“It doesn’t need to be a big one to get the grand dames going either,” Christian pointed out. “If they get their claws on any morsel of a scandal, the smallest little tidbit will blossom into a full-fledged banquet, regardless of the veracity of it.”
“Agreed.” The duchess smiled at Anna. “It was Anna here who came up with the answer, and it’s quite brilliant if I do say so. Tell them, dear.” The Duchess of Morewether sat back against the sofa cushions in triumph.
Anna waved off the suggestion her idea was brilliant, but she forged ahead with the details. “As I said, avoiding scandal was paramount, followed closely by the necessity of Lord Dalton saving face. It would be unconscionable for Lord Dalton to risk any sort of censure after making such a selfless offer.”
Dalton raised a biscuit in a toast. “Here, here.”
Anna smiled and nodded in his direction. “And obviously, it wouldn’t do for Frankie to marry Thomas under a cloud of suspicion either. There needs to be an equitable reason for the original contracts to be determined null and void.”
Suddenly there was a loud crash from the back of the house followed by a squeal and a yelp. Then, as God was her witness, the distinctive sound of thundering footsteps came down the hall at great speed in the direction of the study. She shrank back against Thomas, seeking protection from whatever it was that neared the doorway.
“Get ready for it,” Thomas whispered in her ear.
“Ready for what?” She tried to get behind him, to use him as a shield or something. “What, in the name of all that’s holy is that?” Two enormous, black, fuzzy dervishes erupted into the room, paused only briefly to note all the people in the room then bounced over to their beloved master.
The duchess shrieked, and Anna jumped up on the sofa. There was a groan from Dalton and a loud curse from Christian.
It took Francesca only a second to realize that they weren’t wild animals, but rather just enormous puppies. Newfoundland puppies, she was sure of it.
“Thomas!” She reached down to stroke one pup’s ears. “When did you get Newfoundland puppies?”
“Just the other day. I saw the boys in the park again and went to see their uncle.”
“They are absolutely gorgeous,” she cooed at the dogs. “Why though?”
“Because I knew you would love them. I knew it from the minute I saw them. You are everything that is unpredictable, Francesca.”
One dog sat at her feet, looking up at her adoringly, and accepted her attentions with a happy, slobbery tongue. Puppy number two ran off to explore the other people in the room. The duchess, not nearly as accommodating as her daughter, shooed it away with gentle nudges of her foot. Anna simply refused to give up her undignified perch on the back of the sofa.
The minute the dog’s glance included Dalton, the man stood and looked fiercely down at the manic puppy. “Sit, sit, sit,” he repeated. “Sit.” By some stroke of luck the dog did sit and was rewarded with a piece of a biscuit.
“What are their names?” Francesca asked.
“That’s up to you. They’re your wedding gift,” Thomas informed her with an endearing grin.
“Have you never heard of jewelry, Thomas? Good Christ!” Christian grumbled as he wiped furiously at a large smear of drool that stretched from his waist to his knee.
Francesca ignored her brother completely. “Oh, I’ll just have to think of something appropriately sweet for them then.”
“I’d wait,” Thomas said, laughing, “until you spend more time with them before you christen them with something too tender.”
Christian rose from his chair and walked to where Anna stood on the sofa. He offered his hand to her, and after a wary glance in the direction of both dogs, she accepted it and stepped gingerly to the floor.
“I don’t think they’re intentionally wretched,” Christian told Anna. “I’m sure you’ll be safe, but I’ll stand nearby just in case. Please continue with what you were saying before the hounds from hell burst in.”
Anna gave him an appreciative smile.
Francesca stood and gave her attention to Anna. “I’m so sorry. Of course, please continue. What solution have you come up with that assures no one is compromised?”
“It just seemed to me that all the years Thomas spent with your family and the obvious regard the duke and duchess have for him, well, isn’t it logical your father would have arranged for a marriage with Thomas? All we have to tell society is the reason everyone has been so strange the last several days is because Thomas came home to take the mantle of earl and found the contract in all his father’s papers. Of course, this would be a shock to everyone involved, and it would take some time to sort it all out.”
They all blinked at Anna, except the duchess who beamed at everyone.
Thomas cleared his throat. “That’s really quite brilliant, Anna, but there is one problem. My father would never have done something so…considerate for me. You all know his feelings about me. Everyone knows he hated me. No one will believe it.”
Christian interrupted thoughtfully, “Maybe not. But he would have given his eyeteeth for an alliance with Morewether. What if the contract didn’t specify an heir? What if it simply named Earl of Harrington?”
There was a moment of contemplative silence broken only by the playful pants and whines of the puppies vying for attention.
Dalton spoke first. “That could work. It would be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of us to be up in arms.”
“And no one would dare impugn the testimony of your family and ours,” the duchess added, and pushed the encroaching puppy away with her toe.
“Not if both you and my mother say it’s so,” Dalton agreed.
Francesca thought on that for a second. “Why would your mother lie for us? We are obviously putting your family out with this last-minute change. She has no reason to want to help.”
Dalton chuckled, tossed the last bite of biscuit to a drooling puppy, and strode across the room. “I realize you don’t know my family very well. You’ve only developed an acquaintance with my mother, aunt and grandmother, but I assure you they are romantics. The women of my family will only be too happy to aid in the course of true love.”
