Page 74 of Daisy and the Duke
“Well,I’mgoing to marry for love,” Heather declared.
“I’m not going to marry at all,” Poppy countered. “That is, until Rose gets married.”
The girl on the couch sighed, saying, “That will never happen. Who marries a blind girl?”
“A man with good sense,” Camellia said quickly. “For she wouldn’t ever think him ugly!”
The girls all laughed, but as the chatter continued onto other topics, Daisy felt a little sad. She wanted all her friends to be as blissfully content as she was. She hoped that they would find their matches soon, because they were all deserving of love. In fact, everyone was deserving of love, even her horrid stepmother, who was evidently in love with the ex-vicar Hornthwaite. She hoped that even they were happy together…somewhereveryfar away.
There was another couple that looked to be quite content. Bella stood next to Jack Kemble the whole day, doting on his every word as the villagers came up to him and congratulated him on his efforts to clear Daisy’s name. Only when the old baroness was mentioned did Bella look away, and Jack hurriedly changed the subject to something more pleasant. He still sat in a chair most of the day, but he looked far better than he had when he arrived at Lyondale, and Dr. Stelton declared he would be fit and healthy by April…which was not coincidentally when he and Bella planned to get married and move to London, where Jack was going to set up a law practice.
Lord Lyon rarely left his wife’s side the whole day, though he did sneak her away from the crowd of well-wishers for a moment.
He led her upstairs and out to the balcony.
“It’s too cold to stay out here, Tristan,” Daisy said.
He put his arms around her. “You can’t possibly think I’d let you get chilly, your grace.”
She laughed. “I won’t get used to that.”
“That’s what I thought, when they started calling me your grace.” He bent to kiss her lightly, then said, “It’s amazing though, what one can get used to.”
“I will get used to you kissing me,” Daisy whispered. “Though you really ought to learn to do so when we’re alone.”
“We are alone,” he said. “As you say, no one’s outside in the cold. So can I kiss you again?”
Daisy didn’t take much convincing. Tristan kissed her again. A distant round of shouts and teasing applause suggested that they weren’t alone after all, but Daisy kissed him back all the same. The lesson about waiting until they were alone could be discussed later.
Much later.
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