Epilogue
The final night of the house party was in full swing with a grand ball that everyone was enjoying.
Well… perhaps not everyone. One lady in particular had packed up her belongings that very morning after offering an apology to Annette that she had made up the whole story about John meeting her that one fateful night.
Annette supposed Jemima only performed the courtesy, so she wasn’t on the bad side of the future Duchess of Sommer.
Annette smiled as she watched her duke on the other side of the room talking with his friends. He raised his glass to her in a silent toast before returning to his conversation, but it was enough because it meant he was thinking of her.
They had announced their engagement upon their return the next morning after the storm and while some began to gossip about what might have happened while they spent the night together, none would have been so bold as to discuss it to their faces.
And then there was Alistair who had confessed that trying to convince Clara that she should consider him as a potential husband wasn’t going as smoothly as he had hoped.
Annette had made every attempt to reassure him that maybe with time, he would be able to persuade her.
He had told Annette that he wasn’t certain he could wait that long.
She gave a troubled sigh knowing that the two of them would need to work things out between them in the end… maybe with a little help from her.
She limped her way across the room after seeing John give her an adoring look that told her he’d rather be kissing her than taking with friends.
She blushed as she remembered his kisses that night at the cabin and how she would have given herself to him if he had asked.
But he had remained the true gentleman she knew he had always been.
One day in their future she would become his wife in every way, and she looked forward to their wedding night.
Once she reached him, she linked her arms through his and he leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “You look enchanting this evening, my love.”
“Dance with me,” she said softly. John excused themselves from his group and then took her to a corner of the room.
He held her far too close as the music began before he gave her a devilish grin. “And to think we have an entire lifetime together of being this close.”
“We are going to be the talk of town with such scandalous behavior. Why the matrons in attendance are already beginning to gossip,” she said with a smile.
He leaned forward again and nibbled at her ear. “I care not what anyone thinks of us. Who would dare say anything against a duke who only wishes to hold his future duchess close in his arms tonight. The husky tone of his voice cause Annette to shiver in delight.
“I believe, Your Grace, that one day we will become much, much closer,” she said before realizing what she had just revealed.
“I believe my lady just confessed how she is looking forward to our wedding night,” he teased as they continued to slowly sway to the music.
“If you hadn’t been so stubborn, I’d already be your wife. You’ll need to make the missing time up to me,” she demanded before she began to giggle at the thought of becoming his bride.
“I believe, my love, I plan on doing just that,” he answered before carefully whisking her from the room and out onto the balcony where he kissed her senseless.
When he at last let her up for air, she held on tightly feeling so lightheaded that her knees might just buckle. “Someone could see us, John.”
“No one would dare interrupt us,” he murmured against her ear, but he suddenly remembered himself and stepped back. “But let me tell you something, my love.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for restoring and redeeming my honor. No other woman would have been so patient and understanding but you, my lovely Annette, held true to our arrangement and never gave up on me.”
“I told you that you were worth waiting for. I believe our parents would be very pleased we have truly found our way to one another,” she declared brightly.
And as John once more took her into his arms and kissed her, she thanked her lucky stars that their destinies were at last intertwined.
They indeed had a lifetime to look forward to and as she looked up to heaven before John began to lead her back inside, she knew their parents were looking down upon them smiling. Their lives were now complete.
The End
Thank you for reading a copy of Waiting for the Duke in the Sizzling Duke Summer boxset. I hope you enjoyed John and Annette’s journey to finding love.
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