That’s when her innocent smile lit up her face even brighter. “Ditto,” she said.
Elaine was so focused on me that she had barely cast a glance around the guests before the service started. The ceremony started right up, every word etched into the fabric of time, vows of declaration that people had lived by and loved by, for hundreds of years before us.
I took Elaine to be my lawfully wedded wife with a lump in my throat because it meant so much to me.
She took me to be her lawfully wedded husband with a lump in her throat to match, eyes welling up because it meant so much to her.
Devon handed me the rings when they were called for and I slipped the gold band onto Elaine’s finger with surprisingly shaky fingers of my own, to which she returned the favor, and there we were. Officially declared. Husband and wife.
“You may kiss the bride,” the vicar said and how I fucking kissed the bride.
I took her face in my hands and I kissed her with all the love in my heart, except it wasn’t all the love in my heart. Not anymore. Not now there was the slightest hint of a bump under her wedding dress.
The room cheered, and the exit song sounded out, ready for us to walk back down the aisle as a couple, and that’s when Elaine stopped in her tracks, mouth dropping open as she first caught sight of the blonde row of family members, her mother positioned right on the end of a pew.
Her mother, who had tears in her eyes as she clapped for her daughter.
I coaxed Elaine forward but she struggled to look away from her family. There was a whole fresh set of tears in her own eyes as we reached the church porch and the confetti started up around us, a whole new set of cheers sounding out loud.
It was when we were in the back of the wedding limo that she turned to me with those saucer-wide eyes of hers and a billion questions dancing behind them.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” she asked me. “You invited my mother here?”
“I did more than that,” I told her, and the glee was bursting free as I finally got to tell her exactly what I’d done. I’d sent her mother a recording of the Eddington and Rawlings confession, delivering it straight into her hands through one of my very closest contacts.
I’d sent her undeniable proof that her beautiful little girl has been abused by the sick fucks she’d sent her to spend her weekends with, at the hands of her cunt of an uncle.
I’d sent her undeniable proof that every time her little girl was sobbing and trying to ask for her help and had been cast aside as nothing but a naughty little liar, she was no damn liar. Not in the slightest.
Clearly it had done its job, since she was here, to watch her daughter marry a Morelli.
Elaine cried. Hard. She cried and thanked me and held me tight, trying to gather the courage to step out to our marquee and see our guests all over again, knowing her mother would be there.
She didn’t have to step out very far before Caroline was there to meet her, crying too, giving a declaration that would begin a very long road of forgiveness.
“I’m sorry, Elaine. Please, believe me, I’m so sorry. I never knew…believe me, please, I never knew…I’d have killed that evil bastard myself. I’d have killed them all.”
From the very tone in her voice, I believed her.
She held her daughter tight.
Elaine held her right back, sobbing to match, taking a few long minutes before the two of them managed to drag themselves apart enough that I could walk my bride through the manor grounds to our wedding reception and the waiting crowd.
“Let’s do this,” I said, and she nodded with a smile.
“Yeah, let’s do this, husband. I’m ready.”
It was time to toast champagne with the hip, hip, hoorays, and give the speeches and cut the cake. We did it. We loved it. We enjoyed every fucking second of it, and then finally, eventually, after the greatest day of my life, I took my wife for her wedding night.
I loved her right through until morning, every little part of her, my wife and my lover.
I loved Mrs. Lucian Morelli-Constantine right through the night until morning, smiling with a whole new smile as I kissed her belly—knowing our little baby was in there.
* * *
Thank you for reading the Starcrossed Lovers trilogy! We hope you loved Lucian Morelli and Elaine Constantine’s dark and sexy story. Find out what happens next in the Midnight Dynasty world with Lucian’s brother, Leo.
The beast hides a dark secret in his past…
Leo Morelli is known as the Beast of Bishop’s Landing for his cruelty. He’ll get revenge on the Constantine family and make millions of dollars in the process. Even if it means using an old man who dreams up wild inventions.
The beauty will sacrifice everything for her family…
Haley Constantine will do anything to protect her father. Even trade her body for his life. The college student must spend thirty days with the ruthless billionaire. He’ll make her earn her freedom in degrading ways, but in the end he needs her to set him free.
One click SECRET BEAST now >
The warring Morelli and Constantine families have enough bad blood to fill an ocean, and their brand new stories will be told by your favorite dangerous romance authors. See what books are available now and sign up to get notified about new releases here…
About Midnight Dynasty
The warring Morelli and Constantine families have enough bad blood to fill an ocean, and their brand new stories will be told by your favorite dangerous romance authors.
Meet Winston Constantine, the head of the Constantine family. He’s used to people bowing to his will. Money can buy anything. And anyone. Including Ash Elliot, his new maid.
But love can have deadly consequences when it comes from a Constantine. At the stroke of midnight, that choice may be lost for both of them.
READ STROKE OF MIDNIGHT >
“Brilliant storytelling packed with a powerful emotional punch, it’s been years since I’ve been so invested in a book. Erotic romance at its finest!”
– #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken
“Stroke of Midnight is by far the hottest book I’ve read in a very long time! Winston Constantine is a dirty talking alpha who makes no apologies for going after what he wants.”
– USA Today bestselling author Jenika Snow
Ready for more bad boys, more drama, and more heat? The Constantines have a resident fixer. The man they call when they need someone persuaded in a violent fashion. Ronan was danger and beauty, murder and mercy.
Outside a glittering party, I saw a man in the dark. I didn’t know then that he was an assassin. A hit man. A mercenary. Ronan radiated danger and beauty. Mercy and mystery.
I wanted him, but I was already promised to another man. Ronan might be the one who murdered him. But two warring families want my blood. I don’t know where to turn.
In a mad world of luxury and secrets, he’s the only one I can trust.
READ RUINED >
“M. O’Keefe brings her A-game in this sexy, complicated romance where you’re left questioning if everything you thought was true while dying to get your hands on the next book!”
– New York Times bestselling author K. Bromberg