“This is so hard for me, Ambrose. I don’t want to ignore Syd’s problems, but I also do not want to do anything to ruin our wedding tomorrow. Please tell me your brothers and Mr. Barrow are up to the task.”
“They are.” He took her into his arms, drawing her close as they began to twirl along with the other dancers. “What about our honeymoon plans?”
Her eyes widened. “Do you wish to cancel them?”
“No, Adela. I thought you might want to do this.” He loved the soft feel of her in his arms.
“What I want to do is throttle Syd for turning us all upside down. But I am hardly one to complain when I’ve done quite a job of aggravating your orderly life ever since I burst into it. I want her to be safe. And I also want time alone with you on a proper honeymoon, although I don’t suppose a month or two in Devonshire digging up old bones is something you are desperate to experience.”
“I will be with you, so I am certain to enjoy it,” he said with a grin.
She smiled up at him. “I float on air whenever I am in your arms. Despite all the chaos swirling around us, I am truly happy when I am with you.”
“So am I, love.”
Her eyes widened. “Do you realize what you just called me?”
“Yes, Adela.”
“Do you mean it?”
“That you are my love?” He drew her close so that their bodies were touching, and then whispered in her ear, “Yes, to the depths of my soul.”
CHAPTER 16
AMBROSE LOVED HER!
To the very depths of his soul, no less.
That sounded quite promising.
Adela did not know if she ought to believe him, not that he was the sort to spout glib endearments for the sake of flirtation or seduction. But he knew she was distressed and may have embellished the truth a little to keep her focused on their wedding plans instead of her troubled friend.
Still, she was happy and her heart was in an absolute flutter as she donned her wedding gown and magnificent lace veil the following morning. She hardly recognized the face staring back at her in the mirror. For the first time in her life, she thought she rivaled thetondiamonds in beauty.
Is this what Ambrose saw when he looked at her?
Fortunately, her wrist had only been mildly sprained and hardly hurt anymore. She had removed the bandage this morning and only the slightest swelling was noticeable, nor were the scrapes on her knees visible since her gown covered them.
They were not very pretty to look at, though.
“Adela, come along or we shall be late,” her mother said, scurrying into her bedchamber and bustling her and her friends out. “The three of you are to ride in the first carriage. We shall follow in the next with Lady Eloise. Don’t you all look lovely, like three little wrens.”
Gory chuckled. “I don’t think I have ever been called that before. Perhaps a raven or a blood-sucking bat.”
Adela’s mother shuddered. “Gregoria! That is utterly ghoulish.”
She shrugged. “Sorry. You needn’t worry, I’ll be as chirpy as a nightingale for Adela’s special day.”
“And you, Sydney,” Adela’s mother asked. “How are you feeling today?”
“Quite happy for your daughter.” Syd glanced at her arm. “I no longer need the sling and my glove covers the bandage to my wrist.”
St. Ursula’s Church was a charming building made of gray stone situated on the edge of fashionable Belgravia. The church, with its exquisite, stained glass windows and tall spire was nestled between two small parks. It had an elegant courtyard large enough to accommodate a dozen carriages arriving at once and an exquisitely cultivated front garden that was a riot of early blossoms in shades of white and brightest yellow comprised mostly of forsythia and daffodils. Behind these flower beds were trellises with leafy green branches entwined in them. Red rosebuds were beginning to show amid the green leaves and would burst forth in all their crimson splendor within a few weeks.
Adela smiled when she saw Ambrose and his brothers standing in the courtyard in their top hats and formal coattails.
“We’re here,” Gory squealed, her face pasted to the newly replaced window of Ambrose’s carriage which he had sent to Chipping Way to pick them up.
