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The love she felt from his mere touch was stronger than anything she had ever experienced, for in that moment, she knew she was finally safe.

After a moment, Charles pulled back, peering deeply into her eyes. “I do not want to go back into that ballroom, but I suppose we ought to.”

Marie nodded. “Perhaps we ought to take a dip in the fountain first.”

He laughed. “We could recreate the whole experience. Only this time, we’d return to the ball instead of home. Imagine the looks we’d receive.”

“There would be no chance for an annulment then,” she teased.

He stared down at her, love apparent in his eyes. “There is no chance of an annulment now.”

Then he kissed her again.

When they were finished—though admittedly, Marie was never finished kissing Charles—the two of them returned to the ballroom hand-in-hand with matching rosy cheeks and breathless smiles.

This time, the dance they shared was exactly what the two of them had hoped for—for it was a dance shared between two people hopelessly and undeniably in love.

Epilogue

“Have you finished, then?” Marie asked, coming up to stand behind Charles where he sat at his desk. “We’ve dinner tonight with Tristan, you remember. He said he has news of his own today. We shouldn’t be late.”

The sun was near-to-setting, an orange glow cast through the window and filling the room with a golden, peaceful ambiance.

She wrapped her arms around Charles’s shoulders and leant down to rest her cheek against his. He leaned in, welcoming her embrace.

“I’ve finished just now,” he said, signing his name at the bottom of the letter. “They’ll be in for a surprise, will they not?”

“They certainly will.”

More than a month had passed by since the ball—a month filled with bliss and joy and laughter—and only now Charles had chosen to write to his friends, alerting them of his recent marriage and of his plans to host a special house party for them all to attend so the seven of them might come together to meet his new wife.

“Do you think they will come?” Marie asked.

“I know Tristan will,” Charles said, standing from his seat.

He wrapped his arms around her, and Marie responded in the same manner.

“I imagine they’ll all make an effort, though,” he continued. “I’m certain they will wish to see who else has any plans to wed.”

“You must be relieved you don’t have to pay the wager. You’re welcome for that, by the way.”

He placed a kiss to her brow, then her temple, then her cheek. “I do appreciate your efforts in that regard, but I must say, I’m more relieved to have my wife want to stay married to me.”

She smiled as he continued trailing kisses across her features, brushing her lips in the process.

“As if I had any other choice,” she said, swiftly losing focus. “The moment Childish Charlie vanished, I was lost.”

He pulled up with an unimpressed look. “I thought we agreed not to use that name?”

“You did. I agreed to nothing of the sort.”

He grimaced. “Then might I request you do not speak it in front of my friends? Particularly my brother?”

“Afraid they’ll take to using it, too?”

“I’m afraid they’ll see the truth in it,” he stated.

She laughed. “I hope you know, I don’t truly see you as a child.”