Page 78 of How to Wed a Courtesan

Evander lifted a shoulder in a partial shrug. ‘It’s nothing I can’t weather.’

‘You’ll protect her from it?’

Evander tilted his head in question at Charles’ seriousness. ‘That goes without saying.’

Charles exhaled a mirthless chuckle. ‘You love her. I know you do. God knows, she did her best to shove you away, and you kept coming back. I admire your tenacity—I do.’

‘I would do anything for her.’

Charles nodded and glanced up the aisle to the closed door, where Lottie would soon be making her entrance. ‘I dare say I haven’t ever seen her as exuberant as she has been these last few days. Not since we were children.’

Evander was grinning. He knew it and he didn’t care. Let all the world know how joyful the woman he was soon to wed made him.

Charles stepped closer and put a hand on Evander’s shoulder. The friendly look in his eyes turned hard. He looked first to the door of the church once more, then back to Evander, and squeezed hard.

‘I swear on my mother’s grave,’ Charles ground out, ‘if you ever hurt her again, I will ensure you disappear once more. Only this time you’ll never return.’

Before Evander could react, the doors opened and Lord and Lady Dalton entered, with Lady Caroline and Lady Alice. Charles released Evander at once and smiled congenially as he waved to them with the hand he’d used to threaten Evander.

‘Strike it from your mind,’ Evander replied under his breath. ‘I’ll never hurt her again.’

‘It pleases me to hear it.’ Charles patted Evander on the back and slipped away.

The vicar asked everyone to take their seats as Lord Rawley and the Marquess of Kentworth slipped inside, and then invited Evander to the front of the altar. Eleanor entered through the side door and took her seat beside their mother, who was already dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

The doors opened once more and Lottie entered, wearing a pale blue gown. Silver tissue formed small flowers down the front of her skirt and along the hem. Her hair was bound back and secured by a silver-trimmed wedding bonnet, with several loose curls around her face.

She had always taken his breath away, but she did so especially now, on their wedding day, when she would finally be his wife. Her face lit up when she saw him, and her eyes locked on his as she made her way to him on Charles’s arm.

Finally, she stopped before him, and extracted her hand from Charles, who gave Evander a nod. After all, their conversation had already been concluded.

The vicar opened the Book of Common Prayer and began reading.

It was a short, fast service—a perfect end to an interminable wait. Evander and Lottie spoke their vows and exchanged rings. Both were made of gold and engraved with their initials and the date, to commemorate their love for all time.

After a quick cheer from their guests, Charles and Lottie were led to the vestry towards the parish register book, to enter their marriage lines. With that, they were finally, finally wed.

He looked down at her and smiled. ‘My wife.’

‘Oh, Evander.’ She threw her arms around him.

He caught her and lifted her against him, spinning her as he’d done when she had accepted his proposal. As they slowed he set her down and kissed her. His wife. His Countess.

His heart now finally made whole.

‘I’m so blissfully happy,’ she whispered. ‘I never thought... I never expected to be able to allow myself to do this. For so long I believed I had sacrificed any chance...’ She swallowed. ‘Thank you for never giving up on me, for loving me so much.’

‘I do love you,’ he declared. ‘Far too much to ever conceive of letting you go.’

The wedding breakfast that followed was a grand affair, with every sort of food one could imagine. There were shirred eggs along with rolls, toast and thick, briny ham slices, as well as the most exquisite pastries, glittering with coarse-grain sugar and glossy with brushed honey. All of it had been laid atop a white lace tablecloth edged in silver beads, amid half a dozen bouquets of pristine lilies entwined with ivy.

Their guests celebrated with joyous wishes and embraces, until finally Lottie and Evander were left alone. Even Lady Westix had planned to spend the evening at Somersville Place with Eleanor, to afford them privacy.

Evander took Lottie’s hand in his, marvelling at how the rings on their fingers glinted in unison, and led her up to his large bedchamber. Though their chambers were connected, he fully intended that they should share the larger of the two rooms together. He wanted the closeness of her company, and most especially the intimacy of the same bed. Night after night.

‘I have a present for you.’ His pulse raced with the anticipation of giving her the gift he’d purchased so long ago.

‘Marrying you has been gift enough.’