Lavender blinked at him. And then, to his utter relief, he saw the familiar shade of humor in her eyes. “Is that all you have, my lord?” she asked in a teasing voice.
“Well…” Austin pretended to think. “I must also mention that I have a title, which others might consider to be a selling point.”
She tilted her head back to laugh. The sound was music to his ears. Lavender slid into his arms, grinning up at him.
“I love you too, Austin. Every bit of you, especially that title of yours.”
Austin chuckled. He leaned in to kiss her gentle on her lips but she tipped into the kiss, deepening it. It stirred all the things that had been simmering under the surface for so long. Now that the truth of his feelings were out there, he didn’t care to hold back. He didn’t think twice about the fact that it might be deemed improper if they were caught like this.
“Do you see why I did not want to leave them alone?” Vincent’s voice sounded from behind.
Lavender gasped and pulled away, turning two shades of red.
Miss Alice giggled. “And that is exactly why I thought to pull you away.”
Epilogue
Two Months Later
She didn’t think she would see the day.
It was the truth, even though it had taken Lavender far too long to come to terms with it. Despite her plans, despite what she’d wanted for herself, despite her insistence and determination, a part of her didn’t think the day would come where she would walk down the aisle and be happy about it.
Happiness was one thing. Nervousness, fear, trepidation—those emotions crowded her glee until she could do nothing to fight it. She sat as still as a stone, staring at her reflection, her nerves a jumbled mess.
“I think this would be nice,” Alice was saying behind her. Vaguely, Lavender took note of her friend holding up a headdress adorned with blue and white wildflowers. Next to her, Betty nodded in approval, but Alice was already moving on to the next option. “Or this one! Or perhaps this?”
Lavender only listened with half an ear. She couldn’t believe the day was finally here. Months of preparation led up to this beautiful, terrifying moment.
“What do you think, Lav?” Alice asked.
Lavender blinked. She turned a bit too slow, trying to focus on what she was meant to be looking at. Alice had gone a little overboard in preparing Lavender’s accessories for her wedding day. Her bed was covered in floral headdresses of varying colors.
“Any one is fine,” she said half-heartedly.
“You can’t just choose any one,” Alice chastised. “This is your special day. You must choose the perfect one.”
Lavender pointed, knowing that she wasn’t indicating to anything in particular. “That one then,” she murmured.
Alice’s brows knitted together. “Which?” she asked.
“The blue one,’ Lavender answered. Her mind was already drifting to what would happen in mere hours. Was Austin alreadywaiting for her in the gardens? What would he think when he saw her? Hopefully he wasn’t already thinking that this was a mistake?
“Give us a moment, please,” she heard Alice say. Without really seeing, Lavender watched as Betty nodded in understanding and retreated from the room.
Alone now, Alice sank onto the bed, facing her. “What is the matter, Lav?” she asked gently.
Lavender nearly shook her head. She almost told her that it was nothing but nerves. But this was more than just nerves. She was so eager for this that she was afraid. Afraid of losing something she never thought she would have.
“What if he decides he does not want this any more, Alice?” Lavender murmured.
Alice’s expression softened. “Is this why you haven’t said anything for some time now?”
“I was excited at first,” Lavender explained. “But now I cannot help but overthink…”
“Don’t,” Alice said gently. “I have seen the way Lord Derby looks at you, Lav. And considering how he looks at everyone else, believe me when I say that it is quite a difference.”
That brought a giggle to Lavender’s lips. She’d continued dragging Austin from event to event these past two months and had gotten a lot of pleasure out of watching him interact with her peers. More than one of them came to her in private asking her if she was certain she wanted to marry someone so angry all the time.
