He returned in a few minutes with a flat box. He opened it, scooped out half the contents, and handed the box to Clarissa. “Turn around,” he told Belle.
“Leo, what are you—?” She stopped as he placed a necklace around her neck.
Clarissa gasped. “Diamonds? Oh, Izzy, they’re magnificent.”
“Earrings, too.” Leo pulled them out and handed them to her. “And a bracelet. There’s more—it’s the Salcott Parure, but you won’t need the tiara and the rest, not tonight.”
The women moved as one to the looking glass, where Belle carefully attached the diamond drop earrings. She stared at her reflection and touched the diamond necklace cautiously. “It’s stunning, Leo. But I can’t wear something so expen—”
“Nonsense. They’re perfect. You’re perfect. You adornthem. Besides, they belong to my countess now—to you. So, are you ready to go downstairs and let me introduce you to all our guests?” He held out his arm.
She gave him a misty smile, stood on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss, then placed her hand on his arm. Side by side they walked slowly down the stairs. The floor below was crowded with guests, the cream of the ton, all glittering in their finest and talking loudly and animatedly, but as Leo and Belle descended the stairs, a hush slowly fell. All eyes turned to the couple they’d come to honor, Leo, Lord Salcott, and his new bride.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Leo said. “Let me introduce to you my pride and joy, my bride, my wife, my lovely countess.”
Someone started clapping—it was Race, Leo saw—and in seconds the whole crowd was smiling and applauding. Leo glanced at Belle.
“I’m not crying, I’m not,” she muttered, blinking furiously.
Laughing softly, he led her down to the ball, and to the rest of their lives.
Epilogue
Bright sun pierced a gap in the curtains. Izzy stirred and stretched sleepily. Opening her eyes, she found a pair of warm gray eyes regarding her.
“Good morning, my lovely wife.” Leo leaned over and kissed her, first her mouth, then her bare shoulder.
Izzy blushed, feeling a little shy. She was not yet used to waking naked in a bed with a large, handsome, equally naked man next to her. It was wonderful, of course; she was just not accustomed to sleeping naked. Nor was she used to being the focus of such warm approval. No, not approval—love.
“How are you feeling?” There was a faint anxious thread in his voice. They’d made love not long after dawn, the third time since their marriage the day before and her husband was clearly worried he’d used her too hard. He hadn’t.
She rose on one elbow and kissed him. “I feel wonderful, Leo. I had no idea...” She sighed happily and fell back against the pillow. “It’s bliss, isn’t it? Like heaven.”
He chuckled. “A little earthier than that, but yes, with you, it is indeed bliss.” He kissed her again, then swung his legs out of bed. “We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” They were traveling to Salcott, Leo’s country estate that day.
“There’s no hurry,” he added as she sat up hastily. “Matteo will bring you breakfast in bed while your bath is being prepared.” He bent, picked up her delicate, beautiful, almost transparent nightgown from the floor where he’d tossed it the previous night, then frowned down at the frivolous froth of fabric in his fist. “On second thought, if Matteo is coming in, you’d better not wear this piece of nonsense. Put this on instead.” He took a man’s dressing gown made of heavily embroidered silk from the wardrobe and passed it to her.
She hid a smile as she slipped her arms into it. It was miles too big for her, of course—practically a tent—but it smelled faintly of Leo’s cologne and she snuggled it around her.
Leo left to wash and dress, and Matteo entered with a tray containing a pot of hot chocolate and a plate of delicious-looking pastries glistening with sugar crystals. “Your sister, she come looking for you earlier, milady.”
“Clarissa? What did she want?”
“She no say. I offer her breakfast: pastries, chocolate, coffee—even a cup of good English tea—but she no want nothing, not even to wait in the house. She say to tell you she see you in the garden before you leave.”
Wondering what Clarissa wanted, and why she didn’t simply come up to Izzy’s bedchamber as she always had before, Izzy raced through her breakfast, took a hasty bath and hurried downstairs to the garden.
She hastened along the gravel pathway, her feet aching a little from all the dancing last night. Her new shoes had pinched. Then she smiled to herself. Other, more unfamiliar parts of her body also ached a little, but they onlysparked the memory of delicious sensations. Her body felt well used—and very well loved.
She found her sister sitting in her favorite spot—the rose arbor.
“You wanted to see me, love? And why didn’t you simply come upstairs.”
Clarissa blushed. “To your bedroom? That you share with your husband?”
Izzy laughed. “I didn’t think of that. So what did you want? You didn’t think I’d go without saying goodbye did you?”
“No, of course not. I just wanted... Oh, Izzy.” Clarissa’s eyes filled with tears. “You look... you look so...”
