“So, I did,” the earl said quietly. “It meant keeping your identity hidden, too, or those who wanted vengeance against your father might have come after you.”
“That’s why you insisted that Alaina sit in on so many of my lessons when I was young?” Caroline suddenly said. “It’s why you were happy for us to be more friends than mistress and maid?”
“It was.” The earl nodded solemnly, his eyes flicking to meet Alaina’s. “I am sorry for hiding the secret from you, but I hope you understand just why I did it. It was to keep you safe.”
Alaina felt numb and unable to process the information. For someone who had always longed for a family, she now had one. It turned out that her dearest friend, who had always felt like a sister, was actually her cousin and the commanding guardian who had watched over her was, in fact, her uncle.
“Thank you,” she whispered. This overwhelming feeling cut through her as she stared at her uncle. “Thank you for everything.”
He smiled rather sadly, then he took a final gulp from his glass and sat straight.
“I will answer any questions you have of your past, Alaina, though I hope, like me, you will not dwell on it, but just to think of the future instead.” He turned to look at Marcus. “A man who would marry her without a shilling to her name, eh? Now, that is love.” The earl suddenly smiled as Alaina had never seen him smile before. “I am glad now I saved a little money for her dowry. Maybe it will give you a good start in life if not a brilliant one.”
“Then … we have your blessing?” Alaina asked with hope, her fingers curling through Marcus’ own.
“You do.” The earl nodded, then turned to fill up his glass again.
Marcus raised Alaina’s hand to his lips and kissed the back. Jittery with excitement and stunned at the revelations made to her, she held onto him.
“You have that family now,” he whispered to her.
She nodded, though in time, she planned to tell him the true depths of her thoughts, that no matter what her past was, from now on, her family would be him.
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
“Stand still, David, please,” Marcus pleaded, looking at the stable keeper beside him. “You’re making me nervous.”
They shared an amused smile on the doorstep of the Earl of Woolworth’s house.
“I can’t help it,” David said, scratching the collar around his throat. “This suit is ridiculously itchy. All this just to impress this man. I thought I was trying to impress Caroline, not her father!”
“If only the world were that simple,” Marcus said with a sigh, though he nodded in agreement.
Had the world been very different, then his love for Alaina never would have been a problem, and Caroline’s love for David wouldn’t have driven her father to near distraction.
Alaina … Ally.
He smiled to himself when he thought of the way that Alaina had first jumped when he had suggested the nickname Callie.
It was the closest I could get to her true name.
As the door opened, Marcus introduced the pair to the butler, who welcomed them inside. They crossed the hallway of the house with David fussing with his collar once again. One glare from Marcus made him drop his hand.
A gasp from the staircase made both men halt and look up. Marcus inhaled sharply when he saw Alaina standing behind Lady Caroline. Her eyes were wide on him, her gown modest, her dark hair loosely curled to frame her face in its updo. He could have sworn his heart fluttered like the wings of a butterfly in his chest.
“Soon,” he mouthed the word at her, and she nodded.
He’d obtained a special licence for them to marry. He hoped they would marry within the week, but before the date was completely set, he wanted to offer their friends some help first.
Some unspoken understanding must have passed between Lady Caroline and David, too, as they looked at one another, for Marcus caught sight of David nodding beside him. There was no more time to say anything, for the butler was ushering them through the nearest doorway into the drawing room.
“The Duke of Peddleton and Mr David Barker,” the butler announced them.
Marcus walked in first, with David behind him. Standing in the middle of the room, his hands full of papers, the Earl of Woolworth looked up, his round face purpling a little with surprise as he looked at the pair of them.
“Ahem.” He cleared his throat, dropping the papers behind him on a table. “And what do I owe to a stable keeper being brought into my drawing room?”
