“I don’t want to command you.Not like that.I want us to be each other’s to command.I want to go to bed every night in your arms, and wake up every morning with you in mine.”
“What about your future duchess?”
“My bride does not exist.Has never existed for me.She is a fictional personage in certain family members’ imaginations.You may have the adjoining rooms yourself, if you like.”
“Certain family members who do not imagine a valet as private consort to the Duke of Southbury.Your mother, specifically.”
“My mother loves me and wants me to be happy.”
It felt odd to say the words aloud.Revolutionary, to realize that they were true.That it meant Donovan need not adhere to Society’s rules and expectations.
But they still needed to be addressed.
“As to my valet, you’ve been dismissed, remember?You are no longer an employee.I am happy to tell others you are an invited guest in my home, but I would be happier still if you were to think of it as your home, as well.”
Geoffrey frowned.“And when you never father an heir?”
“You’re right.Thatwouldbe a concern… if Bernard hadn’t seen to the task for me.His sons are hale and healthy and will someday have sons of their own.The dukedom is secure for generations.The line does not require a lifetime of my misery with an equally miserable wife in order to survive.Indeed, we will all get on much better if I avoid that fate.”
“But how will you explain yourself?”
“To strangers, I won’t have to.I’m the Duke of Southbury.I answer to no one, save the royal family, and Prinny is far more concerned about the renovations on his holiday home in Brighton than he is about the details of my bedsport.”
“And to those who are not strangers?”
“I shall inform my loved ones that I do not, in fact, intend to seek a bride, and that from now on, I shall be instructing Bernard and his lads in all the things they will need to know for the day when one of them inevitably must take the helm.”
Geoffrey didn’t look convinced.“What if they argue?”
“‘Oh dear heavens, please don’t consign me to the highest peerage in the land and all the pots of money that come with it’?An unlikely reaction.Iam the one who chafed against the responsibilities of this role, and only because it prevented me from seeking happiness with you.”
“Which is something this paper is going to fix?”Geoffrey lifted the scroll.
“Open it and see.”Donovan held his breath.He hoped this worked.
Geoffrey hesitated, then unrolled the parchment.He scanned its contents quickly, then did so again a second time, taking each word in slowly as though that would help to make its meaning sink in.
His long fingers shook.“This… is a bank draft.”
The duke inclined his head.“A severance payment, if you will.To a new account, in your name.I don’t care what others want.What matters to me is whatyouwant.Your happiness is my priority.”
His erstwhile valet gazed down at the document with obvious incredulity.“This is my severance payment.You deposited a vail with three trailing zeroes?”
Donovan nodded.“I love you, Geoffrey.Regardless of what happens between us, I wanted you to be able to live a comfortable life, without ever having to work again.If you enjoy being a valet, by all means, continue to act as one.But if you’d prefer to be a gentleman of leisure… That is now your prerogative as well.”
Geoffrey lowered his hand and stared at the duke in consternation.“This isn’t enough money for me to live an ordinary life.”
Donovan’s gut clenched.One simple romantic gesture, and he’d bungled it!
“It’s not?”he stammered.
“Of course it’s not.”Geoffrey lifted the bank draft and shook it.“This is enough blunt for me to spend a full season playing the role of nouveau riche bachelor elbowing his way into polite society to scoop up this season’s diamond.”
The duke’s stomach churned for a new reason.“Is that what you want?”
“You beautiful, proud fool.I love you, too.”Geoffrey tossed the parchment aside and jerked Donovan toward him by his lapels.“I have everything I want right here in my hands.”
Their mouths crashed together, and their arms wound around each other tight.
