She frowned, “then what…
“Its you, just you and what you bring to the clothing.”To me.. “Its whe way you carry yourself and how confident you look. You’re beautiful.”
She flushed, looking away. “Thank you, you look rather handsome yourself.”
He smiled. “Then I hope that means I won’t look too out of place by your side.”
“You could never.” She assured with a bright smile. “But be frank with me, how are you feeling? I know you must be rather nervous about the ball.”
“I was rather nervous, but then I saw you and it all just seemed to melt away.”
Veronica’s cheeks darkend, sheaking her head. “We are already married there’s no need to try and flatter me so much.”
“Ah, but I owe you hours of flattery in payment for all the time I ignored you. I wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for you.”
Veronica took his hand in hers. “Then I’m glad I could be here for you.”
He met her eyes for a moment, the air was charged between them. Then she stepped back, breaking the spell.
“This necklace is lovely by the way. Thank you.”
“There’s nothing to thank. It is rightfully yours as Duchess of Ashton.”
She smiled. “Have they been in your family long?”
“As long as I can remember. Did I ever tell you my grandmother wanted to be buried in them when she passed away?”
“You didn’t,” she gasped. “Then why are they here?”
“That would be all thanks to my mother.”
“What did she do?”
“I should start by saying my mother and grandmother never got along the best, but when my grandmother passed away, my mother deicded the jewles were far too nice to burry with her, so she kept them for herself. She even wore then to the funeral if you can believe it.”
Veronica bit back an inappropriate laugh. “That is terrible. I can hardly believe she would do something like that!”
“I can. How could she resist getting one last victory over my grandmother? It was the perfect way to get the last word.”
“Still, was it worth it?”
Christopher smiled. “Seeing them on you, yes. I would say it very much was.”
She huffed, a smile fighting its way onto her face. “I’m glad you think so, as there isn’t much we could do if you didn’t.”
They held each other’s gaze for a moment. Christopher couldn’t help but wonder if it was too late for them to simply spend a night in their own parlor together.
“Come along,” she took his hand. “I thought I saw that the carriage was already outside from my window. We shouldn’t keep them waiting, besides we don’t want to be late to our first ball as a married couple now do we?”
“No, I suppose not.”
They made their way into the carriage and headed off into the night.
CHAPTER 22
When they stepped into the ballroom, Veronica let out a small sigh of relife. She was worried the family would try to replicate their old ballroom and it might bring back painful memories for both of them. Christopher could say he was fine, that none of it mattered any more, but it was hard to believe something like that could be true for either of them.
Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
