Her mother wrung her hands together and looked from her husband and sons to Damian. She shook her head once, in an almost pleading manner, a woman afraid this union would tear her family asunder.
“No.”
“Yes,” Theodosia spoke over Aidan. “Yes, I will marry you.” Even if it means she was cast out of her family, even if she earned their displeasure and scorn. “I love you,” she said softly.
Her father let out a curse. “I don’t like you, Devlin.” The earl had made no secret of the truth all these years—he hated Damian, even as he didn’t know him. All because he’d been trained to detest the Renshaws for having attained that weapon that once belonged to them. Yet there was an easing of the tension in his bulky frame.
“Surely you are not considering allowing her to wed him?” Aidan cried out.
“Leave us,” their father ordered. Mother and sons lingered a moment with mutinous sets to their mouths and then together strode angrily from the room. They closed the door hard in their wake.
Through it, Damian continued to work his hand over Theodosia’s and then carefully, he held the sword out toward her father. Damian may as well have handed over the kingdom for his care. With almost reverent hands, her father took it silently and then he gave a nod.
Her lips twitched. Of course, a man who’d revered that gladius since his own early days should un-hesitantly turn his daughter over to the care of a man who’d given over that precious item. Damian fished around the front pocket of his jacket. “I love you.” He withdrew a small bouquet of rumpled thistles.
Her heart warmed and she touched her fingers to her lips. This same man who’d first sneered at the legend behind the Theodosia now paid honor to the tales with each word, each offering. “The moment you entered my office, you failed to steal your legendary sword.” He paused. “Instead you stole my heart. Marry me.”
Emotion squeezed at her heart and another tear slid down her cheek. He was the other half of her soul she’d not known had been missing. Theodosia managed a jerky nod.
“My love for thee.” That gruff whisper that had first terrified her in his office less than a week ago now warmed her.
She leaned up on tiptoe and with their lips but a hairsbreadth apart, whispered, “For eternity it will bind us.”
Epilogue
Summer 1810
The Manor of Elstree
Hertfordshire, England
Standing in the White Parlor, bathed in the sun’s rays, Theodosia peeled back the curtains and stared outside her family’s Hertfordshire properties, desperately searching.
Joy, nervousness, and fear warred in her breast. “Where is he?” she whispered to herself. What if Damian had been proven wrong? What if—?
Her husband settled his hands on her shoulders and gave a slight squeeze. “He will be here, Theo,” he promised, his breath fanned against her ear. She leaned into his caress, the commanding strength he exuded drove back the fear that had been with her since the day they’d learned her brother Lucas, was, in fact, living.
Fear that the sources her husband had hired to search for Lucas’ whereabouts had proven incorrect. Fear, that they’d found an altogether different man languishing in Spain.
“He will be here,” Damian pledged, pressing a lingering kiss against her temple.
In the six months that she had been wed to Damian, she’d oft feared that nothing would bring all her family together with her husband.
While the Earl and Countess of Lavery had come to see Damian as part of them, Richard and Aidan had looked upon Theodosia’s husband, first, with a cool disdain, and then that tangible animosity had receded…to an icy politeness.
In the crystal windowpane, with the collection of guests present, the day proved how wrong those fears had been. Her parents sat perched, side by side on the sofa, their hands clasped tight. Hovering behind Theodosia, their tall frames erect and unbending, Aidan and Richard stood shoulder to shoulder.
Her throat worked. Yes, she’d despaired of her husband ever knowing peace with her brothers.
The floorboards groaned and she turned. Damian’s arms fell to his sides, just as Richard came over.
“Thank you,” Richard said hoarsely, for the tenth time since Theodosia and Damian had stepped inside the room. He clasped his brother-in-law’s hand and gave a firm shake.
Her husband returned that gesture. “Please, there is no need—”
“There is every need,” Richard interrupted hoarsely. “You found my brother and, for that, I can never repay you.”
“I do not expect, nor want any payment,” Damian said, in his gravelly tones. “You are family.”
A sheen of tears blurred her vision as Richard grabbed Damian in a quick hug, slapping him on the back. Mayhap there would forever exist resentment within some of the Raynes and Renshaws…but there was a new peace and love. With each day that passed, the bond joining their families grew. As though embarrassed by his show of emotion, Richard immediately released his brother-in-law.
The rumble of carriage wheels filtered up to the parlor window and, with a gasp, Theodosia pressed her forehead to the window. “He is here,” she breathed. With her husband at her side, Theodosia bolted from the room. Her family’s cries and footsteps echoed behind them as they raced down the corridors.
Heart pounding loudly in her ears, she rushed into the soaring foyer just as the butler drew the door open. The smooth soles of her slippers skidded along the marble floor and she shot her arms out to steady herself. Damian immediately caught her around the waist, keeping her upright.
“He is here,” she whispered, making for the door. Her beloved brother. Her one time protector. The friend she’d despaired of ever again seeing had returned. Because of her husband.
Abandoning her place in the foyer, she squeezed past Aidan and Richard, and stumbled outside. Theodosia suddenly stopped.
Several footmen rushed forward reached inside the carriage, and helped her brother out.
