“Really?” Emery felt her heart hitch with excitement. “I would love that!”
“Where would you like to go?” Lucien led her down the path and toward the hedges, passing rows and rows of the most beautiful, exotic, and fragrant flowers and trees Emery had ever seen in her life. “We can go anywhere you like.”
“I’ve never traveled anywhere,” Emery said. “My parents kept me so cooped up, and they were not travelers themselves. Even this garden feels to me like a different world! I know you must find that terribly common, but it’s true.”
“It’s not common,” Lucien said. “It’s normal for young ladies not to have traveled much. But you are a duchess now, and although we will have to be a little stingy these next few years until the girls are married, we can still afford to go on a nice honeymoon. Somewhere…” he smiled at her. “Like Italy.”
“Italy?” Emery almost stopped walking. “I would love that! I never dreamed I might someday go to Italy! I thought you meant Cheltenham, or the Lakes District.”
Lucien laughed. “The Duchess of Dredford deserves better than the Lakes District.”
They were at the edge of the hedge maze, and Lucien looked over his shoulder furtively before firmly grabbing her arm and pulling her after him into the maze. It was dark inside, and immediately much quieter, and Emery felt more aware of herself and her closeness to her husband. Even though he was right, they were married, and scandal was much less likely to be attached to a married couple, she still felt nervous.
I don’t want to push things. We should take this whole romance thing slowly, since he has been so skittish about it in the past.
The pathway they were on forked, and Lucien took the right path, leading her a little deeper into the maze. After several more twists and turns, he stopped and released her arm, taking both her hands in his and turning to face her.
“Does it really please you?” he asked, as he peered intently down into her eyes. “The idea of going to Italy for our honeymoon?”
“You’re really sure we can afford it?” she asked cautiously. “I know you are still trying to right your parents’ wasteful spending. And a honeymoon doesn’t need to be so lavish.”
“But it does,” Lucien insisted. “It is the only one we will ever get, and I want to show you how much I care for you.”
Emery’s heart swelled in her chest, and she squeezed his hands. “I appreciate that,” she murmured. “But what I wanted to say to you is that it doesn’t matter to me where we go. As exciting as Italy sounds, we have our whole lives to go, and if somewhere like the Lakes District makes more sense financially, that is fine with me. All that matters to me is that I am with you.”
She had never thought that she could render him speechless, but from the look on Lucien’s face, she had said something that had made it impossible for him to speak. He looked moved; emotional but not upset; and the look in his eyes was more tender and more touched than anything she had seen before.
“You truly are an incredible woman,” he murmured. “The best woman I have ever met.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said, trying to laugh, but her throat was too tight.
“No, not for long. Not now that I’ve lured you into the O’Farrells’ infamous hedge maze and have every plan to corrupt you.”
She laughed, but not for long, because the next second, he had stopped up her mouth with a kiss.
It was only the second kiss that they had shared. Despite the fact that they were sharing a bed now, they hadn’t so much askissed since the first time when they were dancing. He had been very respectful and had slowly been paying her more and more compliments and spending more and more time with her. Which made this kiss even more special to her. She felt as if she were floating out of her body with happiness, while at the same time, she felt immensely aware of everything that was happening to her.
Most of all, she felt like the luckiest person in the world, as if she had to pinch herself to make sure this was really happening to her.
For several more glorious seconds, Lucien kissed her, and then they broke apart. Emery felt giddy with happiness and even a little light-headed. She wasn’t used to such things, although it was possibly the most wonderful experience of her life.
“Are you alright?” he murmured, gazing down at her with soft, tender eyes.
“I’m alright,” she whispered back. “Just very happy.”
He was silent for a moment. “Me as well,” he said at last, and Emery’s heart fluttered again. “I didn’t know it was possible to be this happy.”
“I feel the same way.” Her throat was now even tighter, and she was afraid she was going to cry, so she cleared her throat and looked away, back down the path they’d taken. “We should probably go back before we are missed.”
“You’re right,” he said, but she could hear the reluctance in his voice.
They linked arms again and began to meander slowly back down the path. They forked left, then right again, and Emery had just begun to wonder if they had gone the wrong way when there was a movement in front of them and they both froze.
“Is someone there?” she whispered to Lucien, and he shook his head, clearly not sure.
“Hello?” he called out, his voice muffled by the hedges.
“Lucien?” The voice that responded to them was oddly familiar. Lucien frowned and stepped forward.
