Valentin nodded, drawing her with him toward the nearest carriage where a wide-eyed Louis had clambered out and held the door. “I’ll tell you all that happened on the way home to Bratavia. My people eagerly await our wedding and I’ll notdelay that pleasure for them a moment longer than we must, agreed?”
Smiling at him in wonder, Estelle murmured, “Agreed,” as once more he drew her into his arms to kiss her…oh, so tenderly…until Adam came up behind them with a beaming Linette on his arm.
“A wedding you say, Valentin? Damned glad to hear it.”
Blushing furiously and knowing exactly what Adam meant, Estelle glanced at Valentin,who clearly had understood as well from the awkward grin on his face. Yet Adam immediately set him at ease by reaching out to heartily shake his hand.
“As you said, let’s not keep the good people of Bratavia waiting.”
***
The following afternoon, Estelle stood in the narthex of the cathedral, dressed in the exquisite silver gown she’d worn to the coronation ball, as trumpets announcedher arrival. The citizens of Bratavia who had packed into every pew, every side aisle, even filling up the balcony and crowding the musicians, jumped to their feet to see her walk down the aisle to marry her prince.
The route to the cathedral had been thronged with people, too, everyone jostling for a view of Estelle in her white carriage with gilded trim—long reserved for the brides of Bratavia,she’d been told—and drawn by four prancing white horses. Adam and Linette had accompanied her and already taken their seats in the front pew while Valentin had arrived moments earlier astride his magnificent black stallion.
Estelle kept her gaze fixed upon him now, her heart swelling with love as she began her walk down the center aisle to the stirring sound of violins and harp.
And how couldshe not stare at him dressed in princely regalia and looking so unbelievably handsome? His gaze never left her, either, his expression expectant and filled with such warm admiration that she felt her cheeks blush with pleasure.
It seemed before she knew it, she had taken his hand with trembling fingers and they had walked together up the steps to stand in front of the altar where the archbishopjoined them. Like a miraculous dream come true, she and Valentin recited their wedding vows before God and man, followed by their exchange of gold rings, a solemn blessing, and the archbishop presenting them to all as husband and wife.
Yet then came a second part of the ceremony heralded by another blast of trumpets. Still holding her hand, Valentin turned her back toward the archbishop, whoplaced a glittering diamond tiara upon her head and proclaimed, “Long live our beloved princess, Estelle Marie Chevalier!”
Overcome when the entire assemblage rose to their feet again with resounding cheers and applause, she smiled with heartfelt gratitude while Valentin drew her with him to the top of the steps.
“Your adoring subjects, my love,” he murmured, squeezing her fingers as he facedher. “You’ve won their hearts just as you’ve won mine forever.”
His eyes filled with emotion, Estelle had never felt such joy as when he pressed the sweetest kiss to her lips, which caused the cathedral to erupt again into thunderous approval.
From that moment on, the rest of their wedding day flew by in a whirl of happiness.
The carriage ride back to the castle along streets festooned withflowers as she and Valentin waved to the exuberant throng in between his fervent kisses.
A sumptuous banquet where their guests bestowed upon them countless toasts for a long and prosperous life together, good health, and many children. The later salute never failed to make her blush, each time Valentin tenderly squeezing her fingers and murmuring into her ear that he prayed they were alreadyon their way to starting their family.
Edward Bertrand’s toast to wish them well was especially heartfelt, the baron appearing at peace and not suffering at all the absence of his wife. Hortense had been banished to a guarded estate bordering France, her three hand-picked potential brides for Valentin sent home, and her accomplice exiled forever from Bratavia. Estelle went to him at once to kisshis cheek, which clearly touched him from his gracious bow, her gratitude boundless for his help in reuniting her and Valentin.
And finally the dancing where she and Valentin twirled together around the ballroom until all of a sudden, the hour grown late, he clasped her around the waist and swept her along with him toward the door. Her last glimpse over her shoulder had been of Linette and Adam,who glanced at each other smiling. Estelle gasped with delight when Valentin lifted her into his arms to carry her the rest of their way to his private apartment.
No,theirprivate apartment now, she amended happily as the guards threw open the doors for them and then shut them firmly behind them.
Valentin didn’t stop until he had reached the bedchamber, and only then did he set her down inthe middle of the room that clearly had been prepared for them: A fire burning brightly in the fireplace, the covers turned down, and two fluted glasses filled with champagne on a table beside the bed. Valentin left her for only a moment to close the door and then strode back to sweep her into his arms.
“Alone at last,” he murmured against her ear, Estelle thrilling at the sensation of him holdingher so tightly. Her arms had no sooner flown around his neck when his mouth found hers to kiss her until she was breathless and trembling, the joy that had enveloped her all day making her feel as if she might burst from the wonder of it.
Only a few nights past she had believed they would be parted forever, and now they were united for a lifetime together as husband and wife!
“You’re a princessnow…my princess,” he breathed against her lips, his hand slipping down her back to caress her through the silvery satin of her gown. She shivered and pressed against him even closer, which made him groan from deep in his throat.
“Shall we do something with this?” he said huskily, releasing her to remove her tiara and deposit it on the table. Then he returned to her swiftly to begin undressingher, and Estelle, him.
A lusty giddiness seized them, a flurry of clothing filling the air as they laughed and kissed and spun around each other until Estelle found herself tossed naked onto the bed.
Flushed from head to toe, her breasts rising and falling with unbridled eagerness for him to join her, Estelle watched as he first lifted a glass of champagne to take a healthy draught and thenoffered her a sip. She trembled so from wanting him that when she rose on one elbow and covered his hand with hers to guide the glass to her mouth, she splashed cool droplets down the front of her body, her nipples puckering.
Which Valentin didn’t seem to mind at all, the hungry look in his eyes making Estelle’s heart skip a beat.
He deposited the glass on the table and joined her so swiftlythat she could but gasp and fall back upon the bed, Valentin straddling her and lowering his head to taste the champagne slicking her breasts.
