She nodded. “Truly, you are worth every penny.”
“Well then,” he said, pulling her closer, “I suppose I owe you a lifetime of happiness, and a solemn promise that I will be every bit the man that you have always dreamed of.”
“You already are,” she told him in earnest, holding his face as she grazed her mouth against his.
He kissed her back with equal fervor, his arm tight around her waist, his other hand lightly cradling the curve of her neck. Anycold she had felt abandoned her as she savored each moment, warm and safe in her beloved’s embrace.
If it had not been for Luke’s impatient shout of, “Evelyn, come along!” she might have stayed there until the sun came up, kissing her future husband.
“Until tomorrow,” Hugo said, reluctantly releasing her.
“Until tomorrow,” she replied with a smile. “I love you.”
“As I love you.” He dipped his head to steal one last kiss, and with that, he took her hand and escorted her back through the bushes, to where only Luke was waiting.
Everyone else had gone on ahead, and as the happy couple made their way through the park to the entrance, Luke walking behind them as a belated chaperone, Evelyn could not help but grin, for, at long last, she could finally see the merit in promenading through Hyde Park. Even in the pouring rain before dawn, with no one else around.
In truth, as she gazed up at her beloved, she knew it was theperfectpromenade.
“Promise me you will sit by the fire when you return home,” Hugo said, squeezing her hand.
“I shall not leave the fireside until I am fully thawed,” she promised.
Hugo smiled. “And how is your heart? Is that warmed?”
“It is blazing, my love,” she replied, squeezing his hand in reply.
Just before they reached the gates, the shadows of the carriages just visible through the bars, Hugo leaned in and whispered in her ear, “As is mine, though I promise I shall never burn you.” He paused. “I meant what I said. All of those things you said you wanted in a husband; I shall spend the rest of my days ensuring I am that man.”
“And as I told you,” she whispered back, beaming, “you already are.”
EPILOGUE
There was joy in the townhouse for the first time in Evelyn’s life, at least as far as she could recall. She could hear Luke amiably discussing the wedding with a couple of the guests that he had invited, but it was the laughter inside Evelyn’s bedchamber that she would cherish for a long, long time.
It had been a miracle that Evelyn had managed to acquireonefriend to make life less lonely, but now that she had two, one of whom was about to become her sister-in-law, it truly felt as if she had won the greatest prize in all the world. And that was before she thought about the man she would be marrying today.
“He did not!” Octavia shrieked, flopping back on the bed as she laughed heartily.
Selina, perched on the window seat with a mischievous smile on her face, nodded. “He did, I assure you. You would notbelievesome of the things that theton’sgentlemen have said to me ordone for me, thinking themselves so very unique in their grand gestures.”
She had been regaling Octavia with a tale about a rather weaselly son of an earl who had decided that it would be oh-so romantic to deliver a hamper of doves to Selina’s house. What the gentleman had not realized was that the hamper would almost certainly be openedinsidethe house.
“We were finding doves for weeks.” Selina grinned. “And there was filth everywhere. My poor father was beside himself. I am surprised he did not insist on us returning to the countryside and me never entering society again.”
Behind Evelyn, Margery chuckled at the story as she slotted little purple-blue forget-me-nots into Evelyn’s hair.
“I shall remind my brother not to purchase any doves,” Octavia said, rocking upward.
“Tell him to purchase diamonds instead,” Selina urged. “Although I doubt our Evie ever intends to take off the first necklace he bought her. It is beautiful, make no mistake, but it is rather too simple for a duchess. A duchess should be wearing so many jewels upon her neck that no one can look at her without being blinded.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “I am quite happy with simplicity.”
“Youdolook happy,” Selina said, her smile softening. “I never thought I would see the day where you seemed so… utterly giddy. In truth, I often worried you were not capable of giddiness, but I see now that it required a gentleman to coax it out of you. I would be offended if I were not so pleased about it.”
Evelyn laughed softly, and caught her friend’s eye in the reflection of the mirror. She knew Selina meant it, for they had spoken after the events in Hyde Park, and Selina had assured her that there were no hard feelings.
“I only wanted to make myself feel better after finding out that Sir Anthonywasevery bit the scoundrel you said he was,”she had explained.“Sometimes, one needs distraction to forget such a thing. If I had known you favored him, I would never have attempted to pursue him. Why did you keep it to yourself? You know I would have supported you.”
