Helena arrived shortly after six, her eyes bright with barely contained excitement.
"Tell me everything," she demanded, pulling Vanessa into a corner. "Every single detail. I want to know exactly what happened from the moment you left the ball until now."
"It is a long story."
"I have all evening."
So Vanessa told her. The bookshop, the confession, the teasing about the letters, Martin's declaration. Helena listened with rapt attention, interrupting only to gasp or exclaim or demand clarification on particularly romantic details.
"He quoted your letters back to you?" Helena pressed a hand to her heart. "That is either deeply romantic or deeply mortifying."
"Both. Definitely both."
"And the bit about your teenage enthusiasm for his shoulders?"
"I am trying very hard to forget that part."
"You should not. It is charming." Helena's smile softened. "He adores you, Vanessa he truly does. Anyone who memorises your embarrassing teenage prose is clearly besotted beyond all reason."
"I prefer to think he has simply lost all sense of propriety."
"That too." Helena squeezed her hand. "I am so happy for you for the both of you especially after everything…all those years of watching you two circle each other, it is wonderful to see you finally together."
"Thank you, Helena. For everything. For listening to me complain about him for years, for not telling me I was being ridiculous…"
"Oh, you were absolutely being ridiculous. You both were. But that is what friends are for, to tolerate each other's ridiculousness without comment." She grinned. "Well, mostly without comment."
Across the room, Martin caught Vanessa's eye. He was trapped in conversation with Lady Haberton, who was no doubt extracting every possible detail about the betrothal for later announcement, but he managed to send her a look of such desperate longing that she nearly laughed aloud.
"Go rescue him," Helena said. "Lady Haberton has been talking for at least ten minutes without pause. He looks like he might expire."
"He is a duke. I have no doubt he possesses the necessary authority to manage Lady Haberton.”
"He is a man who is in the throes of his adoration for you. He can handle nothing except staring at you from across rooms." Helena gave her a gentle push. "Go. I shall entertain myself by watching your mother interrogate Lord Hartwell about his nephew's marriageability."
Vanessa crossed the room, weaving through clusters of guests, until she reached Martin's side. Lady Haberton was mid-sentence when she arrived.
"…and of course, everyone has been simply dying to know the details. The announcement came as quite a shock, I must say. We had all thought Lord Montehood would never settle down, and then suddenly…"
"Lady Haberton." Vanessa smiled sweetly. "I do apologise for interrupting, but I need to steal my fiancé away. Family matter, I'm afraid."
"Oh! Of course, of course." Lady Haberton fluttered, clearly torn between disappointment and the thrill of being the first to report that Lady Vanessa had referred to the Duke as herfiancé. "We must speak more later, Lord Montehood. I have so many questions."
"I look forward to it," Martin said, in a tone that suggested he looked forward to nothing less.
Vanessa took his arm and steered him toward the relative privacy of the window alcove.
"My hero," he murmured. "I was beginning to lose the will to live."
"You seemed to be managing."
"I was reciting mathematical equations in my head to stay conscious." He pulled her slightly behind a curtain, out of sight of the room. "Do you know how many people have asked me about our wedding date? At least fifteen. I did not know that many people cared about my matrimonial plans."
"You are a duke. Everyone cares about your matrimonial plans."
"Tedious." He leaned against the window frame, tugging her closer. "I preferred it when everyone thought I was an irredeemable rake. At least then they left me alone."
"You will adjust."
