Page 98 of The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes
“I...” Her father seemed to struggle with comprehension, and she feared his response. But no matter what he said, she was doing the right thing. She followed her heart, and no one, not even her own father, could lead her from that path.
Then her father exhaled, and he slowly nodded.Her own exhalation was a long, serrated breath of relief.
“I’m... I’m sorry, Star.” Da sounded truly contrite. “I was too busy reaching for something I thought was valuable, but if it costs you your happiness, then I’ve truly failed as a father. I love you, gel. You and your brother. You’re all that should matter to me.”
He took her hand in his, and squeezed it. Moisture glossed his eyes—the second time Celeste had ever seen Da cry.
“But,” her father added with a glare at Kieran, “you sure about wedding this rogue? He ain’t good husband material.”
“My past conduct has been a bit... unrestrained,” Kieran said, yet added earnestly, “but, Mr. Kilburn, I love her.”
“Love ain’t always enough to keep a scoundrel at home,” her father answered.
“When Celeste is home,” Kieran replied, “I’ll be home with her. When she’s out, I’ll be out with her. Wherever she is, that’s where you’ll find me.”
Her father’s expression warmed, but he turned to Celeste. “Is this what you want, Star? Do you trust him?”
“I trust him, Da,” she said with complete sincerity. “He has my heart, and I know he’ll keep it safe.”
“Not every moment of marriage is awash in joy,” her father cautioned. “There’s anger and heartbreak in it, too.”
“It’s better to have someone beside you to face them,” Celeste said. “And I choose him to have at my side.”
Her father said nothing for a long moment, but then, eyes continuing to shine, he said, “Then you’ve my blessing. And your ma’s, too. She might not be here, but she’s here, where it matters.” He tapped the center of Celeste’s chest, and Kieran’s, as well.
Her ribs were tight as she pressed a kiss to her father’s cheek. “Thank you, Da.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kilburn,” Kieran added, shaking her father’s hand. His voice thickening, he added, “She’s a gift, your daughter, and I thank you for bringing her into the world.”
Da dashed his knuckles across his eyes. “Everything she is, she owes to no one but herself.”
Celeste swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. “We ought to tell everyone.”
Kieran and her father nodded, and they rejoined the group. His family all watched them approach, and Dom looked as pleased as she’d seen him in months.
“As it turns out,” Kieran said in a voice pitched so everybody at the party could hear, “tonight is an engagement party.”
“Mr. Ransome and I are to be married,” Celeste added.
There was a brief, stunned moment before the assembled guests broke into applause and cries of felicitations. Most likely, they were a trifle confused as to how Celeste had begun the evening as the supposed fiancée of one man, only to announce her engagement to another within the span of an hour, but sometimes the best strategy was to brazen it out, and others would fall in line.
Kieran’s parents both beamed and clapped at the announcement, perhaps the happiest Celeste had ever seen them whilst also in each other’s presence.
“But this is wonderful,” Lady Wingrave said proudly. “You cannot find a more respectable young woman than Miss Kilburn.”
“At leastoneof you is attempting to meet our requirements,” Lord Wingrave added. He sent a pointed glance at Finn, whose gaze slid up toward the ceiling as if a ladder he could climb might descend from it.
“This has nothing to do with you or what you want,” Kieran said to his parents, his gaze direct and unsparing. “It’s for myself. Myself and Celeste.”
His parents stammered and looked abashed, as if they couldn’t understand how anything their son did could exist independently of them.
Celeste leaned close to him to whisper in his ear. “You’re extraordinary, you know. And worth celebrating. They’re fools if they cannot recognize that. But I do, and I always will.”
His dark eyes were deep and full of love as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. If the public show of affection was considered gauche or crude, neither she nor Kieran cared. All that mattered was the future that lay ahead of them, the future they would share.
The company took celebratory drinks. Celeste and Kieran shared a knowing look. To the world at large, shewasperfectly respectable.
Yet she and her intended knew better.
