Say Yes to the Duke (39 page)

Come to me,
her heart said. He’d done so in her dreams for years. And now …

Now she wanted it to happen here, in front of her family.

“As Lady Chadwick has said, this day is shocking,” he reminded all the company. “I’m
a duke.” He glanced down at his dusty groom’s jacket with wry amusement, but then
his mood sobered. “It will take some very serious convincing of the legal system to
claim my proper title, as you all know. And I’ll need time to figure this new role
out, too. But I intend to exceed everyone’s expectations—especially my own—and there’s
only one way I can do so.”

He caught Janice’s eye, and her heart began to thump like mad and her breath came
short as her one true love wended his way through various relatives to get to her.

At last, he was upon her. “I can only be duke if I can have you as my duchess,” he
said softly.

“I’ve already said yes to the duke,” she said with a smile that trembled. “But I’m
also saying yes to the groom, to the boxer, to the ex-soldier, and the rescuer of
frightened dogs.”

“Oh?” He grinned and captured her waist in his strong hands.

She looked up at the window where Aaron, happy and confident, waved down to her. “And
yes to the man who’ll teach our children that any strength worth having always begins
in the heart.”

“That’s a lot to ask a brute like me,” he said, “but I’m up to the challenge. Anything
else?”

She eyed him speculatively. “How about yes to the man who’ll learn to love a lonely
old woman with a temper?”

“It will be an adventure. But how about this?” He leaned close to her ear. “You’ll
say yes to the man who comes knocking on your bedchamber door tonight, at two in the
morning precisely.”

He planted a lush kiss on her mouth, and her entire body suffused with delicious heat.
“But Luke?”

“Yes?”

“Isobel will be asleep in the little closet of a room attached to my bedchamber.”

“Oh.”

“Plus, Mama and Daddy will be down the corridor.”

“I see.” He thought a moment. “How about yes to a quick elopement to Scotland then?”

“What a wonderful idea! But only if the whole family can come, don’t you agree?”

“Of course.”

She laughed aloud at the idea of all those carriages going to Gretna. And then she
remembered. “Do you mind waiting for Gregory and Pippa? They’re supposed to arrive
in London from Paris any day now. I can’t wait for you to meet Little Bertie. Oh—and
there’s Alice. In Ireland. If she has to miss the wedding, we need to sail to Ireland
right afterward to see her, or she’ll never forgive us.”

He laughed. “I see that I’ll have to say yes to the entire House of Brady.”

“You understand me so well.” She kissed him with such fervor she almost forgot—she
reached into a coat pocket and pressed a key in his hand.

“What’s this?”

“It goes to the new cellar lock,” she whispered. “I pinched it from the pantry. I
had to try seventeen different ones.”

“Ah. Good work.” Luke pulled her even closer and looked into her eyes with such tender
passion, Janice was brought right back to their very first kiss. “Shall we steal away
after tea?”

They both smiled. Then their mouths joined in an ardent celebration of the union they
knew was to come. And so it was that Janice and Luke said yes—

To love.

Epilogue

“Read it to me again,” the dowager said from her Bath chair. “It’s like speaking to
Emily March herself.”

They were sitting in the dowager’s bedchamber—she, Janice, and Luke—two days after
Janice’s family had arrived at Halsey House.

“Very well,” said Janice. She opened the old notebook and cleared her throat:

“And so, Your Grace,”
she read,
“in addition to being your lady’s maid, I am your darling Everett’s widow, and I shall
bear his child. We were going to tell you shortly, but he was waiting, you see, to
find the right moment. You already had the shock of your dear husband’s death to contend
with. But if it’s any consolation, if I bear a boy, he is the next Duke of Halsey.”

Me,
Luke mouthed proudly to Janice, and pointed a thumb at his chest.

“Yes, you,” said the dowager, her eyes lit with amusement.

Luke started, his cheeks red. It was obvious he didn’t realize his grandmother was
looking.

“And you’re a scamp, just like your father,” Her Grace added.

Janice stifled a laugh. And Luke, abashed as he was, grinned.

“Go on.” The elderly lady waved a hand at Janice.

