Page 39 of Lady Isla and the Lord of Rogue (Merry Spinsters, Charming Rogues #6)

They were married twice.

The first ceremony took place in the little chapel at Teddy’s mansion in Yorkshire, with a priest and Algie and Catherine as witnesses. It was a sweet, brief ceremony, simple and to the point.

When the priest declared them man and wife, Teddy looked at Isla with such a deeply moved expression on his face, it brought tears to her eyes.

He cradled her face in his hands as if she were the most precious thing he had ever held, and kissed her so lingeringly and long that the priest, after a while, cleared his throat.

“There, there,” he said, “we’re still here, you know.”

Algie and Catherine chuckled, both embarrassed, both avoiding each other’s eyes. Teddy released her, and Isla, blushing, had to reorient herself, for she had forgotten her surroundings entirely.

The second wedding took place that night.

They had come from all over Yorkshire, pulling into the lawns with their carts and covered wagons, setting up camp in the surrounding lands and parks.

“You cannot be man and wife without my blessing,” Lazlo said, after stepping down from his wagon. He looked at them sternly, for his word was law.

They were both clad in the traditional Romani costume: Isla wore a flowing skirt and a white blouse, and Teddy an intricately embroidered waistcoat over a linen shirt and leather trousers. Isla looked at him admiringly. He had never looked so handsome, so truly himself.

Lazlo, the leader of the Rom, married them according to the Romani ritual, which involved binding their hands with a cord.

Then, everyone erupted in cheers, and the ensuing celebrations lasted several days and involved a lot of music and dancing.

The entire village was involved, and there was a general sense of cheerful festivity.

“What wouldn’t I give for Vanja and Mother to be here? I was lucky to have three mothers, you know? I know Mama, in particular, would have loved it,” Isla said wistfully, as she watched several men build a bonfire.

“I am certain they are,” Teddy replied. “Particularly Vanja. She’s here with us right now.”

Everyone was clapping and laughing and shouting and looking at them, and Isla glanced at Teddy with a question in her eyes.

“They want us to jump,” Teddy laughed. “Over the bonfire. It’s the tradition. Only then will we be truly wed in the eyes of the Rom.”

“Oh, I remember,” Isla exclaimed, for she had attended many a Romani wedding. Teddy looked at her. She looked at him. He extended his hand .

“Shall we, then?”

She nodded, took his hand, and together, they jumped.

Several months later, after the last of the wagons had departed with promises to return, and a wet spring had blossomed into a tender summer, Isla sat with Catherine on the verandah of her new home.

“To this day, I still cannot believe you truly forgave them. Just like that,” Catherine said, setting down her teacup with a delicate clink.

“I must possess a most unforgiving nature compared to yours. If I had been in your shoes, I would have whacked them both with my umbrella and vowed never to speak to either of them again. Scoundrels and liars, the pair of them.”

They sat in the morning room of Roseview Mansion. Sunlight streamed through the French windows, which opened onto a broad verandah overlooking a sweeping park, and beyond that, the shimmering sea.

Isla nodded. “That is precisely what I did, more or less. I left and didn’t speak to either of them for weeks.”

Catherine narrowed her eyes. “Yes, but you didn’t remain angry.

That’s the marvel. I remember returning weeks later and finding you and Linwood on the verandah, locked in such an embrace, I nearly dropped my parasol.

I vow I have never seen a couple kiss with such fervour, and you never even noticed I was there. ”

“And you had brought Wynthorpe.”

“Yes. I thought it was time the two of you reconciled.”

Isla cleared her throat. “I had the opportunity to wallop Algie with my umbrella shortly after we arrived here. You had stepped outside to speak with Linwood.”

She had raged and wept and hollered and struck him with her umbrella, and Algie had not tried to defend himself.

He had stood there like a whipped puppy and even suggested she strike his shin for good measure, which she had.

Then she had dropped the umbrella and burst into tears.

Then Algie had burst into tears. And they had collapsed into each other’s arms, weeping.

So much for staying furious with him for the rest of her life.

“Oh.” Catherine’s eyes widened. “So that’s why he was limping.”

“Precisely.”

“Well done indeed.”

“As for never speaking to them again, I decided that my comfort mattered more.”

“Quite right.” Catherine gave a sage nod. “You married Linwood instead, ensuring he would endure a lifetime of penance. A wise choice.”

Isla nodded.

“I understand his point of view,” Catherine continued.

“A poor boy, a pauper, who sacrificed everything so you could have a future. He did not want you to have a life on the streets, in poverty, hunted. He stayed away so you could grow up safe, respectable, and free of scandal. How terribly romantic.” She placed a hand over her heart and sighed. “How the poor boy must have suffered.”

“I understand it too,” Isla said quietly. “The secrecy. The sacrifice. It was all part of Algie’s design.” Her brow furrowed. “But that doesn’t mean it was right. ”

“Wynthorpe said it was all top-secret government business,” Catherine offered.

Then her voice darkened. “But Wynthorpe. He was the mastermind all along. The puppet master, pulling every string. We’re all just players in his game. He truly is Mephisto incarnate.” Oddly enough, from her lips, it did not sound like condemnation. There was, if anything, a glint of admiration.

