Page 104 of The Secret of Flirting
“He did, indeed. I was rather surprised that matters turned out so well. The papers have portrayed us most romantically, thanks to your grand play at the assembly hall.”
“Surely you didn’t think my plan would fail,” he said smugly. “By this time next year, the actress Monique will be forgotten and the Princess Monique will be firmly entrenched in the public’s mind.”
“And you will be foreign secretary. Or so say the rumors.”
More and more, it looked as if he would. His machinations at the vote had impressed many in the new government. He could only pray no one ever found out what a near thing it had been.
“So why is Mother balking at accepting the count’s offer?” he asked, now curious.
“I take it she’s had too many overbearing men in her life.”
“I do hope you’re not including me in that number.”
She feigned a look of shock. “You? Overbearing? Never!”
“Watch it,mon amour,” he teased. “As of tonight, you will be permanently in my bed, and I might have a mind to show you exactly what overbearing is.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait.”
His cock twitched, and he lowered his voice. “Neither can I.”
Then they were surrounded by his fellow members of St. George’s.Andtheir wives.
“So the bachelor has finally fallen,” Warren announced. “I never thought to see the day when a master conniver like Fulkham married for love.” He paused. “Youdidmarry for love, old chap, didn’t you?”
“Of course he did,” his wife, Delia, put in. “I knew he was in trouble the first time I saw him gazing with such... enthusiasm... at Princess Aurore.” She shot the newlyweds a sheepish smile. “I meanMonique. Forgive me, I keep forgetting. And I’m so very happy for you both.”
With his wife, Yvette, hanging on his arm, Jeremy Keane moved into the fore. “I’m still not entirely sure that the marriage isn’t one of Fulkham’s schemes.” He eyed Gregory. “I’ll believe it’s a real marriage when I see their first child.”
“Jeremy!” Lady Yvette chided.
“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t think the same.”
“I did not!”
If Gregory hadn’t already heard about Jeremy’s bet with Hart, he might have taken offense, but he could tell the man was fishing for information. “You’ll see my first child, Keane, only when you agree to paint his portrait.”
“Orherportrait,” Monique said with a sniff. “You never know.”
Brilliana rubbed her belly before she caught herself and dropped her hand. “No, you never do,” she said brightly. Her husband, Niall, took her hand with a secretive smile.
Gregory’s eyes narrowed on the couple. It seemed that he and Monique were not the only ones who had jumped the gun, so to speak. And since Niall and Brilliana had been married scarcely a month, the two babies might very well be born close together. That ought to make Monique happy, since she and Brilliana had already become fast friends.
Niall’s sister, Clarissa, gazed up at her husband, Edwin. “Mama wascertainI was having a girl after some fortune-teller told her that I would, wasn’t she?”
Edwin rolled his eyes. “A fortune-teller who can’t predict the future. What a shock.” He patted Clarissa’s hand affectionately. “When your mother told us that, I knew it would be a boy. You could set a clock by the inerrancy of her fortune-teller’s predictions.”
“Well, it’s a little early yet for us to be talking about children,” Gregory said blithely. Not for the world would he have Monique embarrassed, as she was liable to be if people found out she’d conceived on the wrong side of the blanket.
“Is it?” Jeremy said with a suspicious gaze.
“You are incorrigible!” his wife cried. “Stop teasing Fulkham or he’ll wonder why he puts up with us.”
“He puts up with us because we’re jolly good fun,” Warren replied.
“You are, indeed,” Gregory said, and raised his glass of punch.
The others raised their glasses and made a toast to the happy couple.
