Page 88 of Her Tempting Traitor
“No, Cassian.” Another kiss. “It is about whatyouasked me earlier, after Uncle Rourke was so rude.”
And he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Well, Gabby? Do ye have an answer for me?”
Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck. “Of course, Cassian. Iwillmarry you!”
EPILOGUE
There’d been times, over the last few decades, that Cassian had missed his mother. Well, perhaps notherexactly, since she’d died when he’d been young, and he only remembered her as a rather quiet, bookish sort of woman.
But he’d missed the idea offamily. Of someone who would have his back, someone who would support him even if they thought he was doing a terrible job, someone who would always be there for him.
The Biggenpanses had become that family, and he was delighted to know that they had and would continue to help him raise Gus in that sort of supportive, welcoming environment.
And then?—
And then he’d met Gabby’s family. The Lindsays. The Hayles. The Cummingses. Good God, how were all these people even related? It was difficult to keep track.
Aunt Sophia, as she’d insisted on being called, had arranged this wedding with barely a hiccup. She and Gabby had put their heads together and whipped together an event that rivaled Society’s grandest affairs, and in only a matter of weeks. And the guest list?
Well, Princess Louise might have been in the front pew of the church, silently blessing their union and their future with her presence…but Cassian had been most touched by the outpouring of love and support from everyone else.
Bull sat beside the Duke and Duchess of Exingham with their twin children, beaming proudly as if this marriage had been his doing.
Behind him sat his sister Marcia, whom Cassian had met just last week, along with her new husband Hawk—was there some unspoken rule that everyone in this family was named after an animal? Next to Marcia were her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Peasgoode, and her younger brother Rupert, who kept leaning forward to make googly eyes at Hawk’s niece, whose name Cassian had completely forgotten.
And those were just the relatives he could remember the names of.
On his side of the aisle, Cassian had only the Biggenpanses, since Gus was standing proudly at the altar beside him, wearing a kilt in a tartan to match his own.
“These things are drafty, Da,” he’d muttered under his breath. “How am I supposed to get anything done in it?”
Truthfully, Cassian had to agree with his son. Not because he wasn’t proud of his family colors, or because he stood out—half the men in the church were wearing kilts. But itfelt fooking strange, to be standing here with his prosthetic—hisscars—on display.
The kilt covered none of his injury, and the sock didn’t help much either. The evidence of his disability was on display for the world—for his newfamily—to see… And to his surprise, he didn’t care.
Gabby and Gus thought he was good enough, whole enough, for them…and that’s what mattered. And so he was grinning…despite the draft.
“It’s for special occasions,” Cassian had whispered back. “Like standing in front of a half-dozen bleeding dukes, trying to remember yer own name.”
His son had snorted at that. “It’s a good thing Gabby’s a bastard like ye, Da, because I’d hate to beclaimedby so many nobles. That one hasn’t stopped scowling.”
Cassian suspected the lad meant the Duke of Lickwick, whose scowl seemed general, rather than particular. Whenever anyone so much as looked at his pretty daughter, the man actually snarled like a beast, to both his wife and daughter’s amusement.
That might’ve been worth considering for a moment, had Gabby not stepped into the church at that moment on the arm of a beaming Hunter, and Cassian forgot about anyone else.
Forgot about anythingelse, besides his future with this remarkable woman.
Something so momentous should have taken longer, but the ceremony confusingly flew past. Or perhaps it only felt that way because Cassian couldn’t take his eyes off his bride long enough to pay attention to many of the words.He knew he vowed to love, cherish and protect this woman for the rest of their lives, and she’d said the same about him.
There were rings, and there was most definitely a kiss, and then Gus was making coughing noises and Hunter was cheering and Cassian and Gabby were officially married.
Wed.
Husband and wife.
It was surreal.
It was wonderful.