Rail thin, his hair long, and his face covered with a beard, Lucas bore little trace of the smiling man who’d gone off to fight Boney’s forces. He eyed the collection of assembled guests with bloodshot eyes. Those eyes had aged in the time since he’d been gone.
A tear slid down her cheek.
But he was home.
Grabbing her husband’s hand, she rushed forward to greet her brother.
The curse had, at last, been broken.
The End
Coming October 25, 2016 by Montlake Publishing: “The Rogue’s Wager”, Book One in Christi Caldwell’s brand new Sinful Brides series!
The Sinful Brides features ravishing tales of London’s gaming hell rogues—and the women who love them.
The Rogue’s Wager
London, 1821
Lord Robert Dennington, the Marquess of Westfield, has long reveled in the freedom afforded him as the ducal heir. He knows he must someday do right by the Somerset line, but he’s in no hurry to give up his carefree existence.
Helena Banbury is a bookkeeper in a gentleman’s gambling club, adept at analyzing numbers and accounts but helpless for lack of influence. She’s never belonged among the nobility on the gaming hell floors, but neither does she feel completely herself among the men who run the Hell and Sin Club, despite the fact that they are family. The once-illiterate girl from the streets wants more than the gilded walls her protective cage can offer.
When Robert mistakenly enters her chambers one night, Helena is forced out of her predictable life and thrust into the glittering world of Society. Will the charms of the marquess prove more perilous than any danger she ever knew on the streets?
The Rogue’s Wager
Other Books by Christi Caldwell
“To Redeem a Rake”
Book 11 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
He’s spent years scandalizing society.
Now, this rake must change his ways.
Society’s most infamous scoundrel, Daniel Winterbourne,
the Earl of Montfort, has been promised a small fortune if he can relinquish his wayward, carousing lifestyle. And behaving means he must also help find a respectable companion for his youngest sister—someone who will guide her and whom she can emulate. However, Daniel knows no such woman. But when he encounters a childhood friend, Daniel believes she may just be the answer to all of his problems.
Having been secretly humiliated by an unscrupulous blackguard years earlier, Miss Daphne Smith dreams of finding work at Ladies of Hope, an institution that provides an education for disabled women. With her sordid past and a disfigured leg, few opportunities arise for a woman such as she. Knowing Daniel’s history, she wishes to avoid him, but working for his sister is exactly the stepping stone she needs.
Their attraction intensifies as Daniel and Daphne grow closer, preparing his sister for the London Season. But Daniel must resist his desire for a woman tarnished by scandal while Daphne is reminded of the boy she once knew. Can society’s most notorious rake redeem his reputation and become the man Daphne deserves?
“To Woo a Widow”
Book 10 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
They see a brokenhearted widow.
She’s far from shattered.
Lady Philippa Winston is never marrying again. After her late husband’s cruelty that she kept so well hidden, she has no desire to search for love.
Years ago, Miles Brookfield, the Marquess of Guilford, made a frivolous vow he never thought would come to fruition—he promised to marry his mother’s goddaughter if he was unwed by the age of thirty. Now, to his dismay, he’s faced with honoring that pledge. But when he encounters the beautiful and intriguing Lady Philippa, Miles knows his true path in life. It’s up to him to break down every belief Philippa carries about gentlemen, proving that not only is love real, but that he is the man deserving of her sheltered heart.
Will Philippa let down her guard and allow Miles to woo a widow in desperate need of his love?
“The Lure of a Rake”
Book 9 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
A Lady Dreaming of Love
Lady Genevieve Farendale has a scandalous past. Jilted at the altar years earlier and exiled by her family, she’s now returned to London to prove she can be a proper lady. Even though she’s not given up on the hope of marrying for love, she’s wary of trusting again. Then she meets Cedric Falcot, the Marquess of St. Albans whose seductive ways set her heart aflutter. But with her sordid history, Genevieve knows a rake can also easily destroy her.
An Unlikely Pairing
What begins as a chance encounter between Cedric and Genevieve becomes something more. As they continue to meet, passions stir. But with Genevieve’s hope for true love, she fears Cedric will be unable to give up his wayward lifestyle. After all, Cedric has spent years protecting his heart, and keeping everyone out. Slowly, she chips away at all the walls he’s built, but when he falters, Genevieve can’t offer him redemption. Now, it’s up to Cedric to prove to Genevieve that the love of a man is far more powerful than the lure of a rake.
“To Trust a Rogue”
Book 8 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
A rogue
Marcus, the Viscount Wessex has carefully crafted the image of rogue and charmer for Polite Society. Under that façade, however, dwells a man whose dreams were shattered almost eight years earlier by a young lady who captured his heart, pledged her love, and then left him, with nothing more than a curt note.
A widow
Eight years earlier, faced with no other choice, Mrs. Eleanor Collins, fled London and the only man she ever loved, Marcus, Viscount Wessex. She has now returned to serve as a companion for her elderly aunt with a daughter in tow. Even though they’re next door neighbors, there is little reason for her to move in the same circles as Marcus, just in case, she vows to avoid him, for he reminds her of all she lost when she left.
