Epilogue

A lexander needed to be away from the ball. For several hours, they had received congratulations, toasts, warm kisses, and embraces—even from Duke D'Estel—who assured Alexander that no harm had been meant by his words at Lady Dames.

Alexander accepted the apologies and congratulations gracefully, but in truth, he wanted to escape. He wanted the woman he had kept tightly in his arms all evening to himself.

"The hour grows late. Mayhap you'll allow me to escort you home, Lady Charlotte?" he asked, drinking in the sight of her—his beautiful, kind wife-to-be.

She smiled in delight and turned to her mother at their side. "Mama, may Lord Lacy escort me home?" Charlotte asked discreetly.

Charlotte's mama, still smiling and discussing all manner of wedding ideas with a gaggle of her friends, turned to them with a knowing look.

"Oh, of course, my dear. Just slip away quietly if you can. But I can see no reason to deny you both. You'll be married soon enough."

"Thank you, Mama." Without hesitation, Charlotte took Alexander's hand and pulled him through the many guests. Her artful maneuver brought them into the foyer without raising awareness among anyone in attendance that they were leaving.

Together.

A footman ran out to have his carriage brought around from the mews, and soon, the Lacy town carriage rolled to a stop before the Lane-Fox London home.

Charlotte climbed into the carriage, and he followed, yelling the directions for the D'Estel estate. The carriage lurched forward, and Charlotte ran her hand over the velvety seats before untying the curtains that fell closed with a swish. Shadowed darkness enclosed around them, and expectation thrummed in the air.

The quiet of the London streets, the rhythmic clip-clop of the horses' hooves, was a welcome reprieve from the madness of the Duke Lane-Fox ball.

Charlotte snuggled into his side, looking up at him. "I've missed you so very much. I thought I'd lost you forever."

He shook his head, hating that he had made her fear or lose trust in his love. "No, never. I needed time to work through everything that had changed in my life. To accept what and who I am. I'm sorry I made you worry. I hated that we quarreled."

"I did, too," she said, and before he could utter a word more, she kneeled across his lap. "But if we squabble, we can make up, and I want to make up with you, Alexander."

The way she said his name, deep and laced with enticement, had the blood in his veins heat. He clasped her hips, hauling her close. "So you're suggesting we apologize in the carriage in another nonverbal kind of way?" The idea of having her here, of making her his, of starting their forever in this very moment, made his hands shake with anticipation.

She leaned forward and kissed him, her tongue gliding against his. His cock hardened, and all thoughts of propriety or of saving themselves until their wedding night—something he had intended as the least he could do since they hadn't been saints up to this point—flew out the carriage window.

He clasped her ass and lifted her, spinning her around until she was seated, and he was above her. He lifted her skirts, their movements frantic, and with her nimble fingers, she helped him loosen his falls before he thrust into her without warning or heed.

Her fingers scored into his shoulders, pulling him close. His desire for her, the madness that had spiraled out of control since seeing her last, was too much.

He took her with relentless strokes. Her mewls of delight, her gasps, and wicked kisses pushed him to the brink of control.

"Alexander, yes, please," she gasped, throwing back her head in pleasure.

He kissed her neck, nipping the sensitive place beneath her ear. Charlotte smelled good enough to eat—vanilla and rose, two scents he would forever associate with her.

She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he deepened his thrusts, filling her to the hilt. Their frenzied lovemaking, their need for shared passion, was far from rational.

"Harder," she ordered, her breathless command almost making him lose control.

He did as she asked and gave her what she wanted. His cock hardened further, filling her completely, pushing them both toward the edge of release. Her body trembled in his arms, and he knew she was close. He kept his pace, working her toward orgasm, and then he felt the tightening of her sweet quim pulling him along with her into ecstasy.

They came together, and he kissed her screams away, drinking down her gasping moans and relishing the feel of her cunny milking his cock dry.

His heart hammered, sweat prickled under his attire, but he didn't care. All that mattered was Charlotte's pleasure and happiness. That was all that would ever matter from this day forward.

"I love you," she said, her breath labored, clasping his jaw and meeting his eyes. The love shining in her blue gaze broke him, and he knew he would forever be in her debt—forever hers to do with as she pleased. A slave to love and to the woman he cherished.

"I love and adore you too."

She smiled, and he slumped beside her on the seat. She wiggled into the crook of his arm, and he kissed the top of her head. "Maybe this evening will be the night we start our family."

He nodded, but he knew a far greater truth. "The moment we say ‘I do,' our family begins. You're my family now, no matter what comes next."

She reached up and kissed his lips softly. "I like that idea," she said. "How soon can we say those words? Mama thinks we should wait a month for the banns."

Alexander waggled his brows. "How does three days sound instead?"

She laughed, her eyes alight with excitement. "I like that idea much better. I cannot live at home for another month without you."

He nodded. "I couldn't agree more." Three days felt like a lifetime to wait for her to be his; a month would be an eternity.

"Or we could keep traveling north and visit Scotland. I heard Gretna is nice this time of year."

She laughed, her smile warming his soul. "I'm game if you are, my lord."

"Whatever the lady wants is my command," he said before he called out the change of direction. Scotland it was.

Gretna, their destination. The first of many adventures for them together.