Best-selling Canadian author Lance Secretan took time-out from a huge business conference in Bermuda -- to spring a surprise marriage on his long-standing girlfriend, Tricia Sheppard.

Miss Sheppard thought she had been invited to Bermuda merely to help limping Lance get around after he broke a leg in nine places while skiing in Maine.

But management consultant Mr. Secretan had more than his keynote speech at this week's Manulife conference at the Southampton Princess Hotel on his mind.

He took his sweetheart for a splash-up meal at the romantic Once Upon a Table restaurant and proposed.

The next day, the happy couple were taken by horse and buggy to Astwood Park, where they were married on the cliff-top overlooking the ocean.

"We've been living together for nine years and I've been looking for the perfect opportunity to propose,'' said Mr. Secretan.

"But I travel all over the world delivering some 200 speeches and it's been hard to find the right time.'' A would-be wedding in the New Mexico desert three years ago -- which Tricia only found out about over the last few days -- was cancelled at the last minute.

He ended up choosing Bermuda because "it is so romantic''.

Mr. Secretan, who knows the Island well from previous visits, is a management consultant based in Toronto, working with large countries in all corners of the globe.

He has written three best-selling books -- "The Way of the Tiger'', which is about to be made into a movie by Walt Disney, "Managerial Moxie'' and "Living the Moment''.

Mr. Secretan arranged the wedding through The Bridal Suite, which is run by Mr. Allister Simmons and his wife, Carmen.

The risk of being detected by Tricia, who runs her husband's business, was so high that Mr. Simmons had to assume the role of "the audio visual man'' whenever he called Canada.

BERMUDA BLISS -- Newlyweds Lance and Tricia Secretan celebrate on the cliffs overlooking Astwood Cove.