“I wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world.”
She blinked up at him, fluttering her lashes dramatically. “Now kiss me, Your Grace.” She leaned her face closer. “And please, take your time about it.”
His blue eyes lit as he raised an amused brow, grinning down at her. “How could I say no to that?”
They stood in his room, kissing for what could have been minutes or hours. She hardly knew. All she was sure of was that she had not felt this happy or free in years.
So she let him kiss her.
The End
Epilogue
7 years later .. .
Louisa stared down at two small, mud covered hands as they clung to a slimy green frog. “William Robert, you will apologize to your sister this instant.”
“But I didn’t do anything!” William's deep blue eyes peered up at her, his brown hair a scraggly mess as if he were a feral creature instead of the son of a duke. “Liza is lying to get me in trouble.” William stared down at his wiggly frog with a slight pout to his lip as the frog did everything within its power to free itself.
Robert sighed beside her, and Louisa glanced over to see the defeated slump to his shoulders as he propped his hands on his hips. “William,” he said, his tone that of a father about to deliver consequences. “Liza has the mud in her hair to prove it.”
“Benjamin told me to do it,” William shot back, pulling his frog closer to his body as if to protect it.
Louisa shook her head. “And if Benjamin told you to jump off a cliff, would you?”
William looked up at the sky, and for a moment, Louisa assumed he had completely lost his line of thought.
Finally, he gave his small shoulders a shrug. “Probably.”
Well, so much for that argument.
“William, you need to go inside and apologize to Liza. She was very proud of the braids in her hair today and is upset that they must now be removed to get it washed.” Louisa was feeling quite proud of the authority in her tone, until she noticed Robert’s shoulders shaking. “Robert,” she hissed. “Are you laughing?”
He kept his head down, shaking his head.
“Go,” Louisa ordered their second-born, pointing toward the house, “and apologize. Your father and I shall be in shortly to go over your punishment.” She rolled her eyes as Robert’s laughter became more and more obvious.
William looked over at Robert. “Why are Daddy’s shoulders shaking?”
Louisa stepped forward, taking William’s shoulders and turning him toward the house. “Because he feels very badly for your sister. So much so that he is in tears.”
“No!” William said with a gasp, trying to glance over his shoulder to catch another glimpse.
“Yes.” Louisa gently pressed him onward, forcing him toward the house. “Now go inside and we will be there in five minutes.”
William’s steps were decidedly slower than Louisa would like, but at least he was moving. “You always say five minutes, but last time I watched the clock and it was atleastten.”
“I am glad your tutor has done such a good job of teaching you how to tell time.” She pressed him ahead once more. “Now go.”
“Fine,” William agreed with all the exasperation a boy of four could possibly muster. He drug his feet in the grass, as if he had all the time in the world.
“And keep the frogoutside,” Louisa called after him.
The frog had finally seemed to give up a bit of its fight, its long legs hanging in defeat. But Louisa did not stand and watch to make sure William followed the instruction to leave it outside. Instead, she spun about, marching back to Robert.
“Excuse me,” she said. “But what was that about? Are you not supposed to be the authoritative duke who keeps his children in order?”
Robert finally brought his head up, a large smile creasing his cheeks. “Did you see his face? And the frog? How could I not laugh?”
