‘Of course the baby’s come! We want you to see. I’ll get Starling to fetch the spare key and a couple of footmen with a chair.’
On this threat he appeared to leave. Joanna gave a muffled shriek, scrambled all her clothes together and bolted into the dressing room only to be recalled by Giles.
‘Unlock the door, quickly, and throw that sheet back on the bed.’
Joanna closed the door of the dressing room and pulled on her clothes with as much calm as she could manage, given a mixture of giggles over their predicament, joy at hearingthat Hebe and the baby were both well and the sensual daze engendered by Giles’s lovemaking.
At the sound of Starling and what sounded like at least four footmen arriving in the bedroom she sat down at the dressing table and regarded her image in the glass. Dragging Giles’s comb through her hair restored some order to her appearance but did little for the flush in her cheeks or the swell of fiercely-kissed lips.
‘He loves me,’ she whispered. ‘He loves me.’ It was a miracle, but it was no dream, not with her body throbbing with the knowledge of his, not with the proof of his love in every tender word, every skilful caress.
When the room outside fell silent she risked a peep around the edge of the door to find Giles sitting in a chair clad in a gorgeous Oriental silk dressing gown, the walking cane she had fetched him by his side.
Giles grinned. ‘Starling says that he trusts that his lordship’s Natural Joy at the Happy Event did not disturb my rest, but he fears that his lordship cannot have tried the door handle properly in his Understandable Excitement. He quite understands that I do not wish to be carried through the halls of Tasborough in the manner of a Roman emperor and will make my own way to her ladyship’s suite when Miss Fulgrave returns from her own room.’
‘Thank goodness. Giles, have you any idea where my hair pins ended up?’
‘All over the bed I imagine. Thatwillcause the chamber maid to speculate in the morning.’
‘No it won’t,’ Joanna was determinedly shaking out pillows and smoothing the under sheet. ‘Six, seven…eight. That’s all of them. Now I’ll just put my hair up and we’ll go and see Hebe.’
With the aid of her arm and the stick Giles managed to get to his feet and hobble painfully along the corridor. ‘Can’t putany weight on it, otherwise it’s fine,’ he ground out in answer to Joanna’s attempt at a calm enquiry as to how his leg felt, but the beads of sweat on his forehead said rather more than he was willing to reveal and Joanna could only be thankful that there were no stairs to negotiate.
To her anxious gaze Hebe seemed very small and far away in the big bed but, although her voice was tired, it sounded strong as she said, ‘Joanna, Giles, come in. Giles, sit down at once. Joanna why did you let him walk?’
Joanna pressed Giles firmly into the nearest chair and ran to Hebe’s bedside. ‘How on earth do you expect me to stop him? He is as stubborn as a mule. Oh, Hebe, how lovely. Is it another little boy?’
‘Meet Young Giles,’ Hebe said with a smile which lit up her tired, pale face. ‘Here, take him.’
‘Oh, may I? He is so tiny. Giles, look.’
She turned to find Giles still sitting in the chair, an identical shawl-wrapped bundle in his arms and Alex by his side looking not drunk, just utterly dazed and happy.
‘Twins! Giles you were right.’
‘This one is Little Joanna,’ Alex said, smiling as Joanna had never seen him smile. ‘We thought you both might be willing to be godparents.’
Giles looked up at his friend. ‘Very happily, on one condition: you stand as my groomsman.’
‘Joanna!’ Hebe threw her arms wide. Joanna handed Little Giles to his father and hugged her cousin carefully. ‘Thank goodness, I was beginning to think the pair of you would never work it out.’ She looked closely at Joanna and said, low voiced, ‘If there is anything you want to talk to me about, you only have to say.’ Joanna blushed hotly and Hebe’s eyebrows rose. ‘I see, perhaps I am a little late.Whata bad chaperone I am.’
‘Dreadful,’ Joanna agreed solemnly, ‘but a very good friend.Hebe,’ she whispered, ‘I love him so much it hurts.’
‘I know,’ Hebe agreed. ‘And it never gets any better, thank goodness.’
They were interrupted by Nurse bringing Hugh down to meet his new brother and sister and Joanna helped Giles to his feet and out of the room.
‘This is a truly wonderful day,’ Giles said. He gathered Joanna against his side and held her tight. ‘Shall we go back to my room and discuss exactly how many children we plan to have?’
‘It is very tempting,’ Joanna smiled up at him, ‘but first I must write to Mama and the Geddings and Georgy, and you must write to your father.’
‘No, that is the second thing,’ Giles said, seeing Starling advancing in a stately manner down the corridor. ‘Starling, break out his lordship’s best champagne and find me those footmen and their chair. I intend to be carried in state to the dining room and there to consume lobster and champagne with my affianced bride.’
Starling rose to the occasion. ‘Congratulations, Colonel. I will place the wine on ice at once and set out the best crystal. As to the lobster, I will ascertain whether one is to be found upon the premises.’
As the butler swept down the staircase summoning minions to his side Joanna rested her cheek against the heavy silk of Giles’s sleeve. ‘I do not think I would ever have had the courage to rebel as I did if it were not for that champagne you gave me at the Duchess’s ball. Do you remember? I had a dreadful hangover the next day and, as far as Mama was concerned, that started my disgrace.’
Giles pulled her tight against him. ‘I want to see your eyes turn green and sparkle with that same fire I saw in them that night. I want to kiss your lips to taste the wine on them as I could not then. And I never, ever want to part from you again as longas I live.’
‘You want to hold me captive?’
‘Chained to my heart and my soul for ever.’
At the head of the stairs Starling held up a restraining hand to four stalwart footmen who were carrying a chair between them. They obediently turned their backs and waited patiently while Colonel Gregory satisfied himself that his runaway love perfectly understood the terms of her surrender.
‘For ever,’ Joanna whispered against his lips. ‘For ever.’
THE END
