“Oh, that is very fine of you to say, Argus. You shall have to tell me how one goes about ensuring they only have the exact number of children one chooses to have. A good time for that would be right after I finish having these.”
He blinked and slowly sat up with her still in his arms. “I beg your pardon?”
Lorelei looped her arms around his neck. He looked so beautifully stunned. She smiled and brushed a kiss over his lips.
“The children I will give you in eight months, perhaps less. And ’ere you remark on the fact that I said children and not child, I have it on good authority that I shall bless you with twins.”
Argus set her aside and scrambled for their clothes. “And you let me make love to you right out here, on the hard ground, and with a rough greed?”
“I do believe I was none too gentle with you either.”
“I am not the one carrying two babes.” He frowned as he started to assist her in getting dressed, fighting her obvious reluctance. “How do you know it will be two?”
“Darius and Olwen told me so.” Her voice muffled by the dress he was yanking on over her head, she explained about the rocks, the trunk, and the attic. “Are you not pleased?” she asked when she could finally see him and saw him frowning at her.
“When did you plan to tell me?”
“What do you think I was out here talking to the birds about? As I just said, I only just found out myself and that had me thinking very hard.”
“About shooting me.”
Lorelei flung her arms around his neck and kissed his chin. “Have we not settled why I was thinking that? Why I was not sure if I should marry you?”
“God’s tears, you would actually have refused my proposal if I had not said the right things?”
“Perhaps. For a little while in the hope that you would say what I needed eventually. Argus, there is no sense in going on and on about what I might or might not have done. I do not know and I am very glad that I shall not have to face that decision. I was sure that I wanted a father for my children and I wanted a willing one, not one dragged before a vicar by the ear or with a gun pressed to his head. I have that, do I not?”
“You do.” He kissed her, trying to convey all the love he felt for her, and all the joy that suddenly filled him at the thought of the children she would soon give him. “Aye, my sweet Lorelei, you do.”
“Then why are we sitting here with all our clothes back on?”
He grinned. “I thought we might wander back to the house and allow your father and the rest of the family congratulate us on our engagement.”
“They are not going anywhere.” She tried to pull him down to the ground. “They can wait. I have not seen you for a month.”
“Ah, my sweet eager love, how I would enjoy giving you what we both want.” He stood up and pulled her to her feet. “But, I do believe we need to plan a wedding. A very quick wedding.”
Lorelei was not pleased to leave the shade of the trees, to leave the privacy she knew would be very difficult to find once they told everyone of their engagement, but Argus was right. They needed to plan the wedding and it needed to be a quick one. When they reached the house and stepped inside to find both her and his family filling the entry hall, she laughed. She could foresee a grand life ahead for her and Argus, one filled to the rafters with love and family. As she accepted the hugs and congratulations of everyone gathered there, she winked at Argus and was pleased when he smiled back at her.
A few moments later Argus managed to grasp a brief moment with Lorelei with no one standing right at hand. “I have a feeling I will be allowed to see very little of you for the next three weeks.”
She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “But then I will be all yours, Argus, and you will be all mine. Is that not wonderful?”
Argus looked down into her smiling face and felt himself smile back in a besotted way that would have shocked his friends and family. “Aye, my love, it is wonderful.”
Epilogue
One year later
“Greetings, Max.”
Max stepped up to Lorelei and carefully looked over the child she held in her arms, touching the child’s thick raven curls with a gentle hand. He did the same with the child held by the gently rounded nurse standing beside Lorelei.
“M’lady. Sir,” he said and bowed, and then he looked at Lorelei and nodded. “Well done, m’lady. Well done, indeed.”
Lorelei looked at Argus, her smile so wide and bright he wondered if it hurt. She had been nervous for the entire journey to Sundunmoor and he had not understood why. Her father had written every week since the twins had been born, wondering when he would be able to see his new grandsons. He could not believe she feared her father would be disappointed in her children. Now he began to understand. It was not her father she was worried about, for even Lorelei at her most doubtful had never, and would never, doubt that man’s love or acceptance. There was a little girl inside his wife who had still been anxious to win Max’s approval of, as she liked to tell him, the nearest thing to a miracle she has ever accomplished.
“I got a nod, Argus,” she said.
“As you well deserve, my love,” he replied and kissed her forehead.
“Where are my grandsons?” demanded Roland as he hurried over to them and stopped to stare at the babies. “Oh, they are fine, healthy lads, Lolly. Fine healthy lads.” He held out his arms. “May I hold one? Aunt Gretchen twisted her ankle last week and cannot rush here as she wishes, so I thought I would take one of the babes to the parlor.”
