by Ruth Langan
“I do.”
“All right. There you are. So do I. I want the happy ending, Lessie. Don’t you believe in forever after?”
“Forever after? I guess I do.” She felt her heart turn somersaults in her chest, leaving her feeling dizzy. Right this minute, she needed to hear those words over and over. “Tell me again.”
“I love you, Celeste Sullivan. More than anything in the world. Nothing matters except that we’re together. Please say you’ll marry me.”
“Oh, what a lovely proposal. Yes. Oh, yes, Drew. Yes, I’ll marry you. And whether we stay here, or move on, it won’t matter, will it?”
“Not a bit. Home is wherever we are, my love.”
Home. It was a word that had never mattered to her before. She was a woman who had traveled the world over and always felt at home. But now, this minute, she realized that she’d just found something better than home. It wasn’t a place. It was a feeling. It was here. Here in Drew’s arms, she’d finally come home.
And Grandpa Sully had known.
Maybe she’d forgive him. After she made him suffer a bit.
As those warm, firm lips covered hers, and those big, clever hands began to weave their spell, she sighed and gave herself up to the special magic of this man’s love. A love that had survived doubt and separation, and the fear of betrayal.
It was, she had no doubt, a love that would survive for all time.
Epilogue
“Oh, my.” Lizbeth, dressed in a pink, ankle-skimming gown of raw silk, hurried out to the courtyard just as the last candle was in place. The staff of the Old Liberty Tavern had outdone themselves, turning the inn and its courtyard into a wedding wonderland. There seemed to be acres of white flowers and glossy white candles on the flagstones, on tables, in every corner, as well as yards of white tulle twisted with tiny twinkling lights around every light fixture. “Isn’t this just perfect for our Celeste?”
Her older sister, Alex, wearing pale yellow silk, nodded. “Very chic. I don’t know how she manages to make even this vintage tavern look upscale. Next year, it’ll probably be featured in every bridal magazine, and she’ll have more weddings than she can handle.”
Lizbeth shook her head, sending blond curls dancing. “Not our Celeste. There is no such thing as more of anything than she can handle. Especially now that she has Drew by her side.” She smiled dreamily. “Aren’t they a team?”
“Yeah. They’re almost too perfect to believe.” Alex grinned. “Speaking of teams, we’d better hustle Celeste upstairs and get her ready. Knowing her, she’s probably still in her office giving last-minute orders to the staff.”
The two sisters were laughing minutes later when they dragged Celeste out of her office and into the elevator. All the way up, she continued talking on the phone, booking a party for the following month.
“That’s it.” At the door Alex removed the phone from her sister’s hand and set it on a table. “If it rings again, you’re going to ignore it.”
“But it could be…”
“I don’t care if it’s the queen of England. She’s going to have to wait until after your wedding to book her party.”
Laughing, the two sisters dragged their youngest sister to the shower, then helped her with her makeup, and finally into her gown, which bore the label of one of the finest fashion designers in Paris. Then they stood back to admire and had to fight the tears that threatened.
The gown suited her to perfection. Sophisticated and unadorned. A long straight column of white silk, with a rounded neckline that fell just off the shoulders, and long, narrow sleeves. Her wonderful red hair fell soft and loose beneath a veil anchored by a tiny crown of pearls.
“Oh, Celeste.” Lizbeth blinked hard to keep from embarrassing herself. “You look so beautiful.”
“You belong on the cover of a magazine.” Alex grinned. “You’ll certainly fit right in with that elegant setting downstairs.” She shook her head. “Not that I had a moment’s doubt that your wedding would be anything but the grandest event of the year.”
The three young women looked up at a knock on the door. Their parents entered, followed by the rest of the family. Alex’s husband, Grant, and Lizbeth’s husband, Colin, as well as Patrick Sullivan gathered around the bride for hugs and kisses.
While her mother was forced to wipe away tears, her father gathered her close for a kiss. And all the while Patrick Sullivan stood to one side, watching with pride.
Jeremiah Cross poked his head through the open door. “The minister is downstairs, waiting for the happy couple. And the staff has begun seating the guests.”
He diplomatically ushered everyone from the room, leaving Celeste alone with her grandfather.
He stood looking at her with such pride gleaming in those blue eyes. “Am I forgiven yet, darlin’ lass?”
She nodded. “How could I stay angry with you, Grandpa Sully? I guess you just couldn’t help meddling, since you know us so well.”
