ng me a job?’
‘For life. Will you accept it, Libby?’
‘I think you’re crazy – but maybe we both are, because I love you too.’
‘Join my world, Libby Lancaster and there’s a whole lot more crazy to come. What do you say?’
She looked at Lucaj’s outstretched hand, and taking the single step it took to reach him, she gripped it tightly.
Epilogue
As it turned out, Lucaj was indeed a fortune-teller. Less than one year later they returned to the Chatsfield Hotel just as he’d promised. It was the start of the amazing world tour honeymoon Lucaj had planned for his bride. The formal ceremony was held in Molokov, but Lucaj was as spontaneous and as exciting as ever, and while Libby generally managed to remain level headed and organised, in spite of all the tumultuous changes in her life. After the necessary grandeur of their wedding, she laughed as the guests in the grand ballroom at the palace applauded when Lucaj grabbed her hand and hurried Libby away from their wedding breakfast without even giving his bride chance to change her gown.
The royal chauffeur was waiting to whisk them to the airport, where Lucaj piloted his private jet to London where, he had explained, their luggage was already waiting for them at their usual suite in the Chatsfield.
‘Our usual suite?’ Libby queried.
‘It is now.’
Libby frowned. ‘But you have a penthouse in London.’
‘There are always staff around, and I want you all to myself. And, call me sentimental, but I want us to start our married life where we first met, and I want to go on meeting at the Chatsfield whenever we need a break, or just when we’re feeling hot for each other –’
‘Are we going to live there permanently?’ Libby suggested with a wicked smile.
Lucaj laughed. ‘The Chatsfield is a special place for me, because it’s the place we first met.’
‘At the front desk with me tearing my hair out, do you mean? Or later at the bar when I tossed a glass of lemonade over you?’
‘It was all good for me. Luckily for you, I recognised those little gestures as quirky love tokens from the crazy girl who stole my heart.’
‘ – And who was probably madly in love with you already. And who is definitely madly in love with you now.’
Lucaj had to take a moment to check in with the control tower at London Heathrow as he prepared to land the jet, and then he went on to explain what they both already knew. ‘My fate was sealed when you invited me up to inspect the suite.’
‘The suite you already knew your way around, as it was your suite,’ Libby pointed out. ‘Just like you said, you’ll stop at nothing, will you, Lucaj?’
‘To get what I want? To get what I know is right?’ Lucaj smiled enigmatically. ‘No. And, by the way, I’ve taken our suite on permanent lease, so any time we feel like renewing our wedding vows, we’ve got room service on tap.’
‘Not like the palace, then?’ Libby was teasing and smiling, but her new life as a princess had certainly taken some getting used to.
‘There are no affairs of state for me to deal with at the Chatsfield,’ Lucaj explained as he landed the jet smoothly. ‘There’s just this long-running affair with my wife.’
Spotting the limousine with diplomatic plates waiting for them on the tarmac, Libby was suddenly jolted back to reality. ‘But I’m still wearing my wedding dress.’
‘So?’ He shook his head as he taxied into their appointed space. ‘Don’t worry about your gown – I’ll strip it off as soon as we get to the Chatsfield.’
‘And in the meantime?’
‘I don’t think a bride arriving in a limousine at the Chatsfield in her wedding dress is going to cause much of a stir, somehow.’
And he was right, though the sophisticated clientele at the Chatsfield could be forgiven for standing back to stare when a striking looking couple – the bridegroom, who had thankfully left his full military dress, complete with royal sash and glittering sabre back in Molokov and was now wearing jeans and a casual shirt, hand in hand with his beautiful bride, whose tiara was askew, and who had her nine foot diamante flower- and lace-bedecked train bundled up in her arms – raced across the lobby before squashing themselves determinedly into the lift. It took three attempts for Libby to control her dress and veil so the doors would shut, but finally, blissfully, they slid to. By the time they slid open again, Lucaj had opened every button on the back of Libby’s elaborate wedding dress, and her veil was off, and her tiara was in her hand.
‘After you,’ Lucaj said politely, but no sooner had she walked past him than he swept her into his arms, and strode the rest of the way at speed. Slipping the key card into the door, he backed his way into a sitting room zinging with the scent of spring flowers.
‘It looks amazing!’ Lizzie had never seen so many beautifully arranged floral displays – well, not since her wedding ceremony in Molokov.
‘All for you,’ Lucaj murmured, slipping Libby’s wedding gown from her shoulders. ‘But nowhere near as beautiful as you.’