Page 107 of Beyond Scandal and Desire
“Your language,” his mum chided.
“Mum, I’m a tavern keeper. I’ve heard worse and I say worse when it’s needed.”
Ettie Trewlove released a long-suffering sigh. “Do you see what you’re getting, Aslyn, when you marry into this family?”
His future wife smiled. “I could not be happier.”
“I’m not truly the heir,” Kip said quietly as he and Aslyn strolled through the gardens near twilight. “I feel like a bloody impostor.”
“You have been the heir since the moment you were born. You have been raised to become a duke.”
“As though that takes a great deal of learning. Trewlove could pick it up in a night.” He sighed. “Father is transferring all the nonentailed properties over to him.”
“And you’ll have the entailed properties.”
“At least I can’t gamble them away.”
“You probably shouldn’t gamble at all.”
He nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. “I lost my way there for a while, Aslyn, and in so doing I lost you.”
With her arm wrapped around his, she pressed up against his side. “Before that, I’d begun to doubt we were well suited to each other.”
His brow furrowing, he looked down on her. “Why?”
“It’s difficult to explain. My doubts began when you kissed me.”
“You didn’t like it?”
“It was without passion.”
“It was a gentleman’s kiss.”
“But it shouldn’t have been.” Stopping, she faced him. The blossoms were closing up for the night, but their fragrance still hung heavy on the air. “I love you, Kip, but I’m not in love with you.”
“There’s a difference?”
She smiled softly. “Yes, and one day I hope you will meet someone who will intrigue you in such a way that you’ll fully comprehend the difference.”
“So, you’re in love with Trewlove.” He said it matter-of-factly.
“Desperately.”
“If you’d not discovered he was legitimate—”
“The circumstances of his birth matter not one whit to me. I’d already decided that I would have him.”
“As a future duke, I do not have the liberty of following my heart wherever it might lead.”
“If you truly love her, and are in love with her, you won’t care, and there will be nothing strong enough to keep you from her.”
By the time the wedding took place in August, his beard was back, dark and full, evenly trimmed. While Aslyn missed seeing the little dent in his chin, she knew where to find it. Besides, it was his soulful eyes that had drawn her in from the beginning. The blue that called to her.
The blue that looked down on her now as they snuggled in their marriage bed.
“I can’t believe you’re mine,” he said, skimming his fingers over her hair down to the ends that curled around her breast. “My wife.”
“Not too many eyebrows were raised.”
