That made him feel almost dizzy. It was disorienting in every way, so he was pleased to enter the chapel and have them all cluster together there at the ancient altar, because that meant that this was happening.
He was sure that, once it did, he would stop beingvictimizedby all thesefeelings.
The priest made a meal of it, but that was only to be expected.
“Antonluca,” he intoned, “do you take Hannah, here present, for your lawful wife according to the rite of our holy mother, the Church?”
Antonluca was the one who had wanted a religious ceremony, not merely a civil one, to make certain these bindings between them stayed put. And now that he was standing in a drafty old chapel, he wished they could hurry it all up.
But first there were these vows. “Lo voglio,” he growled. “I do.”
Then found himself on tenterhooks as he waited for the priest to ask Hannah the same question. An eternity passed, it seemed to him, as he waited for her to answer. As her solemn green gaze held his, then moved to the priest.
“Yes,” she said, her voice clear. “I do.”
After that, the service was otherwise swift and to the point.
Or Antonluca thought it was, in any case, having not attended any weddings before.
He repeated the words that he was told to repeat. He listened as Hannah did the same. He held her hands in his as they said ancient words and followed old rites to bind themselves together into one.
And then, at last, he slid a dramatic emerald that matched her eyes onto her hand, then followed it up with the matching band that slid in tight to the emerald and made the entire set look more intricate, more unique. He handed her the ring that he had selected for himself and there was something shocking about how deeply he liked the fact that in pushing that ring onto his finger, she was claiming him, too.
That understanding seemed to flash between them then. Scared and sweet.
And then the priest pronounced them husband and wife. At last.
Dominic was giggling with Cinzia, who was murmuring to him in a low voice, but all that Antonluca could focus on was pulling Hannah closer to him. She had shed her coat when they’d entered the chapel and she wore the same simple white gown she had been wearing all day.
But to him, there was no more beautiful wedding gown in existence. Because no other gown would have her in it, and that was really the beginning and the end of all of this for him.
She tipped her head back. He cupped her jaw with his hand and leaned in.
And he remembered then, when they had stepped outside onto a busy New York street but neither of them had noticed all the cars and people. Instead he had done something very much like this, his palm against the side of her face.
He thought that she was remembering it, too, given the way her eyes darkened.
Just like that, he fit his mouth to hers.
Carefully. Deliberately.
And it was the restraint that almost killed him. The restraint that became something like reverence, because their child was here and there was a priest beside them and this was no time to give in to all that flame and fury that he could feel blazing all around them.
There was only this claiming. Only this surge of certainty that he could feel his bones, his flesh, his greedy cock.
When they separated, her eyes seemed to brighten and her lips trembled, and when she looked away, he let her.
Because he felt as shaken as she looked.
They trooped back into the castle then. There was a celebratory drink and a small meal with the grinning priest, and then Cinzia toted Dominic off for what she called a sleepover party at her house.
The little boy was thrilled. He told his mother all about it, in his high-pitched, excited, not entirely comprehensible way and then told Antonluca about it, too.
When Cinzia left, the priest followed, and he found himself alone at last with his wife.
Antonluca could feel a wild hungering within him, unlike any he had ever known.
But he held it in check. He let the quiet of the castle settle in him. Then he turned to look at Hannah, who was standing there by the fire. Gazing into the flames as if they were sharing their secrets with her.
