Page 68 of Binding Their Hearts

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Alice leaned into his side. “Does it have a veil?”

He mimed key-locking his mouth. Her nervous energy this morning had manifested in peppering him with questions about her garb for the ceremony.

“At least tell me if my nipples will be covered.”

Pursing his lips, he graced her with a slow blink. Teasing her was delicious, particularly since she had volunteered for the torment by asking him to select her garments. “By a veil? I suppose anything is possible.”

She very lightly jabbed his ribs. “Not you. You’re impossible.”

“You do realize you’ll discover the answers yourself in a few minutes at the most.” The curve of the staircase blocked any knowledge of what awaited them, and no sounds of rushed preparations filtered down to him. But it was only eleven thirty, and the ceremony wouldn’t begin until one. They had plenty of time to dress.

“I know.” Her faux pout lasted half a second. “I just want that minute to arrive, and then the next minute, and then all the minutes until we’re standing in front of—” She furrowed her brow adorably, her mouth parted. “Well, whatever Jay has substituting for an altar. I want to be at that minute.”

“And once you reach that minute? What minute will your mind be chasing then?” Cradling her head, sinking his fingers through the soft waves of her hair, he pressed an almost imperceptible kiss to her lips. Another followed, and a third, as ghostly as the first. The faint sensation raised a tingle in his own lips. “There is beauty in taking each minute as it comes.”

She stole a deeper kiss, twining her arms around his neck, and laid her head against his shoulder. “I might be warming up to this minute.”

“Hey now, the kissing comes at the end of the ceremony.” Jay sauntered over and joined them, with Emma beside him. Casual confidence flowed through his easy stance and lazy grin. “I know we haven’t rehearsed this, but try to follow the cues. First the talking, then the kissing, then the cake.”

And then the praising and possessing. The greedy dragon curled hot in Henry’s belly, a banked fire eager to ignite. For all the excitement of the day, both Alice and Jay exuded a peaceful calm that bespoke their comfort with the path before them. Nothing could be more attractive.

“I’m good with those priorities.” Alice pushed off his chest and planted a smacking kiss on Jay’s cheek. “Last kiss until I get the cue, I promise.”

Henry opened his arms to Emma. “It seems I’m late to give you a proper greeting.” He received a tighter embrace than he’d anticipated, and he strengthened his hold across her back in response. “Em, truly, thank you for all you’ve done to make this happen for us.”

“I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. Clearing her throat, she released him and smoothed her long skirt, a Wedgwood blue silk that lightened her eyes. “If all of you are ready”—she stepped past the rope barrier—“we have changing rooms upstairs assigned to each of you.”

“I do have a favor to ask.” He raised his phone, verboten in all spaces beyond the first floor. “If I might have an exception? I am unexpectedly awaiting word of something rather important.”

She waved him off as Alice and Jay shot him curious glances. “Taken care of. The three of you have a special dispensation today, so long as your phones go no further than the second floor. Now, shall we?”

They followed her up. The salon doors were shut, but a sign outside informed attendees that entrance was consent to be photographed. A thoughtful touch, and likely a requirement for board approval. “Jay, you’ve done a marvelous—”

Alice gasped.

He swung left, tracking her gaze, and lost all words.

His mother, impeccably dressed in afternoon formal, smiled at him. “And Jay worried he wouldn’t be able to surprise you. I believe we have an unqualified success on our hands.”

In two steps he’d mussed Jay’s hair and kissed him breathless. “You astound me,” he murmured for Jay’s ears only. He dropped a second kiss on Jay’s forehead. “Yes, all right, no more kissing until the proper moment. I cannot fathom how this keeps happening.”

A multitude of grins were suddenly hidden by strategically placed hands.

Recovering his decorum as much as possible, he crossed the floor and wrapped his mother in a much calmer embrace. “I am pleased beyond all measure to have you here.”

“As I am to be here, darling.” Patting his chest, she beckoned to Alice and Jay with her free hand. “To see all of my darlings wed. Come here, come here, I insist upon hugs before and after the ceremony. There will be no skimping.” She swept them into her arms and kissed their cheeks, the pair of them beaming at him over his mother’s shoulders. “There we are. Much better. Henry, do go on and get changed, and I’ll join you when you’re ready.”

At Emma’s gesture, he ducked into the first of the changing rooms to the sounds of Mother fussing over his quite-soon-to-be spouses. The closed door shut out all but the low whoosh of the building’s environmental systems heating the grand spaces and the classical music playing over the speakers—currently a spritely and jubilant bit of Handel’s Water Music.

His morning coat, expertly pressed, hung on an exquisite cherrywood valet stand. He laid his phone—no update as yet—and his grandfather’s watch on the shelf beside the tie bar and cufflinks he’d handed off to Emma last week with the clothing selections for the three of them. Taking deep breaths, he stripped off every stitch he had on and stood before the cheval mirror.

Not quite four months shy of his fortieth birthday. Solidly built, though not muscular by any means. Fairly proportioned, beginning to show flecks of silver, all parts in working order. This was the man to whom Alice and Jay would give body and soul, who held sway over their hearts as they did over his.

“Took you a while,” he chided his reflection.

A smile softened his face as he exhaled. “I took exactly the time I needed.”

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