She also hadn’t considered young Philip, though Phin obviously had.
Phin was also right when he said that they had not confessed their feelings for each other before then. Words said in the heat of passion often were untrue or did not come out as they were meant to. In the middle of a crowded ballroom, declarations of love might, indeed, be a bit suspect. In that, Josie was just as guilty as Phin.
She had known she was in love with him before that night and yet, she hadn’t said anything. To blurt it out as she had? Well, she could see how he would have cause to doubt her sincerity.
However, she did not doubt his sincerity now. She could see the raw honesty in his eyes mixed with something that looked suspiciously like love. She was no expert on such things, but Phin was looking at her much as Ben often gazed at Julia.
“Only if you are certain.” Josie squeezed Phin’s hand to give more weight to her words. Because while words could hurt, sometimes they were also not quite enough either. “If you love me, Phin, as much as I love you? I would be honored to become your wife. But only if you are sure. I cannot go through that again.”
Phin pulled Josie into his embrace, and she went willingly. “I am certain, my love.” He kissed the tip of her nose before capturing her lips with his. “More certain than I have ever been. I love you. With all that I am and all that I will be. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you so before, and I shall spend a lifetime making it up to you.”
“I don’t need you to make it up to me,” she sighed as a light rain began to fall. “I just need you to love me for the rest of my life. As much as I love you.”
Slowly, Phin walked Josie backward up the steps of the gazebo and out of the rain. “I do, Josie. I do love you. And I will show you that love over and over again. Even if it creates another scandal.” He sank onto one of the benches, pulling her with him so that she was sprawled across his lap as she had been in the hedgerow maze back at Havenhurst. “So, will you marry me?” Then he thrust his hips upward, indicating just how much in love he was at that moment.
Straddled across Phin’s lap, all Josie could do was laugh. This was absurd. This was simply asking for yet more gossip. And yet, nothing else had ever felt so right.
“Yes, I will marry you, Phin.” Josie took his face in her hands and settled herself more fully over his raging erection. “Scandal and gossip and everything else be damned. As long as we love each other? That is all that matters.”
And then, for the rest of the afternoon, in the shadowy confines of the gazebo as the rain fell softly around them, Phin and Josie proved to each other over and over again, just how deeply in love they were.
Chapter Twenty-One
Several weeks later
Town Tattler
(Mid-day Edition)
I am very pleased to announce that, after a brief stop at Havenhurst to meet the duke’s young son and heir, Lord Philip, Lady Josephine Marshwood and Lord Phineas Trew, Duke of Fullbridge, eloped to Gretna Green in the fine tradition of her family.
I am told that the marriage was blessed in advance by the groom’s sister, Lady Priscilla, and the bride’s cousin, Lady Penelope.
While this may come as a shock to some, it does not to me, dear readers. Yes, there was scandal in their pasts, and yes, there will be gossip in their future.
However, when two people love each other as they do? Then, in the end, nothing else matters. Especially not a lot of silly words. And even sillier people.
-Lady A
Epilogue
Early August 1821
Seldon Park
Sussex
As the sun rose over Seldon Park, Josie stretched and sighed, still not quite willing to greet the new day. She and Phin had been awake most of the evening, not that she was complaining. Over the last several months, she had discovered that her husband was quite inventive in the ways of bed sport. She also privately wondered if his late wife, Faith, had known exactly what she was missing out on when she had banned Phin from her bed. The way that man could make her feel was deliciously exquisite!
“It is too early to rise, my sweet.” Phin’s arm snaked around her waist and cupped her gently swelling abdomen where their child grew. “You exhausted me last evening, so I know you must be tired as well.”
“Not so very tired.” Josie rolled over and stroked a lock of hair out of Phin’s eyes. “Maybe a little, but lately, I find that I am simply filled with energy.”
That was strange, she knew, as most pregnant women tended to find themselves more easily exhausted than normal, but Josie felt as if she was ready to dance all night at a ball most days. However, according to Julia, every woman was different and that Josie should not worry over-much about things.
Josie was thankful every day that she and Julia had remained friends, even after that disastrous house party. The duchess could have so very easily given her the cut direct, especially with all of the gossip that had swirled around Phin and Josie in the days after their reconciliation in the park. To her credit, Julia had not only remained Josie’s friend, but she had introduced the young woman to other members of her social circle.
Some had husbands who were members of the so-called “Bloody Duke’s Inner Circle,” and some were not. Some had husbands who were associated with Noroc, the gaming hell that a few of the gentlemen owned together. However, all of the women that Josie met had one thing in common – they were all loved and adored by their husbands with unwavering devotion.
After a lifetime of living in near seclusion in Cumbria, such a feeling was unusual for Josie, but it was also a welcome one.
