Page 75 of A Lady's Wager
“As your father, I will require repeated proof,” he said. “But I am not unwilling to allow him to provide it.”
Taking Julian’s arm with eagerness, Charlotte said, “You will soon have the money you need to set your estate to rights. At last you will be able to shed the burdens your family has left you with, and not merely the monetary ones.”
He set his hand on hers. “And I hope you have at last been able to shed some of the neglect of your own happiness you had resigned yourself to.”
The earl cleared his throat, pulling their attention back to him. “I am going to take a turn about the garden. That ought togrant you about five minutes of privacy.” On that declaration, he did precisely as he said he would.
The moment they were alone, Charlotte threw her arms around his neck, something to which he did not object in the least.
“Father will come around to accepting you, I know he will.”
Julian held her close. “I suspect you are correct, though it still feels like a miracle.”
“I have never been more grateful for a wager in all my life.”
He bent nearer, his lips a hair’s breadth from hers. “Neither have I, my dear. Neither have I.”
They had five minutes of time together and they did not waste a moment of it. They kissed each other, held each other, declared their great fortune and their love. A wager had brought their paths to cross, but the love that had grown between them would keep them together. Always.
