A Chance to Kiss the Marquess (Charmed By Chance #3)

Epilogue

Two Months Later…

“Mother, please let my wife go,” Kal said.

Kal’s mother would not stop embracing her.

“You may be suffocating her.” Kal’s tone was dry as ever, and though his mother let out a watery laugh as she finally released Ann, Ann could only gasp.

Wife. He’d called her wife. The word seemed to light a fire in her heart and she turned her face up to give her husband a beaming smile.

“I’m just happy you found someone so perfect for you,” his mother gushed.

Ann smiled at the formerly terrifying marchioness. While Kal hadn’t seemed concerned about his mother’s reaction to their engagement, Ann had been far less confident in her approval. But, fortunately for all involved, his mother had shared Albright’s opinion on what made the perfect marchioness. And when she saw the way her son gentled around his fiancée, the way Ann so clearly adored him…

Well, it turned out the formerly terrifying marchioness was quite the romantic at heart and was won over easily. Ann’s parents, of course, could not have been more pleased with the match, nor her friends.

Which was why, no doubt, there were so many people currently filling Ann’s family home after the wedding. As Kal’s mother walked away, he leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Is it time yet?”

She cast a furtive look in her parents’ direction and her mother waved. Ann smiled back and said, “Not yet.”

“Mmm.” He rocked back on his heels as he acknowledged the arrival of Albright and Felicity. Then he gave her a suspicious look out of the corner of his eye. “You wouldn’t dare to do this without me, now would you, wife?”

Wife. The word sent another thrill through her, which she suspected he knew. “Of course not…husband.”

His eyes grew so dark and heated, she felt her knees go weak. But she kept her voice even as she added, “I would never run away without you. I would have thought that was implied in those vows we just spoke.”

He turned to her with an expression so hard and grim, it would have terrified her only months before. But now it made her laugh as he said, “I should have added a line in the vows about slipping away from tedious parties.”

She slid her hand into the crook of his arm and whispered, “I’ll tell you when it’s time. But until then…be brave, husband.”

His lips twitched up at the corners and her heart responded with a kick.

“Are you happy?” he murmured.

She took stock of her fluttering belly and the uncomfortable prick of anxiety at all the eyes that were on her…and the way her heart kept soaring as if she might take flight at any moment. And of all the unknowns that lay before her now that she was officially Lady Kalvin. “I’m terrified,” she said honestly. Then she squeezed his arm. “But in a happy way.”

His small smile made her instantly forget everyone around them. “And you?” she asked.

She caught a glint of deep, heart-racing emotions in his eyes. “I am…also terrified. But in the very best way.”

They shared a smile but were soon interrupted by friends and then more family…

It wasn’t until another full hour had passed that Ann finally gave Kal the agreed upon signal. And shortly after that he entered the dark library and found her seated cross-legged behind the low bookshelf that separated the room in two.

This time, rather than sit on the opposite side, he sat in front of her. He was cross-legged as well, and so close their knees brushed. “Now, where were we?”

His tone was so eager, she laughed. She loved seeing him like this. Carefree. Teasing. Few others were fortunate enough to see this side of him.

“I’m sorry to say I don’t have any new questions prepared,” she admitted. “I was a bit distracted by this little event I was meant to attend this morning…it was my wedding, you see.”

Answering one another’s long lists of ever more ridiculous questions had become one of their favorite games. It proved an excellent way to kill time during the more tedious social events his mother had insisted they attend together.

“Then it’s a good thing I am endlessly curious about that quick mind of yours.” He reached out and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. “I have plenty of questions prepared.”

“Always so studious,” she teased. Her belly began to flutter with nerves. This was it. The moment she’d been waiting for.

She’d known how she felt for Kal for ages now, but the words…

Well, words never had been her strong suit. But today she could hardly wait to say the words that were burning in her heart.

“Where shall we begin,” he mused.

“Actually,” she interrupted. “I'd like to go back to a question you asked me in one of your first letters. I never answered it because I did not have the answer back then. But now I do.”

He arched a brow. “How mysterious. Is it about Dottie?”

She giggled. “No. You'd asked what makes me happy.”

“Did I?”

“You did.”

“And what is your answer?”

She took a deep breath. “You.”

This wasn’t all she’d meant to say, but the fire in his gaze took her breath away and left her speechless. “Oh, now that…” He leaned forward. “That is a very good answer.”

She leaned forward as well, grinning like a fool at the love that shone so brightly in his eyes. She was still smiling as he pressed his lips to hers.

"I love you, Ann." His breath was warm against her lips. The words had always come so easily to him.

Her chest ached with a sensation so sweet, so pure, so joyful she thought it might just kill her one day. She pulled back to meet his gaze, her heart pounding frantically. "Kal, has anyone ever died from loving someone too much?"

His brows arched at the unexpected question and he pulled back even further to study her. "Not that I'm aware of."

She nodded, her heart firmly lodged in her throat. "Good. I'd hate to be the first."

He stilled, his typically unflappable expression comically stunned. "Ann. Does that mean...Are you saying..."

She laughed a little at his inability to speak. Just this once it was he and not she who could not speak properly. She met his dark gaze and held it. "I'm saying that I love you, Kal. I love you quite desperately, in fact, and?—"

He cupped her cheeks and kissed her so thoroughly she forgot what she was saying.

But that didn't matter. As he reached over and pulled her into his lap, she was well aware that for tonight...no words were necessary.

Thank you for reading! Up next, watch Felicity fall for Lord Albright (while catching a criminal!) in Charming the Accidental Suitor.