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No, he was most definitelynotanxious. Not even when Ethan bent his head to Colin to whisper something. Not even when both men exchanged looks.

Hudson smiled and inwardly clenched his fists.

Just where the hell is she?!

“Your bride is almost ready,” Colin told him. “Donottear the flowers down yet.”

“I will do no such thing.”

How could they even consider it? Well, his fingers did flex quite frequently, after all, even when he was not looking at floral frippery.

“I know that look, Wolf,” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “Trust me—Phoebe said that she will be out in a?—”

His words were cut off when the musicians, who had started to regard each other with not-so-anxious looks, chose that precise moment to play the music for the bride’s march down the aisle.

Daniel smirked. He did not even bother to hide the slight look of boredom he usually affected at social events. “Right about now,” he finished for Ethan.

All that, however, was lost on Hudson, who could only stare at the door to the chapel, transfixed. Spellbound. Rendered speechless by the sight of her standing there.

The morning sunlight shone behind her so that she seemed limned in a radiant, golden light that matched the soft golden color of her gown. Her rich, fiery hair had been swept into an elegant knot at the nape of her neck, held together by jeweled pins fashioned into a spray of flowers, with wayward locks framing that stunningly beautiful face so elegantly.

When she took the first step towards him, his heart seemed to stutter foolishly in his chest. And then it thudded to the beat of her every step.

Whatever exorbitant amount the much-vaunted Madame Dumosse demanded of him, he would gladly pay for the sheer pleasure of seeing Scarlett walk down the aisle in her full bridal regalia all over again.

Just how the hell was he supposed to keep his hands to himself now?

He felt a slight nudge to his ribs and found Ethan grinning mischievously at him.

“Old friend.” Ethan chuckled. “If you intend to keep that idiotic vow of yours, then might I advise you to keep alotof cold water at hand? You are going to be needing that for as long as you insist on being stubborn.”

He was so fortunate that Hudson did not intend to cause a scandal on his wedding day that might detract from the attention his lovely bride was getting.

That and the fact that Scarlett now stood in front of him, and he suddenly found himself unable to breathe. Was this what the poets meant when they coined the termbreathtaking?

“You look absolutely spectacular,” he murmured to her.

Her eyes flashed to his face in surprise. And then her lips curled into a smile that had that long-defunct organ in his chest hammering against his ribs.

“Is that the truth?”

Hudson bit back a groan at the sensual cadence of her voice. He had a feeling that the whole ton was going to be abuzz with how he was practically undressing his bride with his eyes in front of the minister before the wedding was over.

The rest of the ceremony barely registered as he kept looking back at her, his hands longing to trace her curves once more. To sink into her soft, willing flesh…

It was the longest hour of his life.

And then it was time to kiss the bride.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Her heart thudded in her chest so loudly that she feared the entire chapel and all the guests could hear it.

You may kiss the bride.

She would be lying if she said that she had never thought this moment would come. She had beendreamingof it ever since she had been a girl and her mother had brought her to her cousin’s wedding.

It was just a kiss, she might tell herself. She and Hudson had done so much more that the minister would have been tempted to call the wrath of God upon them if he had known.