“When this is over,” she said on a sigh as she snuggled into his arms, “Iwant to go back to bed. Immediately.”
Anthony smothered a chuckle against her temple. “I told you that fourth pint was a bad idea.”
“I will bow to your superior wisdom in the future.”
He laughed in earnest. “Will you, really?”
“Well. When it suits me to do so, at least.” Another sigh as he kneaded the tight muscles at the nape of her neck. “Will you come to bed with me?”
“God, yes. I—”
A stern clearing of a throat from somewhere behind him, and Anthony reluctantly released her to greet the reverend, who had appeared in the foyer and looked somewhat less than impressed to have found the couple he was meant to marry engaged in an embrace. And his brow furrowed still further at the revelation of Charity’s gown in its full splendor.
“Madam, whatever are you wearing? You look—”
“Beautiful,” Anthony interjected. “She looks beautiful.”
Charity beamed.
The reverend opened his mouth—caught the edge of Anthony’s glower—and promptly bit back whatever further objections he might have made. “Your witnesses?” he asked.
“Here!” Mercy sang from the top of the stairs. “We wanted to give you just a moment of privacy before the wedding.” The rest of the company filled out the room swiftly, offering good wishes as they proceeded into the drawing room, where the simple ceremony was meant to take place.
“Here, darling.” Thomas used the commotion of so many passersby to discreetly hand his wife a pair of shoes, and Anthony noticed for the first time that she had come down only in stockinged feet.
“Oh, thank you,” Mercy said as she glanced about to ensure that no attention was upon her before she slipped her shoes on. “Whenever you’re ready,” she called as she took her husband’s arm and dragged him off to the drawing room behind her.
And then it was only the two of them once again. A last moment before the rest of their lives would begin.
“Areyou ready?” he asked of her.
“Yes,” she said, and that smile that had wreathed her lips from the moment she had begun to descend the stairs grew wider still. Effervescent, delighted, filled with boundless joy. “Yes. I’m ready.Let’s be married.”
∞∞∞
Nearly there. Only a few inches left. Gingerly, Charity placed her toes upon the floor, sliding further toward the edge of the bed—
A warm arm landed about her waist, and with a firm tug, she lost every bit of distance she had gained as she was pulled all the way back toward the center of the bed. Anthony curled himself around her, burying his face against her neck through the tangle of her hair as he grumbled, “And where, exactly, did you think you were going?”
Charity laughed at the ticklish sensation of the growth of beard that had shadowed his jaw overnight. “I didn’t want to wake you,” she said. “I’m meeting my friends at my flat.”
“So early?”
“So late,” she said, turning in the circle of his arms. “It’s gone past noon already, you slugabed.”
“Noon? Damn.” He muffled a yawn against her shoulder. “Give me an hour. I’ll go with you.”
“Ladies only,” she said, and softened the rejection with a kiss to his temple. “We’ve quite a lot to talk about, you know. And they are helping me to pack my things.” A slow, scratching stroke of her fingers through his disheveled hair, and he closed his eye, relishing the simple pleasure of it. “Besides,” she said, “just look at yourself. You’re exhausted, darling.”
It wasn’t his fault. The puppy they had given Hattie and Evie for Christmas had taken a swift and severe liking to him, and he’d been up at all hours just lately to take the tiny, floppy-eared spaniel out to the garden to do its business.
“But I’ve never been inside your flat,” he said as she slipped out of the circle of his arms to push him to his back and straddle his hips. “You’ve never invited me.”
“I will,” Charity promised, leaning down to kiss him. “But not today. You need at least a few hours more sleep, and I have got to brave the inevitable interrogation that is due to me.”
“Will it be an interrogation?” he asked as he settled back against the pillows and slid his palms up her bare thighs.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I shall have to admit to a great many things that Iwould have found humiliating indeed only months ago.”
