Page 484 of Reign

Her hand closes around mine.

“Not yet.”

I still.

She gave me this hand and accepted my ring.

Now the same fingers hold me away because she wants my collar to remain around her throat.

Fuck.

I lower my mouth to the black leather and kiss it against her pulse.

The collar stays.

Chapter 66

Elena

Two Months Later

The estate is madness.

One month away from the wedding, planning has taken over everything.

Floral samples crowd the dining room. Linen swatches cover half the sitting room. Men have spent three days measuring the garden despite Luciano assuring me the dimensions have not changed since the estate was built. Menus, seating arrangements, invoices, and increasingly aggressive notes from the wedding planner appear on every available surface.

We decided weeks ago that the ceremony would take place in our garden. The reception will spread across the terrace, and enough of the first floor to make Luciano question why he bought furniture if everyone insists on moving it.

That should have simplified things.

It did not.

My favorite part of all this?

Evelyn St. Clair is designing my wedding dress.

I’ve had two fittings at Elena Hope, and it’s already gorgeous. I’m not allowed to see the complete design yet because Evelyn claims brides become “emotionally disruptive” when given too much access before the final fitting.

She said that while standing in my fashion house.

My fashion house.

Elena Hope has been developing almost as quickly as the wedding. Evelyn’s collection fills one side of the workroom. My own designs occupy the other. Four of them are officially in development, fabric samples arrive almost every day, and there are actual deadlines written across the calendar in my office.

During the last fitting, Evelyn walked through the entire floor without saying a word. She examined the worktables, the fitting rooms, the fabric storage, and every design mounted along the walls.

Then she looked at me and said, “It’s good.”

Good.

Evelyn St. Clair used the word good to describe something I created.

I’ve been surviving on it for two weeks.

My least favorite part of wedding planning?

Everyone has an opinion.