“Ah. That I do.” He smiled. “Living in hotels for a lifetime has affected all of us differently. Your sister, Alex, had a need to break away from the throngs of people, both staff and guests, to find herself in the quiet of nature. Lizbeth, on the other hand, had a desperate need for a home of her own. And then there’s you, darlin’ Celeste. You’re a corporate animal, and what you’ve always needed was a man who understood that drive, and shared it, the way your grandmother shared my life, and your parents share their love of the business. I believe you’ve found the perfect soul mate in Andrew.” He kissed her cheek and started toward the door. “Which reminds me, Jeremiah reported that your perfect mate is about as restless as a tiger on a leash. I think I’ll pay him a quick visit before he starts down that aisle. I’ll see if I can calm the beast.”
He walked across the hall and knocked. At a call from within, Patrick Sullivan opened the door and stepped inside. Drew turned from the balcony, where he’d been pacing, watching the crowd below.
Seeing the frown line between his brows, the old man paused. “Having second thoughts, Andrew?”
Drew shook his head. “Not about marrying Celeste. But I’ve been standing here thinking about the circumstances that brought me here.”
The old man started to back away. “Maybe you ought to go see your bride-to-be. She’s in need of your calming influence, lad.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Especially since seeing Celeste would muddle all my brain cells and prevent me from thinking what I’ve just been thinking.”
“What do you mean by that?” Patrick gave a nervous smile.
Drew advanced on him. “I mean I’ve had time to sort all this out, and I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re a conniving old…” He shook his head. “If I hadn’t been so blinded by love, I’d have figured this out a whole lot sooner.”
“I don’t know what you…”
“Oh, yes, you do. You, along with your very good friend Jeremiah, orchestrated this entire thing from beginning to end. It was you who sent that profit-and-loss sheet to Van Dorn in the first place, wasn’t it? You who planted the seed in the minds of the board of directors of Van Dorn Hotels, knowing they’d send me here to look into buying it for them. You who kept me here with one excuse after another, until your granddaughter and I couldn’t resist each other any longer. Why?”
The old man merely smiled. “The two of you didn’t make it easy. In fact, Jeremiah and I were running out of excuses. He’d phone me, complaining that he kept throwing you together, and one thing or another would keep you apart. We were almost ready to give up.”
Before Drew could say a word he held up a hand. “Did you think I didn’t see the way you two suffered when you went your separate ways?”
“It was our pain. Our business.”
“Oh, to be sure. But Celeste’s business has always been mine. I saw the way she threw herself into her work with even more determination than before. And I kept track of your career as well. I knew why you’d climbed the corporate ladder so quic
kly at Van Dorn. It was talent and hard work. Something you and my darlin’ Celeste have in abundance. There you were, both of you trying so hard to heal your broken hearts. And I thought, since it was my fault you left, it was up to me to bring you back.”
“But why me, Paddy?” Drew stared into the old man’s eyes, searching for answers. “Why were you so determined that I was the right one for your granddaughter?”
“That’s easy. The first time I saw you, putting yourself through college by working harder than anyone else, by taking all the shifts nobody else was willing to take, I knew you, Andrew.”
“I don’t understand. You knew me?”
“As well as I know myself.” The old man clapped a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “I saw an ambitious, driven young man, determined to get ahead on his own. Determined to convince himself and the woman he loved, a woman who came from money and privilege, that he was worthy of that love.” He chuckled. “Don’t you see, lad? I knew you because you were me, Andrew. I saw myself in you. And I understood that you needed to find out in your own way. And so I let you go, knowing it was breaking the hearts of the two people who meant everything in the world to me.”
“But why now? What made you orchestrate this little deal now?”
“The time was right. You’ve proven yourself at Van Dorn. If I waited much longer, you’d be ascending the presidency there instead of where you belong. And I was afraid Celeste might start to get the itch to move on, and I’d be facing another missed opportunity. This was the right place, the right time. And I knew I had to move on it before it slipped by me. By us all.” He stuck out his hand. “Am I forgiven?”
“That depends.” Drew bit back the smile that threatened and stared at the outstretched hand. “Just what is it you’re offering me?”
“The presidency. Though you’ll have to share it with a certain fiery young bride. Deal?”
Drew grinned. “Deal.” He caught the old man’s hand in his, then drew him close for a hug. “I’d come back even without the offer of an executive position.”
“I know that, lad.”
“You’ve always been the father I never had, Paddy.”
“And you’re the grandson I never had, Andrew. And I hope you’ll keep this little conversation between the two of us, for at least fifty years or so.” The old man stepped back. “Now, you’d better go to your bride. The crowd down there is probably getting restless.”
