Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date, #4)(51)

“That was the goal,” he said. He took her hand. “Come on, George is dying to show you this one.”

They walked over to meet George at a small display case halfway into the room.

“There are maybe only five people in the entire United Kingdom I’d do this for,” he said, “and Malcolm is one of them.”

He carefully put white gloves on and ducked behind the case. Vivian heard a whole series of locks turn. When he came back, the tiara was in his hands.

“This is Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet,” George said. “Her husband Albert designed it for her in 1840. It’s been sold a number of times, and almost left England a few years ago, but we managed to get our hands on it, and my goodness were we thrilled about that. We haven’t had it in our collection very long, and I’m so happy whenever I look at it. Isn’t it a beauty?”

It was a tiny tiara—it almost looked like it had been made for a child—but the jewels in it were huge. The diamonds and sapphires all hit the light and sparkled and shimmered at her.

Vivian tore her eyes away from the tiara and looked at him.

“It’s stunning. Tiny but incredible.”

He beamed at her.

“I’m sorry that I can’t allow you to touch it, but . . .”

Vivian shook her head and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Oh my goodness, you have nothing to apologize for. Just letting me look at it like this . . . wow. Thank you so much, George!”

Though . . . she did wish she could try it on.

George smiled at her again, before he put the tiara back in the case and locked it once more. Vivian read the caption about the tiara out loud.

“ ‘It remains an enduring symbol of their love.’ Wow, it has a beautiful story, too.”

George beamed at her.

“Doesn’t it? That’s one of the many things I love about it.” He looked around and sighed. “Unfortunately, I’ve got some work to do, so I can’t take anything else out of the case, but I’ll leave you two here to peruse the rest of the jewelry exhibit. I’ll be back in about an hour. I wish I could stay to tell you about everything!” He nodded over to the corner. “Don’t mind Lewis over there; he’s used to all the oohs and aahs in this room.”

Vivian glanced into the corner; she hadn’t even noticed the security guard, but of course he’d be there.

George waved at them and disappeared, and she turned to Malcolm.

“I can’t believe that happened,” she said.

He grinned at her.

“Me neither. Getting in after hours was relatively easy, but when I asked him if there was any way he’d be able to take it out of the case, he hemmed and hawed a lot. I had no idea if he was going to do it until I saw him put the gloves on.”

She leaned up and kissed him, security guard be damned.

“I’m so giddy about that, I feel like a little girl going through her princess phase, but I don’t even care,” she said. “There’s so much in this room; I can’t wait to look at it all. What a wonderful surprise. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” he said.

She loved how wide the smile on Malcolm’s face was.

Malcolm bent down and kissed Vivian before they walked on to see more of the jewels in the exhibit. He’d been worried, ever since she’d told that story about her ex-husband, that she’d feel compelled to fake excitement tonight. And he’d been even more worried that he wouldn’t be able to tell if she was excited for real or not. But he’d seen the way her eyes changed when they walked into the museum; he’d been able to tell she was confused and disappointed, even though the smile stayed on her lips. And when they’d walked into this room, he’d seen the wonder and delight and pure joy in them when she realized what surrounded them.

Vivian turned in a circle, her hands still clasped behind her back.

“You always do that with your hands—here, and at Sandringham House, and you did it at Buckingham Palace, too.”

She dropped her hands and laughed.

“Oh, that’s because I always desperately want to touch things in museums! I have to hold my hands together behind my back so I won’t be tempted.”

Malcolm laughed and took hold of her hand.

“Here we go. I’ll keep you from temptation.”

They spent the next hour and a half—George always had been a softy—walking around the exhibit, reading about everything there, and making quiet fun of some of the ugliest of the jewels.

“Some people really do have more money than sense,” Vivian said. “Why would you do that to those poor jewels?”

Malcolm laughed.

“Can you imagine actually wearing that thing? It would frighten children on the street!”

Vivian chuckled again. He loved that throaty laugh of hers—it seemed to bubble up out of nowhere and was so full of joy that it always made him laugh, too.

“On the other hand, that tiara is just majestic. It looks really heavy, but it’s gorgeous.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he put his arm around her. They stood there like that for a while, until she turned toward him.

“Thank you for doing this for me,” she whispered, her hand on his cheek.

“Thank you for letting me do this for you,” he whispered back. And then he kissed her. He didn’t care that George would be back any second, or that video cameras were definitely on them, or that the security guard in the corner was watching them; all he cared about was her lips on his, her body against his, her breath melding with his.