Page 53 of Escape of the Duellist
The landlord stopped dead, gazing uneasily around the gathered gentlemen, whom he clearly recognized only too well. His eyes widened at the sight of Harriet and then seemed to calm as he took in the general respectability of the fashionably dressed ladies. Tabitha, the duchess, was the only one obviously pregnant but Carina suspected Chloe Berry was too. Carina certainly was, and she couldn’t have been happier.
Even Duncan, looking forward to Oxford, was delighted about the baby, though a son would take his place as heir to the viscount. Papa, of course, was thrilled at the prospect of a grandchild. He had sold the house in Harwich and bought a cottage further up the coast, about five miles from Gullaine Park. With Durward’s influence, he was now captain of a merchant ship that sailed around the British and Irish coasts, so he was never away for too long. He was a frequent visitor and still avoided the bottle. Carina was proud of him, and his newly rediscovered pride in himself.
Lord Wolf insisted they sit at the table he remembered, and the landlord poured wine for everyone.
Durward said seriously, “Isbourne was the only one of us whodeservedto succeed. His escape was worthy. But Sanderly should never have felt driven from these shores. I should never have shot Foster.”
Wolf took his glass from the innkeeper. “And I was a fool to run from my marriage, which, I freely admit, was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“As was mine,” Berry said, smiling. “The law and I have made our peace, thanks to Chloe.”
Sanderly remained on his feet and raised his glass. “Then I give you a toast. To the ladies who held up our escape plans and saved us.”
“To the ladies,” Isbourne said, kissing his duchess’s hand before he raised his glass and drank.
Carina wallowed in her happiness. She had done a lot of that in the last year. She loved being married to Durward, running his household and looking after his people. She had even begun a village school. There were ups and downs, to be sure, for neither of them were angels, but they laughed a lot and loved just as much. Life was good.
On impulse, she raised her own glass, although it was hardly the done thing for ladies to make toasts. “To our husbands! Long life and happiness to us all!”
Everyone drank to that too.
“Another bottle, landlord,” Durward called.
The landlord groaned.
“Perhaps a pack of cards?” Wolf said with devilry.
“Perhaps in your private parlour?” the innkeeper suggested. “Dinner is almost ready.”
Harriet jumped to her feet, tugging Sanderly’s arm. “At last,” she said delightedly. “The private parlour I was promised a year ago!”
What a lot had changed for them all in that year! Perhaps life could not always be this wonderful, but at this moment in the presence of her husband and all these good friends, Carina felt anything was possible.
