“And you need to tell me that right now?”
“Indeed, in front of your friends and your family because ... you’re a romantic at heart as well.” She smiled and stepped closer to him. “Before we leave this most lovely of balls, I want everyone here to know that I love you and have wanted you to ask me to marry you for a very long time, and that I am now going to kiss you.”
A second later, Eunice kissed him, and not on the cheek, lingering on his lips for a good moment before she pulled away and grinned. “And now we can go.”
Given the rousing applause that followed her kiss, Arthur was relatively certain if Eunice decided she wanted to enjoy society every now and again for philanthropic reasons, society would be more than receptive to welcoming her into their hallowed midst.
With Ivan clearing the way for them, they walked down the hallway and out the front door, Eunice stopping in her tracks before she made it to the front steps.
“You brought Wyatt tonight?”
“I was hoping you’d notice what I did to the carriage first.”
Eunice glanced to the carriage, her eyes widening as her gaze traveled over the many roses covering it. She turned to him, took hold of his jacket lapels, pulled him close to her, and kissed him soundly before she tugged him down the steps. “It looks like a carriage straight out of a romance novel.”
“Phillip designed a special cover for the seat of the open barouche. If you’ll notice, it matches your gown.”
“You really are a romantic,” Eunice said before she flung her arms around his neck, kissed him again, then smiled as she looked the carriage over, her smile dimming when Wyatt gave a toss of his head before he snorted.
“That’s not a good sign,” she said, “and proves he still hasn’t warmed up to me.”
“You’re imagining that. Wyatt adores you.”
Less than three minutes later, Arthur was fairly convinced he might have been wrong about that because when he’d gotten distracted with kissing Eunice again after he’d helped her get settled on the seat, Wyatt had taken off, bolting down Fifth Avenue as Arthur tried to get control of the reins.
Instead of being concerned, though, Eunice’s laughter drifted through the air as she reached out and helped him with the reins, partnering with him to bring Wyatt under control, just as he imagined she would always be, from that point forward, a true partner in life.
As Wyatt settled into a canter and they trundled down the streets of New York, Arthur knew they were riding off into their very own happily-ever-after because that’s what always happened in fairy tales when two people who were meant to be together found each other, conquered obstacles that had been placed in their way, and then embraced the fairy tale that was certainly going to be theirs forever.
Epilogue
SEVENMONTHSLATER
Stepping around a baby carriage that was blocking the door to her office, Eunice stepped over Winston, a one-eyed pirate dog who’d turned into somewhat of a mascot for the agency, and skirted around Precious, the poodle who rarely left Winston’s side. Ducking when Pretty Girl, a parrot with a propensity for nicking sparkly objects, flew over her head, she finally made it to the chair behind her desk and sat down, jumping out of that chair when a lady dressed in widow’s weeds and weeping veils moved silently into her office.
A second later, Ann pushed aside the veils and grinned. “I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed these from your wardrobe. I’m going undercover at a funeral later.”
“The Tandler case?”
Ann nodded. “I’m taking Hazel with me. She’s worried that Ivan’s not around to provide me with proper backup, what with him and Judith being on their wedding trip. And even though I told her I’m capable of taking on the slightly disreputable Tandler family if they turn tricky, she thinks I need, and I quote, ‘a hired gun’ watching my back.”
“But Aunt Hazel doesn’t take a salary from us, which makes the ‘hired gun’ part somewhat inaccurate.”
“I tried to point that out, but your aunt can be difficult. I believe it runs in the family.”
“I’m not difficult.”
“So says the woman who agreed to plan my wedding since I don’t have time and has turned it into an elaborate affair at your mother’s new castle.”
“Mother wants to officially open the castle with a grand event. Your wedding is perfect for that.”
“You only decided to hold my wedding there to appease the guilt you’ve been feeling over disappointing your mother when you and Arthur eloped a week after he proposed because he wanted to whisk you off to Paris before the weather turned nasty.”
Eunice released a sigh. “It was a very romantic elopement and wedding trip.”
“I can’t argue with that, but because you disappointed your mother, I’m now going to find myself getting married in a spectacular castle when I was really thinking I’d get married in a small church with perhaps a small gathering held afterward in the Holbrooke boardinghouse parlor.”
“A castle tops the boardinghouse parlor any day. Besides, since you and Elsy decided to get married on the same day, the parlor was not going to be an option because it would have been overly crowded.”
