Chapter Thirty-Four
T he nurse pushed the pram next to Lily as she tilted her bonneted head up to allow a bit of sun to warm her face. It was a chilly morning, but the bright sun promised a lovely day.
William was missing it as he’d fallen asleep minutes into their walk in the park.
It was because Lily was looking at her son that she did not first notice the man walking next to her.
She turned thinking perhaps Finn had decided to join them after all, but realized the man was too short to be her husband.
She almost didn’t recognize him, despite having once thought she would spend her life looking at his face. His sideburns had grown out into fluffy wings about his face, making him look all the more ridiculous.
“Good day, my lady,” Reggie said.
Lily thought to correct his address, but that would require speaking to him. Something she didn’t want to do.
Turning to the nurse, he smiled to ask, “Who is this handsome gent?”
“He’d be the Earl of Haliday.”
Reggie looked back at Lily with a knowing smirk on his face.
“Is that so? And how old is the earl?”
Lily opened her mouth to tell him it was none of his business, but the nurse took it upon herself to answer.
“He turned three months on the eleventh, my lord.”
“I see.” The smirk grew wider.
“Would you give us a moment, Sara?” Lily said stiffly.
“Yes, Your Grace,” the woman seemed to realize Lily was not pleased with the man, but it had been too late.
“Your Grace?” Reggie questioned as soon as Sara was out of hearing. “So you married yourself a duke? And put a cuckoo egg in his nest?”
She wanted to tell the man he was certainly a cuckoo, but to do so would be to confirm his accusation.
“I surely don’t know what you speak of, Mr. Flockton.” When he opened his mouth, no doubt to explain, she interrupted. “Please, I don’t need an explanation. It would only draw out this discussion and as I don’t wish to ever speak to you, that is the opposite of what I wish to do. Good day, and good life to you.”
She turned to walk away, but the bounder had the audacity to grasp hold of her arm.
“You think you are better than me now that you married a duke?”
“No. Not at all. I knew I was better than you the moment I learned you ran out on me like a feckless coward. Unhand me, you weasel, this gown is new, and I’d rather not have it sullied by your stench.”
His overly charming smile twisted into a cruel snarl. How had she ever thought the man handsome? She could see how rotten he was under the dimples and long lashes. He was nothing but a beautiful serpent. Lily could easily commiserate with Eve for being fooled.
Lily turned away from him, tugging her arm from his grip and hurried to catch up with William and Sara.
It was so Lily’s luck to run into the very man she never wanted to see again on her first day in the park. She squared her shoulders and held her head higher as she looked about to see if anyone had witnessed the confrontation.
No one was staring at her or pointing, so she brushed at the wrinkles on her sleeve and walked on feeling stronger for having faced down the monster and walked away unscathed.
Perhaps her fingers trembled slightly as she pushed a strand of hair back into her bonnet, but she’d survived the ordeal. It was over. She never needed to think of Reggie Flocton ever again.
“Is everything all right, Your Grace?” Sara asked, a hint of worry in her eyes.
“Everything is splendid,” Lily said.
*
Lily stepped into Finn’s study and waited by the doorway as if needing a formal invitation to come in.
“Such proper manners here in town, Your Grace,” he teased and waved her in. He stood and walked around the large desk to greet her with a proper kiss.
“I didn’t know if you would be busy while we were here.”
“Too busy for you? Never. In fact, I’ve been waiting here for short on an hour hoping you’d happen by so I might toss you up on my desk and have my way with you.”
Lily spun around and for a moment Finn worried he’d offended her, but when she only closed and locked the door, his smile returned.
She came closer and kissed him. Then paused and picked up a letter from his desk.
“What is this?” she asked.
“An invitation, as are the rest on that pile.”
“This is to my sister’s ball.”
“Aye. I’m aware. I was going to ask you if you would like to attend. I know Millicent is not your favorite person, but the rest of your family might be there, and while I don’t give a fig about what others think, it might seem odd that we do not attend a family function.”
Lily nodded. “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. I didn’t think we would be so popular,” she said as she flipped through the stack of invitations.
He took advantage of her inattention to sweep the few loose curls from her neck so he could put his lips against the soft skin there.
As he’d hoped, she shivered and dropped the invitations in a messy pile on the desk. Turning to him, she smiled and he swept in to kiss her greedily.
Pulling her leg up to his hip, he pushed her gown higher until a sharp knock at the door halted his progress.
“Bloody hell,” Finn complained as Lily giggled and put her foot back on the floor. Going to the door, he unlocked and opened it to find the butler, Blackwood. “Yes?”
“Lord Flemming and Lord Breckenridge are here to see you, Your Grace.”
“Tell them it’s not a—”
“You weren’t thinking to turn us away, were ye?” Shay said as he barged in with Reese on his trail.
“Good day, Your Grace,” Reese said while offering a bow to Lily.
Shay wasn’t satisfied with a bow and stepped close enough to take her hand and place a too-long kiss to her skin. “We missed ye when we visited yesterday, Your Grace.” He practically purred her title.
With a growl, Finn moved forward and shoved his best friend away from his wife.
“That’s enough of that.”
Lily chuckled and shook her head, clearly amused by their antics.
“And yes, I was going to turn you away. I’m busy.” Or he had been busy, trying to get under his wife’s skirts. But now Lily was leaving.
She stopped and looked up at him through her dark lashes.
“I’ll be upstairs resting, when you are done with your business here.” She squeezed his arm before allowing her fingers to trail across his back and over his arse.
