OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 5 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Noble Gentlemen of the Ton", and get 5 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
The drawing room of Wexley House was awash in the gentle golden light of a dozen candles, their glow dancing across the polished wood and gleaming silver. Laughter echoed down the corridor as three young women, all grown, all married, and all in varying states of elegant bustle, made their final preparations before descending into the grandeur of the ballroom below.
Juliana adjusted the clasp at her wrist with the unconscious finesse of a woman long accustomed to society’s gaze, though tonight, her attention was not upon herself, but her youngest sister.
“It scarcely seems possible,” she said, turning to behold Jacqueline, who stood by the long mirror in her white silk gown, the satin train swept artfully to one side by the hand of a devoted maid. “You were all freckles and scraped knees only a moment ago and now look at you… ready to conquer the season.”
Jacqueline laughed, as her cheeks flushed with a nervous delight. “You speak as though I am off to war.”
“Not war,” Lily interjected, her eyes sparkling as she affixed a final pearl to her earring, “but something far more treacherous, London’s marriage mart.”
“Oh hush,” Juliette said, smoothing the bodice of her gown and examining the effect in the mirror with a critical eye. “If anyone can navigate it, Jacqueline can. She has observed all our triumphs and follies. She shall proceed without scandal, disappointment, or being caught in the rain with a disreputable poet.”
They all laughed at that, Juliana included, though she exchanged a knowing look with Lily, for both had lived through just enough youthful indiscretion to feel the sting of Juliette’s teasing.
There were four children between them, the three eldest had not spent a night such as this, unaccompanied by their little ones in some time. That was why their departure had been a flurry of kisses and promises, as the nursery was left in the capable hands of the family’s long-trusted nanny, Mrs. Fairchild, who had waved them off with good humor and a firm insistence that they go and enjoy themselves.
“I do feel rather like we’re sneaking away,” Lily said as she fastened her reticule, her voice hushed with conspiratorial mirth. “What would Lord Ashcombe say if he knew I’d left him to entertain an entire ballroom alone?”
“Likely that it is far preferable to you managing it with him,” Juliana replied, her tone warm with affection.
Lily arched a brow, then smiled. “True.”
Downstairs, music filtered through the floors, a merry overture of violins and flute. Already, the house was filled with guests. There were white-plumed girls with their mothers, bachelors with hopeful glances and elderly matrons murmuring about lineage and dowries. Somewhere amidst them stood James Wexley, dependable and dignified, undoubtedly keeping Lord Ashcombe and the Duke of Westermore in appropriately amused company until their wives appeared.
Jacqueline took a deep breath, then let it out in a rush. “I think I shall faint before I make it to the top of the stairs.”
“You shall do no such thing,” Juliana said firmly, slipping her hand into her sister’s. “You have us. Come now. Let us descend like queens.”
“Queens with aching feet,” Juliette muttered.
Yet descend they did, three sisters and a friend, with laughter trailing behind them along with the scent of lavender and rosewater. They paused only briefly at the top of the staircase, and Juliana, glancing out across the ballroom, felt the sort of quiet pride only time and experience could yield. The chandeliers shimmered like constellations. Her husband was there, his eyes lifting toward her as if drawn by instinct. James stood beside him, speaking with Ashcombe, who seemed already to be scanning the stairs for Lily.
Juliana’s heart lifted not with the giddy thrill of first love, but with the rich, abiding comfort of a life well-lived and still unfolding.
“Well,” said Lily, linking arms with her. “Shall we?”
The descent of the ladies did not go unnoticed. Heads turned, fans fluttered, and the murmured rustling of satin and speculation followed in their wake. But none of it registered to Juliana for her eyes were already fixed upon one figure across the crowd.
Dominic.
Her husband stood just to the left of the central marble column, distinguished in midnight blue with a waistcoat of silver embroidery. His brow, which was still so serious in company, softened the instant he saw her and a smile touched his lips. It was not the smile of gallant courtship, but of deep, enduring knowledge. It was the smile of a man who had held her in the earliest hours of the morning when a child cried, who had laughed with her over tea, and once even danced with her in stocking feet across the nursery rug.
“Do not forget us entirely,” Lily whispered, with a sidelong glance toward Lord Ashcombe, who was already making his way toward her with such a look of unabashed admiration that one could almost forget they had been married six years.
Juliette giggled. “Well, I suppose we are abandoned now.”
But Juliana was already moving, her feet guiding her through the parting crowd with a grace born not of practiced charm, but of certainty that she was seen, loved, and known.
“Your Grace,” her husband greeted, inclining his head with exaggerated courtliness as she reached him.
He offered his arm, which she took without hesitation.
“You are late,” he murmured, leaning just close enough for her to hear, though not so near as to be improper.
“Fashionably so.”
“A dangerous game. You nearly caused a riot among the bachelors.”
She laughed softly. “You are absurd.”
He turned to face her fully then, brushing his fingers lightly over the silk at her elbow. “I am utterly bewitched,” he said, so quietly that no one else could have heard it. “Every time I look at you, even now, especially now… I find myself more lost than I was the day we met.
Her breath caught, a little ridiculous given how many times she had heard such declarations over the years. But the truth of it, the sincerity in his eyes, had the power to undo her still.