Reunited
As their paths continue to cross, Marcus finds his desire for Eleanor just as strong, but he learned long ago she’s not to be trusted. He will offer her a place in his bed, but not anything more. Only, Eleanor has no interest in this new, roguish man. The more time they spend together, the protective wall they’ve constructed to keep the other out, begin to break. With all the betrayals and secrets between them, Marcus has to open his heart again. And Eleanor must decide if it’s ever safe to trust a rogue.
“To Wed His Christmas Lady”
Book 7 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
She’s longing to be loved:
Lady Cara Falcot has only served one purpose to her loathsome father—to increase his power through a marriage to the future Duke of Billingsley. As such, she’s built protective walls about her heart, and presents an icy facade to the world around her. Journeying home from her finishing school for the Christmas holidays, Cara’s carriage is stranded during a winter storm. She’s forced to tarry at a ramshackle inn, where she immediately antagonizes another patron—William.
He’s avoiding his duty in favor of one last adventure:
William Hargrove, the Marquess of Grafton has wanted only one thing in life—to avoid the future match his parents would have him make to a cold, duke’s daughter. He’s returning home from a blissful eight years of traveling the world to see to his responsibilities. But when a winter storm interrupts his trip and lands him at a falling-down inn, he’s forced to share company with a commanding Lady Cara who initially reminds him exactly of the woman he so desperately wants to avoid.
A Christmas snowstorm ushers in the spirit of the season:
At the holiday time, these two people who despise each other due to first perceptions are offered renewed beginnings and fresh starts. As this gruff stranger breaks down the walls she’s built about herself, Cara has to determine whether she can truly open her heart to trusting that any man is capable of good and that she herself is capable of love. And William has to set aside all previous thoughts he’s carried of the polished ladies like Cara, to be the man to show her that love.
“The Heart of a Scoundrel”
Book 6 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
Ruthless, wicked, and dark, the Marquess of Rutland rouses terror in the breast of ladies and nobleman alike. All Edmund wants in life is power. After he was publically humiliated by his one love Lady Margaret, he vowed vengeance, using Margaret’s niece, as his pawn. Except, he’s thwarted by another, more enticing target—Miss Phoebe Barrett.
Miss Phoebe Barrett knows precisely the shame she’s been born to. Because her father is a shocking letch she’s learned to form her own opinions on a person’s worth. After a chance meeting with the Marquess of Rutland, she is captivated by the mysterious man. He, too, is a victim of society’s scorn, but the more encounters she has with Edmund, the more she knows there is powerful depth and emotion to the jaded marquess.
The lady wreaks havoc on Edmund’s plans for revenge and he finds he wants Phoebe, at all costs. As she’s drawn into the darkness of his world, Phoebe risks being destroyed by Edmund’s ruthlessness. And Phoebe who desires love at all costs, has to determine if she can ever truly trust the heart of a scoundrel.
“To Love a Lord”
Book 5 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
All she wants is security:
The last place finishing school instructor Mrs. Jane Munroe belongs, is in polite Society. Vowing to never wed, she’s been scuttled around from post to post. Now she finds herself in the Marquess of Waverly’s household. She’s never met a nobleman she liked, and when she meets the pompous, arrogant marquess, she remembers why. But soon, she discovers Gabriel is unlike any gentleman she’s ever known.
All he wants is a companion for his sister:
What Gabriel finds himself with instead, is a fiery spirited, bespectacled woman who entices him at every corner and challenges his age-old vow to never trust his heart t
o a woman. But…there is something suspicious about his sister’s companion. And he is determined to find out just what it is.
All they need is each other:
As Gabriel and Jane confront the truth of their feelings, the lies and secrets between them begin to unravel. And Jane is left to decide whether or not it is ever truly safe to love a lord.
“Loved By a Duke”
Book 4 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
For ten years, Lady Daisy Meadows has been in love with Auric, the Duke of Crawford. Ever since his gallant rescue years earlier, Daisy knew she was destined to be his Duchess. Unfortunately, Auric sees her as his best friend’s sister and nothing more. But perhaps, if she can manage to find the fabled heart of a duke pendant, she will win over the heart of her duke.
Auric, the Duke of Crawford enjoys Daisy’s company. The last thing he is interested in however, is pursuing a romance with a woman he’s known since she was in leading strings. This season, Daisy is turning up in the oddest places and he cannot help but notice that she is no longer a girl. But Auric wouldn’t do something as foolhardy as to fall in love with Daisy. He couldn’t. Not with the guilt he carries over his past sins… Not when he has no right to her heart…But perhaps, just perhaps, she can forgive the past and trust that he’d forever cherish her heart—but will she let him?
“The Love of a Rogue”
Book 3 in the “Heart of a Duke” Series by Christi Caldwell
Lady Imogen Moore hasn’t had an easy time of it since she made her Come Out. With her betrothed, a powerful duke breaking it off to wed her sister, she’s become the tons favorite piece of gossip. Never again wanting to experience the pain of a broken heart, she’s resolved to make a match with a polite, respectable gentleman. The last thing she wants is another reckless rogue.
Only For His Lady Page 10