The duchess stood, pointed her index finger menacingly at the nearest dog, and hugged her daughter. Francesca could feel the rise of tears again and swallowed hard to keep them down.
“Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much.” Francesca embraced her mother and then Anna in a fierce hug. “Thank you for not listening to me at all.”
“I never do when it’s really important.” Anna giggled.
* * * *
It was agreed that Thomas would obtain a special license right away and the original wedding date was kept since all the wedding plans had already been made and St. George’s was reserved.
In the beginning, the ton acted suspicious of the clean and tidy wrap-up, but no holes could be found, and once the ton came to realize no scandal was forthcoming, they moved on to pry into other people’s lives. It helped that Dalton was Thomas’s best man. Of course, Christian proudly stood in stead of Francesca’s father to give her away.
To all those attending, and that was a great deal since the truly dedicated gossipmongers held out until the end in the hope of a last minute en dit, it was apparent Thomas and Francesca were a love match. As one particularly frazzled mother of three daughters out for the season said to another, “That kind of mooning couldn’t be faked.” There were many tears as the service proceeded, proving even the jaded, hardhearted ton was not immune to the power of a really good love story.
Epilogue
“Francesca!”
She was sitting at her desk in the morning room she favored. The early sun came through the windows along the north wall, casting the loveliest glow throughout the room. She gritted her teeth and looked down at the living, breathing throw rug near her feet.
“Well, Lucifer, at least I know it wasn’t you.” She nudged the giant dog with a silk-sli
pper-clad toe. She only got a grunt and a snore in response.
She sighed deeply and rose from the chair. At the landing, she looked down to find her two favorite males standing in the marble foyer. Thomas had his hands on his hips, his feet wide apart. Their three-year-old son stood next to his father, trying to mimic his stern stance but failing once he started giggling.
“Yes?” she asked, keeping her expression as innocent as possible.
“Come and get your dog,” Thomas demanded.
“Momma,” Anthony began, “Medusa has been in Daddy’s study.”
“Oh dear.” She stepped down the first riser, holding on to the banister to keep her balance.
Thomas ran up the stairs and took her other hand to steady her.
“And she scattered Daddy’s important papers,” the child continued, “and the newspaper is everywhere.”
“Try not to have so much glee when reporting her misdeeds, sweetheart,” Francesca told her son.
“Come see!” The child scampered off down the hall towards his father’s study.
“Are you feeling all right?” Thomas’s concern was written all over his face. “I’ll take care of it myself. Don’t worry yourself about it. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Thomas,” she chided. “I’m fine; I still have several weeks to go.” But she had to admit climbing the stairs was a challenge now that her belly eclipsed her feet. “Besides, I can’t possibly spend so much time in bed. I’ll go insane from the boredom.”
He kissed his wife’s cheek. “Have I told you you’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen?”
“Not today.” She gave a regal toss of her head. “You may do so now.”
“Madam, you are the sun and the moon. You are everything lovely,” Thomas vowed, his ever-present grin making his beautiful face even more so.
Once they arrived at the landing, his hand went to the enormous bump under her dress. “I hope this one is a girl.”
“That’s what you say now,” she teased.
“Yes, a little flame-haired girl who will drive the boys crazy.”
“Actually, I was thinking of a little flame-haired boy to complement the raven-haired one riding the dog down the hall.”
Thomas looked up to where she pointed at his son astride Lucifer’s brother, Dante. The enormous dog didn’t seem to mind as it lumbered good-naturedly out the French doors to the garden with the boy on his back.
Francesca peered in the doorway to the study to find Medusa lying on a pile of papers in the middle of the floor. All the pillows were off the sofa and a prodigious amount of slobber smeared Thomas’s desk chair. As soon as she saw her people, the puppy’s rear rose in the air and her tail wagged furiously. Francesca laughed out loud as the puppy bowed to them in an invitation to play.
“Are you sure you want to breed these monsters?” Thomas’s face was no longer sweet and peaceful from flirting with his wife; instead it was cloudy from anger.
“Yes, I do. You know she’ll settle down just like the boys did.” She took her husband’s hand. “We never thought they’d live to see adulthood, if you remember, and look at them now, the big old lazy oafs.”
He ignored the dog, turned again to his wife and took her into his arms. It was decidedly more difficult now, and he had to stretch his neck to kiss her at this angle, but kiss her he did, and he kissed her well.
This project has had tremendous support and never would have been completed without the support of my hard working agent, Kevan Lyon, the patience of my family, the dedication and brilliance of my Sisters, the gorgeous cover art by Jaycee DeLorenzo, and the wisdom and camaraderie of the ladies and gentlemen of my Romance Writers of America chapter, Saguaro Romance Writers. Thank you one and all.
…they all lived happily ever after.
About the Author
Amylynn read her first romance novel in 2008 after being a lifelong literary snob. By the time she was done, she was hooked. Inspired, she challenged herself to write an entire manuscript from start to finish. Lady Belling’s Secret became the first in a three series set.
She is an Arizona native and lives in the same house her husband owned before they were married. Amylynn fears she will never call another state home unless someone tells her husband there are forty-nine others to choose from. In reality, she’d settle for a walk-in closet.
Her family consists of the aforementioned husband, two beautiful children, two dogs, two cats, some fish, and a hankering for a panda. She’d like it mentioned she’s never been in prison but we’ll see how that panda thing works out.
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