Page 111 of The Earl Takes All
“I promised not to leave you.” Standing, he pulled her nearer, cupped her face. “I love you, Julia. I believe I have since that night I kissed you in the garden.”
His mouth was on hers before she took her next breath, his arms closing around her as though he would never let her go. She didn’t want him to let her go, didn’t want to let go of him. Ever.
They would live at Evermore together. They would have children together. They would be happy together. Maybe he was right. Maybe Albert had known. Maybe he did approve. All that mattered was that he and Marsden had given them a way to be together.
When Edward pulled back, his eyes contained no more sadness, no more sorrow.
“When do you want to get married?” he asked.
“As soon as possible.”
Taking her hand, he began leading her back toward the house. “I’ll start making the arrangements as soon as we return to Evermore.”
“You must know, Edward, that I am marrying you because I love you.”
He smiled down on her. “I don’t doubt that in the least.”
“Good, because I’m also with child.”
That stopped him in his tracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’d only figured it out the afternoon that you made your announcement in the House of Lords. There was nothing to be done at that point except to make you worry.”
He dragged her into his arms. “Christ, Julia.”
“I would have kept her. I would have loved her. I would have done everything in my power to protect her.”
He leaned away from her, arched a brow. “Her?”
“We’re going to have a daughter. I feel it in my bones.”
Laughing, he picked her up and swung her around in a circle.
“Edward!”
Finally he put her down, but he was still smiling brightly. “I’m going to make a huge wager in the betting book at White’s that we’re having a son.”
“But I’ve told you. It’s a girl. A woman knows these things.”
Sevenand a half months later, Edward Albert Alcott, heir apparent to the earldom of Greyling, made his entrance into the world.
Epilogue
London
Some Years Later
Edwardstood in the hallway, right knee bent, foot flat to the wall, waiting. He’d been waiting all morning. No, in truth, he’d been waiting for a good many years, anticipating and dreading this moment.
His marriage to Julia had been the source of immeasurable gossip. His son and heir, Edward Albert, making his debut into the world only a few months after the wedding of his parents took place, had been cause for further gossip and speculation. But it didn’t take long for his love for Julia and hers for him to cause even the most righteous and upstanding among the nobility to admit that perhaps they were a bit hasty with their censure.
After all, how could a love as pure, unselfish, and grand as theirs be denied?
Slowly, they’d been welcomed back into the ranks of the elite. It was, however, years before they admitted that the beloved children’s author and illustrator—J. E. Alcott—was not a distant cousin to Louisa May, as was often hinted, but was in fact the pseudonym for the Countess and Earl of Greyling. What he liked best about the stories was that he always felt as though he and his brother, along with Ashe and Locke, had been immortalized and would carry on with their adventures long after they each drew their final breath. Greymane was a favorite among the children, who often named their hobbyhorses after him. Edward liked that best of all: that his brother was still loved by so many.
Beside him, Edward Albert sighed, shifted his stance and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers.
“I know you’re anxious to be off, but Kilimanjaro isn’t going anywhere.”
