“I have spent years looking over my shoulder, for far more reasons than I ever truly realized. I think it is time that I stop doing that,” he murmured.
He let a moment of silence pass between the them before he added, “I have decided to sell theDevil’s Masquerade.”
Ophelia quickly turned in the saddle, looking at him with wide eyes over her shoulder.
“But you love the Masquerade!” She exclaimed.
“Iusedto love the Masquerade,” he corrected her, “Think about it, though. It has caused so much trouble in all of our lives. It is where Amelia’s former intended found her. Where Boyle found Theo. Where Abraham discovered how to black mail me- and you. I do not believe I could host another party without fear of what is going to happen to us all next.”
Ophelia pressed her lips tightly together as her brows tensed.
“There were good things as well, though. It is the place that brought us together,” she said quietly.
“True,” Tristan agreed, “However, if you marry me, we will not need a secret place to meet another.”
Tristan could not help but grin as Ophelia gasped in surprise.
“You want to marry me?” She asked.
“I do,” he agreed, “But not under your current circumstances.”
Ophelia’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“You were looking for a husband because of your father’s financial troubles,” Tristan explained, “Admirable, yes, but it went against everything that you are, and I do not want that.
“I spoke to Alistair and the others, he went on, “We are going to make John a silent partner in our spirit business. We will all contribute to his stock as secondary backers. That way when he passes, hopefully a long time from now, that stock will go back to us- which in turn we will give to you. To live your life as free as you want.”
Ophelia’s lips parted in shock as tears began to form in her eyes. She pressed her hands against Tristan’s chest, and he brought the horse to a stop. He helped Ophelia turn around in the saddle until she was facing him square on, and took in her beautiful features.
“You would do that for me?” She asked, “After everything that has happened? After you risked your life to save me, you would let me go if that was what I truly wanted?”
Tristan swallowed around the lump in his throat. His heart had fused back together with a quickness the moment they had kissed at Abraham’s, but it felt ready to fly apart again. The answer though, was simple.
“I know you cannot truly love me if a part of you always longed for the life you dreamt of,” he rasped. “But I know I truly love you, and that love means accepting you for precisely who you are, Ophelia. Wild, fierce, you, who bows to no one unless she truly wants to. So yes. I would.”
A heartbeat’s worth of silence passed between them. Two. Then Ophelia smoothed her hands from his chest up to his neck, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him deeply.
A desperate groan escaped his lips as he pulled her into him, spending every second aware of the softness of her lips, the sweetness of her tongue. The warmth of her body pressed perfectly into his. Not at all sure if it was a kiss that sealed their union- or if it was a kiss goodbye.
Then tears of joy pricked his eyes as he heard her softly spoken words against his lips: “I love you. Lord Perfect. And I will indeed marry you.”
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
“Papa, please, do not look at me like that,” Ophelia implored.
Ophelia was standing in his bedroom, all of her friends by her side as they all presented Ophelia’s wedding gown to her father. Since she’d returned from the nasty business concerning Abraham, she had not felt too inclined to leave the house and her father was all too happy to have her by his side. Thankfully, though, her favorite dressmaker, Mrs. Tate, made house calls.
“I cannot help it,” John said, his voice cracking with emotion as he brought his kerchief to his eyes. “It is not every day you see your only daughter in a wedding gown.”
He swept his eyes down the ivory gown of silk and the lace veil, and his face began to crumble once more with emotion.
“You look you so beautiful!” He sobbed.
“Oh, Papa, please do not cry!” Ophelia begged.
She quickly lifted her veil and went to his side, hugging his shoulders as he remained in his rolling chair. She looked toward her friends as she embraced him, not at all sure what to do. However she found that Seraphina, Theo, Amelia, and Rose were all looking back at her with that same, sappy, teary-eyed smile her father had worn when she’d first walked in.
