There was only one answer Bea could give.
Only one word that need be said.
“Yes.”
Epilogue
Three months later
Strong House, London
“The carriage will be here short— Bea?” Darius came to a halt in the doorway of the bedchamber he shared with his wife, surprised to find her sitting beside the window in her silk robe, dreamily looking out the window rather than dressed and ready to go out to dinner this evening.
The Prince Regent had taken an instant liking to Bea when Darius had introduced her to him as his duchess six weeks ago, and she was now one of Prinny’s “pets.” Not in a sexual way, as was the case with so many other ladies—Darius would never have stood for that—but in a way that showed how much the prince admired and respected her. Tonight, they were to dine with him at Clarence House.
Except Bea was not dressed for going out.
Darius’s heart skipped several beats as she turned and gave him a blindingly happy smile. How he had ever thought she was not a beauty was beyond him. Bea was more beautiful to him every day, was lovelier than any other woman alive, because her beauty came from within and lit up all her features: deep brown eyes, flushed cheeks, perfectly pouting and kissable lips. Darius had scowled at more than one Society gentleman these past few weeks when they dared to gaze at his beautiful duchess overlong.
He now crossed the bedchamber, kneeling at her slippered feet before taking both her hands in his. “Of course, I have no objection to sending our apologies if you have some other form of…entertainment in mind for us this evening?” He eyed her wickedly.
Marriage to Bea was so much more than Darius had ever dreamed it could be. So much more than the perfection of their physical pleasure in each other. It went so much deeper than that, was a forging of two hearts as well as their bodies melding into one.
She gave a happy laugh. “I wished to talk with you alone before we have to go out.” She looked at him shyly. “I visited Dr. Bentham today.”
His fingers tightened about her much smaller ones. “What is wrong?” He looked at her searchingly. “Are you ill? Bea, I demand you tell me what’s wrong with you!”
Bea could not help but laugh at how demanding her husband still was, and no doubt always would be.
Her husband.
Darius, the man she loved beyond life itself, and whom she had no doubt loved her in the same way, had become her husband six weeks ago.
Once the Prince Regent had dismissed the circumstance of Charles’s death, Bea and Darius had married quietly, at her request. After which they had spent several weeks honeymooning at Darius’s principal residence—and now her own—Strong Park, in Warwickshire.
No one could have been more surprised than the two of them when the Duke of Stonewell was finally able to reveal the identity of Napoleon’s spy. The capture and imprisonment of the traitor had freed all The Sinners to pursue their own happiness.
Hanwell Manor had been sold some weeks ago, and along with it all the unhappy memories. The servants from that residence had either been found new employment in the area, if they wished to remain there, or been taken into one of Darius’s many residences about the country. Kilby was, of course, now their under butler here in London, his life with Quinlan now. Bea believed the two men to be almost as happy in their relationship as Darius and she were in theirs.
No one could be quite as happy together as she and Darius.
And she was about to add to that happiness.
“I am not ill at all,” she reassured him.
“Then why did you go to see the doctor without telling me?” He scowled darkly. “Bea, I demand—” He broke off as Bea placed her fingertips against his lips.
She gave him a radiant smile. “Darius, I am with child.”
“I… But—” His gaze dropped abruptly to her abdomen, and then back up to her face. “Are you sure?”
His disbelief was perfectly understandable. Bea had not been able to believe it herself until the doctor confirmed it for her earlier today. All those years of marriage to Charles, and she had not conceived, and only a few months after meeting Darius, she was now carrying their child.
The doctor did not seem at all surprised when she explained the situation to him, assured her that it was sometimes the case in an unhappy marriage, and that her body had somehow rejected carrying the child of a man she did not love. Besides which, he had added with a roguish twinkle in his eyes, she now had a virile and lusty young husband who would no doubt give her many children.
Bea sincerely hoped that would be the case.
“I am absolutely positive, as is Dr. Bentham.” She slid down onto the carpeted floor to kneel in front of him. “We are to have a child, Darius.” She had believed herself ecstatically happy before this, but knowing she now nurtured Darius’s child inside her went beyond happiness to euphoria. “Although he also believes me to be at least eleven or twelve weeks along rather than the six of our marriage,” she added teasingly.
“The first time we made love together?” Darius touched her abdomen almost reverently.
“Yes.”
“You know that I would not have minded if there had never been a child? That it is enough that I have you?”
Of course she knew. Darius showed her every day, and each time they made love together—which was often—how much he worshipped and loved her. “But it is wonderful news, is it not?”
He crushed her in his arms as he rained kisses against her hair. “I love you so much, Beatrix Strong. So very, very much.”
“I love you too, Darius. So very, very much.”
Lord Matthew Darius Jonathan Strong, the Marquis of Shelby, was born exactly six months later.
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About The Author
Carole Mortimer is a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award 2015, a Pioneer for Romance Romantic Times Award in 2014. She was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 for her ‘outstanding service to literature’. Carole has written over 220 contemporary and Regency novels.
She is happily married to Peter. They have 6 sons, and live on the beautiful Isle of Man. She also loves to hear from Readers!
Other books by Carole Mortimer
Regency Sinners Series:
Wicked Torment (Regency Sinner 1)
Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners 2)
More books to come in this series
Regency Unlaced Series:
The Duke’s Mistress (Book 1)
Claimed by the Marquis (Book 2)
Taken by the Earl (Book 3)
Pursued by the Viscount (Book 4)
Desired by a Lord (Book 5)
Captured by a Gentleman (Book 6)
Pleasured by a Duke (Book 7)
Seduced by a Marquis (Book 8)
Tamed by the Earl (Book 9)
Series is now complete
Knight Security Series:
Resisting Alexandre (Knight Security 0.5)
Defying Asher (Knight Security 1)
Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2)
Capturing Caleb (Knight Security 3)
Tempting Zander (Knight Security 4)
Enticing Ian (Knight Security 5)
Seducing Ethan (Knight Security 6)
ALPHA Series:
Christmas Alpha (Alpha 1)
Dark Alpha (Alpha 2)
Shadow Alpha (Alpha 3) Author’s 200th Book
Midnight Alpha (Alpha
4)
Renegade Alpha (Alpha 5)
Warrior Alpha (Alpha 6)
Rogue Alpha (Alpha 7)
Savage Alpha (Alpha 8)
Series is now complete
Wicked Torment (Regency Sinners 1) Page 14