Page 99 of Forever Her Bachelor

“Can you two choose one day where I don’t have to break up a shouting match?” Edwards stretched out his legs from his chair beside Beatrice, bored with Chauncey and Heartford. “Sit down. You’re scaring the children.”

“Chauncey,” Pippa called his given name, knowing that she was the only one who could grab her husband’s attention from an argument with Heartford.

Giving the marquess one last reproachful look, Chauncey walked over to where his wife and other daughter sat, sitting a happy Charlotte on her mother’s lap.

“You’re a horse’s arse,” Heartford called over to Chauncey.

“Henry! The children.” Julia swiped at her husband’s arm before taking her crying son from him.

“And you’re an oaf,” Chauncey replied, wrapping his arm around Pippa and his girls.

Eleanor climbed on her father’s lap, and Pippa watched as he kissed her dark head, the action spreading warmth through her. Happy tears formed in her eyes, the joy she felt threatening to explode inside of her.

“If you two are going to come to fisticuffs, can you not do it in front of the women and children?” Bollingbrook walked over, sitting in an empty chair beside Mr. Edwards.

“Be quiet. You’re supposed to be on my side.” Chauncey pierced his friend with a look.

“Only when you’re right. In this case, you’re being ridiculous.” Bollingbrook turned away from St. Clara, starting a conversation with Mr. Edwards.

Pippa bumped her husband with her shoulder, gaining his attention. “They are children. He only wants to be her friend.”

Brown eyes surveyed her, taking in every inch of her face. “I was your friend once,” he replied, his hand taking hers, squeezing lightly. “And look how that turned out.”

Her gaze traveled from his eyes to his full lips, and she wished they weren’t surrounded by their family and friends. “It turned out rather perfect to me,” Pippa replied, her heart overflowing with love for this man who had loved her from the moment they met as children.

He was her love, her forever, her Chauncey.

The End.