Page 84 of The Notorious Lord Knightly
“You’ll never touch her again.”
“She is my wife still. Legally my property. I’ll have her committed as I did before.”
“I’ve hired men to guard her. You or any minions you send will not get within ten feet of her. She’ll not be dragged away again. But if you make any attempt to steal her away, I shall have my solicitor begin divorce proceedings on her behalf. As you are wellaware, the law regarding divorce has changed. It’s a matter now handled in the courts. You’ve been unfaithful. I’m sure you’ve had mistresses. You’ve been cruel, sending a sane woman to a madhouse. You abandoned her. During the past five years, you’ve provided not a farthing for her care. I need secure proof for only two of my assertions to see her free of you. I will win.”
The duke was practically frothing at the mouth, his fury so great. But Knight wasn’t yet finished with him.
“I will hire men to spy on you, to keep watch. If there is so much as a hint that you intend to harm anyone whom I hold dear, I shall haveyoucommitted, and you shall live out your remaining days as you condemned my mother to live out hers. But if you leave us in peace, I will restore the estates, claiming it as your work, not mine. The magnificence of your estates will be credited to you, so those who come after will herald your greatness, even if they don’t carry your blood. Otherwise, it will all remain in shambles, and that, too, will be credited to you.” When the duke died, Knight would restore everything for his son, if he had one, but he, himself, would take the credit and ensure the records indicated each of the duke’s failures.
“I’ll go to Parliament and have you declared illegitimate. You’ll not inherit a damn thing.”
“Then do so, Your Grace. I never wanted the titles or the properties. However, enjoy and take pride in how you will be remembered: cuckolded, impoverished, an embarrassment to the titles. The choice is yours.”
He turned on his heel.
“I curse you!”
Knight slowly pivoted back around. “Lucifer fell from heaven into hell, and it’s where I’ve spent the past five years. Now I am going to rise from hell back into heaven. Curse me all you want.” He grinned. “But I shall live my remaining years with an angel at my side while you are left with nothing and no one.”
Far too often, Regina found herself staring out windows, opening the front door and looking out it as though doing so would broaden her view, give it more depth, allow her to see farther into the distance. She paced the drive. She took Queen on numerous rides to the gate and back.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Knightly to be a formidable match to the duke. It was simply she knew Wyndstone to be vile, unscrupulous, petty, vindictive, hateful... so many hideous words could be applied to him. While Knightly was all that was decent, noble, and virtuous.
Could good truly defeat evil?
In books, yes, but in real life?
She’d hardly slept a wink since he’d left to confront his fath— the duke. Too many days had passed; she’d been without him too long. Although she knew he had miles to travel to reach Yorkshire and to return to her, still her nerves were stretched taut and fraying. She should have gone with him, for moral support if nothing else. If the duke insisted Knightly honor the vow—he would find a way around it. Before the duke had ambushed him on the morning they were to wed.Now Knightly had the time to gather up the arsenal he needed to assure victory. They would be together regardless, one way or another, within the law or outside of it.
It was late afternoon, and she was pacing with worry in the front drawing room when she heard the rumble of coach wheels and pounding of horses’ hooves. Running to the front door, she threw it open and dashed down the steps. The vehicle had slowed but not yet come to a complete halt when Knightly was leaping from it—gracefully, boldly, and with such surety.
His expression took her breath because it spoke volumes. Triumph, love, gladness. And happiness. Utter happiness. A grin so wide that had it been night, it would have illuminated the residence.
He swept her up into his arms, spun her around, and then took her mouth as he lowered her feet back to the ground, even if it felt a bit unsteady beneath her, as though she rested on clouds.
She wondered briefly if they’d married five years ago if she would appreciate as much what she now held. It had been so easy then to fall in love, to imagine a future together. But what she felt for him now was so much deeper and richer. More substantial. She’d never take for granted any moment spent with him, would never expect glorious times together to be their due.
She also knew what they had would last a lifetime because their love had been tested and forged by the fires of obstacles not of their making, but they’d survived and come out stronger, their love tempered into an unbreakable bond. No matter what challenges lifethrew at them in the future, they would win. They would always win.
When he pulled back, he took her face between his palms and the depth of love reflected in his eyes made her chest ache even as it felt like it was expanding in order to absorb all his adoration and admiration. “Lord, but I missed you,” he said.
“All went well, then?”
He grinned, that solitary dimple winking at her. “He’ll not be bothering us.”
“I want to know all the details.”
“I’ll share them later. For now, I think we should tell our daughter the news.”
Our daughter.She loved how easily those two words rolled off his tongue. They had decided to wait until he’d sorted matters with the duke before informing Arianna that they were going to become a family.
Knight knew he would never grow tired of having Regina’s hand nestled in his, of walking so closely together that her bosom periodically brushed against his arm, as they made their way into the garden where their daughter frolicked with the pup.
Nor would he grow tired of the way Ari’s face lit up once she spied him or the manner in which she ran to him, slammed into his leg, wrapped her arms around it to catch her balance, and looked at him with such happiness. “The monsters haven’t come back.”
“Hopefully they never will.” After releasing his hold on Regina, he untangled the child from about him and knelt before her. “But if they do, I’ll be hereto protect you. I’m going to live with you and your mother now.”
“Because you’re a knight?”
