Page 70 of The Return of the Rake

King sighed with relief. “It was damned good of you,” he began, but Alfie waved this off.

“You were just fortunate the old lady’s solicitor was in Portsmouth and not London,” he replied wryly. “Else you’d have had to find another cracksman to do the job.”

“Hush, you reckless devil,” King said, shaking his head. “You are a respectable member of this congregation, damn you. I’d be obliged if you would not forget it.”

“I’ll try,” Alfie said, though his eyes twinkled irrepressibly. “By the by, I think your lady wife is trying to tell you something.”

King looked to where Alfie nodded, seeing Anne standing outside the dining-room door, making hurry up gestures at him.

“Excuse me,” King said, leaving Alfie without a second glance and rushing towards her.

“Is anything the matter?” he asked, frowning, but anything else he might have said was silenced as she grasped hold of his lapels and pulled him into the corner behind the door, kissing him soundly.

“We need to leave. Now,” she said firmly. “Clementine will play hostess. Are you ready to go?”

“Ready?” King replied with a snort. “I was ready the moment Honeywell said, ‘I now pronounce you man and wife!’”

Anne laughed, taking his hand. “Then prove it. The carriage is outside, and everything is loaded on.”

King grinned at her, moving quickly to wrap her in her cloak and don his overcoat, hustling her out of the door as fast as possible.

The carriage moved off the moment the door closed.

“Oh dear,” Anne said, looking rather contrite as the carriage made its way through the town and up the hill. “We are very wicked, running away in such a shabby manner. I hope they will not be cross.”

“They won’t be cross and, if they are, they’ll forgive us by the time we get home,” King said comfortingly, though she thought he did not much care either way. “Come here. You are too far away,” he said, reaching for her and pulling her close.

Anne sighed and snuggled against him and King tightened his grip.

They were to spend their wedding night at King’s town house, which he knew Anne was all eagerness to see, before taking a boat from the Tower Stairs on the first available fine day. King did not suffer from seasickness, but he had been quite certain that Anne would prefer her first voyage on a day when the channel was calm, and she had not argued the point.

They would take their time travelling down through France, spending as much time as they wished at places which pleased them, then carrying on to Italy. To his delight, the idea of seeing Paris, and then travelling to Rome and to Florence, had Anne so overwrought with excitement that she’d become as giddy as schoolgirl.

“Oh, Jasper, how fortunate we are,” she said, gazing up at him. “I never dreamed I could be so happy. Never in all my days.”

Her new husband gazed down at her solemnly, but his eyes sparkled. “We are fortunate indeed. I don’t think many people find a mate who suits them so perfectly, whose thoughts and ideas are so aligned and in sympathy with one another. For example, what other man would think to provide entertainment for the tedious journey back into town?”

“Oh?” She looked at him curiously and he grinned at her. Standing suddenly, he reached up to the baggage rack overhead and brought down a large leather tube. Unfastening one end, he slid out the contents and unrolled them. “Your new hotel, Mrs King, should it please you. If it does not, then we shall start over.”

Anne gazed at the elegant building, at the symmetry and style, with large windows that would make the most of the beautiful view, and a grand entrance that could greet the highest in society without so much as a blush.

“Oh, Jasper,” she said, blinking back tears. “It’s as though you visited my dreams and put them down upon paper.”

“Truly?” he asked quietly. “For it is only a drawing, there is nothing that cannot be changed.”

Anne shook her head in disbelief, stunned by the beauty of it. “I don’t doubt I shall have opinions upon the interior layout, about the kitchens and the dining room and the size of the bedrooms and a million other details, but this… this is better than I ever dreamed. Can… Can we truly afford it, though?”

“We can,” he said, grinning at her. “But there are more things to consider. Look at these. I promised the men who were loyal to me I should find them work and get them and their families out of the rookeries. There will be a need for labourers and gardeners, handymen and all sorts, not to mention all the kitchen staff and laundry maids and the like, and they will need to live somewhere. What do you think of these?”

He unrolled another plan upon which were a row of pretty terraced cottages.

“There’s a front garden, and a large back garden too, so they can raise their own vegetables and have outdoor space. They’re big enough for a family and are light and airy.”

Anne felt her throat grow tight as she heard the excitement in his voice and realised this was what he dreamed of. He wanted to rescue those decent families who struggled in the filth and poverty of the worst slums of London, and give them a fresh start, a chance for decent lives and happiness.

“I think…” she said unsteadily. “I think you are the best and most wonderful man who ever lived, Jasper King, and I love you very, very much.”

He stilled at her words, gazing at her in wonder.