“Well,” she added, rising with a rustle of skirts, “do remind them from time to time that forgiveness is not the same as forgetting.”

“I do not forget,” Isla replied. She leaned back and glanced towards the fireplace, where the two men stood engaged in a spirited argument over their next operation. A smile curved her lips. “I remind Linwood of it every day. It’s part of our agreement.”

“It came with a stipulation, of course,” Isla said. “Now that the operation is at an end, Algie has given Teddy a new assignment.”

He was to assist in establishing a division within the Home Office charged with national security. The police force was to be reorganised, and Teddy placed at its head.

“At least he no longer has to skulk about the rookery pretending to be some criminal overlord.”

“So what did you make Algie promise?”

“That he would train me,” Isla replied. “As one of his agents.”

“And he agreed?”

“Eventually. After considerable resistance. Agents must learn any number of things. How to fire a pistol. How to go about in disguise. How to collect intelligence. How to behave as though one’s true self is a perfect stranger. It’s quite an art.”

Catherine gave a thoughtful nod. “That is, in fact, the most difficult part.” Then she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Isla narrowed her eyes. “Catherine.”

“The weather is mild today, is it not?”

“Catherine. Do not tell me he has recruited you as well. I know the entire Wynthorpe household spies for him, from the butler to the scullery maid.”

Catherine’s eyes shifted away.

“Since when?”

“For some time now,” she admitted. Then her shoulders slumped. “I thought he was finally going to propose. And he did make a proposal, but it turned out to be for espionage.”

Isla’s mouth fell open. “I am shocked.”

“So am I.”

“I mean, I am shocked he still hasn’t proposed to you.”

Catherine set down her teacup carefully. “He never really did, no.”

“The scoundrel.”

“He gave me a ring, however,” Catherine added pensively, pulling out a necklace from around her neck, on which a ring dangled.

Isla was speechless. “What? He gave you a ring?”

“Yes. After we jumped over the bonfire.”

Isla sat up straight. “You jumped over the bonfire with him?”

Catherine nodded. “Shortly after you and Teddy jumped over the bonfire, Algie came to me and said, in that gruff tone of his, ‘Want to give it a go as well?’—in the least romantic way possible!”

“Algie said that?” Isla stared at her with round eyes.

Catherine nodded again. “I said, ‘By all means.’ Then he took my hand, and we jumped.”

“Catherine.”

“I suppose we’re married now in the eyes of the Rom. But…he neither proposed, nor were we married in church. We still need to make it official.” She beamed.

“He hasn’t set a date yet?” Isla shrieked.

Catherine shrugged. “He hasn’t said anything about it since.”

“What I do not understand is why a woman like you thinks she must wait for him to make the first move. How much longer do you intend to wait?”

Catherine’s eyes widened. “You think I should…?”

Isla gave a long-suffering sigh. She shook her head over her brother’s romantic ineptitude. Then she rose and marched over to the fireplace.

The men were shouting at each other, which was nothing unusual. That always happened when, according to Teddy, Algie made unreasonable demands.

“What you are suggesting is madness. Have you any notion what that would entail in terms of manpower?” Teddy’s voice had taken on the icy sharpness of Lucian Night.

“You should know by now that calculating everything to the last decimal is my particular skill,” Algie retorted. “All I require of you is compliance. ”

“Pardon the interruption,” Isla interjected smoothly, taking Teddy by the arm and pulling him away.

“Isla. We are in the midst of an important discussion,” Algie objected, visibly annoyed.

“Have it later, in London, at your office. Not here. Work talk is strictly forbidden in my home.”

“She is quite right,” Teddy said at once.

“Besides, I have urgent need of him for a far more delicate mission.” She led him out, leaving Catherine and Algie alone.

Catherine stepped toward Algie with a determined glint in her eye.

“Give them a moment,” Isla murmured as she closed the door behind her.

Outside, she and Teddy strolled through the park.

“What did you discuss with Algie? Was it about your new mission?”

“Indeed,” Teddy replied with a snort. “But more than that, he wants me to go into politics. I daresay he is setting his sights on becoming prime minister next. And the frightening thing is, if he tried, he would almost certainly succeed.”

He laced his fingers through hers as they gazed out over the sea.

“Teddy. Promise me one thing.”

“Hm?”

“That we shall always be honest with each other. Let there be no secrets, no deception between us ever again.”

He nodded gravely. “That, I will promise, gladly.”

Isla leaned her head against his shoulder.

“We have come far, you and I,” he said at last, drawing her close. “From two orphaned Romani children wandering the roads to all of this. It is a blessing I wake up to each day, hardly able to believe it. Do you remember what I used to promise you when we were children?”

“That you would find us a home,” Isla whispered. “A real home where we would be safe, you and I, together always, and no one would ever separate us again. And you kept that promise. But do you know what?”

“What?”

“I was thinking that even if we had none of this, if we had only each other, I would be content.” Her gaze drifted over the landscape. “I love this place. I truly do. But home was never a place, was it? It was always you.”

He pulled her to him so fiercely she could barely breathe.

“My brave, beautiful lelori ,” he murmured against her hair. “How can I ever deserve you?”

They held each other as the sun began to set over their domain, painting the sky in shades of gold and crimson. And for the first time in their lives, they were exactly where they belonged.