Page 66 of The Duke's All That

“And perhaps,” she added fondly as he pulled a chair up to sit beside her, “if you did not keep all those treats in your sporran for him, he would not be quite so keen on you.”

The look he gave her was of mock outrage. Then, with exaggerated movements, he dug into said sporran and produced a handful of nuts.

“You cannae expect the creature to starve, can you?” He dropped the whole lot on the desk. “And besides,” he added with a wicked smile as Phineas made fast for the bounty of treats and dug in with fervor, “it provides me with the perfect distraction when I wish to kiss my wife.”

With that he wrapped his arms about her and pulled her close for a kiss, to which Seraphina gladly and willingly gave herself up.

Some time later, both pleasantly flushed and mussed from their endeavors, he pulled back to gaze tenderly down at her. “Ye see?” he murmured. “Perfectly distracted.”

“Mmm, yes, I do see.” Smiling, she pushed a stray lock of hair back from his forehead. “And is that kiss the only reason you came here? Or is it you’re hoping to see what might be happening to my newest heroine and her brooding count?”

He grinned. “Never say there are nae perks to being married to the popular S. L. Keys. But that is nae the reason. At least, nae completely.” He reached back into his sporran and retrieved a handful of letters. “It seems the women of Synne have been quite busy writing as well.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, grabbing the letters, shuffling through them, her heart glowing brighter with each familiar bit of handwriting that jumped up at her.

“Nae only that,” he murmured, a smile in his voice as she tore into the one from Millicent, “but it seems your Lady Tesh has continued with her correspondence to my gran, and is now even inviting her for a stay on Synne.”

Seraphina, who had been ravenously reading Millicent’s missive—the distance from her sisters had been the hardest thing to adjust to upon marrying Iain—gasped and looked to her husband with eyes that welled with tears.

“Then we may take your gran to Synne ourselves, and Cora, too, if she’s a mind to come. It seems Mr. Tunley has finally proposed to Millicent and they are to marry just before the start of the summer season, in two months’ time.”

She passed him the letter, watching him as he read it, chest warming at the smile that lifted his lips when he reached the part where Millicent sent him her love. In her mind she could not help but recall that lonely boy he had been, wanting nothing but a family.

Now here he was, surrounded by family. And they wereadding on new members by the day. She smiled to herself. Though there was one particular member that would be making an appearance soon, one he was completely unaware of.

“The timing is perfect, really,” she reflected slyly, pursing her lips to keep herself from smiling as he gently extracted a piece of paper from Phineas’s beak. “We can travel to Synne, stay for perhaps a month or so, and be back well before I should refrain from travel.”

“Refrain from travel?” He frowned, glancing up at her, hand frozen in the air. Phineas gave an aggrieved chirp at being ignored before he waddled off to do God knew what to her writing supplies.

“Yes,” she replied.

“But why must you refrain from travel?” he demanded, the worry in his eyes increasing. “Are ye well?”

In answer—for, truly, she was beyond words at that point—she took his hand and placed it over her still-flat stomach.

The realization on his face, followed swiftly and completely by a joy so rapturous she felt it in her very soul, brought tears to her eyes.

“A babe?” he whispered. When she happily nodded, he pulled her close.

“A babe,” he repeated, the words hot on her neck, followed quickly by the warmth of his own tears. “I love you, mo bhean, so much. You’ve given me a life I never dreamed.”

And as he took her lips in a tender kiss, she knew their reality was so much better than any dream could ever be.