Page 36 of Brazen Rogue
He paused for a moment before letting go of her hand. "Meet me in the hall just outside that door in ten minutes. I shall be waiting." Without another word, he turned on his heel and was gone.
Reign left the dance floor and found Julia standing alongside a group of gentlemen, her husband included. Their discussion about horses growing livelier with each minute.
"Where has Lupton-Gage disappeared to?" Julia asked her, watching her keenly.
Reign fought to keep her features from revealing the wicked imaginings that were floating through her mind but failed. Her friend tsk-tsked her, shaking her head. "Behave, my dear," she warned her.
"He has gone to get some air, I believe. He will be back soon," she lied, turning her attention to the dancing instead.
"You're a terrible liar, and the reason I know you're lying is that I have been in your situation and know what the marquess is about," she said, a small lift to her lips as if she were not so disapproving.
"I cannot wait to be his wife. I feel like I have postponed a lifetime to be by his side again. To know there are no impediments to our union. The next four weeks cannot pass soon enough for me."
Julia brushed her arm, smiling. "I know you do, and I'm so very happy for you. And selfishly of me, I'm happy for me too, for I shall see more of you and you will no longer be able to deny my invitations. I have missed you terribly," she said.
"I have missed you as well," Reign admitted. "We shall have a jolly good time in London next Season, both of us married and happy." Reign waited for the end of the dance before she made her excuses. "I shall return momentarily. I'm in need of the retiring room."
"Of course you are," Julia replied, her tone one of disbelief. "Enjoy yourself," she added just when Reign had stepped away.
She chuckled, unable to hide her delight, before leaving the ballroom to find her betrothed.
How well that sounded.
ChapterTwenty
Bellamy paced the darkened passage that only held the smallest light from the closed ballroom door and the window at the end of the hall.
The patter of slippered feet on the parquetry floor caught his attention, and he leaned against the wall, hoping it was Reign coming to join him.
Already it felt like an age since he had seen her last. Too long.
That he could not function without her, could not go a day without wondering where she was or what she was doing, told him that a lifetime without her would never have sufficed.
His words to her earlier tonight were as true as him standing here. He adored everything about her and loved her dearly.
She was his soulmate.
An elegant figure, one he knew intimately, came around the corner, and he breathed a relieved breath that she had come. "I had started to fear you would not join me," he admitted, stealing a kiss.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he loved how comfortable she was with him, how a husband and wife ought to be.
"Julia is on to us, I believe. I do not think she thought I was using the retiring room at all. In fact, I'm surprised she did not ask to come with me and halt me from coming to join you."
Bellamy threw back his head and laughed. Reign reached up, placing her finger over his lips, silencing him. "Bellamy, someone will hear and come to see why you're giggling."
He pulled her close, tipping his head to lean his forehead against hers. "Well, should they come, they would find a besotted man. A man who has regained the love of his life after too many years living without her. A man who will never let her go again."
He had said it. Finally. And the realization filled her heart with joy.
The vision of Bellamy began to blur as tears pooled in her eyes. She sniffed, having wondered and hoped that he loved her. That he would declare himself before their wedding.
"I love you too," she said, leaning forward and kissing him softly. "And I missed you. Terribly so."
He stepped back and tugged her toward a door that led away from the ballroom. The room was as dark as the hall, the curtains drawn aside, and no fire or candles were alight.
The door closed, encasing them in their little, secluded space, just as she preferred. The idea of days and weeks ahead, being able to sit with each other late into the evenings, to have dinner and sleep beside Bellamy every night filled her with delight.
She could not wait to be the Marchioness of Lupton-Gage.
