“Again, I’d prefer not discuss any subject that starts with those four words.”
“Have been talking about the other changes in you,” Rowles finished.
Collin regarded him. “What changes?”
Rowles sipped his champagne. “There are several.”
“Enumerate them for me then.”
“Cheeky tonight, are we? Or are you just impatient until your sister brings in Elizabeth?”
“Both. She’s taking bloody forever.”
“She wants to be dramatic.”
“Heaven help us all.”
“Regardless, allow me to enumerate your changes,” Rowles told him. “Before you left for Cambridge, we were worried about you. You’d been surly—and not your usual sarcastic self, but dark and depressed. You didn’t come out from that hardshell of cynicism. You didn’t anticipate the future with any hope, and there was no real joy in your life.”
“I sound like a pleasure to be around.”
“You weren’t. You were bloody awful.”
“So, I take it I’ve improved.”
“You’ve…changed. You are who I remember you to be…before…”
Collin swallowed and regarded his friend. “The fire,” he finished.
Rowles had lost a brother in that fire too. They shared the burden of the loss.
“Yes. It was almost as if…the loss had slowly been spiraling you downward and you finally hit the bottom. That was a few months ago, then when it was the anniversary—”
“Of my father’s death, the one time I forgot because I was so bloody despondent I didn’t notice what day it was anymore.”
“Exactly, that was when we knew something had to happen. We just weren’t sure what. Or if there was anything we could do.”
Collin sipped his champagne, reliving that evening.
How could he have forgotten?
He remembered the feeling of icy-cold shock as realization hit him.
“Next thing Joan and I knew, you were off to Cambridge. It was a little terrifying, not knowing how you were.”
Collin shrugged. “I left the party and made some decisions. Turns out it was one of the best things I could have done.”
“I agree.”
“Talking about me?” Joan’s voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned, but before he could offer a smart remark to his sister, his breath was stolen away.
Elizabeth’s shy smile captivated him, body and soul. It warmed him from the inside out, her eyes only for him. She walked forward and took his extended hand. He lifted her gloved fingers to his lips and kissed them, pulling her in slightly closer than was socially acceptable as he lost himself in her dark gaze. “Stunning, intelligent, and ravishing my self-control every moment… How did I get so lucky?” he asked, whispering the words for her ears alone.
“Handsome, witty, mostly intelligent and brave… How didIget so lucky?” she countered, her words teasing but her expression fiercely passionate as she locked eyes with his. She was indeed worth the wait, in every sense. The green silk clung to her body, the color enhancing the creamy hue of her skin and the brightness of her strawberry hair, contrasted with her dark eyes. Her long, lean fingers grasped his tightly as if needing a lifeline.
“You’re exquisite.”
“Everyone is staring.” She swallowed but held her head high, every inch the queen of the moment.
