Epilogue

The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy was honored by the arrival of its greatest patron, King George himself.

"His Majesty is standing before your painting!" Dom said to Torie when they entered the chamber. "Let's go speak to him before

West bores him into an apoplexy, and he has to leave."

"He doesn't suffer from apoplexies," Torie said, feeling a quiver of anxiety. "What if the king doesn't like it?"

"If so, why would he stand there staring at it?" her husband asked with perfect logic. "Here, give the baby to Nanny Grey."

Nanny had reluctantly bowed to the fact that the viscount and viscountess most oddly chose to take their baby wherever they

went. She managed to stay close, even while keeping an eye on the twins.

Earning, as Torie often told her husband, every penny she was paid.

"My lady!" Nanny Grey said urgently, reaching out for the baby at the same time she nodded toward the far wall.

"Oh, bloody hell," Dom said, setting off through the crowd in the direction of the twins, who had begun chatting with the

King of England.

Torie made sure that her darling Charlotte was comfortably curled against Nanny's shoulder, her fist clenched on Nanny's pinafore,

before she turned to follow.

By the time she joined them, the conversation was in full swing. His majesty was bent down, listening carefully to Valentine. Thankfully, Val was at his most respectful.

"If Your Majesty looks carefully at these figures," he said, gesturing toward the portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Huntington

atop their steam engine, "you'll see that they are caught in motion. Her Grace's arms are twirling in the air. That is most

difficult to achieve."

"I see," His Majesty said, nodding. "As opposed to this one here, eh?" The work hanging next to it was Benjamin West's depiction

of the death of Nero.

Valentine's lip didn't curl, but his restraint clearly took some effort. "Precisely so, Your Majesty."

Torie sighed. Val didn't know that Benjamin West was King George's chosen portraitist.

"It's not all about movement," Florence piped up. "The Duchess of Huntington said that it's the only likeness she has of her

husband that caught his personality."

The king looked up and saw Torie. "Here is the artist herself."

Torie dropped into a deep curtsy. "Your Majesty."

"A great work," he said. "I knew the duke since he was a boy. His death was a loss to the nation, as well as his family. This

portrait captures his joy, doesn't it?"

"I hope so, Your Majesty."

"Viscount Kelbourne," King George said. "Heard the bill was voted down yet again. Maybe next year, eh?"

Dominic bowed. "I hope so, Your Majesty. The Quakers have done much to advance its success."

"Good people, those," His Majesty said somewhat vaguely. One of his courtiers popped up at his shoulder. "I'd like a portrait of myself and my family," he said to Torie. "All of us."

Torie dropped into an even deeper curtsy. "It would be an honor, Your Majesty."

"Depicted like that," he said, nodding at the Duke and Duchess of Huntington on their engine. "I always heard your paintings

were about time, but they're not, are they?"

"They aren't?" Torie asked cautiously.

"That one's about emotion," the king said. "Joy. Love." He looked around again. "Where's my queen?"

"I'll take you to her, Your Majesty," his courtier said, drawing him away.

Avoiding the crowd that was swirling ever closer to Torie's painting, eager to see the work that King George liked the best,

Dom drew her to the side of the room. "Where's my queen?" he asked, putting his arms around her. "Oh, here you are."

"Dom!" Torie protested, but her husband had long since decided that he didn't give a damn about the opinions of polite society.

He especially disliked the rules that adjudicated the behavior of married people.

"I love you," he said huskily, turning his back to the room. "My wife, painter of kings."

"And viscounts," Torie reminded him. She put a finger on his lower lip.

He grinned back at her. "Perhaps you need to do another life study, since they won't allow you to do it at the Academy."

Torie's smile was so wide that she thought her heart might burst with happiness.

But somehow, it never did.