Page 124 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Happiness soaked into the marrow of his bones. He had not thought he would ever feel this way again… No, he had never felt like this before. Had never known this solid sense of rightness in his world.

He was accustomed to being alone, had accepted that it was how he would live the rest of his life. He had come to believe that being king meant he must be apart and solitary. After his past experiences, he had not dared to seek more. He could still feel the aching emptiness of his isolation.

Yet now he had not one, but two children who filled him with love and delight. His beloved, damaged nephew had found joy again. His country was peaceful and prosperous.

But his profound happiness came from this extraordinary woman, who was more than a friend, more than a lover.

She was the partner of his soul.

As his heart swelled with the immensity of his emotions, he understood why she had cried.

EPILOGUE

Seven months later

Eve heard the crunch of tires on gravel and then car doors opening and closing. Voices drifted through the open window of the small stone-walled room where she stood, fidgeting with the bouquet of Calevan lilies clutched in her trembling hands.

Grace’s question wafted in first. “Is this some kind of a church?”

“It’s a chapel.” The response came from Gabriel, since they were on his parents’ estate.

“Oh my God!” Grace had figured out what was about to happen. “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”

Luis had proposed to Eve only three days before. On La Sorpresa de los Piratas. And they had made love floating in the warm blue water afterward. Her skin flushed with delicious heat at the memory.

She had not hesitated to say yes, because there on the island, they were just a man and a woman who adored each other. More all the time.

But now the weight of what she was marrying into sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy.

She pulled her right hand away from the bouquet to look at the engagement ring. She had moved it to leave her left ring finger bare for the ceremony. The ring sported a large oval ruby of the same deep red as the lilies in her bouquet, set off by a frame of diamonds set in deep yellow gold. It had been made for Queen Isabella, a gift from her husband, the grandson of a kidnapped English nobleman. Now it was Eve’s.

Because she would be the Queen of Caleva.

The stomach butterflies started turning somersaults. She took a deep breath and brought up the image of Luis emerging from the turquoise harbor of the caldera, naked, the water sparkling as it ran down along the curves and valleys of his muscles. That was who she was marrying today. A man who happened to come with a crown.

A man who had agreed to her request for a small, private wedding with only family and very close friends, even though he wanted to shout their love to the world. She had asked for this because she figured it would be the last private ceremony for the rest of her life.

The ancient wooden door to her little sanctuary creaked open, and Carmen, leader of the infamous Protocol Squad, slipped inside. “It is almost time, señora,” she said.

When it was decided to hold the wedding as soon as possible, Carmen had proven to be an invaluable ally and general. She had conjured up musicians, flowers, and a custom-made dress. Luis had taken on the job of enlisting the Archbishop of San Ignacio, sworn to secrecy, to conduct the ceremony.

Carmen fussed around Eve, fluffing the pale rose-colored lace skirt of the tea-length dress. “May I say that you look very beautiful.”

“Muchas gracias. For everything.” Eve smiled at the intimidating woman before she turned to the mirror, a modern touch in the medieval space.

Her hair was swept up in elegant waves to support a diamond tiara, pulled from the vault under the palace. A fingertip-length veil of fragile rose silk tulle with beading along the edges fell over Eve’s shoulders and back. The dress’s bodice was fitted, with a sheer lace overlay across her shoulders and down to her elbows, while the skirt billowed out over several layers of tulle. Her rose satin pumps were beaded in swirling designs of lilies and vaho hibiscus.

Her only other pieces of jewelry were the gold earrings Grace had given her and the lily pendant Luis had gifted her with on her arrival in Caleva. She touched it now, amazed at how far she had come from that day.

Old, Queen Isabella’s ring. New, the dress. Borrowed, the tiara. Blue, her toenails. She had painted them pale blue because Luis thought her polished toenails were sexy.

The music from the small orchestra ceased, and she heard a stir from the chapel’s nave. Luis must have emerged from his own waiting room to stand at the altar. Carmen cracked the door open so they could listen.

“My family. My friends. Bienvenido!” His deep, smooth voice carried without apparent effort all the way into their room by the chapel’s entrance. Eve felt it vibrate inside her.

“You have undoubtedly guessed that you are here to attend the marriage of my adored Eve and myself. We wished it to be a private declaration of our commitment to each other, with only our most beloved in attendance. Thank you for doing us the honor of being our witnesses.”

There was an excited murmur of voices, and then the orchestra began to play the bright, brassy “Hornpipe” from Handel’s Water Music, chosen in honor of Caleva’s island identity…and Luis’s proposal site.

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