The Gambler Wagers Her Baron

by Christina McKnight

  Joy leaned forward and exchanged a silent look with her brother before turning back to Garrett. “We have an aunt already, and she makes nothing better.”

  “Well, I can assure you both that anything that will irritate my youngest sister will bring me and my other sisters great joy.”

  “Garrett,” Payton chastised. “Do stop. Next, they will be asking for trips to the New World and ancient artifacts.”

  “Samantha is wed to an explorer, and Jude to an antiquities collector,” he mused. “Neither would prove impossible. Actually, I’d very much enjoy being an uncle. Do I appear an uncle to either of you?”

  Garrett made a spectacle of turning his head from side to side, showing off his angular profile.

  “With a haircut, I do believe so,” Joy replied with a giggle.

  “Whatever is wrong with my hair?”

  “It hangs over your collar,” the girl snorted as if his need for a haircut was evident to everyone.

  “If you do not mind,” Damon said, “I have yet to hear Payton’s answer.”

  “Damon.” She glanced between everyone in the room, her eyes not lingering on anyone until they met Damon’s. “I could think of no better fate than being your wife—and the children’s mother.”

  Payton couldn’t take her eyes off Damon as her answer sank in, and his last lingering doubts disappeared. The many burdens he’d born for so long dissipated, and his eyes lit with happiness. The shadows that always lingered around him dissolved, leaving behind not a broken man but a lord capable of loving once more despite the heartbreak of his past.

  “Father,” Joy said, clapping her hands in excitement. “I think you should kiss Miss Samuels now.”

  Payton barely noticed her brother standing and taking both Joy and Abram’s hands and leading them from the room.

  The door shut almost noiselessly in their wake, leaving Payton and Damon alone.

  As if she’d done it a thousand times before, Payton stood and walked into Damon’s waiting embrace. Lifting her chin, she accepted his kiss.

  All this time, Payton had believed she could gamble her way to a happy, content life with some sleight of hand but it was only by putting all her cards on the table before Damon, the man she loved, that she could truly win.

  Epilogue

  London, England

  December 1820

  * * *

  Payton paused outside of the Craven House drawing room’s open double doors and breathed in deeply. The aroma of freshly baked marmalade tarts and plum pudding remained from their evening meal, giving the entire gathering a festive air. After they’d dined as a group, she’d excused herself under the guise of fixing her hair and straightening her skirts.

  This being the eve before her wedding day, not a single lady present had cause to question her reasons for stepping away from the gathering for a few moments of privacy—each of her sisters had done the same before they gave themselves completely to their husbands.

  That was all she’d allow herself—a few brief moments alone.

  The gathered crowd awaiting her in the drawing room was a diverse lot, indeed.

  Yet they all had one thing in common: they loved her…or Damon.

  Many of their guests loved them both.

  How things had changed over the past eight months was something akin to magic. Damon had gone out his way every day to show her how grand their life would be together; however, Payton hadn’t needed the reassurance at all.

  Fingers gripped her elbow lightly. “Is all as it should be?”

  Payton glanced up to see Damon by her side, a place he rarely left since the night he’d confessed his love, and she declared hers in return.

  “Yes, very much so,” Payton said with a smile and turned back to take in the room. Everyone had yet to notice her, and she was fine with having a few moments to take everything in with Damon’s comforting presence by her side. Her life—its path and the future she’d intended for herself—had changed since she’d met Damon and his children—until she barely recognized anything. Including herself. “How is Flora acclimating to my expansive family?”

  “I believe she is quite taken with the Dowager Lady Cartwright and her support of boarding schools, especially an all-girls school in Canterbury,” Damon sighed. “It has the most preposterous name. However, Lady Theodora appears to enjoy the school immensely.”

  “Miss Emmeline’s School of Education and Decorum for Ladies of Outstanding Quality?” Payton couldn’t help but chuckle. The name was pretentious and nearly too long to say without pausing to catch her breath. “Theo enjoys the school very much. Simon and Jude traveled to Canterbury to collect the girl for the Christmastide holiday—and our wedding.”

