The audience gave up a collective sigh.

The tears in Lee's eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks. "Caleb… I love you so much."

He lifted her hand and pressed it against his lips. "If that is a yes, my love, please say it so the archbishop can finish this wedding—this time with the proper man."

She smiled at him and spoke around the tears in her throat. "I'll marry you. I would have married you when I thought you were a groom."

Caleb's expression softened and something tender flashed in his dark eyes. He drew her into his arms as he came to his feet and she clung to him.

"I love you," she said. "I love you so much."

A man cleared his throat and she realized the Earl of Selhurst had walked up beside them. "I believe a special license has been procured from the archbishop so that this wedding may proceed."

Caleb cast a look at his father. Clearly, he was surprised to see the smile the earl wore on his face.

Selhurst turned the warmth of that smile in her direction. "It is a pleasure, Miss Montague, to welcome you into the family."

Caleb gazed at his father and something passed between them, something that seemed to bridge the differences they had had.

"You heard the earl," Luc said, with a dimpled grin. "Let's get this wedding finished."

Caleb caught her hand and brought it to his lips. There was so much love in his eyes a lump formed in her throat.

The wedding went forward as if it had never been interrupted, and when the archbishop instructed the groom to kiss the bride, Caleb made certain she knew which man she had wed. She was Mrs. Caleb Tanner. And this was, indeed, the happiest day of her life.






Epilogue


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Riding over the green rolling fields of Shadow's Keep, the estate in Surrey that Caleb and Lee had bought just after their wedding, Caleb pulled rein on his tall black gelding, Solomon. The horse carried several battle scars from the awful fighting at Talavera, but like his owner, the animal had survived.

Caleb smiled as he surveyed his surroundings. The land was beautiful, verdant and rolling, more than a thousand acres of prim grasslands, perfect for raising horses. And the woman at his side was Lee.

Caleb was happy. So very happy.

Still, he had work to do in the stable, preparing it to receive the new batch of mares they had purchased at Tattersall's just last week. He should be there now, but his wife had shown up with an overflowing picnic basket that smelled so inviting he couldn't refuse her invitation to share it with him.

"What's the occasion?" he had asked. "I know I didn't forget your birthday." He grinned. "I doubt I ever will."

Lee laughed. He had always loved her soft, smoky laughter.

"I've a surprise for you. Come on—we'll picnic in the grove at the top of the hill."

He couldn't resist her, of course. He never could. They reached the rise and Caleb pulled rein on his horse.

"All right, you've kept me waiting long enough. What is the surprise?"

Lee just laughed. "Not yet. I'll not be hurried with news as important as this. I'm hungry. This is the perfect spot for a picnic. Let's eat first and then I shall be more than happy to tell you."

Caleb swung down from his horse. "You little vixen. I want to know what you're keeping from me. You're torturing me and enjoying every moment."

"Of course I am. One thing I learned as Vermillion was how to tease a man."

Caleb laughed. He reached up and lifted Lee down from her sidesaddle. "That teasing goes both ways, you know." And after a long, lingering kiss that left them both slightly breathless, he thought he had proved his point.

Lee just smiled. "As soon as we finish our picnic, not before."

He kissed her nearly senseless. "Tell me now."

"All right. Aunt Gabriella has agreed to marry Lord Claymont."

"God's breath—she is finally putting the old boy out of his misery."

She grinned. "Aunt Gabby says she loves him. She says that after watching us make cakes of ourselves these past eight months and knowing how happy Charles and Elizabeth have been, she has come to believe in happy endings."

Caleb nuzzled the side of her neck. "I'm really glad for them."

"Me, too." She went up on her toes and pressed a last kiss on his lips. "But that isn't the secret I came out here to tell you."

"What!"

She laughed and spun away from him. "This secret is a great deal bigger."

He started stalking her. With every step he took closer, Lee took a step away. "Give me a hint," he said. "I demand that right as your husband."

She rolled her eyes. "Well… it's something you've been wanting."

"I've got it! You bought me that stallion I've been hoping to talk Claymont into selling."

"Better than that."

"What could possibly be better? That horse is remarkable. He'll sire a line of Thoroughbreds that will make our racing stable famous."

She gave him a playful smile. "What else have you been wanting?"

"Right now, I'm wanting to throttle you—or better yet, drag you down in the grass and make love to you until you're too tired to give me any more trouble."

Lee laughed. Slowly the laughter faded. She walked closer, slid her arms around his neck. "I'm giving you a son, Caleb. Or perhaps it will be a daughter."

His heart stopped beating. He had to take a long deep breath to get it started again. "Sweet God, Lee." The kiss he gave her was fierce and yet he hoped she could feel the tenderness. "I'm going to be a father." He could hardly believe it. As much as he wanted a family, he had never really believed it would happen. "That's the very best surprise I've ever had. Thank you, my love."

They talked of the future. She told him the child would not arrive for six more months, and they began making plans for its arrival. All the while, he kept glancing down at the soft curve of her belly and thinking that she carried his babe. Caleb didn't care whether the child was a boy or a girl; he simply wanted it to be healthy.

They picnicked in the small copse of trees, well out of sight of the house, and when they were finished, he stretched out on the blanket and pulled her down on top of him.

"I'm still hungry," he said, nibbling the side of her neck. "The chicken was delicious but I want you for dessert."

Lee laughed softly. She didn't resist when Caleb began to unfasten the front of her riding habit. He filled his hands with her breasts and noticed how full they were, wondered why he hadn't noticed before. He kissed her deeply, wildly aroused, wanting her even more than he usually did. She was his wife, soon to be the mother of his child. He wanted to imprint himself upon her, claim her in some primitive fashion and so, as he kissed her, he rolled her beneath him and dragged up her skirt.

"I want you, Caleb," she said, coaxing his mouth down to hers and kissing him again.

Caleb opened the front of his breeches and freed himself. "God, you are so sweet," he whispered. He slid himself inside her, felt her close around him. Like a schoolboy, he found himself fighting for control. Beneath her skirt, he cupped her bottom, lifted her against him, and slowly started to move.

Her soft flesh surrounded him, took him even deeper.

"More," Lee whispered, meeting each of his thrusts, urging him deeper still. He took what she offered, gave back what he could. He didn't stop until she reached release, then he allowed himself to follow. She was his. He wanted her to know it. She smiled at him as if she did.

It was late afternoon when they returned to their horses and started back to the house, a lovely sprawling stone mansion built in the shadow of what had once been an ancient keep.

"I never thought that in just eight months I would feel so utterly tamed," Caleb said with a feeling of contentment.

Lee just laughed. "I doubt, my love, that you will ever be truly tamed—and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Caleb just smiled. Under that sweet exterior, there remained a trace of Vermillion, just enough to keep things interesting. Caleb thought how much he loved her and hoped she never knew exactly the sort of power she held over him.

"Are you up for a race?" she asked, casting him an impish smile.

"What about the babe?"

"He is yet some months away. It isn't a problem."

Caleb grinned. "All right, then. Anytime you are ready."

Lee grinned and leaned over her horse. At breakneck speed, they set off down the hill.

^



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Epilogue

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