Page 87 of Her Impeccable Scoundrel

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“He’d like me to participate in a mission. I told him no, of course.”

“Where?”

“St. Petersburg. A treaty is being negotiated over the territories on the northwest coast of America. It would mean being gone several months. Perhaps a year. I won’t leave you.”

“We could go with you.”

“We?”

“Yes. Me, you, the children. We could leave Maddy with Louisa and Samuel. I know they’d look after her. I worried, you know, that I would hold you back in your career. You must go, with or without us.”

“My dear Lady Chilcombe, I’ve waited fifteen years for you. I only just convinced you to marry me. Do you think I’d want to be apart from you for even a few days?”

“Well then,” she said and kissed him.

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The End

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