CHAPTER 26
Lux’s heart thudded erratically as she stood in the grand chapel, a bewildering mix of opulence and chaos swirling around in her. Scott’s mention of a broken body part reverberated in her head, her eyes darting involuntarily down his frame before snapping to his face. According to her dream interpretation, it had been a broken heart he’d brought to her in hopes she could mend it. But…given the antidote, that was no longer viable…so then…it must truly be—
“If he’s saying I have ten minutes to fix your broken penis, that’s not going to be enough time,” she blurted out. “I might be a doctor, but I’m not that kind of doctor. I’m not a penis doctor. I’m a brain doctor, and despite your brain seemingly residing in your penis since puberty, I don’t have the foggiest idea how to repair a broken…you know. Penis.” She gestured vaguely. “I told you my nightmares come true. You should have believed me. But no, you just had to insist on my telling you about your impending broken penis before breakfast!”
Scott’s face turned a shade of red that could rival the finest of rubies. “For the love of all that’s sacred, will you stop saying broken penis?”
“Sure,” she said. Penis. Penis. Penis. “I can see how my saying broken penis is traumatizing. My apologies. No more mentions of…your penile predicament. But—”
Laughter emanating from the altar interrupted her sentence. Rose was now in the comforting embrace of another man, presumably from the wedding party, and the two of them were laughing. Lux glanced back at Scott. She had the very real feeling a soap opera was unfolding right before her eyes.
Scott’s expression had shifted from embarrassment to amusement. “If you’re quite finished, let me assure you and—all Shiretopia—that my penis is just fine. My penis is magnificent. I have the healthiest penis one could ever possibly hope for. It’s my heart that is broken.”
“Oh.” She grappled to make sense of what he’d said. “Oh,” she echoed again as realization struck, releasing a sudden urge to either run or kick somebody. “So…this isn’t about your penis at all?”
He smirked. “Maybe a little bit. It doesn’t seem to be interested in anyone but you.”
In the short time between her removing any chance of him ever loving her, he’d fallen in love with another and had gotten his heart broken in the process. Had he found himself in love with Rose, only to learn she didn’t love him back? Had Lux just walked in on him being dumped at the altar? She glanced back at the woman in question. All signs pointed to yes.
But what did any of that have to do with her being hauled unceremoniously from her warm home to Shiretopia?
Unless the king was pissed she’d broken the curse, consequently shattering his son’s heart.
“I am a citizen of the United States,” she declared, her voice firm, trying to grasp at any semblance of control in this absurd situation. “I have rights. If you’ve dragged me here—”
Before she could continue her indignant proclamation, Scott reached out, his hand encircling her arm. With a gentle yet urgent tug, he guided her away from the prying eyes of the chapel and into the privacy of a small dressing room.
“Doc,” he began, his voice unsteady but resolute. “Before you say anything else, let me explain. The antidote to the curse didn’t work the way we were led to believe it would. Instead of me not loving you, I love you greatly. Which is why, if you’ve been wondering, you were so easily able to stop loving me.”
“You love me?”
He nodded. “So much it broke my heart not to have you love me back.”
“That can’t be.”
“I can assure you I’m telling you the truth.”
“The truth doesn’t make it less scary.”
“I know you’re more interested in a safe choice, but if you’ll gift me the chance to revive your love, I promise to never stop loving you and never stop proving to you that it is possible to reform a rake.”
“Scott, will you shut up and let me talk?” Lux said when he paused for a breath.
“Yes, dear.”
“I didn’t stop loving you. I love you so much I was considering hypnosis to get over it.”
“But how can that be?” Scott said.
“I don’t know. It was your curse. Your antidote. What happened after you ate the love knot?”
“I got on the plane, gave Rose the box you gave me, she sang the words to the music…”
“What? What happened next?”
“There was unexpected turbulence and when I opened my eyes, I had a strange sense of emptiness toward her.”
Lux gasped. “Do you think the singing of the anthem was the actual antidote? That the recipe was a red herring?”
“God, why didn’t I think of that possibility? I just assumed my sudden nothingness toward her was all tied up in my brain rebelling against my being forced to marry her. I assumed my emotions would return. I even shared what I was feeling—or more like not feeling—with her.”
“And what did she say?” Lux asked.
He smiled ever so slightly. “Rose is a born optimist. She said she’d won me over once with her wit and charm and lack of taste in friends, and she’d do it again. She forbade me to give it another thought.”
“And how did that make you feel toward her?” Lux asked, putting on her psychologist hat?
