Meanwhile, Cecil looked back at Valerie, as if to ask permission.
“Go on, dear boy,” Valerie encouraged. “Eat as much as you please.”
With a boyish grin, he followed the housekeeper and his sister across the entrance hall, all three disappearing through an archway. Jarvis bowed to his duke and the soon-to-be duchess and quickly darted after them. No one could resist Mrs. Leggat’scooking. And, Adrian expected, it was an excuse for the butler and housekeeper to show off the new arrivals to the rest of the staff.
“Alone at last,” Adrian said with a smirk, his arms sliding around his beloved’s waist, his head dipping to graze a trail of kisses up the curve of her neck.
Valerie melted into him, her own arms covering his, as if hugging him, hugging her. “Can we not leave this castle for a while?” she murmured. “I think I have traveled more this festive season than I have ever traveled in my life. Honestly, I do not care for it.”
“A hermitess for a hermit,” Adrian said, chuckling. “I promise, my love, you will not have to leave this castle unless you want to.”
She moaned, the sound like a caress to his loins. “Say that again.”
“You will not have to leave this castle unless you want to,” he purred, wondering how long they might have before someone came looking for them to join the New Year’s Eve feast.
Slowly, she turned in his arms, her palms smoothing over the muscle of his chest, her eyes gazing up with a sultry desire. “I cannot wait to be married to you, my love. To truly call this castle my home.”
“I cannot wait either,” he replied, his hand sliding brazenly across the swell of her backside. He lowered his head, whispering close to her ear, “But I will. It will be a torment, but I will.”
She laughed softly, arching her neck back as his lips brushed her skin. “We should at least wait until the children are settled and our engagement is announced.” A breathy gasp escaped her. “Although, you are right; it will be a torment.”
“I love you,” he whispered. “I have waited all my life for you—what is a few more weeks?”
She pulled back so she could look deeply into his eyes, smiling the smile that never failed to make his heart swell with utter devotion. “I love you, too.” Her voice hitched. “I thought I was destined for misery, stuck in a marriage of duty and convenience with a stranger. You have saved me, Adrian. You have saved me and my siblings. I… do not have the words to thank you for that, but I shall spend my life loving you in return.”
“I want nothing more,” he replied, his own voice cracking slightly.
For a decade, he had tortured himself over the loss of his mother, dreaming of all the ways he might have saved her, wishing he could have done more. He had not known he could find peace by saving someone else, instead. Yet, here she was, wrapped up in his arms: the woman hehadsaved. The woman he loved with all of his healing heart.
“And I think,” he added softly, “that you savedmetoo.”
Valerie brushed her thumb over the thin scar that cut through his lip, her bright eyes brimming with what he hoped were happy tears. “My love, I believe we have saved each other.”
As he dipped his head and kissed her softly, slowly, he could not have agreed more. This Christmas, fate had brought him an angel instead of endless ghosts: the brightest light, to guide him through a long and happy life together. Indeed, as he smiled against her mouth, so full of joy and hope, he had never been more grateful for the winter, and the snowstorm that had swept her through his front door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ONE MONTH LATER…
“You did not say it wasthiswonderful!” Nora cried, as she ran across the parquet of the town hall and flung herself into Valerie’s waiting arms. “Is there always a party here?”
Adrian, standing at Valerie’s side, gave a little snort of amusement. “The townspeople certainly would not object to that. Your sister has made quite the name for herself as the queen of parties.”
“I have hosted three!” Valerie protested, as she swayed Nora to the rhythm of the music. “I can hardly be crowned the queen of parties after so few.”
The second party had been a celebration of their engagement, some three weeks ago. Hastily arranged, it had taken place on Twelfth Night, to celebrate the end of the Christmas season, that she hadnotmarried Richard that day, and to mark the beginning of the couple’s new life together.
This was her third party, prepared at the insistence of the town of Blackwall, as a precursor to the large wedding that was to take place in two days’ time. All of the townspeople were invited to that, too, but they had begged Valerie to host something at the town hall, instead of at Blackwall Castle.
Apparently, not all of them were convinced that the castle had been exorcised of its ghosts.
“I cannot wait until the next one,” Nora cheered, wriggling until Valerie put her down.
With a grin, the little girl hurried off to join in with a game of skittles that was being played at the opposite end of the hall. The town children and the orphans welcomed her as if she had always been one of them, most of them in awe of the fact that she lived in the haunted castle and was not the least bit afraid.
Earlier, Valerie had heard her sister proudly informing them that, although she had not yet seen a ghost, she was looking forward to meeting one.
“Are you happy?” Adrian asked suddenly, his arm discreetly sneaking around her waist.