Lorelei placed her firstborn son in her father’s arms and watched as he walked away, silently counting the steps he took. At number five, her second-born son started to fuss. Miss Jones began to follow her father, careful to keep exactly five steps behind him, even closer if she could. Finally her father stopped and looked at the woman.
“They cannot be separated, can they?” he said. “You are the nurse?”
Miss Jones blushed and curtseyed. “I am Miss Jones, yes, Your Grace. And, no, Your Grace. No more than five paces, or one or the other begins to fuss.”
Lorelei watched her father look at the plump woman she had hired to help her with the twins and knew what he saw. He saw a not-plain-but-not-beautiful woman who was still young in his eyes, but definitely considered a spinster by the rest of the world. A woman with wide brown eyes and wild reddish brown hair who had so much kindness in her it glowed in her face. For just a moment, Lorelei saw the look of a man’s interest in her father’s eyes, a shine. Then he grinned and she tensed.
“Only five paces, is it?”
It did not surprise her when her father hastily trotted down the hall, putting at least ten paces between him and Miss Jones. The whimpering began but did not last long, for Miss Jones chased after the duke until she stood within the distance acceptable to her sons. Then her father trotted away again. Lorelei watched the pair disappear down the hall and looked at Max to find the man smiling faintly.
“I believe you will end up with the older Miss Pugh, m’lady,” he said.
Lorelei sighed. “Are you sure, Max?”
“Oh, very sure, m’lady. I did heed Lady Olympia’s words but still needed to see for myself. I have. I saw that gleam he so loves to talk about seeing in your eyes.”
“Damnation,” she muttered and ignored Max’s repressive frown. “I like Miss Pugh, do not think I do not, but I did not wish to be changing nurses so soon.”
“Do you not wish your father to find a little happiness in his declining years?” asked Argus, all too aware of Olympia’s prediction that the Duke of Sundunmoor was soon going to shock the world by marrying the nurse to his daughter’s new sons.
Lorelei gave him a half smile. “Well said and the words even made me feel the pinch of guilt for about a heartbeat. I just did not wish to lose one servant I was almost accustomed to and have to start all over again, but if Max says it will happen, then it will.” She cocked her head. “Ah, the thunder of the approaching herd o
f family.”
She laughed as her family soon surrounded her and Argus. The moment she told them where the babies had gone, they all raced off to find her father and Miss Jones. Lorelei looked at her husband and Max, who were both frowning at her, and shrugged.
“That was most unfair, m’lady,” said Max as, after ensuring that the footman had taken their coats and hats, he began to lead them to the parlor.
“A prize is always appreciated more if it is hard won, Max,” she said piously.
“You also know that your father will now hear them all coming and work even harder to elude them.”
“With dear Miss Jones desperately trying to always stay just five paces behind or closer, no matter where Papa goes or how fast he runs,” she said and grinned.
Max paused in opening the door to the parlor and looked at Lorelei. “You did see the glow. I had wondered.”
“I saw the glow.”
“I am pleased you recognized it.”
Lorelei looked up at Argus and smiled. “How could I not, Max? I see it every time I look in a mirror. I just pray that Papa will find as much happiness with Miss Jones as I have with my husband.”
“It is, of course, not seemly for you to attempt to take a hand in matchmaking when it concerns your own father.”
“Why not? He is too young to lurk about here all alone and, once Olympia told me there was to be a match between Papa and Miss Jones, I will confess that I could see it. They are perfect for each other.”
“Which they should be allowed to discover for themselves just as His Grace and I allowed you to discover your love for yourself.”
“Oh. So you think I should not have tried interfering in any way?” She shrugged. “Oh, do not fret so, Max. It will not hurt anything.”
“Of course not. I am certain you know best, m’lady.” Opening the door, Max bowed and then ushered them inside the room where Aunt Gretchen waited. “As you await your father’s return, m’lady, do enjoy your visit with your aunt. She has some lovely scarves made in a stunning new shade that she is most anxious to gift you with.”
The door shut behind her and Lorelei looked at the yarn her aunt was merrily knitting away with. Every so often Gretchen came up with a color that was just not going to please anyone but herself. This was definitely one of them. An odd shade that reminded her of rotten fruit. Max had always warned her when her aunt had such a horrid color so that she could avoid being gifted with anything the woman made in it. He had clearly neglected to do so this time and Lorelei knew it had been on purpose. She looked up at Argus, who grinned.
“My love, I do believe Max won that round.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hannah Howell is an award-winning author who lives with her family in Massachusetts. She is the author of over thirty Zebra historical romances and is currently working on a new historical romance featuring the Murrays, HIGHLAND AVENGER, coming in December 2011! Hannah loves hearing from readers and you may visit her website: www.hannahhowell.com.
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Copyright © 2011 by Hannah Howell
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-1878-0
If He's Dangerous Page 28