  “I certainly hope no one is giving Flora any reason to rekindle our conversations about sending Joy and Abram away to school,” Damon grunted. “However, I am overjoyed Lady Theo could join us.”

  “I think we should be far more concerned with Abram departing with Sam and Elijah on one of their worldly expeditions.” Payton risked a glance up at Damon before they both turned in Abram’s direction where he sat with Simon on one side and Elijah on the other. Her sisters’ husbands had far more in common than either realized, despite their character differences. An explorer of historical sites and a collector of artifacts, Abram could not have been in better company, especially when he learned Lord Cartwright, Jude’s husband, visited Oliver’s Bookseller on many occasions.

  Damon wrapped his arm around her back, settling his hand on her hip. It was a gesture she’d grown accustomed to quickly and missed when Damon wasn’t close. “I think we can both agree that between Canterbury and India—or Africa—we’d settle for the journey that kept him in England.”

  Payton remained silent on the topic. She had no doubt that, one day, Abram would use his talents for history to explore the world, discovering long-hidden treasures. And his father would do nothing to stop him.

  At that moment, the Dowager Duchess Harwich, or Anastasia as she’d begged for Payton to call her when they met several months prior at Marce’s wedding, looked up and gestured for her to come and sit. Payton smiled and nodded before she and Damon entered the room, drawing more attention than she was comfortable with. She’d never been one to blush and bluster, but the increased notice she’d gained since she and Damon had announced their betrothal had been daunting.

  Payton took in Marce’s glowing smile as she made her way farther into the room.

  It had been an utter shock to learn of her eldest sister’s intent to wed the Duke of Harwich and move to his family estate; however, Payton had learned quickly how difficult it was to be away from the man she loved. It had made Marce’s departure from Craven House all the more comfortable, knowing she wasn’t deserting their home but creating a new one for herself and the duke—and the children who would no doubt follow.

  For once, her sister wasn’t sacrificing her own happiness for her family.

  Payton sat on the lounge next to the dowager duchess and across from Lady Wittenbottom and the Dowager Lady Cartwright, who had Joy on her lap, despite the harsh glare of envy coming from Flora. Could Damon’s sister finally be realizing her grave mistake of treating her niece and nephew as little more than inconveniences to be shipped away?

  “Payton”—Anastasia patted her hand—“you have returned, and not a moment too soon, I must say. Explain to Lady Wittenbottom, my dear, that I gift every family member with a new horse. It is the way of things. And Miss Joy and Master Abram will be no different.”

  The Dowager Lady Cartwright vigorously fanned her face as Flora’s cheeks reddened.

  “A horse?” Joy bounced up and down, nearly tumbling from Lady Cartwright’s lap. “Of my own?”

  Lady Theo pushed to her knees from her seat on the floor, smiling broadly at Joy. “Yes, of your very own. Lady Harwich brought my horse to London for my fourteenth birthday. Her name is Polly and she is a beautiful grey mare, though she has developed a bit of an attitude as of late. I a
dore her!”

  When Flora glanced between Payton and over to Lady Cartwright, they both could only shrug.

  The conversation brought to mind Payton’s disbelief when she’d arrived at Hadlow Estate for Marce’s wedding to find a horse waiting for each of her siblings. It had been unexpected and rather odd to discover that the Duke of Harwich’s mother had known of all of them since they were young babes.

  “Horses, you say?” Damon inquired.

  “Oh, Father!” Joy slipped from Lady Cartwright’s lap and bounded over to Damon. “Do say I can have one. Please, oh, please, oh, please!”

  Damon’s face grew stern, but Payton noticed the smile he worked hard to suppress. Another oddity she’d become accustomed to in recent months. The baron was not as dour and reserved as she’d suspected. “It was my understanding that you had your sights set on a pony, not a horse.”

