And he knew she was the woman he wanted to marry.
"If you can promise not to lie to me again, no matter the reason," he said, his eyes locked on hers. "Then I would like to see if we can be happy together…" Her eyes lit up, and he pushed on with his thought, even though it felt rather unnatural to share so much of what he was feeling. "Because I realised that, due to your plan, we had already been living together happily."
He wanted to kiss her there and then, not caring about the onlookers, but instead he simply held out his hand for hers. "Shall we dance, Lady Penelope?"
"Two dances in a row…people will talk," she said with a grin.
"Let them talk. We will be married very soon – I do not care what they say."
It was then that a tall, dandified gentleman approached and gave an over-exaggerated bow to Penelope.
"Lady Penelope," he drawled. "I was hoping to have the honour of the next dance."
"No," James answered immediately, surprising himself at the force in his voice. "Her next dance is taken."
Not seeming to be perturbed, the gentleman continued to address Penelope. "Another you have free then, later in the evening."
"She has no dances free," James responded, leading Penelope onto the dance floor without looking back.
???
Penelope could not help but giggle, as Lord Lindon, a gentleman she had danced with occasionally when in London, stood and gawped as they walked away.
"Well, that will certainly have people talking," she said in an undertone to the Duke –James– as they began to dance.
"Did you want to dance with that fool?" he asked.
She shook her head. She was more than happy to save every dance for him – whether or not society frowned upon such possessive behaviour.
"My parents are watching," Penelope said, catching sight of them out of the corner of her eye. "You will have to be properly introduced to them, after this next dance…"
He nodded curtly. "Indeed. And perhaps I should have a word with them about not letting their daughter go wandering quite so freely…"
Penelope felt her cheeks flushing, but he smiled then, and her heart soared. He was poking fun. He wanted to beher husband, wanted her to live with him at Dunloch, to put the mistakes of the past behind them and begin their future together.
And she could not wait.
"I am sure, once I am a duchess, I will be far less flighty," she promised with a grin.
"Indeed you will be. I’ll see to that."
"When can we be wed?" she asked, impatient now to start the life she knew belonged to her.
"The banns have been read. We can leave for Scotland tomorrow, and be married as soon as we return," he said. It was the answer she had expected, and yet there was some disappointment in her heart. The journey to Scotland was not quick, and would have to be made separately, for proprieties’ sake.
"Or," the Duke continued, making her look up into his dark eyes. "We could apply for a special license. Marry here in London, with your parents, and my sisters and aunt in attendance. And then go home…together. If that is what you wish."
She reached for his hands, even though the dance did not call for such a move, and squeezed them tightly. "It is very much what I wish."
When one was marrying a duke, things could be arranged with great haste – and that was how Lady Penelope found herself in a new gown, at a small chapel near St James’s Park. Her father stood beside her, ready to walk her down the aisle, where the Duke of Dunloch was waiting for her. The man she knew better than any other – and yet a man she had not even kissed.
She had spent her adult life knowing that she would one day marry, and had not wanted to marry a man she did notknow. And then she had thought she would marry a man she cared deeply for, and have to be separated from him.
But somehow, she was about to marry a man she had lost her heart to – and then they would live their life in the beautiful Dunloch Castle, surrounded by nature and beauty and away from society.
And she couldn’t be happier.
Oh, she knew she would miss her beloved Amblewood, but they could visit, and being mistress of her own castle, and a castle she loved as dearly as Dunloch, was another dream come true.
