before going down to the dungeon when they arrived the evening before, and she grabbed a dress pulling it over her head then she ran down to the dungeon grabbing their jackets and his shoes before returning out of breath to the living room.

"Not so fast," Arek stopped her from approaching Stephen, "I'll take those for you." He took the shoes and jacket tossing them to his friend. "She did well," he looked at his watch. "My offer of a cart full of gold for her still stands," He smirked at the fuming Stephen.

"Save your money," Mike said lightly, "Assassins have notoriously short life spans. Given a little time, you can assert your rights as best man." He managed to keep a straight face as Stephen obviously did not see any humour in the conversation.

"What's taking so long?" Jack asked guiding Dusty, Nyx and Tali into the abbey.

"Shit," Stephen cursed. He had hoped that this was just a Gorean prank and that he would be able to leave as soon as they all got too drunk to care. Seeing Jack made him realise this was a bigger party than he had thought. He had specifically said that he did not want a bachelor party.

"It's a rare event to have a bachelor party amongst our friends I wasn't gonna miss it," Jack laughed reading the big man's mind. "Shall we go?" Resigned to his fate, Stephen let the men escort him out into the night.

"We're not having much of a party tonight but tomorrow morning we will. Lincoln is bringing Dianne down, and Charles is bringing Dorothea and Sera," Nyx informed her. "They weren't allowed to come tonight, just in case," she rolled her eyes in the direction the men had walked in. "So it's just us to keep you company."

"Just you is wonderful," Bella laughed embracing her friends. "Your dresses arrived on Friday, Mum put them up in rooms you will be staying in," she said excitedly. "Would you like to see?"

"I'd like the grand tour first," Dusty said. "I always see you in the city I haven't been down here since the renovations."

"Me either," Tali bounced about happily. "I mean I have been here but not had a grand tour."

"We'll the best way to do that is to come in the front door," Bella laughed. "Follow the path around to the front and I will run through and turn on some lights and open the door for you like the lady of the house."

"This isn't a house it's a freaking castle!" Tali exclaimed.

The tour as it turned out took most of the night as they inspected all the detail that Stephen had put into each room. Bella commented on how the chapel windows looked in the day time and the trouble Stephen had gone to find period furnishings. When they got to the domed library upstairs, Nyx declared she was moving in and that it would be her room.

"Oh they're beautiful I am so jealous," Tali said in a quiet voice showing her amazement at the red dresses with gold trim that Dusty and Nyx would wear at the wedding. They were done in a medieval style and while they had both had fittings for the dresses they hadn't seen them fully complete until now.

"I'm sorry Tali I could only have two bridesmaids," Bella felt guilt at her friends exclusion.

"Oh don't be sorry, Sir Stephen has given me a very special job on the day," she grinned. "It's a secret though so I can't tell you."

Bella laughed, "Okay, I won't ask what it is then." She loved her friends so much. "I have a secret too. I am not having the final fitting until Thursday but would you like a sneak peek at my dress?" she asked Tali but looked at all of them. She had kept it a secret from everyone aside of her parents and the designer. She opened a second closet and walked in removing a long garment bag and hanging it from a hook high on the wall.

The pale gold material glimmered metallically in the dim light of the room as she opened the bag making Tali gasp delightedly. The heavy embroidery and multiple layers allowed for a great deal of embellishment and she smiled as she stroked over the beading of the tight bodice.

"I'm so glad it's not white," Nyx breathed. "It's perfect for you and Stephen. Red is more my colour, but I guess you have done well there too."

At the end of the grand tour, Bella led them back to the living area and found a bottle of wine for them to share. They sat comfortably on the couches and tried to guess where Stephen would take her to honeymoon.

Dusty smiled slowly as she finished her glass of wine. "I'm guessing Stephen has a private dungeon for you somewhere here, are you sure you gave me the full tour," her deep voice held a teasing note watching her friend blush deeply. "What's in there?" She pointed at the door to Pete's tower.

"That's Pete's tower, it's where he lives when he isn't off exploring the world," Bella laughed.

"So that means you live in the other one with the king of this castle," Dusty looked over her shoulder.

"I know where it is you can see the entrance from her secret garden," Nyx said in a stage whisper, and the two women looked at Bella.

"You can keep the dungeon," Tali wrinkled her nose, "but a secret garden like in the book? Please Bella, please, please, please, I have to see it."

"Why don't you scamper off and find another bottle of wine and I bet we can convince her," Nyx grinned.

"I don't think, I mean well you surprised us tonight, and it's a bit messy down there," Bella said softly. "I'd don't think you want to go there if you think about it."

"We don't care about a little mess," Nyx said as Tali came back with the bottle. "You seem to forget who you are talking to here. Plus you don't want Tali to get all droopy and sad. It's not a pleasant sight."

