Page 98 of The Gambler Wagers Her Baron

“Joy”—she took the girl’s hand and turned to her brother—“Abram. How would you feel if I was to wed your father?”

Their opinion carried an equal weight to Damon’s. Their future would never be solely based on her and Damon, but the four of them. Wasn’t that what family was about?

“Will you still study ancient history with me?” Abram asked.

“Of course.”

“Will you continue to put us to bed?” Joy’s rounded, green eyes stared up at her.

“I would want no one else charged with the task.” Payton kept her tone gravely serious. Her own decision, while made up in her mind, could be easily swayed if either Joy or Abram objected to the marriage.

“You wouldn’t have a day off any longer?” Abram’s question came out in a rush.

Payton couldn’t help but chuckle at Abram’s question. “No, I would not.”

She risked a glance at Damon, whose eyes were locked on her. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she silently pleaded for the children to have no objection to her wedding their father.

“Would you buy me a pony?” Joy’s voice was as serious as Payton’s.

“That is a decision for your father, not me,” Payton answered.

The little girl shook her head. “If you wed Father”—she paused, tapping at her chin—“then you would be my mother. And mothers can decide to purchase ponies for their daughters, correct?”

“Very true,” Garrett chortled. “Mothers can do anything fathers can do—most times, better.”

“And while Father is busy,” Abram cut in, “a mother can take her children to Spires Reading Room without permission.”

Payton could only nod. Never in all her years had she ever envisioned herself a mother. However, being Joy and Abram’s mother would be a gift far beyond anything she’d ever imagined.

“If Father takes us to the museum again, you will always come?” Joy squeezed her hand.

“If Payton agrees to be a permanent part of this family,” Damon said, “she will always be close.

“Also, you will have three aunts—and an uncle.” Garrett fiddled with his cravat, puffing his chest. “If either your father or my sister refuses you anything, we shall step in and make everything right.”

Joy leaned forward and exchanged a silent look with her brother before turning back to Garrett. “We have an aunt already, and she makes nothing better.”

“Well, I can assure you both that anything that will irritate my youngest sister will bring me and my other sisters great joy.”

“Garrett,” Payton chastised. “Do stop. Next, they will be asking for trips to the New World and ancient artifacts.”

“Samantha is wed to an explorer, and Jude to an antiquities collector,” he mused. “Neither would prove impossible. Actually, I’d very much enjoy being an uncle. Do I appear an uncle to either of you?”

Garrett made a spectacle of turning his head from side to side, showing off his angular profile.

“With a haircut, I do believe so,” Joy replied with a giggle.

“Whatever is wrong with my hair?”

“It hangs over your collar,” the girl snorted as if his need for a haircut was evident to everyone.

“If you do not mind,” Damon said, “I have yet to hear Payton’s answer.”

“Damon.” She glanced between everyone in the room, her eyes not lingering on anyone until they met Damon’s. “I could think of no better fate than being your wife—and the children’s mother.”

Payton couldn’t take her eyes off Damon as her answer sank in, and his last lingering doubts disappeared. The many burdens he’d born for so long dissipated, and his eyes lit with happiness. The shadows that always lingered around him dissolved, leaving behind not a broken man but a lord capable of loving once more despite the heartbreak of his past.

“Father,” Joy said, clapping her hands in excitement. “I think you should kiss Miss Samuels now.”