“Thank you. Now, may I go ahead? Alice may be sweet but she is quite terrifying when she’s cross.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Vincent chuckled. “Now that you are in such a good mood, perhaps I should show you the letter you received from your old friend, Colin.”
Lavender was already shaking her head. Colin had sent her many letters over the past two months. And if they were ever in the same place at the same time, she would catch him staring at her from across the room, though he never dared to approach. They were yet to talk about what had happened between them but Lavender had still invited him to the wedding. It had only surprised her a little that he said he could not attend.
That was fine, though. She wasn’t ready to face him just yet. Certainly not on a day like today.
“Perhaps tomorrow,” she suggested. “Or perhaps after we return from our honeymoon.”
Before Vincent could respond, there was a knock on the door. Alice poked her head in. “I do not mean to be rude,” she said with an overly bright smile. “But your time is up, Mr. Latrice. I am here to steal her away.”
“Very well, I know better than to fight for more time with my sister before she is passed into the hands of another,” Vincent sighed. “I shall walk with you.”
They left the drawing room and with every step Lavender took to the back of the house, the more her nerves came upon her again. She could hear the soft tune of a harp as they delved outdoors. It was a beautiful morning, a cloudless sky with a gentle breeze. To the back of the garden stood a small clearing and a gazebo where everyone was waiting.
Lavender saw him before he saw her. Austin stood under the gazebo with the priest, his hands clasped behind his back and that scowl on his face. The music grew louder and the very few guests they had invited turned to watch her approach. He didn’t look until she’d already gotten a good look at him and had to catch her breath.
He was so handsome that she couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across her face. Any remnants of the bruises from two months ago had faded almost completely, his clean-shaven state showing off his lovely, sharp jawline. Her heart fluttered when their eyes met and the scowl faded into something else, something that was only reserved for her. Lavender was hardly aware of the people around her, nor of Vincent walking her down the aisle. She only saw him, any anxious or fearful thought escaping her mind.
“God, you look…” He was at a loss for words. Austin ran his gaze down the length of her, then shook his head. “I am the luckiest man in London.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she teased, earning a chuckle from him. He took both her hands in his.
“I thought you would have me waiting forever,” he confessed in a whisper. “For a second, I thought that you might have changed your mind.”
It touched her that he might have had the same doubts as her. “There is nowhere I would rather be but here,” she murmured to him. “And nothing I would rather become but your wife.”
His eyes slid away even as she saw the faintest tinge of pink on his cheeks. Confessing the depth of their feelings always made him shy, a sight that was endlessly adorable to her.
He didn’t get the chance to respond when the priest cleared his throat, obviously wanting to get on with the ceremony. They faced him but Austin didn’t let go of her hand. As the priest beganreading from the Book of Common Prayer, Lavender half-listened, half-waited.
How could she truly focus when he was rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb like that? And sneaking her glances when the priest was looking in his book? How was anyone supposed to remember her vows—despite having practiced them many times over—when he stared so intently at her that it felt as if her entire being had been set on fire?
Lavender loved him. Truly, she loved this man. How could she show him the depth of her love when it felt as if she could hardly control it herself?
And then, at last, it came for them to seal their union with a kiss.
And seal it, they did.
Lavender stepped closer, lips quirking upwards at the flash of surprise in his eyes. Then she captured his lips. Reminiscent of their first kiss, she wanted to give as much as he did, to show him that she was his and his alone. She wanted him to know just how much she loved and yearned for him because she was beginning to think that no word known to man could show it well enough.
Austin must have forgotten that they had an audience. Or perhaps, more likely, he didn’t care. He grasped the back of her head and leaned fully into the kiss, taking control with ease. Lavender wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him as he bent her into the kiss.
It must have lasted a second or two, but it felt like a lifetime and no time at all. When they came up for air, she realized that the others were applauding.
“That wasn’t very ladylike of you, Lady Derby,” Austin whispered in her ear.
“Good,” she whispered back. “I didn’t want it to be.”
Austin’s deep chuckle resonated throughout her, making goose pimples rise on her skin. “I love you.”
That was enough to chase away any lingering doubt. Things might not have ended up the way she’d planned and for that, she could not be happier.
The End
Prologue
He had to be in the wrong place.
