“How are youfeeling?”
Philippa touched her hand to her still-bandaged forehead. “It’s nothing. It was a minor injury and did not require that degree of fuss.”
Devon shook his head. “You were knocked unconscious by a supposedly dead woman, dragged through tunnels and up flights of stairs by her and her vicious aunt, only to be locked in a trunk. Not to mention that you quite literally had to run for your life afterwards. I think the amount of fuss has been minimal under the circumstances.”
Philippa sighed. “I suppose when you put it like that, it does sound a bit dramatic.”
“Just a bit... but I didn’t come to visit you in your sickbed to talk about Miss Regina Hawley or Mrs. Baynard. I came because I have something for you.”
Philippa wanted to protest. It had been three days since theincident, and every single day he’d come to visit her with some gift or trinket. “You do too much.”
“I could never do enough,” he countered, as he produced a small box from the pocket of his coat. “But I will have a lifetime to try.”
Philippa gasped when he opened the box. Inside was a delicately wrought ring fashioned in gold and set with a single diamond encircled by sapphires. “Devon, it’s lovely. But I... amafraid to wear something so fine. What if I lose it? What if a stone comes loose?”
“Stones can be replaced. So can rings. You, Philippa Thomas, cannot.” With that, he plucked the ring from its bed of silk and then placed it on her finger. “Do you feel up to getting married in the morning? You are still recuperating, after all.”
Philippa sighed. “I think I could run to the church if need be. Right now.”
He leaned in toward her and captured her lips in a soft and gentle kiss. It was full of tenderness coupled with a hint of heat. But it also held promise. It held the hope of a future she’d never dreamed possible for herself.
*
The carriage haltedbefore the doors, and one of the footmen opened it immediately. Elizabeth clambered out with the servant’s assistance. Devon followed her out and then offered his hand to help Philippa down. The servants were all lined up to greet them. No, he thought, to greet her. Their new mistress.
“This is terribly uncomfortable,” she said. “This morning, I numbered amongst their ranks.”
“Well, you may continue your duties. We do not yet have a replacement governess. Perhaps that will aid in your transition from governess to mistress of Peregrine Hall,” he offered.
She laughed. “You tease, but I am quite serious. This isn’t merely a step up on the social ladder. I’ve ascended to an entirely different plane! Not that I ever aspired to such. Indeed, the prospect of this... of running this house for you—”
“For us,” he corrected gently. “For us, Philippa... Mrs. Falconer.”
She was quiet for just a second. “Yes. For us.”
“This house will be our home. It will be run the way that you are most comfortable with. It is yours to do with as you please.”
A smile curved her lips. “I like that. Having my own home. My own husband. For a woman who came here with nothing, I have certainly done very well for myself.”
As he ushered her inside, Devon wondered if she would ever understand that he was the one who was lucky.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Returning to Londonhad not been something that Philippa had ever wanted to do. But Devon had insisted. And now, as she waited in the house he had let for them, he was dealing with her little problem. He had decided that it had hung over her head long enough. And all she had was idle time to worry about it. The new governess, a very recent graduate of the Darrow School, was getting on famously with Elizabeth. The staff that had come with the house were efficient, well trained, and needed no direction from her at all. She had nothing to distract herself from the worry of what might be happening.
She was so consumed with that worry, pacing back and forth across the carpet in their bedchamber, that she didn’t even hear the door open. When she turned and saw Devon standing there, she let out a squeak of alarm. “I didn’t hear you! You move like a cat.”
“You were rather lost in thought,” he remarked. “And quite pensive.”
“What happened?”
“Lady Felton has decided that her son’s behavior was quite inappropriate and that any injury he sustained had been brought on entirely by his own behavior and through no fault of yours.”
Philippa shook her head. “What did you have to promise her in trade for that change of heart?”
“Only to keep her secret... that they’ve been losing young female servants by the score and cannot keep their house fully staffed. Mostly because her son is a wet behind the ears Lothario who does not understand the meaning of the wordno. You no longer have to fear them or any sort of reprisal.”
