His to Keep (Regency Scoundrels Book 2)

by Mathews, Marly

  “How is she?” Louis-Daniel stood framed in the doorway with Charles on one side of him, and his mother on the other side.

  “Unfortunately, I shall live.” She smiled up at him.

  “Glad to hear of it.” He grinned back at her, wincing. “My arm still hurts.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have gotten out of bed,” Ann said, giving him a once over. His smile grew broader, and she couldn’t believe it, but his dark eyes actually twinkled.

  “Where’s Isla?” she asked, her heart dancing at the look that Louis-Daniel gave Ann. She didn’t really want Louis-Daniel anywhere near Ann. He looked like a hungry wolf in the dead of winter.

  “She’s resting. Didn’t you see her slip out of the room?” Archie asked. “She just wanted to see you wake up, and then, she said she was finished. I don’t know who did more, Isla or the Doc.”

  “Well, I can understand why.”

  “Indeed, Isla is a very wonder. We couldn’t make do without her help.” Margaret nodded her head.

  “Come on, everyone, let’s leave Archie and Gemma alone. Upon my soul, I do believe they’ve earned their few minutes of privacy,” Margaret said, nodding her head curtly at everyone in the room. She pivoted on her heel, and walked out into the hall.

  Mallory hesitated. “You are coming with me,” Ann muttered, tugging on Mallory’s arm. “I’ll need you to keep me from killing Louis-Daniel.”

  “Do I have to?” he asked, as she dragged him from the room.

  “Charles looked unusually happy,” Gemma mused. Archie climbed onto the bed to sit beside her.

  “That’s because my mother has asked Mallory if Charles can stay with us for another month or so, and Mallory has agreed. Your mother and sisters are on their way here as we speak. I think my mother is going to enjoy having the castle filled with family again.”

  “And what about you?” she asked. “I see you resisted the urge to knock Mallory senseless.”

  “Mallory and I found common ground. Try as he might to show that he doesn’t care one iota for you, he does love you, and he doesn’t want to see you hurt. We both sort of buried old grudges when we had to save you and Louis-Daniel. Mallory was instrumental. Without him, I don’t know if we would have gotten past all of Duxford’s men.”

  “Yes, you would have. You alone, would have breached through all of his awful blackguards. You were after me. And I know one thing, Archie Campbell,” she murmured.

  “And what do you know?”

  “That as my keeper, you shall always find me and keep me from harm.”

  “You got shot in part because of me,” he pointed out, pulling her to him.

  “But I am alive.”

  “And as for being your keeper—I am only the keeper of your heart, I learned almost as soon as we met, that keeping you from doing anything you didn’t want to do was going to be the most difficult battle I have ever faced,” he stated ruefully.

  She chuckled. “Well, then, keeper of my heart, why don’t you kiss your wife?”

  “I would be glad to,” he murmured, tenderly pressing his lips against hers.

  Gemma put her arms around his neck.

  Archie owned her heart…and she owned his. She had found her knight.

  She was right where she’d always wanted to be.

  Epilogue

  Louis-Daniel sat and re-read the missive before him. It looked as if he was about to be reunited with his uncle. He scrubbed his hand over his face, as he read the last line.

  I cannot wait to see you, Louis-Daniel. We have much to discuss, and I have chosen a special young lady to be your bride. I think you shall fall in love with her as she shall make you a fine countess.

  Damnation. Dryness prickled in his throat, and he chased it away with a large swig of rum. Why did everyone think they had to pick out his wife for him? There was only one thing for him to do…he would have to find himself a suitable wife before he went to see his uncle—or he would have to face his uncle like a man and pray he hadn’t picked out a sour-faced hag for him. Either way, the matrimonial noose was headed for his neck.

  He pulled at his cravat—and he prayed.

  The End