Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“I know,” she said softly. “And I don’t deserve this, either.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” I lightly squeezed her shoulder before dropping my hand. “But while we’re all working to pull this off, you should reflect on just how much she’s done for you. Not just for the wedding, either.”
She pressed her lips together and met my eyes for the first time. “I already am.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO – SYLVIE
“Thank you,” I said to Louise, taking the glass of water she held out for me. “Sorry you’ve had to sit here wasting your time.”
“Oh, please,” the young girl said. “It wasn’t a waste of my time at all. I’m a nursing student, so that’s why His Grace asked me to stay with you.” She smiled warmly. “Besides, I’ve been getting paid to read my book for the last forty minutes, so it was hardly a terrible deal for me.”
“Wow. Your boss isn’t half bad. Is he hiring?”
She grinned as three loud knocks sounded at the door. “Ah, that’ll be the duke now.”
I touched my fingertips to my eyes. I didn’t need a mirror to know they were puffy and probably red, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t the first time Thomas had seen me at my worst.
He’d really seen it an hour ago.
Louise opened the door and bobbed her head. “Your Grace.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said, touching her upper arm. “The housekeeping staff are to gather in the ballroom with Heath. Feel free to take a ten-minute break before you head over there.”
“I’m quite all right. I’ll head right there.” She ducked out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving us alone.
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that hung between us.
Thomas cleared his throat. “How are you feeling?”
“Slightly confused about how I ended up here,” I admitted, looking over at him. “And pretty emotionally wrecked.”
“Well, then let me soothe your worries somewhat.” He crossed the room and sat on the bed next to me. “You got yourself so worked up that you fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion. I hauled you into my car, brought you here, carried you to bed, and had Louise look after you until you woke up.”
“That makes a lot more sense than a wormhole to a parallel universe opening.”
“I’ll say.” His lips tugged to one side, and he reached over and laid his hand against my cheek. “Are you sure you’re all right? I didn’t call for a doctor or an ambulance, but I can if you want me to.”
I turned my face into his palm slightly. “No, it’s okay. I think the stress of everything hit me all at once. It’s like I was waiting for one little thing to set me off, but instead of a little thing, it was… Oh, my God.” I grabbed his shirt. “Does Hazel know? Is she okay? I need to—”
“Stay right where you are,” he demanded, blocking me from getting out of the bed.
“But I—”
“Need to stay. Right. Here.”
I stared at him. “Yes, sir.”
He shivered. “It’s a bit different when you say it.”
Oh.
I blushed. “Stop flirting with the patient.”
“Absolutely not.” He leant forwards and brushed his lips over my forehead. “Yes, Hazel knows. She’s upset, but I promise you, she’s absolutely fine.”
“How can she be both of those things? Her wedding is ruined!”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. You see, while you’ve been sleeping, my mother has been plotting.” Thomas tapped me on the nose. “Your grandparents, parents, and Julian’s parents are downstairs right now, and we’ve figured out how the wedding can go ahead.”
I was still asleep.
That was the only explanation.
Or maybe I really had gone through a wormhole to a parallel universe.
It simply had to be one of the two.
There was no way it was possible.
I had one thousand questions, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a very eloquent, “You what?”
Thomas stared at me for a second before he burst out laughing, smothering it with a hand over his mouth. “How very elegant of you.”
“I’ve given up on elegance for the day. What the fuck are you talking about?”
“This is a licensed wedding venue.”
I met his gaze. “How convenient.”
“It really is. Do you want to see the documentation? I’ll have someone bring it, if so.” He laughed again. “We were going to let the permit lapse after Dad died because we weren’t sure we wanted to continue hosting them. I had a feeling it might have been renewed, so I checked.”
“How do you forget something like that?”
“Grief.” He shrugged. “After he died, I had a ton of paperwork to go through, and I remember instructing the experienced admin staff of the estate to just handle what they could on their own. The license renewal was apparently one of those things.”
That made sense. Grief was a weird thing.
“So, it’s happening here?”