Epilogue #2
“We will arrive on time. The journey would normally take three days and I have allotted six just in case we are delayed by weather or for any other reason,” he reminded her, shrugging aside the anxious twinge he felt every time he imagined spending three entire weeks in somebody else’s house. At least Kathryn would be with him.
She eyed the storm doubtfully. “It is coming down really heavily.”
“There are many inns on this road. If the snow makes travel hazardous then we will find someplace warm to stay and bundle up and entertain ourselves however we can.”
“Do you have answers for everything?”
“When you ask such easy questions.” He tucked a bright corkscrew of hair behind her ear and kissed her.
He’d intended it to be a peck, but she slid her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
When he finally pulled away, she was flushed and breathless, her green eyes sparkling and her hair glowing like burnished copper even in the low light of the carriage.
“I hope our child has your coloring.” He paused and then added, “But perhaps not your temper.”
She laughed, as he’d hoped she would, and gave him a playful shove. “I am not the only one with a temper.”
Gerrit knew she was remembering him thrashing Staines. And grabbing Ampthill. And perhaps he had become a bit tetchy with that obnoxious young buck who’d approached their table when they’d been dining in a posting inn and—
“As for my hair,” she said, pulling Gerrit from his musings. “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Do you know how often I was mocked for it?”
“Did you not have anyone to protect you?”
“My sisters would leap to my defense whenever they overheard any teasing. Even Doddy would protect me, although he reserved the right to tease me when there was nobody else around.”
“If anyone mocks you now, I shall thrash them.”
“My own personal knight.”
“God no. I know how cruelly you sacrifice your knights.”
She gave an enchanting gurgle.
Gerrit cleared his throat and met her merry gaze. “There is something I have been wondering about for quite some time now.”
***
“Oh dear. That sounds ominous,” Katie teased, wriggling a bit on his lap and smirking when her bottom rubbed against something hard that was not his thigh.
He winced. “You little witch.”
“Gerrit!” Katie yelped when he lifted her again, this time positioning her so that she was straddling his thighs.
“Hush,” he muttered, and then fussed with her cloak so that she was covered before reaching beneath it and pulling up the hem of her gown until she was naked to her waist. And then he drew her down on his lap so that Katie felt the cool buckskin of his breeches against the heated folds of her sex.
She moaned. “Gerrit.”
“Much better,” he said, a faint smirk on his lips. “Now, I want to know who else was on that list.”
Katie’s eyes, which had been drifting shut as she shamelessly reveled in her wicked position and the friction it afforded her, flew open. “List?” she said, although she was afraid that she knew exactly what he meant.
His eyes narrowed. “Kathryn.”
“Oh, that list. Erm, I don’t really recall.”
“I know you remember.”
“How do you know that?”
He cocked his head.
How did he manage to be more intimidating when he didn’t speak?
“Why are you asking me this now, Gerrit?”
“Fowler will be at Wych House for Christmas, won’t he?”
“Yes, along with Letty, his new wife. You have nothing to—”
“Did you kiss him, Kathryn?”
She swallowed down her teasing response—judging by the glitter in his pale gaze now was not the time—and shook her head. “I did not kiss Angus.”
“Will there be anyone else at your family’s party who was on the list?”
“No.”
He made a rumbling sound deep in his chest. “Good.”
Katie reached out and carded her fingers through his hair. He’d let it grow for her and it was just as gorgeously curly as she’d suspected. She pulled as she stroked, and his eyelids became heavy, the suspicion and anger that had been there only seconds before draining away.
“Are you trying to distract me?” he demanded.
“Correct.”
He barked a laugh and then slid both his hands around her face and drew her closer, until they were scarcely an inch apart, and he kissed her nose, the warm, no-longer-so-rare smile on his face.
“I need to work on my subtle manipulating techniques, do I?”
“No. You are quite skilled enough as it is—as you are well aware.” He kissed her. “You are a very wicked girl.”
“I think you like that about me.”
“I do like that. I like everything about you,” he murmured.