It was a gesture the Queen was quite fond of. But Her Majesty was nowhere in sight
and hadn’t been seen since Janice had first read the notebook aloud to the dowager,
the same day she’d found it.

Janice sat up straight and continued:
“But I’m much too afraid of Russell to stay.”

When she looked up at the dowager, the old woman’s eyes were crimped with pain. But
there was also tremendous interest there. Somehow, reliving these events was good
for Her Grace. This was the fourth time Janice had read her the notebook.

Luke put his hand on Janice’s knee and squeezed.

“I saw him watch his brother drown when he knew how to swim to him to save him,”
she read. Her eyes stung every time.
“So you see how I’d rather my child grow up in obscurity than risk his life asserting
his ducal rights. God bless you, Your Grace, and know that I wander the world with
Everett’s love in my heart and his blood in our child’s veins. Your devoted servant
and daughter, Emily March Hildebrand.”

“They were fishing,” the dowager said. “The boat sprang a leak.”

“Was that an accident?” Luke asked her softly.

“I don’t know,” said his grandmother. “We’ll never know, I suppose.”

“I’m going to hope it was,” said Janice, “and I’m also going to hope that Russell
was too paralyzed by shock to rescue his brother.”

The dowager chuckled. “You’re a good girl. But with the benefit of hindsight, even
I, Russell’s mother, believe it might have been planned. My younger son had been jealous
a very long time, long before he became duke. After he assumed the title, he was cruel
to me, cruel to Grayson, and he died a bitter man.”

“That’s so sad.” Janice sighed and shared a poignant look with her future husband.

“Tell me again your part in all this,” Her Grace asked Luke.

“Certainly.” He settled deeper into the sofa. “Just two months ago, I was dropping
off a pouch of coins at St. Mungo’s. I do it every year on my birthday and at Christmas.
Secretly.”

Janice kissed his cheek.

Luke smiled, rather embarrassed again. “But Sister Brigid waited up late for me this
time. She caught me in the act, and she told me the orphanage needed my help. It seemed
that Grayson wouldn’t leave the nuns alone. He’d been looking for Emily’s offspring
and was harassing them to reveal what they knew about me.”

The dowager’s brows lowered.

“So that dark night,” Luke went on, “Sister Brigid told me the truth—that
I
am the Duke of Halsey. Not Grayson. Of course, I had no idea I was related to a peer
at all. I was a boxer, a soldier—”

“And a groom,” the dowager added, her eyes gleaming with pleasure. She clearly liked
Luke’s dramatic style.

Janice kissed his cheek again.

Luke winked at her, then went on: “Sister Brigid had promised Emily before she died
never to reveal the truth to me of my origins. Emily was afraid it would put me in
danger. But Sister told me she must. She said I was a man now and well able to take
care of myself, as I clearly am. And St. Mungo’s needed me to claim the title so that
Grayson’s harassment would cease.”

Her Grace let out a frustrated sigh.

“Don’t give up on Grayson yet,” said Janice. “Surely he’ll come round eventually.”

“But it wasn’t true that I wanted to stay up in that stifling bedchamber.” The dowager
pouted. “I can’t believe he told you that.”

Janice winced. “Well, you did say that, actually, Your Grace. You were so upset with
me when I tried to take you out.”

The dowager’s eyes registered some confusion.

“It’s all right, Granny,” Luke said. “Part of you didn’t want to face what had happened.
And another part of you wanted to rejoin the world.”

“And part of Grayson was looking out for you,” said Janice. “And another part of him
found it terribly convenient that he could tuck you away so that no one would bring
up the awful events of the past.”

“Go on,” the dowager snapped at them both. Much like the Queen. But there were no
sneezes. “Finish your story, Luke.”

Apparently, she wasn’t ready to analyze the situation or couldn’t, which was fine.
It was early days yet.

Luke nodded. “All right, Granny. So Sister Brigid had heard from Emily herself that
Russell was responsible for Everett’s death. But Sister knew nothing more than that—except
for the very important fact that Russell would gladly kill me if he could find me.
Somehow, he managed to trace me to the orphanage. But a kind nun put money in my pocket
when I was eleven and told me to run. There was another orphanage in Bristol. But
I never made it. I grew up on the streets, and after Russell died last year, Grayson
started the search up again.”

