The Wedding Deal by Marie Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

that had become her life.
    Finally it was time for curtains, and she had stood in the centre of the stage, a warm smile on her face as she had welcomed the sea of faces before her. The venue was excellent, an old smaller theatre, which provided comfortable seating for the many family members of the children, all trying hard to stay silent while their faces shone with the excitement they felt.
    After thanking all those involved, including the parents and the children themselves, she had introduced the youngest class, gently guiding all the youngsters to where they needed to be hovering close to the edge of the stage in case any of them moved too close.
    Sitting at the back of the hall Alexis had smiled, seeing as a couple of the young children had taken one look at the audience then run to throw their little hands around her legs. She had hugged them comfortingly while allowing the others to work through their routine, which was so cute the whole audience either laughed or awed constantly. With a smile he knew he had made the right choice. Tessa Jones would make a wonderful mother.
    The whole show moved along at a steady rate, and he was impressed with how well organised the production seemed to run, with the changeovers happening with seemingly little effort, until finally it was the last dance. Leaning forward, he was surprised to see that Tessa herself with two of the other older girls was dancing, his body reacting immediately at seeing her. Wearing a black leotard and black fishnet tights her long legs made even longer by the high heels, she looked stunning. White cuffs around her wrist and a white collar with bow tie were the only splash of colour, her long hair pulled up in a bun, with tendrils falling down her face only made her graceful neck seem longer. Her perfect figure with flat stomach and perfectly curved back had him swallowing hard to stop the moan from escaping his lips. He was aware that he was not the only one aware of how sensual she looked as many of the other men around him had openly admired the woman on the stage, some whistling softly, as partners would prod them with annoyance. As she had danced, he could see how gracefully she moved, her body flexible as she and the other girls had high kicked and pouted their way perfectly through the routine.
    As the music had stopped, and the audience had broken once more into applause, she had bowed to the other girls, her wonderful smile lighting up her beautiful face. Bringing on all of the children she had once more thanked everybody for their help and their support making the school such a success, before some of the children had moved forward to give her a large bouquet of flowers, which he could see was making her struggle to stop the happy tears from falling. With a small frown he had remembered her tears from the previous evening, not happy ones, but frightened and sad ones, once more wondering why she had agreed to the marriage when she had been so against it. John Jones had assured him, that Tessa wanted money, and lots of it, but the woman on the stage seemed to contradict his words. With a frown he had pushed his disquiet to the side determined that she would be his wife, the mother of the children he longed for. Slowly he had risen and quietly with the other parents he had slipped out leaving her to her well-earned moment of glory.

Chapter Five
    Waking the following morning at her usual time, Tessa had smiled at the memory of the previous evening. The show had been a spectacular success, with many of the local papers appearing to take pictures of the dancers, happy at the free publicity. Already she knew that the intake for the next year was high, and expected to have more interest once the articles had been read by the local mothers. Happily, she had known that there was now a need to move to a larger studio which would give her the chance for more income. Tessa had opened the studio several years before, with a vision. A vision of one day owning