“I need you to agree to marry me, woman. I know it is not the proper time to ask, but I have never been a proper man, and dare I say, since you are a most unconventional—yet quite pureand upright—lady, you should do me the courtesy of giving me a solidyesat this very moment.”
Both her fair brows rose in mock astonishment. “Should I now?”
“Indeed, you should.”
She tipped a graceful nod. “I will marry you when you are free of your entanglements.However”—she lifted a finger, pointed at him, then aimed it at Connor and Sissy—“we must not speak of this around anyone. Especially the servants. It would be most unsavory for this to be tattled across the countryside. Understood?”
Thrilled beyond measure, he hugged her close and kissed the finger she still held in the air as if it were a weapon. “Agreed. It will be our secret until the proper time to share it.” He gave the twins a stern look. “Mine and Lady Grace’s reputations depend on you two not speaking about this to anyone. It must be our closely guarded secret until all the legalities and ties with the Longmorten family have been seen to. Do you both understand the seriousness of this matter? Can I trust you to protect this wonderful news and keep it away from those who would use it to try to destroy our good names?”
The children nodded, then dove in and hugged Grace. “You are going to be ours!” Sissy crowed.
“This is almost as good as me marrying you!” Connor shouted.
Grace laughed and wrapped an arm around them while still hugging close to Wolfe. For the first time in his life, he felt complete.Thiswas right and good and as things should be.
While he hated for the wondrous moment to end, it was time they returned and assumed their roles of secrecy. “We should get back now,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Many are worried about you two,” he told the children.
“If anyone is worried about us,” Sissy said, “it’s only Lady Grace’s household. I’d wager Lady Margaret and her mum are dancing a jig ’cause we’re gone.”
Grace patted his chest, then stepped away and steered the children toward the easiest incline to exit the gorge. “Come, now. Sissy, you and Galileo may ride with me and Gastric. Connor, fetch Hector and help him. You and he can ride with Wolfe.” She flinched. “Oh dear. I need to let Serendipity know we found them.” She placed her fingers against her mouth and split the air with a deafening whistle. “There. She should turn this way now and see Pegasus and Barberry.”
“Can you teach me how to whistle like that?” Connor asked, his voice filled with awe.
“Only if you promise not to tell my brother,” she said. “Chance hates it when I do that. It is not exactly a ladylike accomplishment.”
Wolfe laughed as he picked up poor, short-legged Gastric and carried him up the embankment while the other hounds bounded past them. “Let me help you, old fellow. After all, I owe you a great deal.” He smiled at Grace as he shifted the wiggly dog in his arms. “I owe him everything.”
When she gifted him with a shy, adoring smile, a rush of emotions flooded his senses. Yes, indeed. This rocky gully fenced in by brambles and woodbine was paradise on earth.
Chapter Ten
“Since Merry hastaken the children out to play with Lucy’s puppies,” Serendipity said with a pointed nod first at Cook and then Walters, “I believe my sisters and I would be more comfortable taking our tea in the parlor.”
Walters bowed. “Right away, my lady.”
“Thank you.” She caught Grace by the elbow and steered her out of the kitchen at an impressive speed. Felicity and Joy scurried along behind them.
“Seri!” Grace yanked free and marched faster, her boots clumping across the polished wood floors in a most unladylike manner. “Calm yourself. The children are found, and as soon as we have our tea, I shall change into more appropriate clothing.”
Serendipity slid the double doors of the parlor shut with a quiet bang but remained in front of them as though standing guard. Joy and Felicity hurried to take their seats with the excitement of attending a long-awaited play. “Why did Wolfebourne insist upon a closed-door meeting with Chance?” Serendipity asked.
Grace meandered deeper into the parlor, plucking out the sticks and leaves caught in her long blonde braid. She wasn’t entirely pleased with that development herself. When she and Wolfe had agreed upon secrecy, she had assumed it also meant from her siblings, and yet the man had practically made a beeline to her brother as soon as they arrived back home. “How would I have any idea about His Grace’s intentions? Perhapshe wished to apologize for the children’s unruliness and the interruption of our schedules with such a disturbing game of hide-and-seek.” She inwardly patted herself on the back. What a good lie. It sounded convincing even to her.
“I smell a porky pie,” Joy said in the irritating singsong voice from their childhood. “Look at her, Seri. She is trying not to look any of us in the eye.”
“Leave her alone.” Felicity tapped her foot in Joy’s direction, a subtle warning that a swift kick came next. “Is it not obvious? She can’t possibly tell us she loves a man who is betrothed to another—even though we would never judge her as Society would.”
Grace glared at her sister, silently willing her to close her mouth, go away, or both.
“I saw the looks between the two of you,” Serendipity told Grace, keeping her voice lowered. “What happened out there? Was his behavior unseemly after I rode away? Did you threaten to go to Chance so he could demand satisfaction for you?”
“We had no idea if the twins were alive or injured, and yet you suggest we were so debased that we paused the search long enough to fall into each other’s arms? I take umbrage at that, sister. You should be ashamed to even suggest such a thing. We spent our time on the hunt—nothing more. Thanks to my dogs, we made it to Connor while he was still alive, even though he was trapped in a rockslide and would surely have perished if not found. I can’t even bear to think of the horror had Wolfe been unable to dig him out.”
“Wolfe?” Serendipity seized on the intimate address, forgetting to whisper it.
Drat and bloody hell.Grace jutted her chin higher. She had been doing so well before that little slip. “We agreed to suspend the use of formal address during the search in the name of simplicity.”
Her sisters snorted in unison, then dared to laugh.
