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Danni looked at her and gave a lazy grin that made her dark eyes crinkle at the corners and her nose wrinkle a little. “We shook on it, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but—”

She was interrupted by an announcement of both their names. It was time.

“Let’s get this done, Princess,” Danni said, heaving herself out of her chair with what looked like great effort.

Eleanor sighed and straightened her jacket. “Fine.”

After that, it was all very fast.

The official called them forward. The ceremony, if it could even be called that, was brief. There were no vows, no rings, no fanfare. Just paperwork.

Eleanor signed her name in her usual elegant script, penmanship had always been important to her. Danni scrawled hers in a rushed, barely legible mess, like she was signing for a hay delivery.

Elizabeth and Hector signed as witnesses, both with varying degrees of concern on theirs faces.

Isabella watched it all with an unreadable expression.

And just like that…

They were married.

Chapter Eight

Danni wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand and straightened up, surveying the fence post that she and Tommy had been struggling with for the past hour. It still leaned slightly to the left, but frankly, that was going to have to be a part of its charm.

“Some best mate you are,” Tommy was still grumbling, hammer dangling from his hand. “I didn’t even get a slice of cake.”

“What cake?” Danni asked, wiggling the post to make sure it was stable enough to leave.

“Um, wedding cake?” said Tommy.

“What wedding cake?”

“Exactly,” said Tommy, jabbing his hammer accusingly in her direction. “You went and got yourself married and I didn’t even get a slice of cake.”

Danni groaned and grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby wall. “I didn’t have a wedding cake, Tom. No cake, no dresses, no guests, no embarrassing speeches from drunken relatives. Just a few signatures on a piece of paper in an office that smelled a lot like an old primary school. Job done.”

Tommy shook his head in disbelief. “Not even a buffet?”

“Nope.”

“That’s the best bit of a wedding,” he said. “Well, that or the open bar, depending on your tastes.”

“Didn’t have either,” said Danni.

“Bloody hell. That’s the most depressing thing I’ve heard all day.” He sighed dramatically before squinting at her against the sunlight. “And I don’t suppose you’ve even seen this house, have you?”

Danni hesitated before shrugging. “No.”

Tommy shook his head again. “You married a woman for a house and you didn’t even go and look at it first? Danni, mate, that’s just bad business. How do you even know if the place exists? It might all be a scam for all you know.”

“It’s not a scam,” she said. But now that she was thinking about it, he did have a point. She’d signed an entire marriage contract for this damn house, she should probably at least have a look at the thing.

“Might not exist,” Tommy said again.

“Fine,” she said, tossing her work gloves aside. “I’ll go and have a look when we’re finished here. Happy?”