“This way to the carriage, Your Grace,” Mr. Garrity said.
Gabby’s husband always looked dangerous, but with his pistol drawn and dark gaze pitiless, he looked more menacing than usual. In this instance, Fancy was glad for it. He, along with his own group of men, led her through the fence to a cluster of carriages. He assisted Fancy into one of them, and she was surprised to see her waiting friend.
“Tessa!” She hugged the petite lady before sitting beside her. “What are you doing here?”
“Aiding in your rescue, of course,” Tessa said.
“Thank you,” she replied tremulously.
“I couldn’t let Harry have all the fun. Gabby and Maggie wanted to come too, but,”—Tessa wrinkled her nose—“their husbands aren’t as modern as mine.”
Garrity, still holding his firearm on the opposite bench, flicked a glance at the two women.
“Gabriella asked her old-fashioned husband to pass on a message, Your Grace,” he said dryly. “She plans to pay you a visit tomorrow. Early.”
“Do you think the men are all right?” Fancy fretted. “The princess’s guards—”
“Are no match for the dukes and duchess of the underworld,” Tessa said with reassuring conviction. “This is hardly our first battle. The men will be back before you know it—”
A blast cut her off, the carriage swaying.
Fear clutched Fancy’s heart. “What was that?”
“One of Harry’s toys,” Tessa said blithely. “He’s forever tinkering with explosives. I’m just glad he does it now at the laboratories of Great London National Railway rather than at our home.”
“We’re still rebuilding the last warehouse Kent destroyed,” Garrity muttered.
Tessa looked at Fancy. “Why are you in your undergarments?”
Realizing that Knight’s jacket was hanging open, Fancy hastily buttoned it up. “I had to escape out a window, and it was easier to do it without all the layers.”
Tessa gave a sage nod. “I had to make a similar escape once—”
The door opened, revealing Knight and the other men. Fancy flew toward her husband, and he caught her, lifting her out of the carriage and crushing her against his chest.
“What happened?” she managed.
“We have Adelaide in custody.” His arms still surrounding her, Knight looked into her eyes. “She will answer for her crimes, as will her accomplices Erlenmeyer and, I’m sorry to say, your maid Gemma. Then there is Anna Smith, whose real name is Rosamund Becker. She was—”
“My mama’s midwife. Yes, I know,” Fancy said. “Adelaide told me everything.”
Knight studied her. “You do know what that means, don’t you, love?”
Given the danger, Fancy hadn’t fully contemplated the implications, but now she did.
“My father—my other one, that is—is still alive,” she said in wonder. “I have more family.”
“That too.” Knight’s lips twitched. “What I meant was that you are a princess and the heir to the Hessenstein throne. You always wanted a faerie tale ending, and I cannot think of a better one than that.”
“I can.” Smiling up at her husband, Fancy said, “The one you gave me.”
Knight’s eyes smoldered with emotion. “Tinker’s daughter or king’s daughter, I love you, Fancy. Now and forever.”
He kissed her, and her heart sang with the sweetness of their happily ever after.
Epilogue
A few months later
“Knight,” his wife gasped. “That’s so deep.”
Severin dug his fingers into her silky-smooth bottom as he drove his hips harder.
“You can take it, love,” he grunted. “Keep playing with your pearl. I want to feel you come around my cock.”
Fancy moaned, her fingers rubbing her love-knot as he plowed her pretty pink furrow from behind. Her hips were draped over a pillow, her cheek pressed against the mattress, her lips parted. She was wanton and real, everything he wanted, and she was his.
Sometimes he couldn’t believe it. Sometimes he feared how much he loved her, how losing her would destroy his reason for living. Mostly, though, he just thanked the lucky stars that had given him his Fancy.
She closed her eyes, biting her lip, tell-tale signs that she was close. His duchess liked being tupped this way despite that one despicable time he’d used this position to avoid confronting his feelings. Now it was a regular pose in their bedchamber rotation, and he always made sure to end it the same way.
“Look at me, chérie,” he panted.
Her lashes lifted, and she gifted him with her beautiful brown eyes. In them, he saw his own devotion reflected, and that was enough to put him over the edge. Luckily, she flew over too, and they came together, their gazes connected, shuddering in the throes of love.
Afterward, he cuddled her in the firelight.
“We should get some rest,” he murmured. “We’re leaving early in the morning.”
Tomorrow they would be embarking on their journey to Hessenstein. Fancy had been corresponding with King Ernst, who desperately wanted to meet his daughter. His sister had confessed to her crimes and would spend the rest of her life in prison. King Ernst had struck her son from the line of succession, declaring his intention to officially recognize Fancy as the Crown Princess of Hessenstein.
“I don’t know if I can sleep,” Fancy admitted. “I’m too excited.”
Severin stroked her hair. “About meeting your father?”
“That too.” She tipped her head to look at him. “I asked the physician to come by this morning.”
His fingers stilled, tangling in her silky tresses. “And?”
“I’m increasing.” Her eyes shone with exuberance. “We are going to have a baby.”
