by Candace Camp
Thisbe and Desmond said their vows. He kissed the bride. Emmeline dabbed away tears, and Kyria and Olivia cried even as they declared the wedding perfect. Reed shook Desmond’s hand and said with a grin, “Welcome to the family. I hope you have steady nerves.”
The celebration was small and typically Moreland, with a great deal of talking and laughter and spontaneous outbursts of song from Aunt Penelope, who had arrived from Paris with champagne and a wedding dress made by Worth. The twins dodged in and out in a game of chase with Lady Rochester’s barking spaniel. On the other side of the room, there was dancing, with a string quartet providing the music.
Thisbe danced with Reed and her father and Uncle Bellard, who, despite his shy nature, was a nimble dancer. Most of all, she danced with Desmond. He hadn’t the skill of her great-uncle or Reed, but she fit his arms perfectly, and Thisbe could look into his deep brown eyes and dream of all the lovely things the future held.
Later, Thisbe took Desmond’s hand and pulled him from the party. He raised his eyebrows in question as he followed her out the door. “Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something.”
“That sounds tantalizing.”
His slow smile sent a dart of desire through her. It was amazing, really, how she seemed to want him more each day. “It’s not what you think,” she told him in a prim voice and followed her words with a teasing sideways glance. “But perhaps something else might follow.”
She took him through the long gallery and up a set of stairs. At one end of the short hallway stood a closed door, and a corridor intersected the other.
“I’ve never been here,” Desmond said, looking around. “I don’t think I shall ever learn where everything is.”
“That’s because we don’t open this wing unless we have a very large number of guests.” Thisbe opened the door, revealing yet another hall. “Come. Let me show you.”
They went to a large, sunny room at the far end of the hall. Several tables bore various scientific equipment from microscopes to Bunsen burners to burette titration systems to—Desmond’s eyes lit in appreciation—a colorimeter. There were also closed cabinets and open shelves filled with beakers, pipettes, jars of chemicals, and other supplies.
“It’s our laboratory,” Thisbe said, sweeping her arm around the room. “Smeggars set it up. There’s a sitting room and a bedroom right down the hall. We have our own private wing. We can even close that outer door to keep out the twins.”
Desmond laughed. “Good luck with that.”
“Isn’t this lovely?”
“It is.” He moved closer, putting his hands on her hips. “So are you.”
She linked her hands behind his neck. “It’s our own little home. You’ll be happy here, won’t you?”
Desmond’s brown eyes were warm and intense as he gazed at her. “Thisbe, wherever you are is my home. I love you.”
“And I love you.”
“Then that’s all that matters,” he said and pulled her into his arms.
* * *
ISBN-13: 9781488054204
Her Scandalous Pursuit
Copyright © 2020 by Candace Camp
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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