He rolled his eyes. “Doc, are you analyzing me? Now is not the—”
“Shut up and answer the question.” She tossed in a smile to soften her stern tone.
He sighed. “It made me like her.”
“So, you went from nothingness to like?”
He nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah.”
“Then maybe she’s right. Maybe she will win you back. Which leads me to this question, and please just give me a freaking honest answer. Do you really love me? Or is this a scheme to get out of marrying Rose so she can marry another?”
“Not a scheme. Now it’s my turn to ask the questions,” he said earnestly. “Doc, do you see yourself ever seeing me as good enough?”
Lux’s breath hitched as she shook her head. “Do you see yourself ever being satisfied with just one woman?”
“Absolutely.” Scott reached out, taking her hands in his. “I know this is sudden, and I know—on paper—I meet none of your qualifications. I know you’re so certain I’m wrong for you, you gave me what you thought was the antidote to the curse as a protective measure for your own heart.”
“And with good reason,” she mumbled. “Pretty words of love don’t change the man you are. A rake not capable of living life as a one-woman-man…of that, I’m certain.”
“About that,” he said. “I’ve recently learned something about certainty. It’s a mental sensation, Doc. It’s not evidence of fact.”
She processed his words. What if, in all her certainty he was wrong for her, she’d been wrong? Just like she’d been wrong about the advice he’d given in his column and had had to admit that to her audience.
He stepped closer, the space between them charged with unspoken emotions. “Life, it turns out, is full of surprises. What we’re certain about one day can change the next. And I’m standing here, asking you to reconsider what you think you know about me, about us.”
“I—”
“Wait. Let me finish. There are things you don’t know. Things you deserve to know.” His eyes searched hers. “I’m not the same man who first arrived in Manhattan. I’ve grown, I’ve changed. While working for Naked Runway, I wasn’t able to reveal that to you or anyone else because my contract with them was to lead the life of a rake to up my ratings. But most of what you were certain I was doing because that’s how it appeared in the news was all smoke and mirrors. Not truth.”
“You didn’t bring the twins to your place?”
“I did, and then they immediately slipped out the back.”
“That night when I was standing outside the bar, and you arrived in a limo and exited, and chose ten beautiful women—”
“The women were all part of an advertising campaign.”
“Scott. I’m a hot mess. I’m not glamorous. I don’t want to be glamorous. I want a man who will love me when I’m old and wrinkled and no longer eye-candy capable.”
“Darling, don’t you understand? I love all of you, but especially what’s inside of you. I won’t deny I find you sexy as hell, but that’s not why I love you. It’s just a bonus.”
“Wait. I just realized something. You’re standing here asking me to fix your broken heart. Aren’t you?”
He nodded.
She grinned. “You know what that means? It means, my nightmare has come true.”
“The hell it did?”
“Well, the analyzed version did.”
He gave her a measured look. “And what was that?”
“The penis symbolized your heart, since that’s where the heart of most men resides. So, you didn’t bring me your penis to fix but instead your broken heart. And I dreamed your heart got broken because that would be poetic justice for a man who lived his life as an unapologetic rake.”
“You little minx. You could have put that version out to the public a long time ago.”
She giggled. “Where would the fun in that have been?”
A smile tugged his lips.
“Scott,” she said, her expression sobering. “What did your father mean when he said you had ten minutes?”
“My best friend is in love with Rose and she, him. The King has declared I must get married today. It will either be to her or to you…the woman I love.”
She blinked. “Today?”
“I know I’m not good enough for you, but I promise to work every day for the rest of my life to change that fact.”
Lux couldn’t explain it, but right then, she saw Scott for the man he was, not the man she’d branded him to be in her mind. When her heart whispered, we love him, she didn’t try to shut it down. She embraced its wisdom. A tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s I who should work every day to deserve you. I can’t believe I told you that you weren’t good enough. Scott, I love you like you’re my last breath.”
He pumped his fist in the air as if he were a man who’d just won a freaking trophy. Or a trophy wife. “You’ve just made me the happiest man in the universe.”
“The Rake of Manhattan. A closet romantic. That’s a plot twist no one saw coming…especially not me.”
As they stood there, hand in hand, the reality of what would soon unfold hit her—she was about to get married in a royal chapel, in her pajamas, to a man who had just upended every notion she had about love and certainty.
And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Scott leaned in, his lips brushing against hers in a kiss that sealed their promise—a promise of a new beginning, a journey of love that they would embark on together, rewriting their story one page at a time.