“Fancy, my love.” He rolled her onto her back and ran an unsteady hand over her flat belly. “How are you feeling? Should you be going on a ship tomorrow? Christ, was I too rough—”
She took his face between her hands. “Knight, stop fretting. The physician said I am perfectly healthy and fine to travel. And marital activities will not hurt the babe.”
He looked into Fancy’s smiling face, and his chest clenched with joy. With the recognition of all she had given him. With the knowledge that, whatever the future held, their love would see them through.
He leaned down and kissed her with all that he felt.
After a while, his wife giggled. “I thought you were tired?”
“We can sleep on the ship,” he decided and took her lips once more.
The Principality of Hessenstein, a few years later
“Your Royal Majesty.” Bea’s lavender eyes sparkled as she curtsied. “May I congratulate you on your coronation?”
“Thank you for coming, Bea.” Abandoning protocol, Fancy hugged her best friend. “I am just glad I made it through the ceremony.”
They were in the castle’s grand receiving room, and Fancy had just come from the coronation ceremony, which had taken the entire day. The Royal Abbey had been sweltering. If her husband hadn’t had the foresight to have a flask of iced water on hand, she might have fainted in her fur-lined robes and jewel-studded crown. Somehow she had muddled through and managed to give a speech in Hessensteinish, her first as Queen Fancy I.
Her fears that she would not live up to her new responsibilities had been drowned out by the cheering crowds that lined the streets from the Abbey to the castle. It seemed Hessenstein’s citizens welcomed having a queen with commoner’s roots. The people also adored Knight, who had spearheaded technological advancements that brought new jobs and wealth to the principality. King Ernst had been so impressed by his son-in-law’s work that he had made Knight a prince.
With a bittersweet pang, Fancy thought Ernst must be smiling proudly down at her from Heaven. Although they had lost so many years, she and her father had made the most of the ones they’d had. Ernst had lived to meet his three grandchildren, and he had spoiled them shamelessly.
Now Fancy had a small respi
te in this intimate reception with friends and family. Afterward, she and Knight would honor a three-hundred-year-old tradition and step out onto the castle’s balcony to wave at their new subjects.
Fancy let out a squeal of unqueenlike delight when she saw Tessa, Gabby, and Maggie heading toward her and Bea. She hugged the women as she accepted their felicitations, touched but not surprised that they had made the long journey to her new home. That was what friends were for, after all. In the past few years, the five of them had celebrated countless milestones together, including the births of their children who were at present being corralled in the adjoining room by a team of palace nannies.
“Your gown is ravishing, Your Majesty,” Gabby said. “The embroidery is ever so exquisite.”
Made of white silk, Fancy’s coronation dress was embroidered with hundreds of alpine roses, which weren’t roses at all but a hardy species of rhododendron that grew in the mountains of Hessenstein. She ran her fingertips over one of the flowers, the center sewn with beads of pure gold, and thought of her mother Louisa, who she later discovered had stitched that first bloom on her christening gown.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “And thank you for coming all this way.”
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Tessa said with a wink. “Coronations are important.”
Tessa would know, for not long ago her grandfather had stepped down as King of the Underworld, and she had been chosen as its new ruler.
“Heavens, we have two queens amongst us,” Maggie said with a laugh. “I do not know if I belong with such a rarefied group.”
“You belong. We all do,” Fancy said happily.
Looking around the room, she saw the people she loved, the motley bunch who meant the world to her. Her older brothers and their wives were helping their children to the buffet, her younger brothers helping themselves. Da was chatting with Aunt Esther, pausing to catch Fancy’s youngest son, Louis, who had, as usual, escaped his nannies. Da swung Louis up on his shoulders, the little prince chortling with delight.
By the champagne fountain, Toby was impressing a Flemish princess with tricks he had taught his spaniel. Eleanor, who had bloomed into a pretty young lady, was ignoring a group of noblemen and trying to read the book she had hidden in her skirts. Cecily was not ignoring her beaux, of which she had many. Jonas stood with a group of prominent Hessenstein industrialists, expounding, no doubt, upon the technological innovations in which he had taken so much interest since Knight had put him in charge of the weaving business.
Speaking of Knight, where was he?
Fancy was scanning the room when her husband came toward her, a commanding, princely figure in formal court dress. He greeted the ladies, and even after the years of marriage, Fancy tingled when he put an arm around her waist and kissed her temple.
“I was just looking for you,” she told him.
A smile glinted in his eyes. “I was preparing a surprise, sweeting.”
“What surprise?”
“Come and you’ll see.”
Knight led her by the hand, her smiling friends following in tow. He took her to a covered easel placed next to the official royal portrait. Framed in gilt, the portrait on the wall showed their family in a perfect, majestic pose. While Fancy knew it was a beautiful work of art, she couldn’t help but think it was a tad unrealistic.
She was sitting serenely, not a hair out of place. A clean, calm Louis reposed upon her lap. She was flanked by her twins: Ernst Milton, the elder by ten minutes, was to her right, Madeleine Anne to her left. Ernst and Maddy looked like little saints, their grey eyes glowing with boundless goodwill. To Fancy’s mind, the only one who looked true to life was Knight, who stood proudly and protectively behind her and their progeny.