"Oh alright but just a quick look as we pass through to the garden if you promise not to look at anything too closely or comment," Bella blushed a deeper shade of pink.

"I'm not promising any such thing," Nyx said, and Dusty nodded agreeing with her. "I might not like the slave whip myself, but I get it if you're into that sort of thing," she shrugged.

Bella flicked the switch lighting up the garden and led the girls into the tower. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer the view from the top it's quite spectacular," she offered.

"After we see the garden," Tali bounced on ahead down te stairs to the dungeon and stopped on the bottom step not moving, "Holy crap!"

"Oh God," Bella groaned and pushed past her moving to the door to the garden, "Come and see the garden Tali, it's much nicer out there." Tali hurried through the crowded space, but the other two lingered a little longer before joining Bella in the garden.

"It's magical," Tali whispered sitting on the swing that hung from Bella's tree. The evening was cold, though, and they soon went back in hurrying through the dungeon and back up to the warmth of the living room. Having not slept for a couple of days and after drinking the wine, Bella dosed off on the couch as her friends talked around her.

She woke up in the morning in the same position with a blanket placed over her and her friends also stretched out in the same room. She smiled, it had been so long since no one had been there to put her to bed and she wondered how Stephen was feeling this morning after his buck's night.

"So you're awake?" Anissa asked from behind her as she sat up and at the sound of talking the other girls began to awaken.

"Oh breakfast, yes please Anissa," Nyx said softly.

"Go and shower and change before people start arriving," Anissa instructed. The caterers have been here for an hour setting up and prepping. "This is why I don't drink very often," she groaned and stood up heading upstairs the bedrooms.

Bella went into the tower and changed into something suitable feeling refreshed after sleeping so well. When she came back down her mother was there fussing over everyone and trying to take charge of the brunch she had only received an invitation to the day before. Nyx was having none of it and had forced Bella's mother to sit down and relax with a cup of tea and talk to the other guests saying that she and Dusty were in charge of this bridal shower.

Bella had grimaced but joined the group of women in the marquee sitting for some time with her mother keeping her in her seat and letting Dusty and Nyx get on with the job of greeting guests and organising everything they had planned. She knew that this week her main job would be to reel in her mother's drama queen antics as the wedding approached and let Stephen handle any hiccups and the final details. She socialised with all of her friends grateful that Dorothea had made the trip down with Sera and Charles and rubbing Dianne's huge Belly making her promising not to go into labour during the wedding.

By the time she saw Stephen again, it was well past lunchtime, and he looked as if he had endured a hard night. He avoided the marquee entering the Abbey and heading up to his tower by the side door. When he eventually reappeared an hour later he was immaculately dressed and looked exactly as he always did. Tall, handsome and in control. Once the men had begun to arrive the brunch that had turned into lunch began to drift apart, and many people left for the long drive home.

Bella and Stephen had a simple dinner of leftovers and went up to their bedroom early. Stephen appeared exhausted to Bella's surprise, and she imagined that the men had made him endure a night where he had little control of his actions. He cuddled her into his body as they climbed into bed and for once he was the first to sleep.

The week before the wedding went by in a blur of activity from dawn until late at night. Stephen seemed to spend more time with Arek than he did with Bella, who seemed to spend most of her time calming her mother's nerves and dealing with the daily drama of such a highly strung woman. Initially, Bella had been surprised by Stephen's choice of Arek as best man given their history during her training, but Stephen had laughed when she had first raised the question.

"In all that you know about the men of Gor did you think I would give you to someone that I didn't trust completely?" Then he seemed to consider her for a moment and added. "He's like the brother I never had in Pete, we argue, we fight, we've even come to blows more than once, but I trust him more than most people. He's a good man with a strong code of honour and I respect that. The fact that he is a little jealous that I have you is a bonus that I will flaunt, and he will grumble over until he finds a woman of his own." He smiled, but his voice took on a serious tone, "Should anything happen to me, I know he would look after you and protect you." He could see the horror in her eyes and held her close reassuring her that nothing would happen and that it was just the role of a best man or second like Mel and Rob had given her.

Arek teased and flirted with Bella mercilessly, even more so if Stephen was present but he had never stepped over the line with her since her time with the Gorean enclave and Bella knew that the love and respect Stephen felt was echoed by him. He was at the abbey constantly during the week before the wedding doing anything and everything Stephen asked of him without a serious complaint though he teased often about a large invoice he was writing for services rendered.

When the day finally came, Bella approached it with a sense of relief that the craziness would be over, and they could once again live their lives as they had been blissfully wrapped up in each other and building their businesses.

