“You’re not worth the trouble of a duel, Standish. Neither is she. You want her? Fine. Send the contracts to my solicitors and you can have her. As of today, I only have one daughter.” He whipped himself around and exited more abruptly than he’d appeared.
And Reed did not stop him.
The meeting would have happened eventually, he just wished Goldie hadn’t had to witness it.
Closing the door, Reed turned back to Goldie. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
But she was shaking her head. “No. I think it’s something I needed. I’ll never wonder if I hurt him by leaving. I’ll never wonder if I was a poor excuse for a daughter. I loved him. I tried my best to please him, but he didn’t see me as a daughter. I was nothing more than a chess piece for him to move around.” She held out a hand. “I’m no longer one of his pawns. Thank you.”
Reed was across the room in an instant, pressing her small hand to his lips. “You never need thank me for anything.” He frowned. “And if you want to see your sister and mother, I’ll find a way.”
“I’d like that. Not right away. Because I’m sure he’ll be watching them.” But she tilted her head. “You would have fought him? For me?”
“I would never let him have you. He’s a duke who, unfortunately, also happens to be a bully. I figured the best way to get him to back down was to call his bluff.”
“You knew he wouldn’t accept your challenge?”
“I suspected he wouldn’t.” Reed turned her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. “I wouldn’t have killed him if he had, because you said you didn’t want him dead. But he would have lost. And he would have regretted it.”
She shivered, and Reed climbed onto the bed and took her in his arms. And that’s how he held her until she squirmed and looked up at him.
“Reed?” she said. “Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.”
Reed laughed, relieved to hear that optimism in her voice. How she’d kept it so long with Crossings for a father, he couldn’t say, but he was more than grateful to have found her.
The two of them still had battles to fight, but they would face them as a team. And together, they’d find not only happiness, but joy.
“Mr. Beasley said there would be a tray in the butler’s pantry,” he murmured. But he made no move to leave the bed and when she tilted her head back with parted lips, it was an invitation he couldn’t ignore.
“Reed?” she said as her hands curled around his neck. “I thought we wouldn’t do this anymore today.”
Reed made a mental note to thank not only West, but Helton and Malum for their… suggestion that he marry.
And then he lurched, pinning her onto the pillow with a growl. “I never said that.”
And another full hour passed before the two of them, her in nothing more than her dressing gown, and Reed wearing only his breeches, located the tray of food and sat down for their first real meal as husband and wife.
It was the perfect beginning.
***
Epilogue
The following day brought a cold, gray drizzle. It also brought the Gazette’s printed retraction. On page two, under the simple headline stating Corrections in the bottom left corner, they wrote that Lord Standish’s bride was not Lady Gardenia, but was in fact her younger sister, Lady Marigold. They were sorry for any misunderstandings caused by their error.
And although Goldie appreciated having that issue publicly cleared up, she frowned as she read a separate article.
“Something the matter, love?” Reed sat sideways on the loveseat behind her, cradling her between his legs.
“Look here.” She pointed. “Nia is engaged to the Duke of Dewberry. That cannot be right, can it?”
“I doubt they’d get two articles wrong in as many days.”
“But he’s absolutely horrid!” Now that Goldie was happy, she wanted the same for her sister as well. And she couldn’t possibly be happy with Dewberry, could she?
“But she wouldn’t accept him if she didn’t want to, would she?” Reed’s question made sense and Goldie slowly nodded.
“True. Perhaps I misjudged him. I sincerely hope that I’ve misjudged him. I was only in his company a few times and I wasn’t properly introduced, but he failed to make a good impression either time.” She blinked as she read the article. The wedding was to take place three weeks into the Season and would be held at St. George’s Cathedral. Just down the street. “I want her to be happy.”
