“Then believe it,” he said. “Believe me because I do. I do, Evelina. Will you?Willyou?”
“Will I?” she repeated, her knees shaking.
“Marry me. Will you marry me, Evelina Comerford? Be mine every day and night until the world stops spinning. Please.”
It was the first time she saw a waver in his certainty. Not because he didn’t want this. Every part of him shone with the power of how deeply he loved her.Her!
No, his uncertainty came from the fact that he wasn’t sure of her answer. And why would he be? She had resisted thus far, finding all the problems that might circumvent the love they’d both declared. And yet now, as she stared up into the eyes of the man she loved, she realized he was right. What they felt would always triumph over those problems.
“Yes,” she whispered, and lifted up on her tiptoes to kiss him at last. “Yes, yes, yes.”
His arms came tight around her, hugging her like he never wanted to let her go. And she realized that now that she’d agreed, she would never have to let him go, either. The joy overcame, the love won and she had never been so happy in all her days.
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
They decided on a very long engagement. Vaughn was most definitely in a rush to call Evelina his countess, but he also wanted to make sure she had the wedding of her dreams. Watching her and her sisters giggle over trousseau and try to hide the plans for her gown was a delight unlike any he’d ever known.
And it wasn’t as if he didn’t still get to be with her. She technically still lived in Arabella’s old home, but in reality they went back and forth between his estate and her house, sleeping in each other’s beds and arms and planning out every detail of their future life together with even more focus than she planned the wedding.
It was impossible not to fall more and more in love with her every day and so he just let himself, reveling in every new detail he learned about her. Surrendering every secret he’d ever kept about himself.
He scribbled a few more notes in his ledger, trying to get his attention back to matters at hand so he might finish this bit of estate work before Evie returned from an afternoon of shopping with her sisters. He hadn’t done more than a few lines when there was a light knock at his door.
“Come in,” he called out as he put a few more numbers into the column.
When he lifted his head, he found Evelina there watching him. He drew in a sharp breath at how lovely she was. She’d had an entirely new wardrobe designed in the last few weeks. It had all been a great secret and he loved seeing her unveil each new gown. This one was a sunny yellow, finely detailed damask silk, and it suited her perfectly. What he loved most, though, was that she no longer wore gowns with the easy hooks so she could dress herself. When he’d pointed that out after he saw the first new gown, she’d said she no longer needed to escape.
God, how his chest had swelled with pride that he’d created safety for her. It was all he ever wanted.
“That is a beautiful new dress,” he said. “It’s good I was busy when you left because you wouldn’t have made it out the door looking like such a treat to unwrap.”
She laughed as she entered the study fully and closed and locked the door behind her. He had started to rise, but she waved him back and came around his desk to settle herself into his lap. She smoothed her fingers through his hair, then leaned in to kiss him.
“I’m yours to unwrap now,” she said. “But I see you’re busy.”
“Not very,” he said. “Just managing a few estate items. Moving some money around so that if you wish to do any redesign once you’re countess, everything will be in place. We’ll go out to the estate next month, I think. We can invite Arabella and Silas and Julia and Aunt Caroline, as well, so they can all see it. I cannot wait, Evie, you’ll love it.”
“I will. Because you do,” she said.
There was something about the way she looked at him that brought him up short in his musings on the happy future. “What is it? Did something happen?”
It wouldn’t have been the first time. They’d been public with their plans to wed and the reaction had been as mixed as they’d both expected. Some froze Evie out, froze him out. But they also retained all the friends who mattered. None of it had seemed to trouble her as long as it didn’t bother him, not until this moment.
She shook her head. “Nothing like that. But when we out at the shops, I was approached by a lady. God, I don’t even know her name. I’m going to have to work harder to learn them—that wasn’t how I used myDebrett’s, I admit. I think she was a marchioness, perhaps? Anyway, she very clearly wanted to be the first to let me know the news.”
“The news?”
“It is as we suspected. Once they had no other means of escape, Florence and Southwater were married over the anvil in Gretna Green last week.”
He smoothed a hand over her back and waited to feel something about that. “And what did you say to her?”
“That I wished them joy. Though I’ve heard they have little of it. In the end, they both know each other’s heart and neither is of a particularly true bent. I do wonder how you feel. After all, you were her husband for a good many years.”
He sighed. “I think I only pity them. They made some very ugly choices, but they must have wanted to love each other, hoped that there would be happiness for them. That neither of them is fully capable of that is truly sad.”
Her smile softened her expression. “You are too good, Vaughn. No wonder I love you so.”
