At the window, she leaned forward, her eyes meeting his in the lamplight.
She lifted her hand in a small wave.
He placed his hand over his heart in silent reply.He felt, for the first time in his life, that he was not simply drifting between amusements.He was heading, quite deliberately, toward something.
Towardsomeone.
"God help us all," Niall said."He is gone."
"Utterly," Magnus agreed.
James smiled, slow and certain."Completely.And for once, I have no intention of being rescued."
Behind the departing carriage, the city stretched out—streets and squares and parks full of future afternoons.
The Mutual Mischief Society had never truly been about pranks.
It had been about the small rebellions—the wave from a carriage window, the hand over a heart.
Now, with Esme's laughter in his ears and the echo of her kiss still on his mouth, he understood the greatest mischief of all was choosing happiness in defiance of expectation.
And that, he suspected, they would excel at.
Together.
Epilogue
The Mutual Mischief Society held its most important meeting to date beneath a lime tree in Hyde Park.
"We should have a new rule," Esme said, folding her parasol and settling herself on the bench."No further Society business to be conducted near large bodies of water."
Across from her, James tilted his head."Cowardice does not become you, Lady Esme."
"Prudence," she corrected."There is a difference.One is sensible, the other involves weeds in one's hair and feathers clinging in unmentionable places."
"That was one occasion," he said."Two, at most."
"Once into a fountain and once into the Serpentine," she said sweetly."We are not discussing the ornamental pond at Foxmere's, because I refuse to acknowledge that happened."
He smiled."Very well.Henceforth, all Society mischief shall be conducted on dry land.I shall have it carved into the crest."
"About that crest," came a voice from behind them."I have designed three."
Esme turned as Genny dropped onto the bench beside her and spread a folded sheet of paper across her lap.
"This one," Genny said, tapping with a finger, "has crossed fans and a broken quill.This one has a toppled calling card tray and a spilled inkpot.And this one," she lowered her voice, "is simply a ledger bursting into flames."
James made a strangled sound."Give me that at once.If your brother ever sees it, I shall be called out before we are properly wed."
Esme flushed, rescuing the paper from Genny's grasp before James could snatch it."You may relax.Harrison is highly unlikely to come within ten yards of anything labeled Mutual Mischief Society.He thinks it a joke."
"He is not entirely wrong," James murmured.
She arched a brow."You founded it."
"Yes," he said, "but I never claimed to be wise."
Genny opened her mouth to reply and then snapped it shut.Following her gaze, Esme saw her brother approaching along the path.
