Waiting in readiness, love? Lovely! (2,3)
I believe the answer is:
on ice
'waiting in readiness' is the definition.
'love? lovely' is the wordplay.
'love?' becomes 'o' (In tennis, 'love' means 'zero').
'lovely' becomes 'nice' (I've seen this before).
'o'+'nice'='ON ICE'
(Other definitions for on ice that I've seen before include "Predatory insect" , "Kept chilled" , "Postponed (fig.)" , "held back?" , "Ready to skate" .)