“Minx,” he whispered and had every intention of following her until he heard glasses clinking.
Right. He had guests.
With another growl, he turned back to them.
“What do you want?” he snapped, unable to bank his irritation.
“By God, you were going to tup her here on your desk, weren’t you? You dirty hound,” Shay said with a wide grin.
“There’s nothing dirty about a husband showing affection for his wife.”
“Affection.” Reese snorted.
Since he was closest, Finn reached out and gave him a light smack on the back of the head.
“Ouch!”
“What do you want?” Finn repeated.
Reese batted his long blond lashes that made the women swoon. Finn, not so much.
“Are you not happy to see us?”
“Not as happy as I would have been to see my wife out of her dress.”
Shay held out a glass. “Sorry we’ve such poor timing. We only wanted to see if you were up for some fun tonight. Come to Nuit Noire with us.”
“I was up for some fun a few minutes ago,” Finn mumbled more to himself. To his friends he just shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be up for visiting your club, or the kind of fun you’re referring to. I’m married. It’s balls and musicales for me.”
His friends frowned. It wasn’t as if Finn spent so many nights out carousing.
“I was never good at cards before and I have no desire to spend the evening in a gaming hell. I’m a married man. A father.”
“You owe me a guinea,” Shay said while shoving Reese with his elbow.
With a frown aimed toward Finn, Reese pulled the coin from his waistcoat and handed it over.
“I told him you would be too caught up in your family for such runnin’ about,” Shay explained with his heavy brogue. The man had spent his earlier years in the Highlands and still carried the speech of his homelands. “I don’t blame ye wanting to spend time with your duchess. But you should know, even your wee lad would win against the man we’re playing tonight. It is a sure thing.”
“Nothing is a sure thing,” Finn said.
“Stevie Rockledge plays deeper when he begins to lose and doesn’t know how to stop.”
“Lord Percival?” Finn questioned and Reese nodded.
“Aye. You won’t want to miss it.”
“Watching a man bet away more than he has is not something I wish to be part of. And you shouldn’t take advantage of such a sot. Don’t you wish for a challenge?”
Shay let out a resigned breath and shrugged. “He’s going to lose his money to someone. It may as well be me. At least I would never cheat him.”
That was true enough. His friends, for as wild as they seemed, were good men.
“All the same, I plan to escort my lovely wife to a ball this evening.”
Shay scrunched up his nose as if Finn had confessed to wanting to eat slugs.
“Come now, lads. Balls are not so bad once you’re married. No reason to fear walking into a room alone, or turning into a dark hall. I can no longer be trapped by some sinister mama, or diabolical debutante.”
Reese feigned a shiver. Nearly as tall as Shay, with blond locks the women seemed to adore, Reese was practically hunted like prey during the season.
Finn chuckled at their reaction and then sobered. “If my wife wishes to host a ball, you will both come to support her. Do you understand?”
Both men frowned before nodding and following up with an, “Aye.”
“Now show us your lad.”
He escorted them upstairs to the nursery and peeked inside first to make sure Lily hadn’t stopped in to nurse their son before her nap. When he found only Willie in his crib, Finn put his index finger to his lips and waved them inside.
“He’s a brawl lad,” Shay said. “Look at the size of those mitts.”
“Are we really supposed to praise ye for doing nothing but lie with a beautiful woman? No one praises me for not having any bairns. Not having them is far more difficult than having them.”
Shay poked at Reese until he grumbled and said, “Ah, ye did a fine job, Finn.” Under his breath, Finn heard the man say something about how it was Lily who should be praised. Finn couldn’t argue there.
“Will you really not come with us this evening? The Season has already begun. There’s plenty of time. Besides, you hate balls as much as we do,” Reese pointed out.
“I used to hate them, but now that I have Lily on my arm, I’m actually looking forward to it.”
“Do you hear this, Shay? He’s gone mad. We must do something,” Reese said.
Shay just shook his head slowly.
“Nay, he’s not mad. He’s in love.”
Finn felt the word rattle through his bones and lodge in his heart. He’d wanted to find a love like his parents had. He’d always thought it would be an evasive thing. Something that would take years and dogged determination to search out. He never expected the woman of his heart to simply be waiting outside a tavern for him to stop by and pick her up. Aye, he loved her. He’d known that for some time now. But the way Shay had said it. In love. Seemed important in some way.
Yes, he was in love with his wife.
Maybe he hadn’t noticed because it had been too easy.
He did love Lily. He loved William and he loved the life they were creating. As well as the lives he and Lily would create in the future. He wanted a large family, filled with love and laughter.
Clearing his throat, he studied the men in his study. He and his best friends had always been aligned in what they wanted from life. Freedom and happiness.
But now things had shifted. Maybe not in the goal, but in the perception of what those things meant.
“If you’ll both excuse me, I must go and change so I’ll be ready to escort my lovely wife to our first London event as husband and wife. I hope you both find happiness, but for me, I know it is not to be found in a gaming hell or the backrooms of the theater.”
“It is still hours from you needing to prepare for the ball. We know you plan to go wake her from her nap. The poor duchess,” Shay taunted.
They each patted him on the back as they left. They seemed to feel sympathy for him, while Finn felt the same for them. Interesting how one’s perspective could change.
To think Finn had been like them a year ago and now, instead of seeking out darker entertainment, he was looking forward to walking into the Addington’s ball with his beautiful wife on his arm. And tonight when they returned home, he planned to ravish her and tell her how he felt for her.