Page 94 of Her Lion of a Duke
When they pulled apart, Leonard looked her over. She was disheveled from the ordeal, her eyes were tired, and her skin was flushed, but he had never seen anyone so beautiful.
He could not believe that he had been so fortunate as to have the most incredible wife, and he was never going to let her believe that she was any less.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked.
“Anything.”
“I have been thinking about what you said about children. I thought of the life I wish to have and all that would bring, and I cannot imagine it without them. I think—no, Iknowthat’s what I want.”
The breath was knocked out of him, only for it to flood back in at once. Leonard never would have pressured his wife, but he would have been lying if he said it was not exactly what he wanted to hear.
“I love you, Leonard,” she whispered. “I have for a long time.”
“And I have loved you for longer than I dare say, for you would wonder how on earth you did not notice.”
The following day would come, and they would worry about everything that had transpired. Leonard would reconcile with the fact that his own cousin had killed his brother, but for the moment, that did not matter. He had his wife, and she was all that mattered to him.
The hard days would pass, and they would be able to live exactly as they pleased.
Leonard could not wait.
EPILOGUE
With everything that had happened, Cecilia was coming to realize that miracles did exist. In fact, she had witnessed several.
It had been three months since her return to Pridefield Manor. It had taken her some time to reacquaint herself with it, but it had come quickly enough. What surprised her, more than anything, was that Mrs. Herrington was the first to accept her again.
“I only wanted both of you to be happy,” the housekeeper had said. “If this matter has been resolved, then I’m glad.”
It was difficult to leave Clara in London, but Cecilia trusted that her aunt had learned her lesson about trying to force her daughter’s hand. There would be no more arrangements made.
When the social season ended with her cousin still unmarried, Cecilia heaved a sigh of relief, though she prayed that Clara would find the love she was looking for.
She thought of her as she played the pianoforte. She had never been very good at it, but each time she passed the one in the drawing room, it was as though it called to her.
She wanted to learn, and so she had been doing so in secret. Brutus lay beside her as she practiced, and slowly she was becoming rather good.
Unfortunately, she had incorrectly assumed that Leonard was not at home when she began her practice today. When she looked up and saw him in the doorway, her fingers slipped over the keys, making a few discordant notes.
“You are home!”she gasped.
“It is my home, so yes. I am here more often than not, no?”
“Yes,” she replied, laughing softly. “You were not supposed to see this, though.”
“Whyever not? You play beautifully for a lady who hates it.”
“I am an amateur at best,” she sighed. “I wish that I had tried before, so that I would not be behind other ladies.”
“Why do you care about that? You have never done so before.”
“I know, and in truth, I still don’t. But sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had not been so insistent on hating what the other young ladies liked.”
“If you were like the other ladies, you would not be my Duchess. You would not have noticed me, for one. Even if you did, I do not think I would have married a lady who was exactly like the others.”
Cecilia laughed, her fingertip grazing one of the keys.
“Will you play for me?” Leonard asked. “Please? You sounded lovely before you noticed me.”