  Joy’s little face scrunched. “A pony is only a small horse. I am nearly a grown woman, Father, and what fine London lady rides a pony about Hyde Park?”

  Laughter filled the room, coming from every corner as the men drifted toward Payton, Damon, and the gathered women.

  Her chest swelled with a fullness that she’d never experienced before, despite having such a large, close family. It brought her even more joy to see all her siblings happy, content, and thriving—just as her mother had predicted.

  And she…she was done searching.

  There was nothing outside that very room Payton needed or would ever long for.

  She had her family—and all those that had become family over the last several years—Damon, and his children.

  Come tomorrow, they would be her children.

  They were all perfect because she’d chosen them…and they, her.

  Come tomorrow, she would return to Ashford Hall, not as a governess or a gambler, but as Damon’s baroness.

  A family.

  Her family.

  The one thing she’d rebelled against since her youth had been the only thing to make her happy in the end.

  “Miss Samuels.” Abram sat on the floor at his father’s knee and looked up at her. “Did something make you sad?”

  Payton pressed her hands to both cheeks, brushing away the tears that she hadn’t realized she’d shed as she pondered how to explain her overwhelming elation to the boy.

  “I am not sad at all,” she said, keeping her voice low as others continued to talk around them. She glanced at Damon to find him staring at her. When he reached over and clasped her hand, she continued, “I was thinking about all the remarkable things I almost let slip by me, and I am so thankful your father and I came to our senses before it was too late.”

  “We wouldn’t have let you slip away.” Joy climbed onto her lap, and Payton noticed that all four of her siblings watched her intently, especially Marce.

  Yet, her eldest sister did not look at her as if assessing her every move as she’d done for most of Payton’s life, but almost in a reverent way. Did Payton possess something her family had feared she lacked? Whatever the look meant, Payton would not fret over it nor allow it to dampen their festive mood.

  “Well, children,” Damon said with a clap of his hands. “It is time for bed. We all have a very busy day tomorrow, and I would not want either of you to miss a second of it. We should be heading back to Ashford Hall.”

  “But, Father…” Abram whimpered.

  “We cannot depart yet.” Joy pushed from Payton’s lap. “Do you not remember?”

  Payton stared between the children, each donning mischievous grins as they hurried from the room. Damon wore an identical smile. He released her hand and stood, as well, making his way to the door.

  “What is afoot?” Flora squawked. “I do not like surprises.”

  “I am certain it is not anything to do with you, Lady Wittenbottom,” Lady Cartwright hissed, her brow drawing low.

  Payton watched in stunned silence as the children returned, Damon trailing behind them. They each clutched the end of a small, rectangular box with a purple bow on top.

  “What is this?” she asked, eyeing the delicate box as Abram attempted to pull it from Joy’s grasp. However, the girl was not to be thwarted and held tight to her end as the pair halted before her. Their mirrored smiles, blond hair, and green eyes were so much like their father’s.

  Abram cleared his throat. “Father instructed us to get you a gift”—he glanced down resentfully at the box—“and I insisted on a book detailing the merits of the Egyptian aquatic military, but—”

  Joy elbowed her brother, all while keeping her fingers tight on the box.

  “Ooof,” Abram grunted.

  “Children,” Damon prodded. “The hour is growing late…”

  Joy focused on Payton at the same time she pulled the box from Abram and stepped forward. “While I do not agree with Abram’s choice of gift, I do very much believe Father was correct when he said—”

  Affection shone in Damon’s eyes when he spoke to Joy. “What I said is not important, dear one.”

  Payton glanced up to see a light blush stain Damon’s cheeks before he cleared his throat and looked away.

  There would be plenty of time in the coming days to discover what exactly Damon had said, but for now, Payton took the small box from Joy as the child bounced with excitement.

  “A gift, for me?” The box was smooth to the touch with the simple bow on top. “Shall I open it?”

  “Yes,” her siblings called in unison as Joy nodded vigorously, her blond hair tumbling over her shoulder.

