"Yes," she whispered against his lips.
"Yes?"
"Yes, I'll stay. Yes, every night. Yes to all of it." She pulled back, her expression fierce and tender all at once. "I'm done running, Sebastian. I'm done protecting myself from happiness. I want this. I want us. I want everything."
"That's fortunate." He stood, lifting her with him, and carried her to the bed. "Because I intend to give you everything. Starting tonight."
"That's very presumptuous."
"Is it?"
"I suppose I'll allow it."
"How generous."
They fell asleep tangled together, her head on his chest, his arms around her, the moonlight casting silver patterns across the bed. It was not dramatic. It was not the stuff of novels.
It was simply two people, choosing each other, building a life together one night at a time.
It was enough. It was more than enough.
It was everything.
***
The morning they left Fordshire Park, Lady Fordshire came to see them off personally.
She stood on the front steps, elegant despite the early hour, watching as the servants loaded the last of their trunks into the carriage. Sebastian could see the emotion she was trying to hide and the reluctance to let her daughter go, the pride in what Harriet had become.
"You'll visit soon," Lady Fordshire said. It was not a question.
"Of course, Mama." Harriet embraced her mother, holding on perhaps a moment longer than strictly necessary. "The mining negotiations will require our attention anyway. And I want to see the first extraction."
"Practical as always." Lady Fordshire pulled back, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Take care of each other. And Sebastian…" She fixed him with a look that managed to be both threatening and affectionate. "I expect regular letters. Harriet is a terrible correspondent, so the burden falls to you."
"I'll write weekly," Sebastian promised.
"See that you do." Lady Fordshire hesitated, then reached out and took his hand. "Thank you. For everything you've done. For everything you're doing. My daughter chose well."
"I'm the one who chose well, Lady Fordshire. I'm just grateful she eventually agreed."
Lady Fordshire laughed, a genuine sound that transformed her face. "You'll do, Lord Vane. You'll do very well indeed."
They departed shortly afterward, the carriage rolling down the long drive while Harriet waved at her mother's diminishing figure. She kept waving until they rounded the bend and Fordshire Park disappeared from view.
Then she settled back against the seat with a sigh.
"Well," she said. "That's that."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm wonderful." She smiled at him, but there was a wistfulness in her expression. "I'm just going to miss her. Which is ridiculous, because I'll see her again in a few weeks, and I spent most of my adult life desperate to escape her matchmaking schemes."
"It's not ridiculous. She's your mother. Missing her is normal."
"I suppose." Harriet took his hand, threading her fingers through his. "But I'm glad we're going home."
"Home," Sebastian repeated. "That sounds right, doesn't it?"
