“I suppose I will just have to learn to live with him then,” she replied, a small smile at the edge of her lips.
The wedding had been an intimate affair. Her grandmother had hosted the ceremony at her townhouse and neither Oliver nor Lisbeth had protested. It was what both of them had wanted, just family and good friends. Both the bride and groom had been on time, and no one had been remotely surprised.
“I believe that you are both going to be very happy together. He adores you.”
“Thank you, Lord Anthony. I adore him, too.”
Oliver and Anna arrived back, and Oliver kissed Lisbeth’s hand. “May I have this waltz, Lady Bellamy?”
Lisbeth smiled. She liked how it felt on her face. “Why yes, you may, Lord Bellamy.”
Anna and Ashton both smiled at each other as the newly married couple made their way to the small dance floor.
“Finally,” Oliver said. “It feels like an age since I had you in my arms.”
Poor Oliver, Lisbeth thought. The last few weeks had been hard on him, but a wedding could not be arranged in haste, and her grandmother would not be overruled on the subject.
When finally they waltzed together, she felt there could be no more perfect moment to tell him the news she had been keeping.
“I presume you know about spring?” she began.
Oliver laughed as they went through a turn. “I’ve vaguely heard of it, why?”
“What usually happens in the spring?”
He gave her a concerned look like she might have indulged in too much champagne. “Flowers bloom? Not that spring ever came this year.”
“Yes, but what else happens?” she urged.
He gave her a pained look. “Must I guess?”
She flashed her eyes in return. “Yes.”
“Erm… lambs frolic?”
She smiled for encouragement.
He sighed again. “I must confess I have no idea what your point is.”
“Well, it is just that there may be a certainlambfrolicking its way intoourlives this spring.”
She waited as his frown of confusion disappeared and understanding dawned. “No, really?” he said, but his smile betrayed the words. They made a turn, and he dipped her carefully. “Well, well, a lamb of our very own, eh? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve known for a week or two. It is still early days, and I was concerned it may have been a false alarm.”
He kissed her forehead, then her nose, and then, tenderly, her lips. “You are such a clever girl,” he whispered into her ear. “Oh, how I love you, my wonderful, beautiful, darling wife.”
It made her tingle all over and suddenly, she had the overwhelming impulse to look at his watch to see what time it was. She wanted him alone. She wanted to be naked in his arms. She wanted to show him how much she loved him.
“I didn’t do it on my own, you know. We are both very clever to have picked each other to fall in love with.”
They danced then in silence just looking into each other’s eyes.
“She must have your eyes. I insist,” he said in a confiding tone as he rested his forehead on hers.
“She?”
“Absolutely!”
