Epilogue
Three Months Later
“You are the host, Nicholas. You can’t be pawing at women in shadowy corners at your own ball,” Cordelia said, blushing profusely as her husband’s hands grasped her from behind and attempted to push her against the stone wall of the balcony and lift her skirts.
His teeth found her ear and nipped, and she shivered.
“I can if those women are my wife,” he whispered, his low, breathy voice enough to make her wet on its own. She swatted his hands away and finally wriggled free.
“This party was your idea, remember? To commemorate our friends and hardships and to start afresh.” He nodded along, his grin not turning any less roguish. He said nothing, and Cordelia could feel her resolve weakening. “Our guests will be coming at any moment!” she cried.
But when he only stepped nearer, his handsome face reminding her of all the ways she loved this infuriating, incorrigible man, she jumped into his arms.
One kiss won’t hurt.
Well, that one kiss turned into several minutes of feverish kisses, licks, and nips, with whispered promises of more. Finally, her resolve returned, and she pushed him away, pinning up a stray lock of her hair.
“You nearly ripped my costume!” she said, and he laughed.
“I would happily have done so, love, but you may be surprised to find I have some restraint left. Even with you around.”
He winked at her, and her stomach filled with a warmth that never seemed to quell when he was around her.
It had been three months of true marriage to Nicholas, and yet every day, she seemed to want him more.
They spent much time alone, but they also spent time with the two children happily playing, going on small trips, or simply being.
It had been more blissful than she ever could have expected.
A true marriage, not a cage.
And she had certainly not expected her own wantonness when it came to her handsome husband, the handsomest man of her acquaintance, she had known for a long time.
With each time they were together, they grew closer, and her love grew deeper.
She felt finally as though she had found a love like her parents.
“Well, I thank you for that,” she teased. “Come. We need to find our masks.”
“You make a fair Juliet,” he said, following behind her.
“And you a handsome Romeo.”
“Let’s hope this evening turns out a little better,” he said.
When the guests arrived, all dressed in various Shakespearean characters with accompanying masks, it was all Cordelia could have dreamed of.
You would love this, Helen. This is just what you envisioned, I think.
They greeted guests at their new countryside manor, two hours from London, where the air was fresh, and she and Nicholas and the children could breathe easy and make their dreams.
She was delighted when her family arrived, her sisters and mother looking happier, healthier, and more well-dressed than since their father had died. Danae’s mouth was wide as she took everything in.
“What a wonder! Cordelia, Nicholas, you are masters at the craft of creating a masquerade ball.”
“You shall have to thank Mrs. Wright mainly, for her direction, and guidance of all the staff,” Cordelia said modestly. “She truly is an inspiration.”
“My wife is being modest,” Nicholas said, placing a hand on the small of her back. “She is the mastermind behind it all.”
Danae giggled and rushed off into the crowd, Emma rolling her eyes after her.
“Welcome, Mama. I hope you enjoy the night.”
“Of course we shall. What a delightful ball, and what a delight to see the two of you so gloriously happy,” she said, with a beaming smile, and then she too, left for the crowd.
Once the guests had all entered, she and Nicholas went to the front of the room, and Nicholas hit his glass.
“Welcome friends, family, and honored guests,” he said.
“The duchess and I should like to honor our friends this evening. David and Helen, Lord and Lady Riverton. Helen especially loved a Shakespearean ball, and they were our dearest friends.” He looked to Cordelia, whose eyes were filling with tears.
“Raise your glasses to them as we remember their kindness, good spirits, and zest for life. May we all be like them, and may we raise their children in a way that honors their legacy.”
“Hear, hear!” the crowd cried, and they all drank, Cordelia’s heart warming at the thought of her friend.
The musicians began, and Nicholas grabbed Cordelia, pulling her into the first dance.
“You will not be able to get away from me this evening, wife,” he said, pulling them into the waltz while other couples gathered around them.
She looked into his bright blue eyes. He wore a dark, well-fitting coat that stretched over handsome shoulders.
His cravat was crisp white, but his boots were shiny black.
His dark, beaded mask only made him look more devil-may-care.
He had cut his hair in the last few months, but he continued to keep his roguish stubble, and Cordelia had grown to crave the feel of it against her skin.
In his arms, she grinned. “Whyever should I wish to get away from you?”
“To be a good hostess and greet our guests or whatever it is that good hostesses do.”
She laughed. “I am a duchess after all.”
“Yes, you are.” He spun her and then pulled her close again while music swelled around them. “You are my duchess and I your duke, and apparently, we look gloriously happy.”
She sighed, her fingertips making little swirls on the back of his neck, which she knew he loved. His darkening gaze told her so.
“I think that very true, although I should never wish for you to get a big head, my love.”
He shook his head. “It is already so, so you might as well admit it.”
The rest of the evening passed in a delicious blur.
As promised, Nicholas did not stray far, and she enjoyed at long last feeling like she was leading her own life, no longer victim to the whims of money or evil men who wished to ruin her.
