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“I enjoy being at the palace. I like meeting foreign dignitaries and enjoying state dinners. And traveling with Her Majesty, when no one is trying to kill us, is wonderful. She is discussing a visit to Ireland. I’ve never been to Ireland.”
“Ireland may not be the best place to visit at the moment...”
She laid a hand on his chest. “Regardless, it occurred to me that the other ladies-in-waiting are married. Why shouldn’t I stay on at the palace and you stay on with the Royal Saboteurs? I’ll serve the queen while you’re on a mission and when you return—”
“I’ll serve you?” he said.
She smiled. “Something like that.”
Will looked away, past her and out the window at the churning ocean. “It could work. Not indefinitely.”
“Nothing is forever.”
Will gathered her close. “Except the way I feel about you. I’ll love you forever.” He kissed her as the waves crashed endlessly on the shore.
Epilogue
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Emily said, holding the smooth object in her palm. “It’s obviously a creature, but I’ve never seen one like it.”
Will finished stoking the fire in the cottage’s hearth and peered over her shoulder. “We can take it to Miss Anning tomorrow and see if she recognizes it. Perhaps she has found others.”
Emily looked up at him. His hair was windswept and his cheeks bronze from the last few days in the sun. He looked more handsome than the last time she’d seen him. “You know I love to visit Miss Anning. She’s always found something new.”
He sat down on the couch beside her. “The way to your heart ever was through fossils.”
“I can’t argue.”
They were back at Lyme Regis, their favorite place to meet when he was not on assignment, and she could take leave of her royal duties. They had a house in Town when they only had a few hours or days together, but for the time being they had long weeks stretching ahead of them. The queen was in Scotland for at least a month and probably more and Will had just finished a mission, which he couldn’t tell her anything about, but which must have been dangerous as he had new scrapes and bruises on his body.
She’d kissed every single one.
They were back in the same cottage where he’d proposed and where they’d spent several blissful weeks after their marriage.The evenings were chilly, and she appreciated the warmth of the fire.
She turned the fossil over in her hands again. “Do you think someday, in say, three thousand years, people will walk along this beach and find remains of a seagull or a crab and marvel at it?”
“Perhaps.” He plucked a pin from her hair. “Or perhaps they’ll find a hair comb or a stocking and marvel at it. Let’s take yours off and see if they’ll make good fossils.”
She allowed him to push her back on the couch and kiss her until she was breathless. “Miss Anning would never approve of your methods,” she said as his hands ruched up her skirts.
“It’s not Miss Anning I want to hear crying my name.” He kissed the inside of her thigh, and for a long, long time, Emily forgot about all about fossils.
