Sweeter words, he’d never heard.
First, however, Melissa had to ceremonially toss her bouquet to a hopeful crowd comprised of all the unmarried young ladies.
Her mother handed her the bouquet, while the dowager said, “It will work best on the main stairs.”
She waved Julian and Melissa toward the front hall and, as they left, hand in hand and grinning as they hurried off, the other guests noticed, heard his mother’s announcement, and rushed to follow.
Even those already married—indeed, the bulk of the remaining guests—joined in, eager to watch the fun. The exodus from the ballroom only added to the escalating excitement.
Julian led Melissa halfway up the first flight of the grand staircase. “From here,” he said as he halted and turned her.
Smiling widely, Melissa swung to view the crowd of eager ladies rapidly forming at the base of the stairs.
Standing beside her, Julian murmured, “Best wait until they’re all here, then close your eyes and lob it their way.”
Melissa dutifully waited until the gathering at the bottom of the stairs was no longer growing, then scanned the upturned faces and arched a brow. “Ready?”
“Yes!” came from many throats, while others nodded.
She closed her eyes, paused, then using both hands, tossed the bouquet high above the assembled heads.
Squeals rang out, and she opened her eyes and watched the bouquet descend—into the hands of a frankly startled Genevieve.
Melissa laughed delightedly and flung a kiss Genevieve’s way.
Julian caught and squeezed her hand, and she glanced at him. Smiling, he met her eyes. “Time to take our leave.”
She looked down at the wider crowd; virtually all the guests were there.
Julian raised his free hand, and everyone quieted and waited expectantly.
“Thank you all for coming and being a part of our day.”
Inspired, Melissa raised her voice and added, “Your company—each and every one of you—helped make this day complete.”
“But now, it’s time for us to bid you adieu.” He raised their linked hands. “We hope you enjoy the rest of your day. We certainly intend to enjoy the rest of ours.”
Melissa swallowed a gasp.Really?But she was already turning.
Julian released her only to allow her to turn, then seized her hand, and they hurried up the stairs, followed by laughter, cheers, catcalls, and the inevitable shouted recommendations. The noise faded as they rushed down the long corridor deep into the central wing.
Relief struck, and suddenly feeling gay and carefree, she tipped back her head and laughed, and smiling more unrestrainedly, more genuinely than he had until then, he laughed with her.
The day had been glorious, and now, at last, the public part of it was over and done, and they could set aside their polished, sophisticated masks and simply be themselves. Now, at last, they would have the peace, the silence, the privacy to turn their full focus on themselves. On each other. On being together.
To explore and appreciate what the day had wrought.
They were in the family wing, an area of the castle into which she hadn’t previously ventured.
Julian pointed to doors nearer the gallery as belonging to Felix’s and Damian’s rooms, but he led her on, all the way to the double doors at the corridor’s end.
His hand on the doorknob, he caught her eye. “The earl’s apartments.” He set the door swinging and gestured her inside. “Now yours as well.”
She walked into a small foyer with an archway on the right and a closed door to the left. She passed through the archway and found herself in a comfortable sitting room, well-lit by large windows that caught a sliver of golden light cast by the westering sun. The furniture was oak, the upholstery green leather, with the curtains and tasseled cushions in a darker shade of green. A large fireplace with a sculpted overmantel provided a focus for the grouping of armchairs and sofa, although no fire presently burned in the grate.
Melissa crossed to the nearer window and looked out, orienting herself. The room filled one corner at the end of the wing, and that window, on the room’s longer side, looked out on a section of the formal parterre, bordered by trees beyond which green fields stretched away to end in distant woodland. She moved to the window at the wing’s end, through which the sunshine presently lanced, and discovered a view of lush lawns that extended to a line of large, established trees edging denser woods.
She glanced around. It was a restful room, serene yet with signs of being lived in; there were books left on the occasional tables, and a well-stocked tantalus sat against one wall.
