His smile was all in the mischief at the corners of his eyes. “From…?”
“From your lair in the library,” she offered. “Or your hidey hole on the Heath. Or whatever else it is you might need rescuing from.”
He nodded, as if acknowledging her right. “And you, my dear Miss T? You no longer require rescuing?”
“Oh, I do. I need rescuing from myself.”
His smile spread across his face like sunshine. “Right ho!” He laced his fingers with hers and held on. “A mutual rescue, what?”
“Indeed. Exceptionally mutual, I hope.”
“Indeed.” He stopped and raised her hand to kiss it, and caused all sorts of havoc on the dance floor in the process. But he did not seem to notice—his eyes were only for her. “And how are we to accomplish this, my dear Tamsin? You know I’ve no head for arranging.”
Tamsin knew she was grinning like a madwoman, but she didn’t care. “Well, normally I would ask you to take me into a darkened room…”
“But?” He tugged their enmeshed hands to his chest, bringing her closer. “This seems like a reasonable arrangement to me.”
“But I’m done with darkened rooms and running away,” she pledged. “And what I want to do needs to be done in the light.”
“Now, now,” he chided. “Not all of it, my dear, Tamsin.” He kissed her hand again, but led her away toward somewhere they might have more privacy. “Save a thought for what we still might do in the dark.”
“Still?” That sounded promising. “We might if you’ll have me.”
“Only if I can have all of you. Mind, body, heart and soul. Because you already have mine.”
“You may, all and forever.” She had to close her eyes to keep the hot tears of joy burning behind her lids from leaking down her cheeks. But then she couldn’t see him, so near and so dear. So handsome and so unique.
“Is that a proposal?” he teased her.
“Yes.” This she knew. “I promised that if you were ever made to propose, I would refuse. So I must be the one proposing. Will you have me to wife, Simon Cathcart?”
He pulled an unhappy face. “I’m afraid my proper name is longer than that. Simon Edmund James Aloysius—”
“Aha! The S.E. of Essie Greenock!”
“Well done, Tamsin. All points to army.”
“But Aloysius? I don’t know if I can marry an Aloysius. What sort of name is Aloysius?”
“A fourth sort of name. And exactly the sort of fourth name a fellow like me gets saddled with. But don’t try to get me off tack, my dear Miss T—”
“Not if you marry me—then I’ll be Mrs. C.”
“Done.” He put his arms around her and held her as if he would never let her go. “But I’ll need a full, formal proposal to be set forth, so there is no misunderstanding what it is you want of me, my love. I’m rather fond of orders, don’t you know.”
“No orders. What I want from you is just that—your love. Now and forever.
“Done.”
And he kissed her. Right there on the side of the dance floor, in the middle of the set. The sort of long, deep, unbridled kiss that ought only to take place in darkened rooms, or frozen lakes, or torch-lit orangeries, and not in the middle of a dance floor at someone else’s betrothal party.
Lady Evangeline might forgive the lapse, but only for a moment.
So Tamsin pulled away. “Will you marry me, Simon, and make me the happiest woman alive?”
“I think I must. Because you’ve ruined me for anyone else, my darling lass.”
She did cry then, because she had never been so happy or so lucky. Or so very well loved. “Take me home, Simon.”
And he did. From that day forward, and forever after. Always.
Epilogue
“Just one ball,” Tamsin cajoled. “One last ball and then you’ll never have to endure another again. I promise.”
Simon looked unmoved—he kept his head down, writing at his desk.
Tamsin tried again. “I should very much like to attend Evangeline and Henry’s wedding celebration, and I should very much like to attend it with you.”
With her husband.
Simon set down his pen. “I’ll go on one condition—that you promise to wear your spectacles. You must know I can’t resist them.”
“Done.”
Tamsin did as her darling husband asked, though she disobliged him by sitting too far away from him in the carriage to take the hand he offered her—too much agreeable compliance would go to his head.
And she had plans for their slow return ride back up Hampstead Hill. Plans her darling husband was sure to approve—once he knew of them. He liked her arrangements.
But all the arranging was worth it when she could stand side by side with her handsome husband, and accept the smiles and congratulations that came now that their marriage had turned them from a scandal to a romance. Just like in Simon’s books.
The thought put a warm smile on her face. As did the knowledge that she had done the impossible and made everyone happy—mama had been able to return home to Somerset vindicated by Tamsin’s marriage.
So, too, did the fact that she was able to greet her hostess as a true friend. More than a friend—a confidant. “Evangeline!”
Evangeline gave her a warm hug. She looked every inch a diamond of the first water—the diamond of their season. “Thank you for coming, Mrs. Cathcart!”
The appellation made her smile more, if possible. “I am still not accustomed to being called by my married name. It all happened in such a whirlwind.”
A whirlwind of snow and ice and love. They had married by special license while the Christmas snow was still on the ground.
But Evangeline already knew that—her friend was happy to take the credit for the marriage. “I imagine so! Considering not so long ago, you wanted a peaceful, man-free existence.”
“I thought I did. Until I didn’t.” Simon had changed her mind on that, hadn’t he?
“So you love him then?”
Tamsin had no hesitation. “I do. More than I thought was possible. Simon is my perfect match.” The perfect gentleman wallflower. And Tamsin was happy to thank her friend for her part in the arrangement. “Thank you for kicking him awake that fateful night. Otherwise, I might never have known him.”
It was strange to think that even with all her planning and arranging—and what had Evangeline called it, machinating—her fate had hinged on a chance friendship. A friendship that led to the library, and masculine wallflowers, and Simon.
