But it should be the other way around.
An Adela for the duke, for wasn’t she the real prize?
EPILOGUE
Devonshire, England
June 1824
ADELA AND HERfriends had stumbled upon an entire trove of bones that Ambrose quickly realized would require them to extend their honeymoon. This extended stay is what they had spent the past few days organizing. First by arranging to secure the cave site to keep unscrupulous relic hunters away, and next to bring in experts on staff at the Huntsford Academy to catalogue and properly wrap each bone for carting to London.
“Ambrose, you look worried,” Adela said, coming up to him later that morning as he stood pensively outside the cave.
“No, love. Just thinking. This project is bigger than I ever expected, but I cannot stay here the entire time it will take us to properly secure the site and remove everything to be found. It could take years to fully explore this cave and the ones around it. I’ll have to return to London at some point soon and resume my duties there.”
She brushed back a few wayward curls that had escaped their pins on this windy day and smiled at him. “What do you propose?”
“That we spend two months here and then two months in London, keeping to that schedule as much as we can. It is a bit of a trip, but I can ride back and forth alone if it becomes too much for you. Hopefully, it won’t. I think this can work. I have good people in place to manage the Huntsford holdings during my short absences, and Julius can attend to whatever else needs to be done. Octavian will help whenever he can, but his Admiralty duties will take up most of his time.”
He sighed and shook his head as he continued to discuss his thoughts. “Thank goodness Syd stayed true to her word and remained in London. Octavian would have gone after her and it could have destroyed his career.”
“Syd thinks too highly of Octavian ever to let it happen. Gory wrote to me and told me what she thinks happened that night before our wedding. Seems Syd’s father was trying to marry her off to a business partner of his he had swindled.”
“Dear heaven,” Ambrose muttered.
“When Octavian foiled that, her father handed over Syd’s cousin who was the father’s ward. But the cousin fell in love with the business partner and he with her. Can you believe it? What a relief for all concerned.”
“Until her fool of a father swindles another partner.”
Adela sighed. “Let’s hope he’s learned his lesson.”
“A man like that? Who would attempt to sell his own daughter to save his hide?” Ambrose caressed her cheek. “Love, people don’t change. They never do.”
She nodded. “Well, I hope she will give Octavian or Gory some warning if it happens again.”
She nestled in his arms, not caring they were at the dig site and all her friends were looking on. “As for us, I don’t mind traveling back and forth with you. Nothing matters more to me than being with you. Isn’t this discovery the most exciting thing ever to happen in your life?”
He laughed as he put his arms around her. “No, you are. I was beginning to despair of ever making a love match until you came along. These finds are extraordinary, but I would never choose them over you…and you can put that in a starred page in your diary.”
“My diary is filled with stars on the pages I have written about you, as if you didn’t know. Have you been reading it?”
He grinned at her. “No, love.”
“Not that it matters. I have no secrets from you. You are the best thing ever to happen to me. Oh, I will cry if we keep up this conversation. I never dreamed I could be this happy or that anyone could love me so deeply…oh, dear. I must stop talking now or I shall turn into a watering pot. Besides, we have work to do.”
She squirmed out of his arms and grabbed her journal, then sat on a nearby bench.
Ambrose sat down beside her. “What are you writing?”
“Making a list of things we have yet to do.”
He cast her a rakishly hot look. “Top of the list…make love in a carriage.”
She gasped and then broke into mirthful trills of laughter. “Behave yourself, Your Grace.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Must I?”
She set down her journal. “Yes, my naughty husband. We will get nothing done if all we do is think about bedding each other all day long.”
