Page 93 of The Duke of Pain

“I do not mean to pry, Olivia,” Aunt Mirella said quietly. “But have you decided if you will bring charges here in London? Concerning the abduction and assault?”

Olivia exhaled shakily. “We spoke with Gideon’s solicitor, and he advised against it. He laid out in stark terms what I would be subjected to in court. I cannot do it. I cannot put us all through such a public spectacle. Especially now I am a duchess. It would be fodder for the newspapers. You must think less of me.”

Mirella leaned forward and patted her knee. “Never, my dear. We have only known each other for a brief time, but already I adore you. It is a very personal decision, and no one can or should make it for you.”

“My solicitor said the crown prosecutor probably would not take up the case anyway,” Gideon interjected. “‘Not enough sufficient evidence,’ especially since Jonas Bisby denies the duke had any notion of it. The second man involved has never been found.”

Mirella stood. “Well, my dears, the best we can do is to move on from these terrible incidents and live to the fullest. And I know you will.”

“Oh, I intend to see that Ellingford gets the maximum of whatever so-called justice is meted out. I intend to be loud about the theft case both in court and out of it. But yes, we will move on.”

Gideon stood and took her arm. “And you will be a large part of that full life, Aunt. Olivia and I discussed it. At some point, you may like to contemplate moving to Foxmont. The entire upper east wing would be yours. It’s larger than your townhouse.”

“I will definitely consider it,” she smiled warmly.

Olivia rose to her feet and took Mirella’s other arm. “Please do. I believe both of us could use a mother figure in our lives, seeing we were both deprived of such a warm presence.”

They escorted Aunt Mirella to the door, and once she departed in the carriage, Henderson closed the door and left them alone in the front hallway.

“I received word that Brookton wishes an audience to congratulate us and no doubt be brought up to speed on the doings. Name the day, and I will send out the invite. Unless you’d rather wait.” Gideon said as he slipped his arm about her waist.

“No. I meant what I said. I want to get to know Damon. Perhaps if all goes well, he will also become a part of our extended family. Perhaps having a family will have a good effect on him.”

Gideon laughed. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Brookton as part of my family, but fate is strange, indeed.”

Olivia turned and embraced him, laying her head against his chest. His steady heartbeat gave her warmth and comfort and a sense of safety she had never felt before in her life.

“I thank the fates,” she whispered. “Or we would have never found each other.”

“True,” Gideon murmured. “I thank the fates, indeed.”

Whatever the future would bring, they would face it together.

Olivia and Gideon had found love at last, and they would revel in it.

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Foxmont, Essex

Every summer for the past five years, Eleanora and Christian Bamford traveled to their country estate, Bamford Park, and hosted a summer party by inviting friends and family.

Gideon and Olivia were happily packing to join their tight circle of friends and family for the festive event.

Coming with them would be their son, the heir apparent, nine-year-old Jonathan Gideon Broyles, and adopted daughter, Marie, age sixteen. They adopted Marie at age six through Damon, which by itself was a long story.

But Olivia and Damon had grown close through the years, becoming brother and sister as they had hoped, and they had discovered more half-siblings and even became close to a few of them. It was a strange sort of patchwork quilt family with the half-siblings, but they made it work.

As for the former Duke of Whinstone: Sanford Ellingford served three years for the theft. Upon his release, he joined Gideon’s mother in New York.

Gideon had heard through his aunt—for he never wrote his mother, nor she, him—that the couple passed themselves off as a duke and duchess when in reality, they were not. Whinstone’s dukedom had been stripped from him seven months after his arrest and sentencing.

But that little detail hardly mattered to certain portions of New York society that allowed the couple access to the affluent.

In turn, his mother and stepfather leeched off the more gullible members of that elite society. Typical, Gideon sneered when his aunt had informed him.

But Gideon no longer cared about his mother and stepfather’s schemes.