The perfect ending to any story.
And while she and Evangeline talked and shared their good fortune, something else caught her eye—that calm, happy, sleepy look her husband sent her from across the room. Whatever lovely thing Evangeline was saying was forgotten.
“…I shall ask you and Simon for supper.”
“We would love to join you.” Tamsin recalled herself enough to assure her friend. “Though right now I must leave you, for I can see my husband sending me a look across the room. If you’ll excuse me…”
Evangeline understood. “Best go to him then.”
And she did. “Longing for the library, my love?”
“Indeed, I am—my own library, what?”
“Then let us go there at once.”
“Right ho,” he whispered. “Though you made me come a very long way for such a short stay.”
“That’s because the stay wasn’t the point.” She let him wrap her in her cloak. “The carriage ride is.”
His eyes lit with a spark strong enough to start a bonfire. “Right ho, Mrs. Cathcart. I do like the way you think.”
“Excellent. Because I’ve made arrangements.”
“Have you?” His smile spread across his mouth with all the warmth of a summer sunrise. “You may be surprised to find so have I, Mrs. Cathcart. So have I.”
Tamsin reached for his hand. “Then let us go at once, and find the way of it.”
And they did.
The
y took their time, climbing slowly back to their love nest high on Hampstead Hill, where they rested peacefully in each others arms.
The good had been rewarded, and the evil punished, and even if they were one in the same, they lived happily ever after.
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The End
About Jess Michaels
USA Today Bestselling author Jess Michaels likes geeky stuff, Vanilla Coke Zero, anything coconut, cheese, fluffy cats, smooth cats, any cats, many dogs and people who care about the welfare of their fellow humans. She is lucky enough to be married to her favorite person in the world and lives in the heart of Dallas, TX where she's trying to eat all the amazing food in the city.
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When she’s not obsessively checking her steps on Fitbit or trying out new flavors of Greek yogurt, she writes historical romances with smoking hot alpha males and sassy ladies who do anything but wait to get what they want. She has written for numerous publishers and is now fully indie and loving every moment of it (well, almost every moment).
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Jess loves to hear from fans! So please feel free to contact her in any of the following ways (or carrier pigeon):
www.AuthorJessMichaels.com
Email: [email protected]
Jess Michaels raffles a gift certificate EVERY month to members of her newsletter, so sign up on her website:
http://www.AuthorJessMichaels.com/
Also by Jess Michaels
The Scandal Sheet
One wicked little paper, six stories of the scandals within.
The Return of Lady Jane
Stealing the Duke
Lady No Says Yes
My Fair Viscount
Guarding the Countess
The House of Pleasure (coming November 2019)
The 1797 Club
For information about the series,
go to www.1797club.com to join the club!
The Daring Duke
Her Favorite Duke
The Broken Duke
The Silent Duke
The Duke of Nothing
The Undercover Duke
The Duke of Hearts
The Duke Who Lied
The Duke of Desire
The Last Duke
Seasons
An Affair in Winter
A Spring Deception
One Summer of Surrender
Adored in Autumn
The Wicked Woodleys
Forbidden
Deceived
Tempted
Ruined
Seduced
The Notorious Flynns
The Other Duke
The Scoundrel’s Lover
The Widow Wager
No Gentleman for Georgina
A Marquis for Mary
The Ladies Book of Pleasures
A Matter of Sin
A Moment of Passion
A Measure of Deceit
The Pleasure Wars Series
Taken By the Duke
Pleasuring The Lady
Beauty and the Earl
Beautiful Distraction
About Elizabeth Essex
Elizabeth Essex is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed historical romance, including Reckless Brides, and her new Highland Brides series. Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and Seal of Excellence Award, and RWA’s prestigious RITA Award. The Reckless Brides Series has also made Top-Ten lists from Romantic Times, The Romance Reviews and Affaire de Coeur Magazine, and Desert Isle Keeper status at All About Romance. Her fifth book, A BREATH OF SCANDAL, was awarded Best Historical in the Reader’s Crown 2013. MAD, PLAID AND DANGEROUS TO MARRY is her eighteenth book.
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When not rereading Jane Austen, mucking about in her garden, or simply messing about with boats, Elizabeth can be always be found with her laptop, making up stories about heroes and heroines who live far more exciting lives than she. It wasn’t always so. Long before she ever set pen to paper, Elizabeth graduated from Hollins College with a BA in Classics and Art History, and then earned her MA in Nautical Archaeology from Texas A&M University. While she loved the life of an underwater archaeologist, she has found her true calling writing lush, lyrical historical romance full of passion, daring and adventure.
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Elizabeth lives in Texas with her husband, the indispensable Mr. Essex, and her active and exuberant family in an old house filled to the brim with books.
Also By Elizabeth Essex
Highland Brides
Mad for Love
Mad About the Marquess
A Fine Madness
Mad, Plaid and Dangerous to Marry
Mad Dogs and Englishwomen (Coming soon!)
Dartmouth Brides
The Pursuit of Pleasure
A Sense of Sin
The Danger of Desire
The Kent Brothers Chronicles
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Anthologies
Vexed (featuring Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea)
Tempted at Christmas (featuring A Merry Devil)
Dashing All the Way (featuring Up on the Rooftops)
Christmas Brides (featuring The Scandal Before Christmas)
A Christmas Brothel (featuring The Ship Captain’s Tale)
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For news and up-to-date information on Elizabeth’s books, please sign up for her newsletter at elizabethessex.com.
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