She had spent the night before her wedding in a room beside her parents on the upper floor of the Abbey. They had decided to have a late morning wedding so that Dorothea and others with similar issues could enjoy the lunchtime festivities and those that were so inclined to stay into the night and enjoy the wedding party and a buffet style dinner could party on without concern for disturbing the less robust guests.

It felt strange after so many months to wake up alone in a large bed. She got up and looked out at the rising sun and smiled. It was going to be a beautiful day. She had possibly an hour before the chaos would begin and she felt at a loose end. Her mother's superstition of not seeing the bride the night before the wedding had rankled Stephen but he has acquiesced after her father had stepped in and for once come down on her mother's side.

There was a quite knock on the door, and she turned toward it a moment before it opened quietly. Arek put his finger to his lips and slid inside the room closing the door behind him.

"Firstly I must tell you of the urgent need to skip this circus and elope with me," he grinned. "It's your last chance to say yes," he chuckled when she shook her head.

"I would it's just that I happen to be in love with Stephen, strange as that may seem to you" she giggled.

"You could learn to love me," he said in a parody of being mortally wounded.

"Oh but I do love you, it's just a matter of degrees that's all," she said still giggling.

"Oh well if you're determined to go through with this then you will need this," he grinned and presented her with a sapphire topped dagger in a leather case with a small strap. "It goes around your thigh to guard your chastity. It's your something old, something new something borrowed, something blue. The fact that it has the additional bonus of surprising that big poser when he tries to feel you up later makes it perfect don't you think?"

"Borrowed?" She asked.

"Well yeah, I'll be taking it back at some point tonight. Having me feel around under your dress will annoy him just the right amount," he smiled evilly. "Can't let him have all the fun now can I?"

"I already have a garter," Bella laughed.

"So put this on the other thigh. Come on, let me have one last dig at him before you two turn into frumpy old married people," he said with a note of disappointment that she did not think the idea was as funny as he did.

"Fine," she agreed with a laugh, "but you are taking full responsibility for this."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he guffawed bring Rosie into the room with her hands on her hips.

"Out!" she commanded imperiously pointing in the direction of the grand staircase.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Arek replied quickly and winked at Bella. She could hear him still laughing as he descended the stairs.

"Well since your awake you had better shower and put on a robe," Rosie sighed. "I will get everyone else up." That was the end of her peaceful morning as she was poked, pushed, pulled, primped, pampered and pawed in the name of being a beautiful bride. She even ate a light breakfast while someone was handling some part of her body.

Half an hour before the ceremony, Joe stepped in and shooed everyone out and down to the chapel including Rosie. You have barely spoken to Lucia and she flew all this way, for Bella's special day," he had said to make her move from the room. Once she was gone, he pulled a bottle of champagne from behind a curtain and smiled, "Just a small glass to steady the nerves." He popped the cork and the three girls picked up glasses for him to fill.

"Thanks, Dad, I needed this little bit of calm before going down there," Bella said softly.

"Nervous?" He asked.

"Not about getting married but there are so many people down there and everyone has gone to such a big effort and," she took a deep breath, "What if I mess it up?"

"You couldn't possibly. I have never seen a man more in love," Joe said and hugged her to him. "I couldn't have given you to anyone less devoted."

"I'd have to second that," Dusty said and joined the embrace pulling Nyx in beside her.

"Let's get this show on the road," Nyx said uncomfortably, "That photographer will probably keep up on the stairs an extra half an hour." She drained her glass and took Bella's from her hand.

"Dusty, you won't let me do anything stupid will you?" Bella held her hand a moment longer and looked worriedly up at the tall woman.

"Never ever," she smiled and left the room with Nyx.

As predicted the photographer stopped them and repositioned them several times on the stairs. Eventually, they stood before the doors waiting for the photographer the set up inside a few minutes longer then the doors opened and an ocean of people turned towards them. Nyx seemed to stand still an impossibly long time Bella thought as the music began. The opening chords of the music were familiar but were not Pachelbel's Cannon that she had agreed to for the entrance music.

As Nyx moved off, Dusty stopped at the entrance and waited as a hauntingly beautiful female voice filled the hall. She immediately recognised one of her favourite songs and one of the first songs she and Stephen had danced to on the first evening he had taken her to dinner. Dusty moved off into the aisle and Bella could finally see beyond the tall woman to Stephen and greeted his wide smile with one of her own.

"Just wait one minute here and take it all in," Joe whispered and she took a deep breath. When they finally moved, she found it easy to step to the beat of the slow melodic song. She was halfway up the aisle before she realise that Tali stood with a small orchestra and sang, "One step closer. All along I believed I would find you. Time has brought your heart to me and I have loved you, for a thousand years. I'll love you for a thousand more."