Page 79 of Her Heartless Duke

Couples who ran away together often headed for Gretna Green, not France.

“Because I have a very good friend there who has been researching your particular illness and believes he might be able to treat it,” he explained to her. “And he is expecting us soon.”

“There… there is a cure?” she gasped in shock. “Isaac… I do not want you to get your hopes up when—”

He pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh, my love.”

She shook her head. “But everybody says there is no cure.”

“Medical discoveries have been made all the time, sweet Olivia. Now, you are coming with me to France.” He kissed her softly. “I will travel the world twice over before I give up on you again, my love. Whatever happens, I will be with you until the very end.”

“Until the very end,” she promised him through the tears shining in her eyes.

“But that end is not to come soon,” he chuckled. “I will make sure that you live a long and happy life.”

She smiled up at him sadly. “As long as it is by your side.”

He smiled tenderly back at her, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of chestnut hair behind her ear. “Now that we have that all settled, there is one last thing.”

She watched as he went down before her on one knee and produced a small, black, velvet box from within his coat. He flipped the top open and she could see a sapphire the size of a walnut set upon a golden band lined with tiny diamonds.

“The Dukes of Langley before me have all proposed to their Duchesses with this ring and now, I shall do so before you,” he told her solemnly. “Olivia Bennet, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“Yes!” Olivia cried out joyfully in reply. “Yes, yes,yes.A thousand times yes!”

He grinned at her and pressed a quick kiss to her lips as he slipped the ring to her finger. “How fortunate am I to have such a reasonable bride!”

“Well, we are not married yet…” she pointed out, still awestruck at the ring now sitting on her finger. “And if we are to wed, the banns need to be read and—”

He fished out something from his coat pocket and waved it to her like a schoolboy proud of his own work. “As the Duke of Langley, it should not be too hard for me to get a special license to marry my Duchess.”

“You obtained a special license?” she gasped in awe. “Is there truly anything you cannot do, Your Grace?”

“I told you to call me by my name, my love,” he reminded her with an impenitent grin. “Although ‘dear husband’, ‘my love’, and ‘darling’ all have a nice ring to it. You may choose from amongst them, I am not particularly picky.”

“I still cannot believe you obtained a special license,” she said incredulously. “And in such a short amount of time!”

“I had to or your brother would never agree to let me take you to France,” Isaac grumbled. He took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I know this is hardly the wedding you deserve as the Duchess of Langley, but I want you restored to health as soon as possible, sweet one. After that, you can make the wedding as obscenely grand as you wish. I do not care if you offend the Crown with it. I and everything of mine are at your disposal.”

Olivia smiled happily through her tears as she threw her arms around him.

Mama was right, she thought.She said I will find my true match in Lady Willow’s dance competition—and I did!

A few months ago, she never thought she would have her own happy ending to look forward to. She was dying with nary a prospect or suitor that might interest her.

Now, Isaac had given her everything she could ever dream of and more. If that was not magic, then she did not know what was.

Looking up to meet his tender gaze, Olivia slid her hand into his and stepped forward into her own happily ever after.

CHAPTERTHIRTY

London was once again abuzz with news, as it always was. This time, however, it was more than the usual sordid scandal that titillated the members of thebeau monde.

Just a few days earlier, there had been some speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Langley will finally be making an appearance in the London scene after their absence in the last two Seasons.

Isaac, however, could not care less what the whole world was saying as he slid his arms around his beautiful wife’s waist from behind. He pressed a warm kiss to the side of her neck, causing her to giggle, her rosy cheeks becoming even more flushed.

Two years under the care of Dr. Pierre and Olivia was once again flush with health and vitality, the illness that plagued her and generations of women in her family a distant memory.