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"Good." Sheridan nodded. "In the meantime, I'll go share the happy news with Father."
So saying, he crossed over, catching Pierce's eye and motioning him into the hallway.
Once both men were outside hearing range, Sheridan murmured, "Good news. I've just won fifteen hundred pounds. I'll have it this afternoon—in pound notes, not a bank draft."
Pierce's brows rose. "Just how did you win this money?"
"On an infallible wager with Laurel, Juliet, and Blair." Sheridan's grey eyes twinkled. "I bet them that Ashford and Noelle wouldn't last another five minutes in public. Chloe agreed wholeheartedly. Good odds, wouldn't you say?"
"Excellent, I'd say." Pierce's lips twitched.
"In any case, I'll give you the money when all the guests have gone home. I'll even add five hundred pounds of my own, on Ashe's behalf. When you see him, tell him it's my way of easing whatever unwarranted guilt he might still be harboring."
"Guilt?"
"Um-hum. Over opting to retire from his more active role, or rather, his resurrection of your more active role. You know, the role he thinks none of us knows about." With an offhanded shrug, Sheridan ambled back into the party.
"What was that all about?" Daphne asked, walking out to join her husband.
Pierce's teeth gleamed, and he looped an arm about his wife's waist. "It's about an extraordinary family, Snow Flame—a family that, mere hours ago, increased by one remarkable young woman. And about a legend that, thanks to all of us, will live on forever."
* * * * *