The two men walked to the door and stepped out into the hall.
As he started toward the elevator Paddy Sullivan paused. “By the way, I spoke with Eric Van Dorn. He told me you were the most promising employee he’d ever hooked. He told me he probably didn’t play that one right. He let you slip off the line.”
“He’s wrong, Paddy. I wiggled off. All by myself.” Drew paused. “With a little help from you and Jeremiah.”
He was still grinning as he watched the old man stride away. He crossed the hall and knocked on Celeste’s door, then stepped inside.
She turned from the balcony to face him, and he felt all the breath leave his lungs.
She started toward him and paused to pick up the elegant nosegay of white roses and ivy from a nearby table. “I love the flowers, Drew. Lizbeth told me you went to the town market early this morning to pick them out yourself.”
He nodded.
“What’s wrong?” Alarmed, she walked closer and reached out a hand to him, but he surprised her by drawing back.
“Wait a minute.” He held up a hand. “I want to look at you a minute more.”
His smile was slow to come, but when it did, she felt her heart begin to settle.
“You’re so beautiful, you take my breath away.”
“You’re not bad yourself.” She studied the way he looked in black tie. “Maybe Sullivan Hotels should use you in their next advertising campaign.”
He laughed and stepped closer to brush a kiss over her lips. “There’s the woman I know. Always thinking about business, even on her wedding day.”
“And what about you? Tell the truth. Haven’t you been thinking that this is the perfect setting for weddings?”
He nodded. “In fact, I’ve been wondering if we ought to look into buying the property next door to that little cottage. We could add a dance pavilion, and maybe attract summer concerts.”
He saw the excitement in her eyes and gave a roar of laughter. “You see? It’s contagious. I can see that in a few years we won’t even have to speak. One of us will have a thought and the other will simply pick up on it.” He drew her into his arms and pressed his mouth to her temple. “In fact, I’ll bet you can read my mind right now. Let’s try it.”
She brought her hand to his cheek and stared into those gray mysterious depths. “Umm. Yes. I like the way you think, Mr. Hampton. But I do think we’d better wait a while for that. At least until after we’ve spoken our vows and dispensed with our guests.”
He caught her hand. “Then let’s get started. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
As they walked to the elevator and stepped inside, they turned to each other with matching looks of love.
Downstairs they walked past the line of employees who smiled and waved as they made their way to the courtyard. Daniel O’Malley looked handsome in his formal wear. Bitsy Hillerman was wiping a tear from her eye. Jeremiah stood guard at the entrance to the courtyard.
Celeste paused to press a kiss to his weathered cheek. “You look as happy about this as Grandpa Sully.”
The old man leaned close to whisper, “Happier, if truth be told. I do like your Mr. Hampton.”
“Then do you suppose you might be able to start calling him Drew?”
The old man thought a moment, then nodded. “I suppose, as long as he’s now part of the family.”
He turned to Drew and offered his handshake. “Congratulations, Drew. You’re a lucky man indeed.”
“Thank you, Jeremiah.”
As they stepped out into the courtyard and started toward the waiting minister, Drew leaned close to whisper, “He’s right, you know. I am a lucky man. And on our fiftieth wedding anniversary, I’ll have quite a tale to share with you.”
“Really?” Celeste looked over to see her family. Her father and mother, holding hands and looking as much in love as they had when she was a little girl. Her sisters, now happily married, standing proudly beside their husbands. And her beloved Grandpa Sully, beaming with such pride.
And then she turned to Drew and everyone else faded from sight. It occurred to her that, though nothing had changed in her life, everything had changed. She still didn’t know where she’d be a year from now. What country she’d call home. Or even what continent. But as long as she had this man beside her, she would always be home.
“I love you, Drew Hampton.”
“Not nearly as much as I love you, Celeste Sullivan.” He looked down at her and gave her one of those heart-stopping grins, and she knew that she had found her perfect life partner. He would feed her when she forgot to eat. Shelter her when she found herself in a storm. And would share not only her love, but her dreams as well.
They were, she knew without a doubt, a perfect fit. Partners. Forever.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0699-1
SEDUCING CELESTE
Copyright © 2001 by Ruth Ryan Langan
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention
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§The Wildes of Wyoming
**The Sullivan Sisters
†Texas Series
*The Highland Series
‡The Jewels of Texas
◊The O’Neil Saga
††The Sirens of the Sea