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He rushed up to her, disheveled and out of breath, the motions making his chest heave up and down. Selina stifled a laugh, but it spilled free, her smile accompanied by tears at the corners of her eyes.

“You’re here.”

Hugh nodded, trying still to catch his breath as he stared at her wide-eyed and intent.

“Did you run to the church?”

Nodding again, a laugh broke free of him. “The carriage is here. I couldn’t wait for another to arrive. I had to get here. Now.”

Selina felt the nerves clog her throat, her eyes burning all the harder, and she heard people whispering all around her.

Magnus would be furious about the scandal, but he would eventually forgive her.

They had been friends for so long that surely, he could appreciate how Selina was fighting for her right to choose her future.

“Why?” A tiny smile clung to her lips, but the furious beat of her heart made Selina dizzy, and these warring emotions of joy and terror swirling through her. “Why did you need to get to the church so quickly?”

Hugh’s expression was so desperate, so pained, that Selina almost reached out for him, wanting to ease the tension that furrowed his brow, but she needed to hear him first.

“You.” He swallowed hard. “I needed to get here for you, to stop you from marrying Magnus.”

Selina sucked in a shaky breath, working furiously to keep herself from devolving into a fit of sobs. A soft gasp echoed through the church once more, prolonged as Hugh stepped closer to Selina and took her hand.

“I know what you wanted from all this, Selina. I understand. I know that you had a life you envisioned with your family. I know that my arrival and claiming of my title tangled those plans and affected your happiness. I know that I am not the man that you saw in your future, one that you wanted there beside you all along. I am not the gentleman your late husband was, and I am not the type to be similar to Magnus.”

She was shaking, her fingers trembling against Hugh’s where he held them. Selina was at an utter loss for words. The surprise—the shock—was so great, and all the room around her had gone deathly quiet.

“I am not the man that you deserve or what you saw in your future. But I swear to you, Selina ,” her name from his mouth was uttered with such reverence that she shook, a tear slipping free, “I will devote the rest of my life to getting as close to that man as possible.

I promise to do everything in my power to be better, to be worthy of you.

“I have no right to ask this of you. This is wild and outlandish and out of line, but I could not stay in that estate a moment longer. The sun is gone from my life without you in it, Selina. You are a joy that I never dreamed possible. If you give me a chance, I swear to God that I will never allow you to regret it. I?—”

Selina reached up and pressed a finger to Hugh’s lips, silencing him.

“Hush. You are absurd. You cannot manage etiquette, even after I schooled you for weeks. You are rash and spontaneous. You care nothing about what society thinks of you. And you ran all the way here to this church to interrupt my wedding.”

She could feel the room hanging on the edge of an invisible blade. A pin could drop, and the entire chapel would hear it. A slow smile spread across her lips as Selina dropped her hand from Hugh’s mouth.

“And I am quite vexed that you made your grand entrance before I was able to do the same.”

The terrible concern on Hugh’s face melted, a cautious optimism there instead. Selina took his face in her hands, lifting up onto her tiptoes to better reach him.

“Now, kiss me.”

As one, they crashed their lips together in a passionate explosion of emotion and desire. His lips caressed her own so beautifully that Selina forgot about everything else. She lost herself to the feeling of him holding her tightly to his chest, how right she felt in his arms.

Time stretched, seconds became hours, and then the profound silence erupted into cheers from everyone in the room. Selina laughed against Hugh’s lips, and as she lowered herself, he kept her close, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I love you, Selina. I don’t know how you did it, but you unlocked my heart though it was chained away from the light of day.” He brushed his hand over her cheek, staring down at her with such admiration that Selina felt weak in the knees. “I love you. I love you. God, do I love you.”

Chuckling, Selina leaned into his touch. “And I love you. Hugh . A fate I never dreamed possible and never want to see the end of. I love you completely.”

He pulled her in for a kiss once more, the church still applauding them, particularly her mother, who Selina could hear cheering louder than anyone else. She looked over her shoulder, and several shocked stares persisted, Magnus and the priest among them.

“Your reputation will never recover, I’m afraid.”

She turned back to Hugh, laughing lightly as her smile beamed brighter than the sun.

“You know,” Selina threw her arms around Hugh’s neck, “I cannot seem to find it within myself to care. Not one little bit.”

“Good,” Hugh whispered, and then they kissed again. And again and again.