He grinned then, that expression smacking of pure masculine satisfaction. “Oh, my darling bride, this is only the beginning… The possibilities are practically infinite. And I’ve spent the past six years dreaming of them over and over again… we shall be the most well satisfied pariahs to ever be ignored by society.”
Epilogue
Three months later
They had returned to town well before the Season began. Together, they settled into a state of harmony within the confines of Harcourt House. Blissful nights of passion, often punctuated by languid lovemaking in the mornings and even hurried trysts in the afternoon. And Julien had kept his word on one score. It seemed the possibilities indeed were infinite.
But their idyllic interlude came to an end when the first invitation arrived. Lady Ensley’s ball. It would be the first major event they’d attend as husband and wife, the first time they’d appear in public after the strange circumstances of Verity’s passing came to light and William’s ultimate decline. He had not passed, though it appeared as if his death were imminent and had been for some time.
Poison. Pushed down the stairs after a terrible row.The gossip had spread more quickly than a disease itself would. The truth of it all would likely never be known. But what was quite certain was that she had been lucky not to have married WilliamSutton, with or without the devotion of Julien. But his devotion was her reward for having endured so much. Just as she was his.
Lady Lyndehurst had judiciously elected to sit out the Season, remaining in the countryside. Presumably it was out of mourning for her godchild. It, in fact, had far more to do with the unfortunate scandal that now seemed poised to ruin Lord Marklynne’s prospects in the marriage mart. And if he didn’t find a bride soon, then they would likely lose everything.
“What is it that you have there?” Julien asked as he entered the morning room, pausing only long enough to kiss the delicate skin of her neck just below her ear. It was a gesture that never failed to make her shiver in response. A fact he no doubt enjoyed.
“It is the invitation to Lady Ensley’s ball. We have been summoned it would seem,” she remarked trying for composure and failing miserably. “It will be horrendous, but if we are to reenter society, it would certainly be the smarter decision to do so from the safety of a dear friend’s event rather than a gossip monger who would feed us to the wolves for sport.”
“True enough,” he agreed. “I was anticipating this day would come… this dreaded day when I would have to resume sharing you with the world rather than keeping you all to myself.”
“It’s a ball, Julien. And I’m certain,” she said, turning in her chair to face him fully. Her knees brushed against his even as he stood there, bending at the waist so they were practically nose to nose and lip to lip. It was an opportunity not to be wasted. So Carolinelifted her face ever so slightly, enough that her lips brushed over his—once, twice… and on the third pass he captured them fully. Taking the kiss to a deeply carnal place within mere seconds.
Just as abruptly, he rose and walked away from her. But not very far. Just to the door, where he turned the key in the lock and then strode back to her. He placed one hand on the writing tableas if to test its sturdiness. “It might break, but if it does I shall simply buy you a new one.”
“What are you talking about?”
He drew her up from her seat, and spun her around, her back to his chest. Then he was gathering her skirts in his hands, lifting them up to bare her bottom. “Lean forward, elbows on the table… and I will show you.”
Caroline did as he asked, and he did show her. And the table, against all odds, survived the onslaught, but only just. And when they had finished, when they were both panting and breathless, their bodies replete and well sated, they moved to the settee. He lay down first, pulling her down atop him, her head pressed to his shoulder and his heart still pounding furiously beneath her ear.
“I suppose it is good that we can make our return to society now… If we do it much later there will be whispers of an entirely different nature. It isn’t the done thing at all, I’m told,” she said, “To attend such public events when one is increasing.”
Julien stilled then. Even his heart beat seemed to skip. “You’re certain?”
“Quite so… and you my wonderful husband, shall become a father and an uncle only weeks apart, for Eleanor is now in the family way also. I had a letter from her just this morning.”
His smile was brilliant, blinding with a kind of happiness and satisfaction that came only when a man had everything he had ever desired within the circle of his arms. “May these babes be the first of many for us and for them. We have all been alone for far too long.”
She rather liked the sound of that. Having several children toddling about, blessed with Julien’s dark hair and keen mind.
“I love you… and once again,” she said, “Thank you for waiting for me.”
“No one els would ever do,” he stated simply. “Thank you for giving me everything I have ever dreamed of and so much more, Mrs. Harcourt—owner of my heart and mother of my children.”
“You may keep adding superlatives if you wish. The most even tempered. The most beautiful. The most intelligent—I’ll know them for the lies they are but they are still enjoyable to hear.”
“I am not that good a liar. You are the most beautiful and the most intelligent, but now that we are wed, I have seen your temper… I’m not entirely certain you should not have been born with red hair.”
Caroline laughed at that. “But I was. It lightened as I got older, but when I was born it was orange as a carrot apparently.”
“Then may we have a half dozen ginger haired hellions to herd… But if they are little girls with their mother’s eyes, I fear I shall never be able to discipline them. They will be as perfect in my opinion as she is.”
And so they embarked on the season, with limited social engagements—all of them strategically chosen and all of them hosted by those who could be considered friends. And when it was time to retire to the countryside, Julien surprised her with having purchased a small manor house in the country, less than a mile from Lakewood House where the first of their shared dreams had come true.
