Page 77 of One Dangerous Desire
“Well . . . ” She lowered her eyes a moment and failed to look believably abashed. “Let’s just say that Mr. Brooks is prepared to do his valet duties quickly, a church has been secured, and our requisite witnesses will be in attendance.” She glanced over his shoulder at the clutter of documents on his desk. “Don’t forget to bring the license.”
With that, she lifted up once more and nuzzled the edge of his jaw. “We must hurry.” Though even as she urged haste, she lingered in his arms, kissing him as if they had hours to love each other. Then she pulled away, reached down to clasp his hand, and tugged him toward the hallway.
Jack Sullivan stood near the threshold, conversing with Lady Emily Markham, and Mrs. Hark set a tea tray on the hall table.
“Every thing’s prepared for you, Mr. Leighton.” Brooks spoke from midway up the stairs where he waited for Rex.
Somehow, May had already become mistress of his home. And he loved it. He imagined himself possessed of decent management skills, but he suspected May would put him to shame.
“You already have them all dancing to your tune, love.” He stroked the slope of her back. “How do you manage it?”
“The lady is gracious and kind. She knows how to saypleaseandthank you, Mr. Leighton,” Mrs. Hark said as she poured milk into Lady Emily’s teacup.
“I saythank you,” Rex protested.
His housekeeper’s eyebrows shot into her grayed hairline.
“Sometimes,” he added.
“You’re a fine master, Mr. Leighton.” Mrs. Hark grinned as she moved toward him, placing a hand at his elbow and urging him toward the stairs. “And soon you’ll be a fine husband, I’m sure. Might start by not keeping your pretty bride waiting.”
After kissing May once more, causing Mrs. Hark to turn her head away as if she was a prudish miss, Rex headed up the stairs, sending Brooks scampering ahead of him. Charlie joined the parade too, apparently too agitated from the excitement in the air to remain at his usual resting place in front of the office fireplace.
May is mine.The sentiment was no longer about possession, but wonder. Eagerness. Gratitude that swelled in his chest, settling every doubt, erasing every worry. Tonight and every day to come, they’d share a bed, share a life, share a future.
MAY HAD TAKENhours to prepare for her trip to Rex’s townhouse, allowing a maid to lace and pin and hook her into half a dozen layers, sitting still while another wrangled her curls and dressed her hair, fastening on the jewelry she’d been looking forward to wearing since she was a girl. Her mother had picked out a special set, fashioned in diamonds and pearls, to be worn on her wedding day.
It was almost unfair, then, that after disappearing up the stairs for a little over half an hour, Rex emerged looking devastatingly handsome, clean-shaven, and elegantly dressed. The white fabric of his shirt set off the sharp angles of his jaw, lighting up his olive skin and extraordinary eyes. The raven dark of his formal suit favored the broad expanse of his shoulders, the long, firm length of his legs. The dove gray cloth of his waistcoat shimmered like the walls of the Pinnacle’s ballroom.
He took her hand, bowing to kiss it like a quintessential gentleman. “Shall we depart?”
“Yes.” She didn’t wish to wait a moment longer to start their life together.
He glanced around the hall, as if realizing they were alone. “Where are the others?”
“Emily headed out in the Ashworth carriage, and Mr. Sullivan insisted on obtaining his own conveyance.”
“You’re ready for all of this?” His hands enveloped hers, warming her until she felt a kind of peaceful glow infusing her body. He wasn’t asking about the wedding but about him. Perhaps he was asking her to snuff out whatever flicker of doubt still lingered.
May nodded. She was more than ready. Despite her mother’s admonitions, she’d never learned patience.
“You’ll be happy as a businessman’s wife?” A tremulous smile lit up his face. Perhaps he sensed the irony in his question too. That she’d been raised to marry an aristocrat and had only ever loved Rex, now a man of commerce, as ambitious as her father.
“I will if you will,” she whispered. “You’ll be content as businesswoman’s husband?” The moment felt delicate, fragile, as if this was the exchange of their true vows.
Rex scooped her up, nearly lifting her off her feet, and said against her neck. “I will if you will.”
He gripped her hand, sealing their palms together, and led her straight out the front door. Mrs. Hark had arranged for his fancy brougham to be brought ’round and await them at the curb.
As they settled into the carriage, Rex reached for her hand again. “Thank you for arranging all of this. For knowing just what I needed.”
May smiled, then turned her head to watch Belgravia pass by as they proceeded to the small parish church on Marylebone Road. She hoped that what awaited Rex in their future, all the love they’d been waiting to give each other for six years, would be just what he needed.
Epilogue
Three months later
“DELIVERY HAS ARRIVED.” One of the work crewmen stood in the doorway of Rex’s management office at the Pinnacle.
