Page 124 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
“Well, I considered a candlelit altar but that did not work very well for Romeo and Juliet so I forwent that.”
Through her tears, Madeleine gave a watery laugh. “I love what you have done.”
“Are you not going to get on with this wedding, then?” Colin called out. “I was promised cake.”
“Oh, Colin!” Tessa hissed, laughing.
Alexander took Madeleine’s hand, turning her to face him properly. “Madeleine, ever since the first time I saw you, I have yearned for you. Even if I did not quite know it at the time, I was drawn to you in a way I could not explain to myself, or let myself admit, once I did understand.”
Madeleine bit her lip.
“You have lit up my world—or rather, you have blown it to pieces, and I could not be happier. Before you, I was surviving, yet now I find myself living. Thank you, Madeleine, for always giving me the love and patience I have never known before. Thank you for giving me a home, and a reason to finally stop running.”
“Alexander,” Madeleine whispered, cupping his face.
Her stomach was a mess of flutters. He was truly the love of her life.
“I had always dreamt of a fairytale, yet, as time went on, I thought that they were not meant for women like me. I wantedto matter—I wanted to not have an empty, cold life, yet I had felt resigned to it. Until you. You have not given me my dream life, you have given me something much better. Somethingreal. With you, I can finally stop dreaming.”
Alexander laughed breathlessly, holding her face as she held his. He brought her mouth up to his and kissed her in such a way that took her breath away.
This wasn’t the sensual, heated kisses he gave her when he intended to take their intimacy much further. This was a gentle, searching thing, a kiss that spokeI love youwith mouths that knew how to move around one another, and hands that knew the shape of a lover’s face.
Madeleine was quite in love with her husband, and she could feel every ounce of his love returned.
While the guests got their refreshments after the ceremony, Alexander took Madeleine aside.
“Do you truly like it? I wished for you to have a proper wedding. I confess, I was rushed with our last one, and not my most comfortable, honest self.”
“I adore it,” Madeleine assured him. “But… well, one thing does concern me. Is our marriage truly legal? This is our second ceremony but we were bound to one another when Donald was,in fact, still alive, even if we did not know it at the time. Our marriage could be null and avoid.”
Alexander was already shaking his head. “No. No, do not concern yourself with such worries. I spoke to the archbishop myself and explained what had happened. The church has officially recognized the validity of our marriage. Donald is dead; we are married, that is all they need to be aware of. You aremine, Duchess.”
He pulled her tightly to him. “Legally, validly, in every sense of the word.”
Madeleine ghosted a kiss along his jaw, smiling into his beard. “Hmm, and tonight?”
“Tonight, you shall be mine, over and over, until the dawn breaks and Imightlet you rest, then.”
Madeleine giggled, pressing closer to her husband. “And the matter of breakfast?”
“One does not need to be in the dining hall to feast. Surely I demonstrated such things this morning.”
“Indeed you did. In that case, why rest at dawn?”
Alexander looked as if he wished to devour her there and then but they were stopped by a clinking of cutlery against glass.
Horace’s voice called out from the garden. “If the couple could actually join their guests instead of sneaking off to do Heaven knows what.”
“They are newlyweds,” Felix called out, laughing, “let them indulge.”
“More cake for us,” Colin muttered right as Madeleine and Alexander rejoined them.
Horace had everybody take a glass of champagne, and he stood before their group.
“I would like to raise a toast to the Duke and Duchess of Silverton,” he said. “I have known Alexander since he was a young boy, and I tended to his father’s horses. He did not have such an easy life, and he witnessed horrors no child should.”
The man quickly washed away the sadness in his eyes with a bright smile.