A bell was rung, the guests gathering around. The children came in too, and the twins raced toward Fancy, who bent to receive their sweet kisses…and hear the grievances they each had about the other. Maddy and Ernst were the best of friends and most determined of rivals. Not to be left out, Louis raced into the mix, nearly toppling Fancy in his enthusiasm.
A look from Knight and the children settled for the time being.
“Dearest friends and family,” Knight said in his deep voice. “Thank you for your presence at Her Majesty’s special day and in our lives. I have a small gift to honor the occasion, which I think you will appreciate. Without further ado, I present the unofficial royal portrait.”
He whipped the cover off the easel, revealing another painting.
Fancy burst out laughing, as did the rest of the room.
Done by the same artist, the glowing oils this time showed what had actually happened during the sitting. Fancy’s crown sat a bit askew, her lips pursed as she tried to keep a wriggling, cake-smudged Louis upon her lap. Maddy and Ernst were facing off in an argument, their small fists at their hips. Knight stood behind them all, protective and rolling his eyes.
“What do you think of the portrait, chérie?” he asked when her giggles had subsided.
“I think it is perfect,” she said, smiling.
“Did you see what I named it?”
He pointed to the inscription on the gilt frame, and her heart swelled with emotion.
Happily Ever After.
Yes, it was.
She lifted her lips, and her prince kissed her. The perfection of their love flowed through her. And she knew that all her dreams had come true.
Dear Reader,
* * *
I hope you enjoyed Fancy and Knight’s story! These two hold a special place in my heart, and I was delighted to conclude the Game of Dukes series with their epic fairy tale romance. If you have a chance, I would greatly appreciate it if you left a review. Thank you for your support!
* * *
The end of a series is always bittersweet for me, but if you’ve been following my books, you know it’s never a permanent goodbye for my characters. In fact, you will encounter some old friends in my upcoming series (drumroll, please): Lady Charlotte’s Society of Angels.
The first book, OLIVIA AND THE MASKED DUKE, stars Lady Olivia MacLeod (daughter of Alaric and Emma from THE DUKE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) and Ben Wodehouse, the Duke of Hadleigh (brother of Lady Beatrice from THE DUKE REDEMPTION). If you love ladies who investigate, tortured vigilante heroes seeking redemption, and lots of fun and steamy goodness, check out OLIVIA AND THE MASKED DUKE, now available for preorder!
Also by Grace Callaway
LADY CHARLOTTE’S SOCIETY OF ANGELS
* * *
OLIVIA AND THE MASKED DUKE (Book 1)
When Lady Olivia MacLeod volunteers for a genteel lady’s charity called the Society of Angels, she discovers to her delight that it is a front for a female investigative agency. Working on a dangerous case throws her into the arms of a masked vigilante…who may or may not be her secret girlhood crush, the notorious Duke of Hadleigh. Preorder for Feb 2021.
GAME OF DUKES
* * *
The Duke Identity (Book 1)
Shattered by betrayal, ex-scholar Harry Kent finds new purpose as a policeman. Sent to infiltrate a family in London's criminal underworld, he lands a job guarding the family’s clever and wicked daughter, Tessa Todd. Neither is prepared for their passionate attraction—or the rising peril that threatens their lives. Winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award and Finalist for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award.
Enter the Duke (Book 2)
A hunt for a legendary treasure reunites the Duke of Ranelagh and Somerville with Maggie Foley, a former barmaid and his ex-lover. Her shocking secret triggers a journey of redemption for the devil-may-care rake. Together they must fight for their future and that of their daughter…all while defending themselves against a dangerous foe. Finalist for the NECRWA Readers’ Choice Award, the Maggie Award for Excellence, and the Golden Quill.
Regarding the Duke (Book 3)
Shy, sweet wallflower Gabriella Garrity has everything she's ever wanted: a husband she loves, beautiful ch
ildren, and a home of her own. Then she discovers the secret that shatters all her illusions. Ruthless moneylender Adam Garrity has a life-long goal: revenge on the man who nearly destroyed him. He has his enemy within his grasp...until amnesia makes him see his life—and his wife—with new eyes. A hot and heart-melting journey to happily-ever-after!
The Duke Redemption (Book 4)
A gentleman in search of redemption finds a lady looking for a sin. Can one night of passion change their destinies forevermore? A steamy twist on Beauty and the Beast starring charming rogue Wickham Murray and the clever and spirited Lady Beatrice.
HEART OF ENQUIRY
This series features the adventures of the Kent family. Each of the unconventional siblings finds laughter, steamy passion, and true love while unraveling mysteries and secrets in late Regency England. Join them in their sizzling escapades…
The Widow Vanishes (Prequel novella)
Fate throws beautiful widow Annabel Foster into the arms of William McLeod, her enemy’s most ruthless soldier. When an unexpected and explosive night of passion ensues, she must decide: should she run for her life—or stay for her heart?
The Duke Who Knew Too Much (Book 1)
When Miss Emma Kent witnesses a depraved encounter involving the wicked Duke of Strathaven, her honor compels her to do the right thing. But steamy desire challenges her quest for justice, and she and Strathaven must work together to unravel a dangerous mystery... before it’s too late.
The Return of the Duke Page 32
