by Megan Daniel
“You haven’t, Dev. Like me, you have merely existed. I do think it is time we got on with a bit of living now, don’t you?”
“High time.”
They did not hear the door click softly open. Neither did they hear Sarah’s soft sigh of pleasure, nor George’s low chuckle. The door clicked shut again. The two lovers were far too occupied to notice.
An hour later they were still in the conservatory, though they had managed to move to a more comfortable spot on the sofa. “When shall we leave for Kent, my love?” murmured Francesca. “When shall we go home?”
“One does not go home until after the honeymoon, sweet,” he answered. “I am going to give you the most exciting, most adventurous honeymoon in the world. It is high time you had a bit of it for your own.”
“I think I should like that.”
“How convenient that these old ducal mansions always have their own chapels. I shall get a special license at once. You will be my wife before nightfall.”
“Arranging matters in your usual high-handed way, I see.”
He looked sheepish. “Sorry. I am very used to having my own way, you know.”
“So am I.” They smiled a gentle challenge at each other. “So. We are going on a honeymoon. I think I should like to go to Egypt.”
“Egypt?”
“Yes, Egypt. I have wanted to see it ever since Napoleon rediscovered it. Now that I shall have a respectable husband in tow, I think I shall do so.”
“I shall enjoy seeing you on camel. Though I must warn you the creatures are nearly as stubborn and independent as you.”
“Well, if I am tossed off, I shall simply find a convenient Bedouin or some such to pick me up again.”
“That you shall not, my girl! I have had quite enough of your ‘convenient’ gentlemen. I shall pick you up myself.”
She dimpled prettily at him. “I think I shall like that very much. For it means you will have to stay close at hand to keep an eye on me.”
“I shall stay very close at hand. I warn you, Cesca, you shall never be rid of me again.”
“Good,” she sighed.
And he proceeded to show her just how close he intended to remain.
About the Author
Megan Daniel, born and raised in Southern California, combines a background in theater and music with a passion for travel and a love of England and the English. After attending UCLA and California State University, Long Beach, where she earned a degree in theater, she lived for a time in London and elsewhere in Europe. She then settled in New York, working for six years as a theatrical costume designer for Broadway, off-Broadway, ballet, and regional theater.
Miss Daniel lives in New York with her husband, Roy Sorrels, a successful free-lance writer. Her other Regency novels—Amelia, The Reluctant Suitor, and The Unlikely Rivals—are also available in Signet editions.