Page 12 of The Marquess and the Earl (The Unlikely Betrothal #3)
Epilogue
2 years later
G eorge nudged Nate, trying to wake him up. They had stayed up far too late the evening before, and George’s cheeks flushed at the memory. They had been married and blissfully happy for over two years and still couldn’t get enough of each other. Their intimate life had only gotten wilder and more passionate the longer they were together.
“Nate, you must wake up. I shall need to depart soon.”
Nate tightened his hold on George. “No.”
George laughed. “You know I must, and then we shall break our fast together.”
Nate’s eyes blinked open and the tender smile he gave George upon seeing him made George’s heart melt as it did many times every day.
There was a light knock from the adjoining parlor to their bedchamber. “Just a moment,” George called out. He climbed from the bed and wrapped his banyan around himself, tying it closed. He grabbed Nate’s and tossed it to him. “Hurry and put that on, Handsome.”
Nate groaned and shifted his feet to the floor, picked up the robe and put it on as George instructed.
“You may enter now,” George called out.
The door swung open. “Sarah is waiting for you,” Mary said.
George sighed. “I’m going there now.” He gave Nate a quick kiss on the lips and nodded to Mary as he exited their chamber and crossed the parlor to the adjoining chamber.
“Good morning,” Sarah called out, grinning at him. “You don’t look like you got much sleep.”
“I hope the coffee is ready when we get downstairs. Nate and I shall each need our own pot.”
Sarah laughed and patted his arm. “Are you ready for me to ring for Tanner and Tilly?”
George nodded and stepped to the window of the chamber and glanced out at the vast estate of Nate’s country home. It was already a beautiful day, and George would ask Nate to go on a walk with him after breakfast.
He shifted his attention back to Sarah. “Did you and Mary sleep well?”
“Better than you two, it would seem. Even though we’re both a bit uncomfortable and sleep doesn’t come as easy these days.”
George glanced at her rounded stomach. It would only be a couple more weeks and the babe would be here.
“If there is something we can do to make you both more comfortable, you shall have it. All you need to do is speak the words.”
She rubbed her stomach and grinned at him. “I know. You both have been very attentive. Mary and I are taking good care of each other.”
George and Nate, by a twist of fate, met Sarah and Mary during their travels. Nate had saved them from an attacker, fortunately, before any harm had come to either of them. They came to learn that Sarah and Mary were in a similar situation to George and Nate’s. Once they reached their majority, they convinced Sarah’s spinster aunt to travel so they could leave and have a better chance of loving each other without the eyes of the ton on them.
They had all become close friends and hatched the plan to wed so they might have a chance at a contented life back home in England. It was well known that Sarah and Mary had been close friends for years, so it was expected they’d wish to visit each other often with their husbands in tow.
They all moved back and forth between Nate’s and George’s primary estates. The servants likely found it odd that each couple always insisted on putting the other couple in the same suite, staying in either the countess or marchioness chamber, but as far as the staff was concerned, each couple was a besotted love match. It wasn’t exactly untrue. They made it clear to their staff that their dearest friends should always have the best accommodations they could offer.
The sharing of the suite also made it easier to switch rooms for them all to dress and go about their day. It wasn’t the simplest of arrangements and required a lot of coordination, but it minimized the sneaking around they would have to do otherwise and ensured they minimized the nights spent apart from their true respective spouses.
George hated the nights when they weren’t in the same house. To keep up appearances, they didn’t always arrive on the same day when it was time to change houses to tend to the other estate’s business. It would appear odd if the couples didn’t spend some nights in their respective homes without guests. It would become even more difficult when their children were born, but they would make it work. There wasn’t a day that went by where George wasn’t certain and assured of Nate’s love for him. They always figured things out together, along with Sarah and Mary, just as Nate had promised.
They had all agreed that they wished for children, but it took a couple months of planning to attempt the effort. They all had many conversations about how they would pull off the endeavor, and where each person would be in the process, and what their role would be. All four of them were a part of every step of the process, each couple ensuring the well-being of their respective true spouse. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience for any of them, but they all deemed it worth the effort. Sarah and Mary tracked their cycles to give them the best chance of conception, since the act was a matter of necessity and not one that anyone wished to do more than was required.
Nate and George decided together that Nate would father both babes, thus making them siblings. George didn’t give a whit if the babes were biologically his. They would be a piece of Nate, which would make him love them just as much as he would have loved a child if he had sired them himself. Part of him found it amusing that if Sarah gave birth to a boy, his father’s title, which he valued above all else, would be carried on by a child not of his blood.
Sarah showed signs of increasing after the first month, while for Mary, it wasn’t until the second month’s attempts that they were met with success. They hadn’t decided if there would be any further children, but all hoped that these two would be brought into the world safely. Sarah and Mary had become their closest friends, which was ideal given their living situation, and the men worried equally for their health during the delivery.
An hour later, they had all broken their fast. The men helped the ladies make themselves comfortable in the drawing room where Sarah wanted to read while Mary worked on her embroidery. Once they had them settled, Nate pulled George towards the stables.
“I thought we might go for a walk,” George said.
“I want to take you to the hunting cabin,” Nate said, wickedness in his expression. It was their private place for the two of them where they could escape on “hunting trips” and be alone without all the pretense required in their daily lives.
They had their horses saddled and took off across the field until they were out of sight, then slowed. Nate trotted up beside George on his horse and matched his pace.
“This may be our last trip for a while,” Nate said.
“I agree. Sarah could have the babe soon.” A bit of worry panged at George’s insides.
Nate must have noticed. “Are you all right, handsome?”
“I just hope the women and babes are healthy. ”
“All will be well, love.” Nate grinned at him, and every smile from his handsome face had the power to make all of George’s fears crumble, at least for a while.
Something about Nate’s smile reminded him of the night they had stargazed together at the house party. They had snuck out to do so countless times since then, but that first time would always be his favorite, and the memory he held dear in his heart.
“What did you wish for that night? When we drank wine from the bottle and ate day-old bread?” George asked.
Nate stopped his horse, and George did the same. He shifted his horse so they were right beside each other and Nate could reach him. Nate reached out and cupped George’s cheek with his hands, then placed a soft kiss on his lips before capturing his gaze again.
“This. All of this. A life with you.”