She wondered where her sisters were. She was about to send the servants to search for them when the house keeper came.

“Lady Elizabeth, Mr. Monaj is here to see you.”

Elizabeth nodded. Eliam would help find her sisters. She had no doubt. “Of course.”

A second later, her love sauntered into the room. She’d never seen him wearing a cravat before.

“A moment alone, please,” he said to the housekeeper who looked to Elizabeth for approval. At her mistress’s nod, the woman curtseyed and left the room.

Elizabeth flung herself into Eliam’s chest.

He closed his arms around her.

“I don’t like you in a cravat,” she said.

“Me neither.” He pulled the cravat off, exposing dark caramel skin that made her breath catch in her throat.

But she wasn’t prepared for what happened next. He shoved the cravat into her mouth and swung her into his arms like a bride on her wedding day. Elizabeth attempted to rip the cravat away and slap him, but her arms were confined under his.

He carried her out of the house into the London sunset and carefully set her into a lavender carriage. She’d never seen anything like it before. The inside was plush velvet, the color of a blossoming pink rose in the spring. Once inside the carriage with her, he pulled her onto his lap.

“When a gypsy is ready to take a woman as his wife, he kidnaps and claims her. Nothing will ever matter as much as when you disobeyed me, met me on the doorstep of a burning house, and demanded to be my wife. I’m not giving you a chance to change your mind, but I do want this to be right. Your sisters helped me obtain a marriage license. We will have an English Gypsy wedding.”

She attempted to pull the cravat out of her mouth again and this time he let her. “You’ll want to travel. You’ll hate me, because I can’t leave my sisters.”

“I’ve found a piece of land outside the city. We can settle nicely. I’ve arranged large dowries for each of your sisters, a companion for Sarah, and a governess for Lauralye.”

“But will you be happy?” Her words were at the edge of tears. He was offering everything she wanted, but she needed him to want this life too.

He combed his fingers through her hair. “I love you. I love your sisters like family. I want to see you large with my child, singing our son to sleep, standing in my kitchen.” He pressed his lips to her eyebrow. “I want to see you in my bed and having your morning tea. Without that I could never be happy.”

She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

“Have I upset you?”

She sobbed and buried herself into his chest. When the tears were gone, she asked, “Why do you love me so much?”

“Because you were made for me.”

There was no disputing that. As if the carriage, or the universe, or both agreed, the carriage stopped in front of a small stone chapel.

“You found a church that would marry a gypsy?”

He shrugged. “A little bit of money solves everything.”

She walked into the church on his arm and said a silent prayer of gratitude. Of joy for having a man she could never deserve.

Katie made it out of her room briefly. A maid at the inn helped her go to the local bookstore. Most of the books were in Spanish, but she did find a couple of English romance novels she hadn’t read. And she bought a paperback of Elizabeth’s Heart. She considered the book a collector’s item. It was to her at least.

When she returned to her room, Eledon sat on the chair across from her bed wearing a tux. A white dress laid across her bed.

“Eledon? What are you doing?”

“Marrying my Lady Elizabeth.”

She laughed. “I’m not Lady Elizabeth. I’m a doctor.”

He reclined in the chair. “About that. You seem disturbed by all of the things you’ve seen in the hospital. It might be better if you started a small practice and had more time to hang out with Nicole.”

“One reason I will never marry you.”

“Because I want you to be happy and the girl who pranced on my boat wasn’t?”

“Because you tell me what to do.”

He nodded. “Stay an anesthesiologist if it makes you happy. I’ll be home from my commute by 6:30 every night, and I’ll want my wife around. I’ve avoided marriage this long because I didn’t want an ‘in-name-only’ arrangement.”

She blinked and tried to wrap her mind around his words. “You have a job?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. But I’ve set up six interviews with prestigious companies in the Houston area for next week. I’ve spoken with my attorney—uh solicitor—and I never legally relinquished the rights to my family’s estate. It’s going up for sale and I can purchase a large house in the best subdivision of any suburb. I can also promise a few pairs of red-soled shoes each year. Though the number would likely go down with each new child.”

Katie put up her hand. “Whoa. We’re procreating already?”

“That is the best part of marriage.”

“You’ve known me for less than a week.”

“And I have eternity to get to know you better.”

“This is the kind of insane plan a card player devises.”

“No, ma’am. This is the kind of plan a man who meets the woman made for him and almost loses her in a freak accident comes up with. And I don’t plan to go home alone.”

“What if I turn you down?”

“Then I’ll secure a house and job in Houston and court you until you accept.”

“What if I keep turning you down?”

“I’ll spend so long in a burning building you’ll think I’m dead. When I come out, you’ll demand I marry you.”

Katie laughed. “You read the book.”

“It mattered to you.”

She shook her head. “But I can’t imagine a guy who floats from place to place wants to spend his life tied to an upper-middle-class suburb.”

“Guys who float around don’t care where they spend life. But who they spend it with matters, and I need you.”

“You’ll hate me for taking your freedom.”

“I’ll love you for building the life I want. The family I want.”

“You’re serious? You want me? To start a family with me?”

He didn’t answer, only held her gaze.

The enormity of the moment brought tears to her eyes.

He took her in his arms and wiped her face with gentle fingers. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s just—I don’t deserve you.”

“That’s probably true.”

She wiped tears away from her eyes as she laughed then punched him. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I bought a dress. Put it on. I won’t let you change your mind.”

Half an hour later, Katie walked out of the inn with her arm hooked in Eledon’s. He helped her into a horse drawn carriage and sat beside her. She raised an eyebrow.

“Just following the book,” he said.

They arrived at a stone chapel.

“Do you have a license?” she asked.

“Of course. Can’t take any chances of you getting home and changing your mind.”

Because it was Christmas, Katie never had to worry about her husband forgetting their anniversary. It was an abnormally warm year on the Mexican coast and a beautiful day for a wedding. The newlyweds picked up street tacos on the way home, because they would spend Christmas dinner in bed.