She no longer felt alone in the world and when the gossip regarding her relationship with Phin began – because it had begun in earnest only a few hours after their meeting in the park – it had been those women who had stood beside her and helped her hold her head high on the occasions where she would have simply preferred to hide.
Because despite Josie’s vow that she was stronger than the gossip and the rumors? She wasn’t always. She attempted to be, but on some days, such as the one where Lady Margaretta was overheard telling a woman at Fine’s Millinery that the child she was carrying was actually Phin’s and not Lord Harlow’s? It became a bit more difficult. Actually, more than a bit.
Those women could have abandoned her then. After all, she had only known them for a few short weeks. However, they had not and instead had rallied and begun their own campaign of counter-information that was designed with military precision – and likely far more effective.
In the matter of only a few days, the rumors regarding the father of Lady Margaretta’s unborn babe had been laid to rest, but through it all, Josie had learned that she really was stronger than she had ever imagined. As had Phin.
“Too much energy, if you ask me,” Phin teased as he rolled over onto his back, bringing his wife with him so that she could easily straddle his hips.
His child was growing within her, and despite her voracious appetite for all things sexual these days, he would not risk the babe for anything.
He was, of course, worried. It was only natural after what had happened to Faith. However, Josie had been under Dr. Hastings’ care from the very first, and the physician had assured them both that everything was progressing normally. He had every confidence that both Josie and the child she carried would make it through the delivery in the spring in perfect health.
Phin prayed to God that it was so. He had no desire to lose Josie. Now that he had found happiness, he did not want anything to snatch it away from him.
His marriage to Josie was as different from his one to Faith as day was to night. Where Faith had been cold, Josie was warm. Where Faith had pushed him away, Josie was welcoming. Both women might have had overbearing, scheming fathers, but while Faith had allowed herself to become corrupted by her father’s madness, Josie had remained untouched.
What was more, Josie seemed to have boundless love, especially when it came to Philip. She loved the little boy as her own, and, in turn, Phili
p loved her.
Phin had been terrified at their first meeting. He could admit that now. He had convinced himself that his son would hate this young woman for taking the role of his late mother. However, as Philip had no memory of Faith, he had simply looked upon Josie as a kind, loving woman looking to fill a role that had long been empty in the young boy’s life.
There had, of course, been a fair amount of gossip, mostly from Faith’s extended family, for they were furious that not only had Josie taken the title of duchess, as was her right, but that Philip had taken to calling Josie “mama” within only a few weeks. Like Faith’s father, those extended family members had likely seen Faith’s marriage to Phin as a way into his bank accounts.
As long as he didn’t remarry? There was hope that one of them might somehow finagle their way back in, for there was a rumor that Lady Margaretta had, in fact, been distantly related to Faith on her father’s side. Once Phin took Josie as his new bride, though, that path to his pocketbooks had ended, causing them great fury.
That incident was just one of many scandals that had followed Phin and Josie over the last few months. After all, theirs had been an irregular beginning and an even more irregular courtship – if that was one wished to call that otherwise-disastrous house party.
Yet, Phin found that it was easy to ignore the gossip and those who would attempt to drag him down into scandal. Actually, he had no idea why he had been so afraid that night of Cilla’s birthday ball. As time passed, he simply assigned to a moment of insanity brought on by enormous pressure.
To this very day, he was thankful that Josie had forgiven him for his idiocy and taken him back. He was also thankful that she had loved him enough to see past his foolishness and marry him. Even if it had been necessary to run off to Gretna to do so.
“You know that you adore my ‘boundless energy,’ as you so nicely termed it the other night.” Josie shifted on Phin’s lap, and he could feel her wetness begin to coat his cock.
He laughed. “I do, rather.”
Slowly, Josie sank down to press a long, lingering kiss to his lips. “I love you, Phineas Trew. So very, very deeply.”
“And I love you, Josephine Trew,” he replied as he stroked his hands down her arms. “More than I ever imagined I could love anyone.”
She cocked her head to the side. “I think I hear people moving about in the hall. I suppose we should rise and dress. There are to be lawn games this morning, along with a group set to explore the Bloody Duke’s labyrinth. You know how much I adore a good hedgerow maze.”
“Or we could remain abed for a bit.” Phin flexed his hips and thrust up so that his now-swollen cock could brush against Josie’s tender feminine folds.
“That would be scandalous,” she replied with a laugh. “It will cause gossip.”
“That is what happens when you fall in love with the wrong lord.” Phin’s smile was downright wolfish now. “Scandal. Gossip. All sorts of unseemly things. Are you certain you can handle it?”
Josie winked at him. “Fairly certain. Actually, no. Very certain.”
At which point, Josie spent the rest of the morning proving to Phin how very certain she was. And created a bit of gossip in the process.
Coming Soon
Lady Tabitha Maxwell has been overlooked nearly all of her life. Though terrified of men from a young age, Tabby has since grown beyond the fear that made her seem all but invisible to London Society. Not that anyone has noticed. Still, that has allowed her to cultivate a very successful – and extremely secret – career as the notorious gossip columnist, Lady A.