“We are old married people,” she said, smiling against the feeling that rose in her chest. “We ought to be talking about gout and inheritance taxes.”
“I would much prefer to dance with my wife.”
Across the floor, Juliette had found James and was already being twirled into a waltz. Lily and Lord Ashcombe, always the most elegant pair in the room, glided past them, the viscount murmuring something that made Lily’s eyes sparkle.
And at the center of it all was Jacqueline: radiant and newly born into society, now surrounded by young men eager to claim her first dance. Juliana saw the way her sister tilted her head in careful consideration, the confident way she replied.
Yes, she would be just fine.
The violins swelled as the couples glided in time across the polished floor, each movement a small display of civility and grace. Juliana and Dominic moved with ease that arose out of familiarity with one another. Though surrounded by hundreds, she felt as though they were alone, orbiting one another in quiet, assured delight.
For a time, they simply danced. And then, as the music shifted into a slower measure, Dominic leaned closer.
“Do you ever think,” he said, “how unlikely it all was?”
Juliana looked up at him, her brow gently arched. “What… all this?”
“This.” He nodded slightly. “Us… tonight. Jacqueline is radiant and bold, your sisters are happy, our daughter is safe in bed, and you are in my arms at last. I once thought such things were for other men, men who had earned them.”
“You did earn them,” she replied firmly, though her tone remained light. “You endured me through an entire season, and my mother besides.”
He chuckled. “And your sisters, and the storm at Brighton, and your refusal to let me say anything romantic without being interrupted by a toddler or a governess.”
She smiled, resting her hand more securely on his shoulder. “It was a long road, wasn’t it?”
His expression grew still for a moment, but he still didn’t let go of her. “Cavendish is serving life. In Virginia, of all places. He was extradited six months ago. The Americans apparently have little patience for noble titles when accompanied by fraud and attempted murder.”
She did not flinch at the name. It had lost its power long ago. Instead, she only nodded. “Good. Everyone got what they deserved.”
Dominic’s gaze held hers. “Did they?”
She tilted her head, smiling softly. “Yes. I believe they did.”
“But what of me?” he asked, drawing her a touch nearer, until the scent of his cologne and the warmth of his closeness were almost too much to bear. “Is it fair that I should be so happy?”
“Scandalous,” she whispered, feigning shock. “Utterly indecent.”
His mouth quirked, but he did not press. Not until she leaned toward him, eyes twinkling, and said the following words very quietly. “I hope you’re prepared to be even happier.”
He didn’t say anything at first. She appeared to have caught him off guard.
She tried to keep the amusement from her voice, but she failed dreadfully. “Well, Rose has made it known she’d like someone smaller than herself to boss about.”
He stared at her. “You don’t mean—?”
“I do.”
She laughed as his eyes widened, and then, without a thought for the music, the dance, or the sea of propriety that surrounded them, he took her hand and spun her with exuberance. The maneuver broke entirely with the elegant pattern of the quadrille, and a disapproving cluck could be heard from the dowager Lady Whitcombe near the mantelpiece.
But Juliana laughed and followed the twirl into his arms, breathless and unbothered, catching her balance only by virtue of her husband’s hands at her waist.
“We’re going to have another child,” he said, almost reverently, like he still needed to hear it aloud.
She softened. “Yes. You and I… again.”
He spoke then as if his voice was on the verge of snapping. “Thank you.”
She touched her forehead gently to his. “For what?”
“For not giving up on me, for choosing me and for giving me this life. I do not deserve it, but I will guard it with everything I am.”
“You are altogether too dramatic,” she whispered, as her lips brushed gently against his cheek. “I must say, it is dreadfully attractive.”
He gave a short, quiet laugh, then held her close again, as they both forgot all about the music and the generally accepted pattern of the dance in question. To be quite honest, she didn’t even know what it was any more.
Around them, the world resumed its shape, but Juliana cared for none of it. In that moment, in the circle of his arms, she felt it all: the long road they had traveled, the shadows they had passed through, the hard-earned peace. Now, all she could see was their children, their love, their future.
And she, too, was thankful for him, to him… utterly, entirely, and beyond measure.
OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 5 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Noble Gentlemen of the Ton", and get 5 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
Hi wonderful readers! I truly hope you enjoyed the journey—and the peek into what came after in the Extended Epilogue! I can’t wait to read your comments! 💖
I enjoyed tbis book very much. It had romsnce of course, but tnere was a new real depth to the way women were not acknowledge as having rights as indivuals.
I admired tbe way their plight was shown in several ways.
Thank you! I’m so glad the deeper themes resonated with you.
The first part was a little slow – a lot of internal thoughts and jumping to conclusions. I scanned through some parts. However, I am glad that I stuck with it.
The last half certainly made up for any earlier overthinking! I thought I had it all figured out, but I wasn’t even close for most of it. Then, we couldn’t have a simple closure, but the cheering at the end made up for it.
I highly recommend this book. The overall story was interesting. I usually identify with a character, in this case, Dominic.
Thank you for sticking with it—I’m so glad the second half pulled you in!
A beautifully written story. Love is not always easy and these two had a lot of ups and downs, but love did conquer in the end. Thank you for the lovely adventure in love.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed their journey — love’s path isn’t always smooth, but it’s worth it in the end. ❤️