  “I cannot imagine what could possibly be in this box,” Payton mused, turning it over in her hands.

  “Well, it is not a book on the Egyptian military,” Abram grunted. When Damon gave him a stern glare, he continued, “Though I suspect you will like it all the same.”

  “I am positively certain I will love it.”

  “Open it,” Joy giggled.

  Payton stared around the room as all eyes settled on her and the gift in her hands. Any other time, she’d have wanted a spot of privacy for such a precious moment, but as she took in everyone squeezed into the drawing room of Craven House, Payton was confident the moment was developing perfectly.

  They were a family—all of them.

  Payton had found her place.

  A place she’d never long to move on from without Damon, the children, and her family by her side.

  Nothing far better awaited her anywhere.

  She would thrive. They would all thrive.

  Together.

  She took in a deep breath and opened the box. Nestled inside was an emerald, the shade identical to Damon’s, Joy’s, and Abram’s moss green eyes. The stone was set in a gold pendant with a delicate chain. The light from the chandelier above and the sconces on the walls made the gem glitter and sparkle.

  “It is lovely,” Payton said, releasing her breath.

  “Father says you should wear it tomorrow,” Joy gushed, squeezing her hands before her. “I helped pick it out.”

  “No,” Abram refuted. “You wanted that dreadful pink stone. I selected the emerald.”

  She glanced up to see Damon smiling at her over Abram’s shoulder. “The necklace is beautiful, and I can see both of you in it. May I wear it now?”

  When Damon nodded, new happiness banishing the sorrow that had marred his face for far too long, Payton stood. Everyone in the room followed suit, calling their farewells as they departed the room until it was only Damon and the children with her.

  Garrett poked his head around the doorframe and called to Joy and Abram. “Miss Joy, Master Abram, come along. I heard that Cook has a special treat for the pair of you waiting in the kitchen. Lady Theodora is already on her way…you do not want her to get all the surprise, do you?”

  Both children scampered from the room after Garrett, their laughter ringing through Craven House as they made their way to the kitchen, leaving Payton and Damon blessedly alone.

  Payton bit at her lip to suppress her smile
and turned to allow Damon to clasp the necklace around her neck. She couldn’t help looking down as her gloved fingers stroked the emerald pendant that nestled above the neckline of her gown.

  “What did you say?” she asked, knowing her question could not wait another moment.

  She turned as Damon attempted to hide his sheepish grin. “I am not certain what you—”

  “Joy said she agreed with what you said…about the gift…” Her chest seized as she waited for his reply.

  He took hold of her hands, and she noticed them trembling slightly, but he did not look away.

  “I told them the emerald pendant was the perfect gift because it sparkled—just as we now do since you’ve come into our lives.” He paused, and she searched his stare, knowing there was more, but uncertain if she could hold back her brimming emotions long enough to hear it.

  It was her turn to tremble. “Oh, Damon. You’ve brought me peace and happiness I never imagined for myself. I love the children—and you—with all my heart.”

  Damon pulled her close, his eyes never straying from hers as he lowered his head and their lips met.

  The tightness in her chest from moments before unraveled, giving her a sense of freedom she’d always longed for but never allowed herself to grasp.

  She pressed against the hard length of his body as her gloved hands ran through his hair. All the while his lips moved against hers, parting as his tongue slipped along her bottom lip, causing her to shudder once more as the passion within her blossomed, driving her ever closer to him.

  Freedom wasn’t a place, but a person.

  This man before her.

  Damon Kinder.

  She pulled away, staring up into his sparkling eyes—more alive than she’d ever seen them—and Payton knew, without a doubt, that Damon had been the man she’d searched for her entire life, without so much as realizing her true heart’s longing.

  “Damon,” she sighed. “I love you with everything I am. I never knew joy and love such as this could exist, let alone one day be mine. I will live every day making certain your eyes sparkle as brightly as my pendant.”