Lord Joshua Bradford, the second son of the Marquess of Nye, never wanted his father’s title. All he ever wanted was to be left alone to run his family’s estates in peace while his brother, Giles, galivanted across England, leaving broken hearts in his wake. Now the heir, Josh is in something of a conundrum. He needs a wife, and he needs one quickly, since it is quite possible Giles already sired an heir with an unsuitable woman. The task of finding a bride would be made a good deal easier if he could only convince Lady A to cease writing about him in her infernal column.
One night, Josh discovers Tabby’s secret and threatens to expose her. If he reveals the truth about Lady A, he can stop the rumors and finally find a wife. However, doing so will cost Tabby everything and leave her an outcast, something he is not certain he can have on his conscience. Does Josh remain silent about what he knows, or can he make a deal with the notoriously skittish Tabby so that they can both have what they most desire?
Find out in A Lady’s Scandalous Secret, coming Late Spring 2020!
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Then be certain to visit Bethany's web page at: www.bethanysefchick.com
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Other Titles by the author
Tales From Seldon Park
To Catch A Duke (Book 1)
Far Beyond Scandalous (Book 2)
At The Stroke of Midnight (Book 3)
A Viscount of Mystery (Book 4)
A Marquess Is Forever (Book 5)
The Secret Seduction of Lady Eliza (Book 6)
From The Viscount With Love (Book 7)
The Kiss of a Rogue (Book 8)
The Earl of Heartbreak (Book 9)
A Gentleman By Moonlight (Book 10)
A Scandal In The Making (Book 11)
An Earl For Hire (Book 12)
My American Marquess (Book 13)
One Forbidden Night (Book 14)
The Pleasure of His Kiss (Book 15)
A Lady To Desire (Book 16)
One Night In A Lord’s Bed (Book 17)
Christmas With A Scoundrel (Book 18)
A Lady For The Taking (Book 19)
His Temporary Mistress (Book 20)
Taming A Wild Lady (Book 21)
Loving the Wrong Lord (Book 22)
A Lady’s Scandalous Secret (Book 23 – Coming Late Spring 2020)
The Seldon Park Christmas Novellas
One Christmas With The Earl (Novella 1)
On A Cold Christmas Eve (Novella 2)
The Earl Who Loved Me (Novella 3)
Christmas At Hollywell (Novella 4)
A Season For Romance (Novella 5)
A Count For Christmas (Novella 6)
One Waltz With the Earl (Novella 7)
A Lord’s Christmas Wish (Novella 8 – coming December 2020)
Ghosts Inc.
Novels
Ghosts Of Lovers Past (Ghosts, Inc.: Book 1)
Heart of Shadows (Ghosts, Inc.: Book 2)
Spellbound (Ghosts, Inc.: Book 3)
Edge of Heaven (Ghosts, Inc.: Book 4)
Time's Mirror (Ghosts, Inc.: Book 5)
Ghosts, Inc. Ghostly Shorts
Ghostly Shorts Anthology, Vol. 1
Ghostly Shorts Anthology, Vol. 2
And We Danced (A Thieves Market exclusive short story)
Modern Magic
Dream Date
Bewitched, Bottled, and Bewildered
The Boyfriend Spell (Coming Fall 2020)
Cutlass and Lace
The Pirate’s Heart
The Pirate’s Seduction
Seducing the Pirate Queen (Coming Spring 2020)
The “Aphrodite’s Closet” series
Aphrodite's Closet: The Anthology, Vol. 1
(Nobody's Cinderella, Fairy Tale Theater, A Little Bit Of Magic)
Aphrodite's Closet: The Anthology, Vol. 2
(Stardust and Moonbeams, Belle of the Ball, The Enchanted Season)
Finding Prince Charming: An Aphrodite's Closet novel (Coming soon)
Also Available
Santa Search And Rescue
Christmas in
Philipsburg
The Magic of Christmas
A Midsummer Night's Delusion
Much Ado About Something - A Short Story
Fairy Tale Lives (coming soon)
The Clockwork Doll: A Steampunk Novella
Crossed Hearts (A Modern Frame Tale of Romance)
Under A Golden Moon (coming soon)
About the author
Making her home in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, Bethany Sefchick – a self proclaimed nerd - lives with her husband, Ed, and a plethora of Betta fish that she’s constantly finding new ways to entertain. In addition to writing, Bethany owns a jewelry company, Easily Distracted Designs.
When not penning romance novels or creating sparkly treasures, she enjoys cooking, scrapbooking, reading, Steampunk cosplay, dabbling in plumbing, and lavishing attention on any stray cats who happen to be hanging around. She always enjoys hearing from her fans at: [email protected]
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