She didn’t intend to wait either, or to give Alessandro the chance to change his mind. The sooner they were on their way to Gretna Green, the better.
Alessandro was helpless. There was no point in him pointing out potential flaws or making logical arguments; Emerald had made up her mind and he loved her far too much to deny her anything. Besides, every time he said anything that remotely suggested that he did not adore and love her, Emerald burst into tears, and he could not bear that.
He must not let her down, Emerald told him, because if he did she would besiege his suite at the Savoy and haunt him with her broken heart for the rest of her life.
He would not let her down, Alessandro promised vehemently. He loved her and he always would.
Chapter Eighteen
Ella was feeling hot and bothered. How long was Oliver Charters going to be here for? She always did everything she could to avoid him whenever she knew he was coming into Vogue’s offices. If he saw her he was bound to look at her in that way of his, which made her feel so…so self-conscious and angry, and mixed up inside in a way she didn’t like.
‘Ella, I’ve got an errand for you.’
It was only when she was outside on the street that Ella realised that in her relief to obey her boss and escape from the office and the unwanted probability of seeing Oliver Charters, she’d left her diet pills behind in her office drawer. Angry panic engulfed her. She needed those pills; she hated being separated from them. She was terrified that if she didn’t have them then she might start wanting to eat and then she’d get fat again. Her head was pounding. She felt sick, on edge, her nerves somehow rubbed raw. But she was still losing weight.
When she had gone to see Dr Williamson earlier in the week he had praised her for her success in losing over two stone when he had renewed her prescription.
Ella was hoping that Laura Harbold, the model who had laughed about her with Oliver, would come in for a photo shoot, so that Ella could see if she had reached her goal and now weighed less than the model. She wasn’t going to give up dieting until she did.
The early morning light streamed in through the high windows, forming a pool of gold just in front of the altar. Emerald could feel its warmth on her face. Alessandro had complained the whole time they had been in Gretna that it was cold and that it never stopped raining, and this morning, when the sun had broken through, Emerald had told him that it was a good omen for their marriage. The small stone church was empty of both worshippers and wedding guests, the vicar un-curious about the history of the young couple he was now uniting together in marriage.
As she listened to the vicar intoning the marriage service Emerald gave Alessandro a disparaging look. It was just as well that she had been the one to organise everything. If it had been left to Alessandro, nothing would have got done.
All the way north on the train he’d been panicking that his mother would somehow guess that he had lied to her about staying with a friend and would stop them. The last three weeks, staying at a horrid little guesthouse, in separate rooms, of course–Emerald had no intention of risking Alessandro change his mind because he’d got what he wanted–with nothing to do other than read books and go for long walks, had been the most boring of Emerald’s whole life, but now at last they were over. She was the one who ought to be feeling sorry for herself, not Alessandro. She wasn’t even wearing a proper wedding dress, never mind the family tiara and veil, even if the elegance of her long cream evening dress, with its lace bodice, had drawn gasps of admiration from the locals who had seen them entering the church.
Emerald had been given away by the owner of the boarding house, after she had offered him twenty pounds to fulfil that role and provid
e them with two witnesses.
Alessandro’s hand trembled as he slid the ring onto her finger. It was Emerald’s great-grandmother’s wedding ring, which she had left to Emerald, along with the rest of her jewellery.
‘You may kiss the bride.’
Alessandro was trembling from head to foot and his eyes were wet with tears. Emerald looked at him impatiently. He was such a baby at times. Well, that would all have to change now that they were married. She wanted a proper man for a husband, not a boy afraid of his mother.
But she was now Princess Emerald di Lauranto. Emerald smiled to herself, her irritation instantly fading.
‘Darling, darling Alessandro,’ she whispered to him. ‘My husband.’
There was no question of them remaining in Gretna now that they were married. Emerald had booked them into a smart hotel in Edinburgh.
‘We should go back to London,’ Alessandro said, packing his own bags as he had, on Emerald’s instructions, left his valet in London. ‘My mother will be worrying. I have never been away from her for so long before.’
‘Don’t be silly, you’re a married man now. And besides, your mother thinks you’re staying with a friend. Surely you want to have me all to yourself, and a proper honeymoon?’ Emerald whispered to him suggestively.
Of course, she got her own way.
It was late afternoon before they left Waverley station in the taxi that would take them to their hotel. Edinburgh certainly wasn’t London, but at least it looked as though it had some shops, Emerald acknowledged, as they drove down Princes Street.
‘I hope your castle in Lauranto doesn’t look as grim as this one,’ she told Alessandro as they both looked up at the castle brooding on the hill above them.
Now that they were actually married, the irritation and impatience Emerald had begun to feel towards Alessandro had been replaced by a much happier mood.
The staff at the large Edwardian hotel treated her with the kind of deference that improved her mood even further, so that by the time they were finally alone in their palatial suite Emerald was on top of the world.
The physical practicalities of becoming Alessandro’s wife held no fear or apprehension for her. The passionate kisses they had exchanged during their ‘courtship’ had increased her curiosity about sex and had also reinforced her opinion that it was something she was going to very much enjoy.
Now, with the tension and the boredom of their weeks in Gretna Green behind her, and safe in the knowledge that she was legally Alessandro’s wife, Emerald was not just ready to explore and enjoy the intimacies marriage permitted, but eager to do so as well.