“Which takes us back to Sister Brigid,” the dowager said.

“Right,” answered Luke. “All that could possibly help me establish my claim was the
missing diary. Emily had told Sister about it, but we didn’t know if it still existed.
But it did, obviously. Janice here found it.”

“Good for you, Janice.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.” Janice put the notebook down, and Luke wrapped his hand around
hers.

“Well.” The dowager inhaled a deep breath. “That’s a fine tale. And I’m glad it has
a happy ending. Tomorrow we’ll go over the part involving my stove house. I always
knew that gardener was special.”

“He is,” said Janice.

Luke stood and pulled her up with him. “We’re off now, Granny, for our daily walk.”

Janice nodded. “But we’ll come back later.”

“Very good,” said the duchess. “But before you go on this walk of yours…”

“Yes?” asked Luke.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Anything,” said Janice.

“Is there anyone staying in the old wing?”

“No,” said Luke.

“Oh, well, in the old wing, there’s a fine bedchamber at the opposite end of my tiny
one. I left a pair of spectacles there. Please look for them.”

“But Your Grace, I’ve never seen you wear spectacles,” Janice said.

Her Grace merely stared at her. Her silence spoke volumes.

Heat spread across Janice’s face as she began to realize … there was no way the dowager
was leading them to a trysting spot, was she? And then she realized the Queen would.
Oh, yes, indeed,
she
would!

Luke cleared his throat. “Of course we’ll look for them, Granny.”

The dowager finally settled her gaze on him. “Very good. And if you don’t find them,
you’ll have to look again tomorrow. I’m sure they’re there.”

Luke and Janice left the room feeling like two naughty schoolchildren, and as they
walked up the two flights of stairs and got closer to their destination their legs
carried them faster and faster.

“There’s something very strange about this,” Janice said.

“I like her,” Luke replied.

They both chuckled.

And when they got to that bedchamber, they actually looked for a pair of spectacles—

For about three seconds.

And then Luke shut the door, Janice flung herself in his arms, and they fell back
onto the enormous poster bed, side by side, kissing all the while.

“This beats the cellar,” Luke said against her mouth.

“But it had a charm of its own,” replied Janice, running her hand down his shirtfront.

“Yes, and spiders, too.” Luke sat her up and undid her laces.

“It did?”

“Only one,” he said, “and I killed it. But I don’t know about mice.”

Janice shuddered, and she didn’t know if it was from contemplating mice and spiders
or from Luke’s touch. His finger was running loopy circles around her nipple while
he kissed the side of her neck.

She decided that it was Luke—and for the next three minutes they rolled and kissed
and pulled and tugged until they were both naked and Luke was poised above her.

Already.

“This is awfully fast,” he said, a bead of sweat on his temple. “We should stop now
and start over. This time we’ll take it much slower.”

“No, let’s not.” Janice was a little short of breath. “That was yesterday. And the
day before. Remember?”

He gazed down at her adoringly. “How could I forget?”

“My back remembers.” She giggled.

“Mine, too,” he said. “You demanded to be on top the second time.”

“Well, a girl can take only so much cellar floor.”

He laughed and brushed some hair off her cheek. “This is our first time in a real
bed.”

“I know.” She felt shy of a sudden. “But I’m ready—if you meant that this signifies
something more than a bed of hard-packed dirt would.”

“I don’t think it does at all.” He kissed her softly. “But
you
mean more to me. Every time.”

“As do you,” she whispered. “Your grandmother told me love can’t be measured. And
she’s right. I have no way to explain how loving you is bigger than anything I’ve
ever done or been a part of.”

He kissed her again. “Only this comes close for me,” he said, and with a firm, loving
kiss—one that claimed her as his own—he entered her.

“Mm-m-m.” She wrapped her legs around him. “Me, too.”

They clung and let their bodies speak what they couldn’t say, riding to a sweet conclusion
that was both wild and beautiful.

When it was over, Luke collapsed upon Janice’s neck and she sighed with happiness.

Together they were love.

Also by KIERAN KRAMER

T
HE
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OUSE OF
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RADY