Epilogue

F ebruary was always a grim month at the seaside. The weather was cold and grey and the hours of daylight limited. No visitors came to stroll along the promenade, or stay in the little hotels and lodging houses that peppered the seafront. Yet Sarah could not feel happier as she looked out of the top floor window. They had a view of the beach and the sea beyond. Today the waves were crashing against the edge of the promenade, threatening to spill over, and it gave everything a dramatic look.

She rested a hand on her growing belly. She was seven months pregnant and getting uncomfortable. Henry had suggested she stop the pupils coming for their piano lessons soon, but she enjoyed it too much and did not want to get bored as she neared the time of birth. Not that there was much chance of that. With Sophia to look after, and the renovations of the rooms downstairs continuing, often both she and Henry would collapse into bed at the end of the day, absolutely exhausted.

It was a good exhaustion though, the sort of exhaustion that comes from being busy doing the things that bring you pleasure.

The door to their set of rooms opened and Henry walked in, his face set into a frown.

‘I have a letter,’ he said, coming over to kiss her. His passion for her had not dimmed, even as she grew bigger with the pregnancy, and she had not lost her desire for her handsome husband. ‘In fact, I have two. One looks to be from your sister.’

‘And the other?’

‘The update from Shrewsbury I have been waiting for.’

‘Let us read that one first.’

Henry moved a chair so they were sitting side by side, and carefully he opened the seal. He was right, it was written in Lord Shrewsbury’s neat handwriting and was two pages long. Carefully they read it, sitting back in amazement as they finished.

‘You’ve done it,’ Sarah said, reaching out and taking her husband’s hand. ‘You’ve actually done it.’

Ever since arriving in St Leonards just days after their wedding, Henry had been working tirelessly on two projects. The first was to turn this dilapidated old house he had bought into something much more profitable. He’d started with the upstairs rooms, working day and night until they had a small but comfortable living space. Sophia had her own bedroom and so did they, alongside a sitting room and a kitchen. It wasn’t much, but it was theirs, and Sarah loved it more than anywhere else she had ever stayed. Now Henry was working on fixing the three levels below them, planning on turning them into lodgings they could rent out. The ground floor had been completed a few weeks earlier and they had their first tenants, bringing in some much-needed money.

His second project had been to work on safeguarding Sophia’s future. He had enlisted the help of his loyal friend, Lord Shrewsbury, and between them they had gathered the evidence that showed Lord Burwell had hired a man to set fire to Henry’s house, ultimately killing the first Lady Routledge. Lord Burwell’s social status gave him a level of protection that was not afforded to normal men, and all along they had been aware it would be nigh on impossible to get him tried in a court of law. Instead, Henry and Shrewsbury had raised such a fuss that Parliament had discussed the issue once they reconvened in the autumn. There was support on both sides, and the argument had raged backwards and forwards, until now.

‘I can’t believe it,’ Henry said, leaning over to kiss her.

‘Nor can I. I did not think they would truly do anything. I thought the protection would be from the world knowing the story, preventing him from doing anything to you or Sophia again.’

‘So did I.’

Lord Shrewsbury had written to say Parliament had tired of the ongoing conflict and had reprimanded Lord Burwell for bringing the House of Lords into ill repute. They suggested he return to his ancestral seat in Yorkshire and remain there indefinitely.

Of course it wasn’t an order. He could do what he liked, but a suggestion from Parliament was difficult to ignore.

‘You did it, my love,’ Sarah said, leaning in to kiss him again. ‘You have finally broken free from him completely.’

‘It is such a relief. Although I do not think I will feel totally at ease until either the old man is dead or Sophia is married off to some kind young man.’

‘Of course not, but this is a victory. I doubt he will dare to hurt us now.’

Sarah stood and stretched her back, picking up the second letter. It was from her sister, the second letter this month. Selina had been a faithful correspondent these last six months. Each letter detailed her life in London. She was still not treated as part of the family, and Sarah thought she never would be, but she seemed happy enough.

She opened the seal and went to sit back down, but Henry caught her round the waist and pulled her onto his lap. As she read he kissed and nuzzled her neck, and a few times she had to reread a sentence as her mind was elsewhere.

‘Does she say anything of interest?’ Henry asked as Sarah folded the letter back up neatly.

‘Sir William, Lady Kingsley and their daughter Catherine are planning a trip to Scotland, and Selina has been invited.’

‘Perhaps they are starting to accept her.’

‘Perhaps,’ Sarah said, not sure she believed it. Still, her sister seemed happy in her letters. She was enjoying life in London, experiencing something different from a quiet, seaside town, and at the moment she seemed willing to put up with their horrible father and his family to do so.

‘Now I suggest we make the most of this empty house. Sophia will be home in half an hour from her lessons, and I want to make the most of my time with my wife.’

She giggled as he stood, grunting as he lifted her from a sitting position.

‘That is not the noise you want your husband to make when he lifts you.’

He raised an eyebrow and then pretended to stagger all the way to the bedroom.

‘You are doing nothing for my self-esteem,’ she laughed.

‘Nonsense,’ he said. ‘You are the most beautiful pregnant woman I have ever seen.’

‘Only you think that.’

‘Only I have to think that,’ he said, lowering her gently onto the bed.

‘That is very true.’

‘Now let me show you how beautiful I think you are.’

He kissed her, tangling his hands in her hair, and Sarah felt a wonderful wave of desire and contentment wash over her. Never had she thought her life would look like this. Henry pulled her back to the present as his lips trailed across the angle of her jaw, settling on the little spot below her earlobe that made her shiver with pleasure.

‘I love you, Lady Routledge.’

‘And I love you.’

As the waves crashed outside the window, Sarah forgot about everything else and lost herself in her husband’s touch.

Read on for an extract from THE DUKE’S GUIDE TO FAKE COURTSHIP by Jade Lee