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“Stay.” I reach up, fist my fingers in his hair and press my lips against his. We kiss whilst at the same time Lucian walks us deeper inside the room. He doesn’t stop walking until my back crashes against a wall. We kiss passionately and angrily. We kiss like it is our first time, and we kiss like it is our last time. So many emotions bunched into one in a crescendo of passion.
Lucian’s fingers clutch the taffeta skirt of my gown, such a subtle thing to do, and yet so incredibly sensual. My body tingles with a lust I have never felt before. Our kiss is heated, sensual, and for a moment I forget where we are.
“Sweet Jesus.” I hear my sister’s words and open my eyes to see her standing with Freja, her hand covering my niece’s eyes. I glance up at Lucian and stifle a laugh.
“We were just…” I say, but can’t stop laughing long enough to finish the sentence.
“We’ll be right with you,” Lucian finishes for me. I use his jacket to conceal my embarrassment, seeing as though I no longer have my long hair to hide behind. I only look up when I can no longer hear Freja’s giggles and my sister’s heels click against the floor.
“I’m curious,” I say, while at the same time circling my finger around his cravat. “What would you have done if I asked you to leave?”
Lucian shrugs. “I’d have left, of course. Only…”
“Only what?”
“I’d have looked like a fool boarding the cruise ship tomorrow on my own.”
“Cruise ship?” The realisation of Lucian’s words hit me. “You mean you’re coming with me and Tyler?”
“I’m going instead of Tyler. He is staying here.”
As sweet as Lucian is being, this is too much. “Tyler wants to travel just as much as me. It isn’t fair he will miss out.”
“True,” Lucian muses. “But seeing as he’s officially the proud owner of Calloway travel agency in Heller St Claire, I think he has enough reason to stay.”
“The owner of the travel agency?” I repeat. “Since when?”
“Since I offered the business to him during our phone call conversation when you arrived in Paris.”
Paris? Tyler’s known all this time and said nothing to me. The room feels as though it’s spinning, and I cling onto Lucian to hold me up when I’m about ready to fall. “I thought you signed the building over to Josh.”
“I was about to, until I realised what a lying scumbag he is. Josh of course is still ignorant of the fact. As far as my cousin is aware, I am still sorting the contracts. What a shock Josh will have on Monday morning when Tyler tells him the good news.”
I take a few seconds trying to process everything Lucian has told me, and one question still whizzes around in my mind. “So, if you haven’t taken on Calloway Housebuilders, which company will you be running?”
“Calloway Cruises. You want to travel the world, and I want to travel the world with you. The sea is our oyster. We will travel until your heart is content, and when you have seen all you want to see, we will return to England and settle down in one of my country estates.”
I can’t hold back the smile. “Lucian…”
He doesn’t wrap his arms around me as I was expecting, and instead takes a step back, putting distance between us. “Two years ago, I went to an art exhibition and became completely captivated by a girl in a photograph. One month ago, that girl became more than an image frozen in time.”
I gasp as he crouches down in front of me on one knee. “Lucian, what are you doing?”
Lucian takes my hand in his and gazes up into my eyes. “Thing is, Chelsea, I fell in love with an amazing girl. A girl I cannot get enough of. I’m not too proud to admit that I am greedy, and the photo alone is just not enough. I want the girl who believes in the impossible and is hell-bent on saddle-breaking an unbreakable horse, and I want the girl who does something as whimsical as put a crown of daisies in my hair. I want the girl as well as the photograph. I want it all.”
He reaches into the lapels of his jacket and pulls out a small red velvet box. “When we board the cruise tomorrow, I would like you to do so wearing my ring.”
Lucian flips the lid, and there lying on the soft cushion is his grandmother’s gold engagement ring.My engagement ring.
“Chelsea Janssen, will you do me the honour of becoming Mrs Calloway? Of becoming my wife?”
Hot tears stream down my face, and I do nothing to wipe them away. “I will, I do… I do…”
Lucian takes the band from the box and slides it up my finger. He stands up and pulls me into his arms.
I lean forward to kiss him when he pulls away. “Sweetheart, we have all night to celebrate, and believe me when I say that I am going to take my time. But right now, you have a bridesmaid dress to put on, and a wedding you are not going to miss.”
I’m flooded with emotion. I have everything I have ever wanted. I look up and meet Lucian’s stare and say the words that are long overdue. “I love you, Lucian Calloway.”
