Epilogue
Lord Kendrick, Duke of Alton
Sunshine cut through the elaborate design of the stained-glass door.
After a lively romp, followed by a nap, I joined my wife and lover outside near the fountain for a late breakfast. Frogs chirped in the pond, and bees hovered over the flowering shrubs.
It was a perfect spring day. I flicked the napkin onto my lap and accepted the plate Lillian had prepared for me.
Her hair was braided over one shoulder. The simple shirtwaist and narrow skirt flattered her frame. She never looked more content. “Try the peaches. They are very juicy.”
I shared a wicked grin with Colt and bit into the fruit before licking the center. “Very juicy.”
A flush brightened her cheeks. She leaned close and moistened her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. “Keep tempting me, and we will see who has the last laugh.”
“Is that a challenge?” I asked. I took another bite, the sweetness coating my tongue.
She followed my every move with her sultry eyes. “It is a promise.”
Henry walked out onto the patio with a letter on a silver tray. Today he was sporting his pantomime costume. He handed the envelope to Colt with a flourish.
“Thank you, Henry. I trust everything went as we planned?” he asked.
The secretary nodded his head.
“Planned? What plan? You never left my side until you confronted Gavin.” I popped an almond into my mouth and chewed. Last night had been about reunions. Today, I wanted information. The quicker this was behind us, the better.
“True, but we put this in place before Lillian discovered you. I never trusted Gavin, and neither did Henry. You, however, let Byron make all of your decisions for you.” He shook his head, humor enhancing his features.
“Byron?” Lillian asked, pouring tea into her cup.
Her hands were slender, nails short and rounded.
A simple band encircled her ring finger.
She was my wife, and I loved her like no other.
I reached over and clasped her wrist, rubbing my thumb along the silky underside.
The skin was warm and pliant beneath my touch.
“Henry, thank you for your help. You may go,” Colt said, flashing me a warning stare.
I took another bite of the fruit. Henry knew everything that went on in the household. Colt was being overly cautious, and I appreciated it. He’d taken care of me for a long time. Although that was no longer his responsibility, it was difficult to break old habits.
With an embellished bow, Henry disappeared inside the house.
“I think Lillian was asleep on the day we had that discussion. Your husband named his cock after the famous poet. Hence the reference to Byron,” Colt said, reclining back in his seat. He traced a condensation trail along the glass of juice with his finger.
She lifted a scone from a basket and placed it on a small plate. The rosiness in her cheeks never faded. “I seem to recall you calling your, um, your, um Byron during another encounter.”
“Before you ask, no, I have no name for mine. However, I might adopt Lord Golden as a moniker.” Colt lifted the glass of juice and sipped at the liquid, eyes crinkling with laughter.
With his head tilted back, I spied several bruises along the column of his neck.
I had been a bit too animated when I fucked him this morning.
My wife also sported several beneath her ear as well.
“It is a fitting name.” Lillian lifted a piece of the scone. The pastry crumbled beneath her fingers, and she dropped it back down to the plate.
A piece landed on her bodice, and I lifted it, allowing my palm to skim her breasts beneath the linen.
Per usual, she’d forgone a corset, and if one looked closely—like I did every time I stared at her chest—I caught the outline of her nipples.
Juvenile, yes, but when I was around her, I felt like a green youth in the throes of his first infatuation.
Love had revitalized me. “What is in the note?” I asked, trying to focus my mind on anything but rushing my lovers back upstairs and repeating our earlier coupling.
“If I tell you the story, you must promise you’ll not get mad,” Colt said, looking me in the eye.
Curious, I nodded, willing to concede to his wishes. The sooner we discussed Gavin, the quicker I could scrub him from my mind. “I’ll promise to do my best. That is all I can do.”
He traced a thumb along the length of the glass, a tick forming in his jaw. “Nobody— and I can’t stress this enough, nobody in the household liked Gavin. He was obnoxious, rude, and frankly, he bullied the staff when you weren’t paying attention.”
“He was no better than my father.” My father was a brutal and violent man, and I swore that I would never abuse the weak and vulnerable when I was duke.
I had subjected my staff to what I had tried to protect them against. Horror filled me at the revelation.
I shifted in my seat and tried to listen without another outburst. “Please, go on.”
Lillian clasped my hand in hers, offering me moral support. “You see the best in everyone. Don’t fault yourself.”
Colt shifted his leg, his foot outstretched. The brown trousers hugged his thighs. Like me, he was in his shirtsleeves, his tan vest fitting his lean torso. “If you recall, I suggested you have Gavin sign a gentleman’s agreement.”
“I heard you mention it last night. What is that?” Lillian asked.
“It is a non-binding agreement that simply stated means we both promised to keep our conversations to ourselves.” I thought it was silly, but Colt assured me it might come in handy.
He was right. Gavin had balked at first, but I convinced him to sign it by taking him to Paris.
“We’d first met when I was looking for a model for my marble statue that the queen commissioned.
We became lovers soon after. He was thrilled to be immortalized in the royal gardens, except I never finished the statue. ”
“Because of me,” she said in a small voice.
I squeezed her fingers and shook my head. “No, don’t blame yourself. What I thought was a disaster turned out to be the best day of my life. It started a chain of events culminating in what we have right now.”
Colt’s compassionate gaze skimmed her face. “Kendrick is right. You’re never to blame yourself for this. Gavin has bad character. If not for you, I wouldn’t have told the duke how I felt. But I digress. Gavin signed a gentlemen’s agreement because he had no choice.”
“If it is non-binding, I still don’t see why it mattered,” Lillian said.
Colt lifted the end of the note Henry had delivered. “Legally, no, but among gentlemen, yes. I told you that Henry was his friend. He arranged an introduction to Gavin’s mother, the opera singer, for me.”
