you don’t have to listen to this old woman ramble on.” The crowd laughed. “All my life I have been praying for my dear grandson’s happiness. I wished for him to find true joy, wherever that may be. Let me tell you, I was just as surprised as you all were when I found out who his mate turned out to be.” Chuckles rumbled across the room. “But I have never seen a more perfect couple, who complements each other so well. And in J.D., my dear Aleksandr has continued to discover true happiness, and I wish them well. I love you both.” She raised a glass. “And so, please do raise your glasses and give a toast to Their Graces, Cameron Aleksandr Spenser and James Dean McNamara Spenser, the Duke and Duchess of Westmoreland.”
“James Dean?” Cam exclaimed. “Your name is James Dean?”
J.D. burst out laughing. “Yeah. Pop thought I would be a boy. But Ma loved the name and kept it anyway.”
“And you told my grandmother before me? What about the judge? Are we legally married?
“It’s all in the paperwork, and I swore him to secrecy,” she said. “It’s all good, don’t worry about it.”
Natalia came to them after the toast to hug and kiss them. “Congratulations again. You don’t know how happy you both have made me.”
“Aww, we love you too, Babs.”
Cam rolled his eyes every time she used her nickname for Natalia, but the princess was tickled pink by it. “How are things in the Northern Isles, Babushka? And Uncle Sasha?”
“As well as can be.” Her eyes sparkled, and she took J.D.’s hands in hers. “This is your doing, Kotyonok. If it wasn’t for you, we never would have found him.”
They were all still shocked at the turn of events earlier in the year when in fact, Natalia’s tip did ultimately lead to the lost prince. Of course, it wasn’t how anybody thought it would turn out to be, and the road to finding him had been long and arduous. Thank goodness the Dragon Guards were up to the task, though there were many surprises along the way.
Cam groaned. “I can’t believe you gave up another favor from a dragon,” he said. “You have no idea the things he could do for you. What kinds of rewards he can give you.”
J.D. snorted. “What would I have asked for? More money? Another house? Another car? I only have one ass to sit down on.”
“And you say I have a way with words,” he snorted.
They finished their dinner, sat through more toasts—and more eye-rolling from Cam as Anders and Gabriel delivered a hilarious joint best man and man of honor speech complete with a slideshow.
The reception continued on with more merriment, eating, drinking, and dancing. J.D. coaxed Cam to play the piano again, though he declined to sing, which was fine with her because she wanted to keep her new husband’s voice all to herself anyway.
Surrounded by their family and friends, J.D. couldn’t help but feel the love flowing around them. And she couldn’t believe this day had finally come. They were now husband and wife. It had taken them this long, not just because she had wanted to be married on Christmas—and thus making sure Cam never had any reason to hate the holiday—but because Cam had to do a lot of traveling back and forth between Colorado and Russia.
As Stepan had promised, the Dashokovs released Natalia from the blood oath. But there was a lot of work to be done to transfer over all the power in the company over to Stepan. Cam still had to sit on the board of directors, but that meant he needed to travel to Russia once a year at most. J.D. had gone with him when he signed the last of the papers, then they helped Natalia pack up her flat in St. Petersburg so she could move to the Northern Isles and they could meet Uncle Sasha. It was there that Cam proposed, and she accepted.
When the party was winding down, Cam whispered in her ear. “Want to go sneak off somewhere with me?”
“Where are we going?”
“Does it matter, as long as we’re together?”
She grinned at him. “Lead the way.”
Cam led her out of the ballroom, toward the front door of the castle. “I have a surprise for you,” he said they walked out.
“A surprise?” she asked. “What—holy moly! Are you shitting me, Spenser?”
He laughed. “No, I’m not. Go ahead.” He gestured to the car sitting in the driveway.