Instead, she had a home, a loving husband, two beautiful children, and a life of satisfaction and contentment.
She was tired in a lovely sort of way as they waved goodbye to their final guests, those who were remaining having already gone upstairs to their beds.
“Let’s go check on the children,” she said with a yawn, taking Nicholas’s hand as they rose up the steps.
“Do you like the house, my love?”
“I adore it! As do Tim and Olivia. So much room to play.”
In the last few months, they’d gotten a dog too, who’d become entirely devoted to the twins.
When she and Nicholas creaked open the door to the nursery to look upon them, the dog slept comfortably on the floor between the two beds.
Nicholas wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed his chin to her shoulder.
“Are you happy, my love?”
“More than you know,” she said. “They are too, I think.” She took a breath. “Would they be happy? David and Helen?”
He nodded against her. “Yes, I think they would be delighted. All because of you. You’ve been a wonderful mother.”
Mother.
She had shied away from the word, not wanting to take Helen’s place, but she had been their mother in every sense of the word since she’d taken them in.
“And you a wonderful father.”
“Ah,” he scoffed, and she turned into his arms, shutting the door behind him.
“No more scoffing at compliments.”
He grinned. “Fine. I’ll stop scoffing if you let me do what I wished to do earlier.”
Her heart sped up, and she took his hand, following him up to his room.
When she entered, he tore off his mask and did the same with hers, and then his mouth was on hers.
She pulled him against her, gasping as his mouth trailed a line of fire down her neck.
He spun her around, pulling at the laces of her gown and then her corset, moving nimbly and quickly.
“So urgent,” she teased, and she was met with a near growl.
“I have had to watch all evening while you dance with various guests and show your smiles to other men.”
“I cannot smile?” she asked with a lifted, teasing brow.
“Of course you can smile. But it only makes me want you more.”
With a few firm tugs, she was naked in front of him, her gown pooling at her feet.
He helped her out of it, and then he scooped her up into his arms, a little shrieked emitting from her lips. He laid her down on the bed and tried to kiss her again, but she shook her head, rising up to pull off his coat.
“You too have too many clothes on. I must also watch as you flirt with all the other young ladies with your handsome eyes and roguish smile. Their eyes watching the shape of your shoulders underneath your coat.”
He grinned wickedly as she pull his shirt from his trousers. “I want no one but you, love. No flirtations elsewhere.” He pressed her hand to his heart. “I swear it.”
“I was not worried, Nicholas.” In truth, she had enjoyed watching him that evening, being his usual charming self, but she knew she had his heart.
“Good.” He removed his trousers and stepped out of his boots, and he lifted her in his arms, her hands resting on his shoulders.
When his hardness pressed at her center, she gasped, and he chuckled. “Wrap your legs around me, love.”
She did, holding tight to his shoulders and with his hands on her thighs, she sank onto him.
His strength was intoxicating as he held her and smoothly moved himself in and out of her, forcing her breaths to come in short gasps.
He nipped at her neck, her ear, and when she feared she would come apart in his arms, he laid her down on the bed and kissed her, his feet still on firm ground.
He paused in his movements, leaning up to look at her, and she reached for him, scratching her nails against his muscled arms.
“No fair,” she said, “teasing me like this.”
His gaze darkened again, and he lifted her thighs, sliding ever deeper, making her eyes widen.
“I shall make it my life’s work to tease that expression out of you, dear wife.”
They spoke no more as he moved in harder, deeper thrusts, his hands clutching her thighs and bending her open to him while he stood.
Their eyes met, and she finally came apart, pleasure rising and breaking over her like a wave, crackling and sparkling while she shook. He continued his steady movements, picking up pace until his hands gripped her thighs tightly and he shuddered as he spilled into her.
She loved to watch him come apart, and come apart for her, this rogue who had been a determined rake. He was now hers. When he climbed into bed beside her, he pulled her close.
“You are everything I could have wished for,” he whispered into her ear as her back was against his chest.
Goosebumps rose on her skin as he caressed her arm.
“And you,” she said.
“To think, you have taken a former rake for a husband, you of all people, who thought me irredeemable.”
She shifted in his arms to look at him, and she pressed a hand to his cheek. “I never thought that, although you tried to make me think so,” she said.
His eyes looked hopeful. She knew it would take time for Nicholas to see himself as she saw him. But love would get them there.
“I think I rather like having a rake for a husband. I can see what Helen was thinking,” she said teasingly.”
He gripped her bottom. “Is that so?”
“Yes, a woman wants a man with certain…experience.”
“I see. I had no idea,” he teased back, his mouth coming closer to hers.
“Yes, I could not have married anyone else. You have brought me out of myself, Nicholas. All fears and prudishness are past. I feel set free from whatever was holding me back.”
His eyes widened a little at her admission. “My perfect, lovely, Cordelia.”
“Perfect?” she asked. “Doubtful. But I’ll take it.”
“I love you.” His hands stroked her back.
“I love you too. For always.”
“For always. Cord.”
At that, they burst into laughter until they came together again, words no longer necessary.
The End?