“I’m not in a hurry,” he murmured. “We can take as much time as you need.”
“I have feelings for you too,” Joan whispered. “I haven’t wanted anything in so long. I taught myself not to want, not to hope. But I want you. I want this. I am sorry I pushed you away.”
Laurence’s smile was radiant. He kissed her hands, then her cheek, then leaned in to capture her lips again,
“You scoundrel!”
Damian came barreling through the door, his face flushed with outrage. Hugo and Victoria were right behind him, trying and failing to hold him back.
“How dare you! Unhand my sister this instant!”
Laurence pulled back slightly, looking remarkably unrepentant. Joan buried her burning face in her hands.
She realized with mortification,, they were hiding and watching the entire time.
Damian glared at Laurence with all the fury of a protective brother. “You stole my sister’s first kiss! In a church, no less! Have you no shame?”
Laurence glanced at Joan, his eyes dancing with amusement. Then he looked back at Damian and said, quite seriously, “Then we should remedy that, shouldn’t we?”
He turned to Joan and took both her hands in his. “Joan Sinclair, will you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?”
Joan’s eyes widened. “Isn’t this rather sudden?” she whispered.
Laurence leaned close enough that only she could hear. “Do you not want this?”
Joan felt heat flood her cheeks. She looked at this man who had saved her, who loved her, who had just publicly destroyed her enemy and was now proposing marriage in the same church where she had almost been forced to wed a monster.
“I do,” she breathed.
Victoria squealed with delight. Hugo let out a triumphant cheer. Even Damian couldn’t suppress the broad smile that spread across his face.
Laurence stood and turned to Damian, still holding Joan’s hand. “Lord Sinclair, I humbly request your blessing for this union.”
Damian looked at his sister, saw the happiness shining in her eyes, the genuine smile that curved her lips, and his own smile softened.
“You have my blessing, Your Grace,” he said. “On the condition that you never make her cry.”
“I will spend the rest of my life ensuring her happiness,” Laurence replied solemnly.
He looked down at Joan, and the love in his eyes made her heart feel too large for her chest. She smiled up at him, a real smile, unforced and full of joy.
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
“Victoria!” Joan spun around in alarm, nearly dislodging her carefully arranged hair. “What’s wrong? Are you unwell? Are you in pain?”
One month had passed since Julian’s public destruction. And now, Joan stood before the looking glass once again in a wedding gown. But this time, everything was different.
This time, she was beaming. The gown was a masterpiece, ivory silk so fine it seemed to shimmer with every breath she took. Delicate embroidery covered the bodice in patterns of roses and ivy, each flower painstakingly stitched by hand. The neckline was modest but elegant, the sleeves fitted to her wrists where they ended in points of Brussels lace.
The skirt fell in graceful folds to the floor, with a train that would trail behind her as she walked down the aisle. It was farmore beautiful than the gown Julian had chosen, that had been expensive but cold, selected to project an image rather than to honor the woman wearing it.
This gown had been made for Joan specifically, with input from Victoria and Octavia, designed to make her feel not like a duchess, but like herself.
Behind her, Victoria worked on her hair with the focused concentration of an artist completing her masterpiece. She had spent over an hour arranging the dark locks into braids woven through with ribbon, curls framing Joan’s face, the whole creation pinned with tiny flowers that matched the embroidery on her gown.
Joan watched her sister in the mirror, noting the way Victoria’s tongue poked out slightly as she concentrated, the way her nimble fingers never faltered despite the complexity of the arrangement. Victoria wore a gown of pale lavender, her favorite color, which brought out the blue in her eyes and made her look ethereal and lovely.
