Page 66 of The Broken Duke

Epilogue

Graham entered Emma and James’s breakfast room to find Adelaide seated with a paper spread out before her. She smiled up at him and his world seemed to brighten in that instant.

He had hardly left her side since the fire a week before. He hadn’t wanted to after nearly losing her. Somehow he had even convinced Emma to allow him to stay in Adelaide’s chamber each night. At first he’d just held her, but in the last two nights, as her injuries had healed, she had opened herself to him again and all his passion returned. It seemed it would never fade, and he was glad of it. Making her sigh with pleasure was one of the best experiences of his life.

“It’s in this morning’s paper,” she said, pointing to the words slashed across the Society pages and drawing his attention back to the moment at hand.

“‘London’s Most Infamous Actress Admits to Murder’,” he read out loud. “Suicide suspected, body not yet found.”

She nodded, though she twisted her mouth slightly. “I never thought I was London’s mostinfamousactress.”

He laughed at her unexpected pouting. “You are now. They will be talking about you for years to come.”

“Probably right to my face, without even knowing that I’m the one they’re speaking of,” she grumbled.

He leaned forward and kissed her, silencing her grousing in the most happy of ways. “That’s what you want, my dear, never forget it.”

She shrugged. “I suppose you are correct.”

“Are you and Emma and Meg going out today?” he asked.

Her smile widened. “Yes. My first time out since the fire. I must say, I do like Meg. She’s very kind.”

He nodded, and there was no hesitation as he said, “She is. She always has been.”

“You know, you really do seem so much more at ease now that you’ve ended your feud with Simon,” she said.

He cocked his head. “Is that what you think? That my reunion with Simon is the cause of my lightness?”

“It is, isn’t it?”

He caught both her hands in his and tugged until she staggered from her chair and into his lap. “I will admit that my reunion with my friends takes a weight from my shoulders that was terribly heavy. But if I am happy, if I am light, if I am at peace with the future…that, my dear, is all because ofyou.”

She leaned down, brushing her lips against his. When she parted from him, she said, “I heard you and James talking about the wedding last night when we rejoined you two after your port. You know, now that my aunt is gone, there is no need to rush.”

He lifted both brows. “I object to that statement. There is most definitely a need to rush. I adore you and I want to call you my wife as soon as possible.”

She blushed. “When you say that it still doesn’t feel real to me sometimes.”

He drew his fingers into her hair, gently cupping her scalp. Slowly, he guided her lips back to his, and just before he claimed her mouth once more, he said, “Well, I must endeavor to make it feel very real…right now.”

And he kissed her, making everything right in his world once more. All because of her.