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He winked. “What do you think of going back to America as a married woman?”
Kiera couldn’t catch a breath. “Married … by the new year?”
“If you’re one hundred percent ecstatic about the idea. Otherwise, we’ll date and take as long as you need.”
“Don’t you dare backpedal on me,” she threatened. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “And I’m failing. Nobody would believe the most hilarious and charming Augustinian Captain could make such a muddle of this.”
“I can’t believe it, that’s for sure.”
His eyes widened.
She paused, as if thinking. Then she smiled and eased closer. “Yeah, I’m not really okay with this. I need the most perfect, charming, handsome, and hilarious Augustinian Captain to do a better job with his marriage proposal.”
“Tomorrow?” he asked.
“You don’t have a lot of time if we’re getting married by the new year.”
“Is there anything I can do to convince you tonight?” He wrapped his warm hands around her hips and pulled her in tight.
“You can try.”
Mason smiled against her lips and proceeded to kiss her. He kissed her until she wanted to shout to the world that she was ecstatically in love and her dream man felt the same about her. She was in heaven, and she’d be married to Mason by the new year.
Epilogue
“Auntie Kierie.”Curt and Aliya’s, seven-year-old Anne, her grandmum’s namesake, tugged at Kiera’s white satin gown. “Do I look beautiful?”
“Yes, you do, my angel.” Anne looked very similar to Kiera’s deceased mum. It was uncanny. She hugged her.
“You look amazingly beautiful,” Anne told her. Then she arched up and whispered, “Thank you for letting me be your bridesmaid and not another flower girl.”
“Why’s you got to get married on Christmas?” Derek and Ellery’s five-year-old Tommy demanded to know. “I got a new train I want to play with.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, love.” Kiera bent down to hug him. He let her for a beat, then squirmed away. “Sometimes it just feels right and you have to go for it.”
She smiled to herself. Everything about Mason felt right. Plus, they wanted some time to be all alone on a honeymoon before she started school on January fourth. There would be guards following them and stationed outside their beach villa in Costa Adeje, Canary Islands, but Mason could protect her and she’d proven she could fight to protect herself.
Arianna Gunnell Rivera came toddling into the dining room that connected with the ballroom. “Oh, goodness, it istime.” She shot Hattie a warning look. “And don’t you dare try to tell me to go sit down with my sweetheart. Brad knows as well as you should that I’ll be a lot more stressed sitting there and that would be worse for the baby.”
Hattie laughed and raised her hands. “You do your thing. We all are grateful to you.”
“Thank you,” Arianna said primly. “All right. Mother and father of the groom.”
Mason’s parents smiled at Kiera, and his mum blew her a kiss as they strode out. They were fabulous people. Of course they were. They’d raised Mason.
“Mother of the bride. Out you go.”
Her dad kissed her mum. “I’ll see you soon, beautiful,” the king whispered, but they all heard.
Her mum rushed to Kiera, looking gorgeous in her red lace dress. She grabbed both her hands and kissed her on each cheek. “I love you so much, Kiera. You are my girl through and through.”
Kiera teared up. She’d adored her mum Queen Anne, but she had lost her too young. Queen Madeline was her mum in every sense. “I love you.”
Her mum fanned her eyes. “No crying. Don’t mess up that makeup.”
Kiera laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely crying.”
