Page 71 of Married to a Wicked Duke
George Roland.”
Veronica looked up from the page with wide eyes. “George Roland did this? I cannot believe it.”
Frederick chuckled. “I ought to have known, given he was the one who sent us down to the cellar to find the painting.”
“What will you do to him?” asked Veronica.
Frederick took her hand and brought it to his lips. “What do you think we ought to do, my love? This is as much your gallery as it is mine.”
Veronica smiled. “Well. He did help you find the painting.” Her smile widened cheekily. “And if he is in enough financial hardship to take this offer from Lady Juliet, perhaps you did not pay him enough.”
Frederick chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting I increase his commission?”
Veronica laughed. “I do not think he quite deserves that. But perhaps we can give him a second chance. Allow him to keep his pieces in the gallery. After all, he did confess to everything. And his work is ever so beautiful.” She grinned. “Well. The paintings of his children are beautiful. I don’t think much of his portrait of Lady Juliet.”
Frederick pulled her into a kiss. “Then that is what we shall do.”
“And Lady Juliet?” Veronica asked. “Will you tell our guests that she was behind all this?”
Frederick hesitated, rubbing a hand across his jaw in thought. “No,” he decided finally. “Doing so would only create gossip. And I do not wish for our gallery to be associated with anything like that. Besides, if such a thing got out about Lady Juliet, she would never find a husband. She would spend her life alone and bitter—and probably causing more pain to other innocent people. I do not wish that for her, regardless of whatever else she has done.”
Veronica felt her eyes shining. She looked up at her husband, feeling her heart swell in her chest.
“What?” asked Frederick.
She took his free hand and pulled him close. “You told me once that you could never be a good husband because you were not a kind man. But you could not be more wrong, Frederick. You are the kindest man I know.” She grinned. “And the very best husband.” She kissed him again, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “I love you with all of my heart.”
“And I you,” said Frederick. “Now, shall we—”
The door flew open suddenly and George Roland thundered through it. “Oh, Your Graces. You found it.” He glanced down at the note in Veronica’s hand, a look of faint horror passing across his face. “I am so terribly sorry. I will leave at once. I just wanted to make sure you found the real thing.”
“There is no need to leave, Mr. Roland,” said Frederick.
Roland’s brow creased. “What?”
“Please stay,” said Veronica. “We understand why you did what you did. And there is no harm done. In fact, there was plenty of good done. She glanced at Frederick and gave him a private smile. “Now,” she said, “shall we go and show our guests therealpainting?”
Epilogue
Veronica walked hand in hand with Frederick through the garden at the Cambridge country house.
“Poor Juliet,” she said with a smile. “I cannot help but feel thetiniestbit sorry for her.”
Despite what she and Frederick had agreed upon after they had uncovered Juliet’s plan at the gallery, word of her plan had made its way into theton, and its dedicated gossipers. The public scrutiny over her cruel plan had been swift and unrelenting—to the point that Juliet’s father had carted her off to the family’s country estate in the wilds of Yorkshire to hide away for a while.
“Poor Juliet?” Frederick repeated with a smile. “Need I remind you that she tried to destroy our marriage? And our gallery?” He shook his head. “Veronica, my darling, sometimes you really are too kind for you own good.”
She laughed lightly. “In this case, you may be right.” She caught her husband’s eye and grinned. “Whoever knew thetonwould be so furious over the betrayal of the Earl of Volk’s daughter and…”
“And the grumpy Duke of Brownwood?” Frederick finished, his eyes sparkling. He gave her a teasing poke in the side. “Was that what you were about to say?”
Veronica laughed. “Something like that.”
He grinned. “Well. I suppose that would be somewhat fair. Although I suspect everyone was so angry about Juliet’s betrayal because they can see just how happy you make me.”
Veronica smiled and took a step closer to her husband, reveling in the warmth of his arm reaching around her body.
All in all, the opening of the gallery had been a huge success. Even Lady Juliet’s trickery had not been able to dampen the occasion. The paintings of Mrs. Lane and George Roland—and of course, Veronica herself—had garnered so much attention that they had largely taken the attention off the switched portraits. Then again, it was possible that the switched portraits had not been overshadowed by the other paintings, but by the Duke of Brownwood's very public declaration of love for his wife—and the very public kiss they had shared afterward. Word of Juliet’s deceit had emerged the next morning—courtesy of George Roland, Veronica assumed.
