A beat of silence.
Juliana pressed her lips together very firmly.
“You thought of me,” Cassian repeated.
“You are my granddaughter’s husband,” Lady Hawthorne said, with the air of someone explaining the self-evident. “It is entirely appropriate. I shall need you on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think. Perhaps the occasional Wednesday if Lady Winslow is receiving.”
Cassian looked at Juliana.
Juliana looked back at him with an expression that said, very clearly, that she was going to be absolutely no help whatsoever in this situation and was enjoying every moment of it.
He thought of Benedict and Sebastian. He thought of the very specific and emphatic terms in which, not three months ago, he had told them there were things he would never do, and that escorting his wife’s grandmother on afternoon calls was unambiguously and irrevocably among them.
“Tuesdays and Thursdays are suitable,” he said.
“And the occasional Wednesday,” Lady Hawthorne confirmed.
“We will see,” he said.
Lady Hawthorne patted his arm with evident satisfaction, then went to rejoin the Dowager Duchess. Juliana finally allowed herself to laugh for the first time all day.
“Not a word,” Cassian said.
“I have not said anything,” she said.
“You are thinking very loudly.”
“I am thinking that your friends are going to find this absolutely fascinating.”
Cassian closed his eyes briefly. “I will never hear the end of it.”
“They certainly seem to have become good friends,” Juliana remarked, nodding toward their grandmothers’ retreating figures.
“I never thought I would see the day,” Cassian agreed.
“Do not get too comfortable,” Juliana warned. “I suspect they will be at each other’s throats again as soon as we have to choose a name for the baby.”
“The baby?” Cassian asked. He went very still behind her. Then he turned her in his arms so they could look each other in the eyes. “The baby? Do you mean you are… Juliana?”
Juliana laughed softly at the sight of her husband, the Duke of Stonevale, coming undone in the middle of a wedding breakfast. “I had meant to tell you later as a surprise.”
“You could not wait?”
“I could not wait another moment,” she said simply. “I wanted you to know you will soon be a father, Cassian.”
In that moment, the Duke of Stonevale looked like a man who had been humbled by something larger than himself and did not mind it in the least. The careful, controlled expression he showed the world was gone, replaced by a joy so unguarded and complete that she felt the sight of it would stay with her for the rest of her life.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her softly.
“Our baby,” he murmured against her lips. “Our child.”
Cassian gently pulled her hand, leading her away from the wedding breakfast. Some people glanced at them curiously, but neither cared. They walked until they reached their private chambers.
“What are we doing here? They will be looking for us.”
“It is time to celebrate,” he said as the door locked behind them. The world had disappeared. What remained was Cassian and Juliana, in their room. He kissed her with desperation, a raw declaration of love.
She crossed to him and took his face in her hands, the way he so often took hers, and felt him go still beneath her touch.
