Charlotte’s throat closed up but she felt bright as a star as she nodded.
When they were standing in front of the wild, waving profusion of Gran’s hollyhocks, Wolfgang scooped her up into his arms, holding her so high that she looked down at him.
She gave a shout of laughter and clutched his shoulders, which only encouraged him to lift her higher. “My God, the view from up here!” she cried. “I feel like a queen. Is this what it’s like to be tall as an Alp? Do you walk around wondering if the altitude will put frost in your hair?”
“I walk around wondering why the rest of the world is undersize, though these past few weeks, I admit to an extra swagger.”
Charlotte grinned. “I’ve been completely insufferable lately and it’s all your fault. Do you know, I believe this summer was meant to diminish me, and yet I feel entirely emboldened?”
“I hope our marriage settlement emboldens you further—I’ve consulted my lawyers and it took considerable effort, but I believe we’ve found a way to make sure the silk mill remains your own.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned down to nip his ear. “Strangely, I’m not thinking of silk at this particular moment. Was there a question you wished to ask me?”
Something fierce came over his face and Charlotte quivered.
“Charlotte Louisa Aveton, you’re the love of my life and the bane of my existence. Will you agree to torment me for the rest of my days?”
“Good Lord! I am to be a duchess! You must learn to speak to me with proper respect.”
“You’re tormenting me already, I see. We’re not officially betrothed until you sayyes.”
She considered. “Is it official if I say ‘bedchamber’?”
“If I say ‘bedchamber’ in front of your gran, it will be official before either of us can blink.”
She laughed. “Are you threatening me? What sort of marriage is this?”
Wolfgang settled her lower in his arms so they were eye to eye, and his kiss felt like a promise. “Our marriage will be a long, long, happy one.”
Charlotte leaned back, closed her eyes, and tilted her face up to the sun. “In that case, Wolfgang,yes.”
EPILOGUE
Five Months Later
“Where are you taking me?”Charlotte asked Wolfgang on an afternoon in early February, her hands tucked into a pale peppermint muff with snowy-white trim as they turned off Ludgate Hill and into a covered arcade lined with little jewelry shops, their wares sparkling in the windows.
Wolfgang lifted her over a puddle of slush and Charlotte gave a shiver of happiness. They’d been married for months now, but she couldn’t get used to his enormous strength and the many ways he used it to please her. “You’ll have to wait and see. I’m enjoying being a step ahead of you, for once.”
He escorted her down the arcade, stopping before a small, tidy-looking establishment with polished windows and a cherry red door, and Charlotte clapped her hands in delight. “Are we buying me a present? I must warn you, I’ve been planning one for you that you’ll never top.”
He tilted his head and studied her. “My darling duchess, are you trying to start agift competition?”
“No!” Charlotte said at once, trying not to look too guilty. There was no competition, but only because she’d already won. She’ddesigned a pattern of damask just for him, heavy silk in a dark navy that was an exact match for his eyes, with a subtle scattering of star-shaped flowers—forget-me-nots, for John. Josephine’s workshop was cutting the silk into a banyan for Wolfgang, and Charlotte planned to embroider the patch of flowers that would lie over his heart in gold thread, and also to recover his favorite armchair in the same pattern so he could keep John close.
Wolfgang pushed open the door and grinned at Charlotte’s whoop of joy at the glittering wonders winking up at her from black velvet trays.
The proprietor, a young, straight-backed man, gave a deep bow to Charlotte and then to Wolfgang, with whom he was clearly acquainted. “The items you requested are ready, Your Grace.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sykes,” said Wolfgang.
The proprietor locked the front door and led the way into a second room in the back.
“We get to see the workroom?” Charlotte bounced on the balls of her feet as they stepped into a darker, smaller, and more cluttered room with a table in the middle and a workbench to the side littered with pliers, tweezers, files of different sizes, and what looked to Charlotte like a coil of gold wire. Built into the back wall was an enormous iron safe with a large brass wheel, and her breath quickened as the proprietor spun the heavy door open and reached inside for another black velvet tray, which he placed on the workroom table.
“Oh!” Charlotte’s eyes flooded, because laid out carefully on the tray and sparkling from a fresh cleaning were a pair of emerald drop earbobs, a ruby festoon necklace, a fat strand of pearls, a diamond brooch, amethyst hairclips, and a demi parure—all the jewelry that she and Lady Alice had sold at the beginning of the summer.
“Wolfgang! Gran’s emerald drops, my diamonds—how did youfindthem all? I was told it was impossible to track them down.”
