Page 43 of How to Seduce a Viscount

Luce knit his brow. ‘It won’t always be exhausting being a Parkhurst.’ He hoped that wasn’t a lie. It might be. The Horsemen would be called forth again at some point in the future—a week from now, a month from now, no one ever really knew. But they had come to terms with that.

Wren gave a soft smile. ‘No, not always, but it will be for a few months. I have it on good authority from Mary that the first trimester can be tiring.’

Mary was due in the summer with her and Caine’s first child. She was in blooming good looks and had spent most of the week toting Guenevere’s baby about on her hip. Practicing, she called it… Wait. Luce’s mind came to a full stop.

‘You have it on good authority? What exactly does that mean?’ Luce began to put other pieces together. The crying from a woman who was not given to tears, the exhaustion from a woman who was never tired. There’d been other little giveaways, too, in bed.

‘You’re the problem solver. Put it together.’ She smiled impishly.

‘Areweexpecting a child?’ he asked, unable to keep amazed disbelief from his voice.

Her smile disappeared. ‘Is it too soon?’

‘No, not at all,’ Luce rushed to reassure her. ‘It is an embarrassment of riches. A wife, a child, a home, love, happiness. I’ve been gifted these things all at once.’ His own eyes stung. He wrapped her in his arms and held on tight while theyboth shed tears of joy. ‘When do we think our child might make its arrival?’ He was already doing the math, already guessing, already impatient to meet him or her.

‘November.’

A wedding night baby. Or before, Luce thought, remembering the night she’d taken him astride.For everything there is an equal and opposite reaction.Indeed there was. Perhaps by November, Stepan might be here. He hoped every day that Stepan would choose to return, but for now it had been an immense relief to the family just to know he was alive.

‘Do you want to tell our family before we leave?’ she asked. He could hear them up ahead. Little Jamie was squealing with delight as his father tossed him high.

He nodded. ‘Yes, if it’s all right with you.’

‘Then let’s catch up to them.’ She tugged at his hand and drew him down the path towards the laughter and voices. He went willingly. He wanted his brothers to know, he wanted to celebrate with them, with his parents, with his grandfather. That’s what families were for and he had one of the best. It was high time he embraced that fully.

Epilogue II

Late October, 1827

‘Ithink it’s time.’ Stepan had waited until the boys and Anne had gone up to the loft. Dinner was done, the dishes put away. He could have Ellen to himself for this discussion without any interruption.

Ellen untied her apron and sat down slowly across from him at the table, her eyes meeting his. ‘You’ve been restless this past week. Have you remembered anything more?’ She did not pester him about remembering. He was always thankful for that kindness especially after the visit last winter, which had answered their questions even if it hadn’t jarred his memories loose.

‘No, nothing new.’ Since Lucien Parkhurst had left, there’d been dreams, though. Still, dreams weren’t memories, not exactly.

She reached for his hand and kept silent. She had a good instinct for that—for knowing when to talk and when to wait for him to do it.

‘The crops are in. There is nothing more we can do for the farm. I think we should go to the family for the holidays. Perhaps see a specialist in London.’

‘You feel guilty,’ Ellen said softly.

‘Yes. It is not right to make my family suffer, even if I don’t remember them. I have parents, Ellen. A grandfather. They believed I was dead, lost to them. I cannot imagine the grief of losing a child, even a grown child. By not going to them, I feel I am perpetuating that grief, that suffering, for them.’

He reached for her hands, gripping them in his need for reassurance. This decision had not been lightly made. ‘It does not need to change anything, Ellen.’ This was the argument he’d convinced himself of in the long nights. ‘We will go and then we will come back and all will be as it was. We can bring Anne and the boys. Lucien left plenty of money.’

Ellen gave a solemn nod. ‘I know you think nothing will change but it will. You have another family whether you remember them or not. Lucien said you were a hero. If you go to them, everything will change. You are not normally naïve. Be honest about that with yourself.’

‘I do notwillfor this to change,’ Stepan assured her.

‘It may not be up to your will.’

‘If we face it together, we will survive it. I don’t mean to lose you, Ellen. You needn’t fear on that account.’ Maybe he could not control reactions to his reappearance, or the things others did, but he could control his own heart and his heart belonged with her.

Ellen drew a deep breath and he knew what it cost her. She’d never been beyond Southend-on-Sea in all her years. ‘I knew this moment would come. If you think we should go now, then we will go. We’ll make preparations in the morning.’

‘Thank you, Ellen.’ She’d given him the strength to take the next step. He was going home for the holidays to a place he didn’t remember, stepping into a life he no longer knew, but he was doing it with the woman he loved and doing itforher. He could offer her nothing until his past was resolved.

THE END… . FOR NOW.