“You presented the note to his mother?” I asked, leaning back in my seat. Gavin wasn’t fond of his mother and often lamented how she kept him under a stern thumb. Without her support, he wouldn’t be accepted into polite society; thus, he toed the line where she was concerned.
“I presented the note, but not to his mother. To his father.” A grin spread across Colt’s handsome face. He hadn’t combed his hair or shaved. His new devil-may-care persona pricked my cock and my imagination. Every second drew me deeper in love with him.
“I never met his father.”
“Sure, you have. Plenty of times. You just didn’t realize that he poses as a she.” Colt nodded at his own confession, his amusement more pronounced.
Lillian glanced from me to him, her mouth agape. “Are you telling me his mother is actually his father?”
“That is exactly what I’m telling you. He’s been singing under the pseudonym this entire time.
When Henry confessed the secret, I was as shocked as you, although I’m uncertain why.
Under Kendrick’s employ, I thought I had seen it all.
This unusual household opened my eyes to a whole new world.
A world that is hidden on the fringes of polite society.
You now live in that world, Lady Lillian. ”
“I suppose I do. My book has been selling well, and I owe it to the, um, the queer world,” she said. The bashfulness was back. “It is a shame I’ll never meet my readers.”
“But you’ll know they are out there, anxiously awaiting your next endeavor,” Colt said.
“Someday, we will dress you as a man and take you about the town. Would you like that?” I asked. The idea of Lillian’s long limbs encased in a pair of trousers appealed to my base side. I would get Henry right on procuring the garb.
“It would be a great lark. When can we go?” she asked with enthusiasm.
“As soon as Henry can get your suit made. Now Colt, how did you get Gavin to agree to leave us alone? I know his mother, er, father has great influence over him, but he could easily tell everyone his father’s secrets.
” Secrets were only as safe as the one keeping them.
I had to hide my true self or risk exposure.
My mother hid my father’s abuse from me until she could no longer protect me from the truth.
Like a house of cards, the family secrets fell, and I faced the harsh reality of his abusive nature.
I had survived by avoiding situations where I would be entrapped in entanglements.
It was a vicious cycle that I vowed to stop.
Colt crossed his feet at the ankles and tapped his toe in the air.
He was every inch the relaxed gentleman.
“People like Gavin live on the fringes. He would lose everything if he spoke out. I merely presented him with an alternative. After his father learned of the circumstances, he made Gavin honor the agreement. I put him on the first ship to New York City with enough money to get him started in a new country. The caveat is he can never come back to London.”
“You paid him off?” I asked, uncomfortable with the notion. I took a bite of the peach. Men like Gavin would take that as a sign of weakness. Once he’d been paid off, he would keep coming back for more. I was sure of it.
“You promised me you wouldn’t get upset,” he countered. Brow lifted, he sent me a silent challenge.
Either I went back on my word or remained silent on the subject. It was difficult to do the latter. “I’ll reimburse you, of course.”
“It isn’t necessary. I’m very wealthy, and I’m not ashamed to admit I yielded to his blackmail. He will not be returning to London, however. He owes too much money to a debt collector. That is why he was so desperate for the money.” Colt exhaled and rested his hands on his flat belly.
“You needn’t be so generous,” I said, pride getting in my way. Colt had already done so much for me and I would find a way to pay him back, whether he wished for it or not.
“Kendrick, smile and say thank you.” Lillian lifted the scone to her mouth, nibbling at the edge. “Colt has done us a great honor. Don’t let your pride trip you up. The fall will not be pretty.”
Colt tapped his fingers against the material of his waistcoat. Beneath the silk, lean muscles flexed, the same ones I had explored while buggering him.
“Gavin is on his way to New York. Lillian was granted her wish and is now a published author, and I finally found my new model.” I leaned my arm on the chair and stared at Colt, my mind spinning with the possibilities.
“Me?” Colt asked, his eyes wide. “I’m not a model.”
“You’re Lord Golden, the epitome of all that is gallant,” Lillian said, her entire face lit with mischief.
“I thought that was the dark knight. If I recall, which I do, Lord Golden had tricked Lady X into marrying her. It wasn’t until the dark knight figured out his ploy that she was saved.” Colt dispelled her entire argument, but Lillian wasn’t to be dissuaded.
“I believe it is the writer’s prerogative to change the plot when she deems fit.
It is my greatest wish to see you on a pedestal, naked, while Kendrick sculpts you.
If you think about it, it is a great honor.
Your image will be in the Queen’s garden.
” She lifted an arched brow and stared down at her nose at him in true duchess fashion.
“Since we are collaborating on this, you must pose right next to me,” Colt shot back, staring at her mouth with hungry eyes.
I nodded my approval. “An even better idea. We will begin posthaste.”
“I would suggest we wait until tomorrow morning. Your mother and Reverend Lowe are coming over this afternoon for tea. She is quite enamored of the vicar. I would hate to scare him off by our unorthodox manners,” Lillian said, her face turned up to the sun.
“She is still seeing him?” I had been out of town and was embarrassed to admit I hadn’t given it a second thought. My own life had been in turmoil until this morning, when all the pieces fell into place.
“They are inseparable. To act as a matchmaker for your mother was well played on your part. She is in love because you showed her how to love again.” Lillian opened her eyes and offered me a sweet smile. “You aren’t him. You never were. You will never be.”
I had feared I might turn out like my father, but I veered off that course. I became my own man by following my dreams, no matter how outlandish.
Because when you hide who you are, you never truly live. And all three of us were truly living now.
I HOPED YOU ENJOYED Charmed by a Duke!