Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “No, we’re going to Vegas, baby.”
Graham chuckled softly and kissed my forehead, then lifted my left hand to his lips and kissed the gold band on my ring finger.
Surprise! We were engaged.
Graham had popped the question on the stone bench in the garden two months ago when the house was still partially covered in scaffolding.
In the early days after we’d bought the property from the Montgomery Trust, we’d make the drive from London and stay at the cottage with the cliffside ocean views to visit the house and meet with the contractors…and daydream about Deverley. We weren’t sure we wanted to keep it at first, but we’d wanted to rescue it. The place felt special somehow, and that wasn’t something we could explain to anyone else. It was just…ours.
Six months after the M and C hoopla died down, The Horsham Group acquired Stern Alliance, the American firm that had swept in and prevented the initial sale. The deal shook the financial world yet again. This time Graham looked like a savior for helping the floundering firm who’d acquired more debt than they could sustain along with the mint and chip name.
He’d agreed to the purchase for an additional sum and the deed to Deverley, which was part of a trust that Blower never had access to. As for Blower, there was news that he was somewhere in the south of France, enjoying the high life. Graham didn’t care. Blower was a distant memory and a dull reminder of a darker past. He’d let go of the old anger and resentments and embraced the future. Our future.
Obviously, that wasn’t something you decided overnight. It was a process involving a therapist and facing some difficult personal truths, but I’d never seen him happier. My Grumpy Graham was a ray of freaking sunshine.
Okay, slight exaggeration. He was still a driven demon at work, but he made a concerted effort to bond with his employees once a week for football practice. Yes, the Horsham Hedgehogs was the first ever office team organized for The Horsham Group by yours truly, and ekes, they were awful.
But it was fun and there were drinks afterward and lots of laughs, so no one seemed to mind. Well, Graham sort of hated being the worst, but he was a good sport. I wasn’t an employee, so I wasn’t technically on the team. I was chief cheerleader and pub coraller after every game…unless I got tied up at the museum, doing research for Professor Cleighton.
My boss was a quintessential absent-minded professor in his midforties who was Einstein’s doppelganger. He misplaced glasses, keys, and his wallet daily and left his cell at home at least once a week, but he was a genius dedicated to ancient Egyptian research. I loved my job. It was rewarding and interesting, and sometimes I couldn’t believe I was qualified for this, but in a twist, I was.
I’d found my niche and made a life for myself in a new country. And it was so much more than I ever thought it would be. I mean…c’mon. I met the man of my dreams, moved into his Grosvenor Square house two months after the curry offering, and three years later, we were engaged with plans to marry at a private ceremony for two in Sin City. Vegas, baby.
We figured our friends and family might balk at the idea of not being at the ceremony, so next weekend was for them. An excuse to get together, show off Deverley, and share our news.
“You and me…and Elvis. Turns out I’m a romantic after all, eh?”
“Aye, you are. And I love you,” I purred, nipping his bottom lip. “Forever and ever.”
Graham captured my face and kissed my eyes, nose, chin, and lips, whispering over and over, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
I didn’t question my luck anymore. I didn’t worry about fate or karma or wonder if I was worthy of this man. I didn’t have to. I knew without a doubt that we were meant to be.
He joked that he’d fallen for Raine on a stormy day in London, and the skies were sunny now. Well, I’d fallen for him too. And I looked forward to spending the rest of our lives together. Who knew? Maybe one day we’d haunt the gardens at Deverley, gliding along the pathways hand in hand, grateful we’d found love and were brave enough to turn it into a happy ever after.