The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,26

hair down to curl around her shoulders. She had met Petr in the courtyard by the fountain when her preparations were done.

He wore a gray suit with a white rose in the lapel, and rather than take her arm as she approached, he just stood back and looked at her. “You look absolutely beautiful,” he said quietly.

He looked pretty amazing himself. But at that moment, her throat swelled with emotion. She didn’t feel confident enough to try to talk. She would cry if she did.

She swallowed and held out her hands.

He took them. “Are you ready to do this?” he asked.

She nodded.

They rode to the church in a chauffeur-driven town car that Petr had rented for the occasion. She sat beside him in the backseat, squeezing his hand tightly the whole way.

“Are you nervous?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Nervous and excited.”

“No regrets, I hope?”

“None,” she said, pleased and surprised to find that it was true. She wasn’t questioning the choice she had made at all. She wanted this. She wanted to tie herself to him today, to be sure that their relationship would endure. He had given her a taste, this week, of what life could be like, and she wanted it.

The car pulled to a stop in front of the church. Petr and Naomi got out.

“I can’t believe you were able to book this place on short notice,” she said.

“Money can open a lot of doors,” Petr said. “Besides, we won’t need to be here for long. We’ll be out in less than an hour.”

An hour. What a strange thought. In an hour, she would be married. In an hour, Petr Agridis would be her husband.

Would she take his last name?

Where would they live?

There were so many things she hadn’t taken the time to think about yet. So many decisions she hadn’t made, things she would have thought about in an ordinary relationship long before reaching this stage.

But that’s the adventure, she reminded herself. That was what made this so exciting. They were setting off into the unknown together, as partners. They would face these decisions together.

And really, wasn’t that how every good marriage worked? The ability to decide things together in a marriage, to overcome challenges, was critical. Naomi had never been married, but she could see how that must be the case. All right, so it was conventional for certain choices to be made before the knot was tied, but there would always be more choices to come. You couldn’t decide everything before you got married.

When she thought about it that way, it almost seemed not to matter whether a couple married after a few weeks or a few years. Either way, you were taking a leap of faith together. Either way, there was a risk that it wouldn’t work out, and you had to commit yourself to getting through the hard times together.

She took Petr’s arm and allowed him to lead her into the church.

The officiant was waiting, along with another man Naomi didn’t recognize.

The officiant said something in Spanish. Petr answered, then turned to Naomi.

“Do you speak Spanish?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I didn’t realize that you did.”

“I learned growing up,” he said. “I had to learn lots of languages so that I would be able to communicate with dignitaries and heads of state and their children.”

Naomi made a mental note to ask him what other languages he knew. There was so much still to discover about the man who would be her husband.

In one sense, that was intimidating—how little she knew him! But in another sense, it was exciting. There was so much still ahead for them. There was so much yet to be explored.

“This man is going to take us through the ceremony,” Petr said. “He only speaks Spanish, so I’ll translate.” He gestured to the other man. “And this is our witness, provided by the government. He’ll sign the marriage license for us.”

“I always assumed I would be surrounded by people when I got married,” Naomi said softly.

“Are you disappointed?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “There’s something romantic about the fact that it’s just us.”

“I think so too,” he said, gently caressing her cheek.

The ceremony began. It was disorienting not to be able to understand the things that were being said, but Petr kept up a steady murmur under his breath, letting Naomi know what was going on. “We’re agreeing to love and cherish one another for the rest of our lives,” he said.

“For the rest of our lives,” Naomi whispered.

It was