EPILOGUE
Seven months later
Eve heard the crunch of tires on gravel and then car doors opening and closing. Voices drifted through the open window of the small stone-walled room where she stood, fidgeting with the bouquet of Calevan lilies clutched in her trembling hands.
Grace’s question wafted in first. “Is this some kind of a church?”
“It’s a chapel.” The response came from Gabriel, since they were on his parents’ estate.
“Oh my God!” Grace had figured out what was about to happen. “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”
Luis had proposed to Eve only three days before. On La Sorpresa de los Piratas. And they had made love floating in the warm blue water afterward. Her skin flushed with delicious heat at the memory.
She had not hesitated to say yes, because there on the island, they were just a man and a woman who adored each other. More all the time.
But now the weight of what she was marrying into sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy.
She pulled her right hand away from the bouquet to look at the engagement ring. She had moved it to leave her left ring finger bare for the ceremony. The ring sported a large oval ruby of the same deep red as the lilies in her bouquet, set off by a frame of diamonds set in deep yellow gold. It had been made for Queen Isabella, a gift from her husband, the grandson of a kidnapped English nobleman. Now it was Eve’s.
Because she would be the Queen of Caleva.
The stomach butterflies started turning somersaults. She took a deep breath and brought up the image of Luis emerging from the turquoise harbor of the caldera, naked, the water sparkling as it ran down along the curves and valleys of his muscles. That was who she was marrying today. A man who happened to come with a crown.
A man who had agreed to her request for a small, private wedding with only family and very close friends, even though he wanted to shout their love to the world. She had asked for this because she figured it would be the last private ceremony for the rest of her life.
The ancient wooden door to her little sanctuary creaked open, and Carmen, leader of the infamous Protocol Squad, slipped inside. “It is almost time, se?ora,” she said.
When it was decided to hold the wedding as soon as possible, Carmen had proven to be an invaluable ally and general. She had conjured up musicians, flowers, and a custom-made dress. Luis had taken on the job of enlisting the Archbishop of San Ignacio, sworn to secrecy, to conduct the ceremony.
Carmen fussed around Eve, fluffing the pale rose-colored lace skirt of the tea-length dress. “May I say that you look very beautiful.”
“Muchas gracias. For everything.” Eve smiled at the intimidating woman before she turned to the mirror, a modern touch in the medieval space.
Her hair was swept up in elegant waves to support a diamond tiara, pulled from the vault under the palace. A fingertip-length veil of fragile rose silk tulle with beading along the edges fell over Eve’s shoulders and back. The dress’s bodice was fitted, with a sheer lace overlay across her shoulders and down to her elbows, while the skirt billowed out over several layers of tulle. Her rose satin pumps were beaded in swirling designs of lilies and vaho hibiscus.
Her only other pieces of jewelry were the gold earrings Grace had given her and the lily pendant Luis had gifted her with on her arrival in Caleva. She touched it now, amazed at how far she had come from that day.
Old, Queen Isabella’s ring. New, the dress. Borrowed, the tiara. Blue, her toenails. She had painted them pale blue because Luis thought her polished toenails were sexy.
The music from the small orchestra ceased, and she heard a stir from the chapel’s nave. Luis must have emerged from his own waiting room to stand at the altar. Carmen cracked the door open so they could listen.
“My family. My friends. Bienvenido!” His deep, smooth voice carried without apparent effort all the way into their room by the chapel’s entrance. Eve felt it vibrate inside her.
“You have undoubtedly guessed that you are here to attend the marriage of my adored Eve and myself. We wished it to be a private declaration of our commitment to each other, with only our most beloved in attendance. Thank you for doing us the honor of being our witnesses.”
There was an excited murmur of voices, and then the orchestra began to play the bright, brassy “Hornpipe” from Handel’s Water Music, chosen in honor of Caleva’s island identity…and Luis’s proposal site.
Carmen opened the door wide with an encouraging nod, and Eve stepped out onto the red carpet overlaying the mosaic aisle of Finca de Bruma’s medieval chapel. Stone arches soared over her head, and stained-glass windows threw brilliant colors across the pews and the guests.
Eve took a deep breath and started forward, smiling tremulously as she scanned the faces turned toward her. Mikel, in a dark suit as always, but accompanied by his teenage daughter, the irrepressible Serena. Luis’s right-hand man, Bruno, with his lovely blond wife. Grace’s two best friends from college and vet school, who had spent many a night studying at Eve’s dining room table. Eve’s closest friend from the clinic, Dr. Pam Baker. The Iowans had been lured to Caleva on the pretext of a post-graduation vacation, all expenses paid.
There were Luis’s brother, Lorenzo, and his wife, Hélène. The brilliantly talented Gabriel and his fiancée, Quinn, who had helped Grace and Eve with their induction into the royal family.
Handsome, hardworking Raul, whom she was coming to love as a son. Darling, wonderful Grace, now officially Dr. Grace Howard Dragón, her face beaming with delight.
Beyond them, in front of the altar, stood two men. The archbishop, dressed in sweeping ceremonial robes and pointed hat.
But Eve’s focus locked on Luis, standing tall, straight, and magnificent in his dark red uniform jacket loaded with medals and gold braid over his teal-green trousers with their red stripes. The window above him threw a splash of bright gold over his face and hair so he appeared to glow from within.
The aisle seemed so long when she just wanted to be beside him, but she forced herself to process slowly, as a queen-to-be should. She would enjoy unfastening all his gold buttons later.
As she reached the apse, Luis stepped forward to take her right hand. His expression was solemn, but his ice-blue eyes were brimming with his love. It washed through her like the warm water of the caldera. She hoped he could see the same emotion in her face.
He smiled and tucked her hand into his elbow, turning them both toward the priest. As the archbishop intoned the beautiful words of the marriage service, Eve felt every tiny shift in Luis’s body. Even the air brushing her skin was permeated with his presence.
Luis spoke the simple, formal vows first. She had expected him to do his magic voice-projection trick, but instead he stated them in a low, intimate timbre that was almost a caress, his eyes blazing down at her. When he came to the phrase “until death do us part,” they held each other’s gazes at the memory of what might have happened.
It was her turn, and she made sure every wedding guest could hear what she said. It took a couple of hard swallows before she could begin, but once she got going, the words rang out loud and clear.
“The rings, if you please,” the priest said.
Eve placed her bouquet on the small table Carmen had positioned for this purpose. She slipped Luis’s simple gold wedding band off her thumb and placed it on the velvet cushion held by the archbishop.
After he blessed the rings, the archbishop offered the cushion to Eve. Picking up the ring and taking Luis’s left hand, she said, “With this ring, I thee wed and pledge you my love, now and forever.” Such simple words to contain a promise for the rest of their lives.
She slid the ring down his long, elegant finger and squeezed his hand before letting go.
Luis picked up her matching gold band and took her hand, repeating the same vow. He lifted the ring to his lips for a kiss before easing it onto her finger.
They turned back to the archbishop, who solemnly pronounced them husband and wife before breaking into a smile. “You may kiss each other.”
Luis wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him from shoulder to knee before he bent to kiss her, long and with carnal intensity, while she clung to his shoulders to keep her knees from buckling.
The church erupted into whistles and hoots.
Eve pulled back a few inches from Luis’s marauding mouth. “You’re not supposed to kiss like that in church.”
“I’m the king,” he said, those gorgeous, sculpted lips curving in a wicked smile. “I can kiss my bride any way I want to.”
And he did.
Thank you for reading Royal Caleva: Luis!