“Everything?” she teased.
“Everything except the way you use your knights to humiliate and destroy me.”
Katie laughed.
He rubbed their noses together before releasing her.
Katie straightened up, biting back a grimace at the twinge in her back.
She was no longer as flexible as she’d been even a month ago.
She looked down at her husband, lightly stroking her palm over his sharp cheekbone.
“I’m sure there are plenty of things you dislike about me—or at least things that you don’t care for. ”
“No.”
“Why do I think you are fibbing?”
“I do not fib.” He gave her a stern look, but the slight curve of his lips gave him away. “Now, about your list—”
She covered her eyes with one hand and groaned. “I don’t want to think about that dreadful list or who was on it. I which everyone could just forget that night and—”
“I won’t forget it.”
“Oh, Gerrit! Please can’t we—”
“Why would I want to forget the night I met the woman I love?”
Katie caught her breath and then spread her fingers and peeked out between them. “Love?” she squeaked.
He removed her hand from her eyes, kissed her palm, and then placed her hand on his chest. “You’ve stolen my heart, Kathryn.” His lips twitched. “And I didn’t even know I had one.”
Katie blinked rapidly but a tear still escaped and slid down her cheek. She quickly brushed it aside.
Gerrit grimaced. “Please don’t cry. I—”
“They are tears of happiness. I never thought to hear you say those words, Gerrit. I was not sure you even believed in love.”
“I didn’t until I met you. When I look at you, or when I’m with you, or even when I am thinking about you, I feel a rush of pleasure more intense than anything else I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never felt this way before, Kathryn. I am not sure you can imagine how—”
“I can imagine it because I have been feeling the same thing for months and months.” She dashed away another tear, smiling. “I am sorry for being a watering pot. It is just that I did not think you felt the same way.”
“I didn’t either.” He pulled a face. “I do not mean that I didn’t think I felt the same way, but that I did not believe that you did. Listen to me, babbling like a fool.”
“I rather like it.”
He snorted. “Proud of yourself for reducing me to this state?”
“Very.”
He chuckled and his usually formidable gaze suddenly softened, and a vulnerable expression settled on his face, something Katie had never thought to see on his aloof features.
“What is it, Gerrit?” she asked after a moment.
“I often think about how you came to my bedchamber that night.”
She felt herself blush to her roots. How could she be so silly after everything they had shared?
Gerrit saw her blush and looked amused. “I did not mean that part of your visit. Although of course I am thinking about it now.” He pulsed his hips, making her groan, but then grew serious.
“No, what I think about is that we would be living separate lives right now if not for your wisdom and bravery in coming to me.”
“As much as I would love to take all the credit for my behavior, I have to remind you that I did not come to that decision without plenty of encouragement from your mother, Amelia, and Stone.”
“Perhaps. But you were wise enough and brave enough to listen to their advice. You will not convince me that you are not largely responsible for my happiness, Kathryn. And for teaching me how to love.”
If he hadn’t already melted Katie’s heart half-a-dozen times already, that declaration would have done it.
“You already knew how to love—you show it in dozens of ways for the people you care about. As for loving you? You are very loveable, Gerrit.” She placed a finger across his lips when it looked like he might argue that point.
“I think we were both just waiting for each other,” she said, leaning low to give him a kiss.
When she released him, she cupped his face. “I want to hear it again.”
He cocked his head, as if confused. “I know how cruelly you sacrifice your knights?”
Katie laughed. “You know what I mean.”
He tightened his arms until she was pressed snugly against him. “I love you, my duchess, my seductress, my darling wife.”
Katie sighed happily. “I will never get tired of hearing that.”
“Good,” Gerrit said, covering her face with light kisses. “Because I will never get tired of saying I love you.”
“And showing it?” Kathryn cocked a taunting eyebrow and then reached between their bodies and quickly unhooked his fall before tugging open his soft, well-worn leathers.
Gerrit laughed as she freed him from his garments. “And showing that I love you,” he agreed.
And then he took her in his arms and did exactly that.
The end