Page 58 of One Night of Scandal

“Port, I think. Thank you.” Jack accompanied him to the sideboard. “My father will take brandy.”

Eastleigh poured the drinks, including three extra glasses of port. “These are for the ladies.”

“Viola likes port after dinner?” Jack asked. At Eastleigh’s nod, he made a mental note. He still had so much to learn about his bride, and he looked forward to every detail.

Eastleigh picked up two of the glasses for the others, while Jack took the other two. “I wanted to let you know we’ve also banned Pennington from the Wicked Duke, not that he’ll likely show his face anywhere in London for some time.”

The resignation from Parliament of Pennington, Caldwell, and Sir Humphrey had eclipsed any scandal surrounding Viola and Jack’s hasty nuptials. Viola had done her part to amplify it by including considerable information about them for her monthly column, which she’d amended just before theLadies’ Gazettehad gone to print. Released yesterday, Tavistock’s “farewell” column was all the talk, so much so that the editor had written Viola late today and begged her to reconsider leaving.

As Jack delivered brandy to his father and port to Viola, he remembered the day she’d turned in the column, and smiled.

Viola took the glass from him, brushing her fingers against his. “Why are you grinning?”

“I was just thinking of your editor’s face when you turned in your column as yourself instead of Tavistock.” Jack hadn’t realized a jaw could drop so far.

Having just taken a sip of her port, Viola struggled to swallow and suppress a giggle. “Not fair of you to mention that while I’m drinking.”

“You asked why I was smiling. That’s why.”

“That was a lovely moment, wasn’t it?”

“One you wholly deserved.” They’d discussed whether she should reveal her true identity to them, but she was confident they wouldn’t tell anyone. They were horrified to learn they’d employed a woman and didn’t want anyone to know. Jack bent and kissed her temple, then returned to the sideboard to fetch his port.

Eastleigh had also come back for his. “I’m so pleased you and Viola found each other, even if it was a rather unorthodox path.” He chuckled. “Not that I am one to talk. It took me ten years to realize what I wanted—what I needed—had been right in front of me all along.”

“My father made that mistake,” Jack said. “Not that you made a mistake,” he added quickly.

Swallowing a sip of port, Eastleigh nodded. “I definitely made a mistake. If I’d realized I loved Isabelle when we’d first met, I could’ve saved us a great deal of…” He shook his head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. It only matters that we’re together now and forever.”

Jack was especially glad he’d decided to ignore his self-imposed timetable for his career and marriage. He could have both. Hewouldhave both.

“Why are you standing over there muttering between yourselves?” the dowager asked. “Come and sit with us.”

They hastened to join the others, Jack settling onto a sofa next to Viola, and Eastleigh doing the same beside his wife.

“We weren’t muttering,” Eastleigh said. “We were celebrating our good fortune at having found love.”

“There is nothing finer than true love,” Jack’s father said.

Jack looked over at his sire and glimpsed a mist in his eyes he’d rarely seen. He’d been overjoyed to learn Jack was not only getting married but that he’d fallen in love. Honestly, Jack was fairly certain he’d been happier than when Jack had been called to the bar or when he’d been sent to Parliament.

“Hear, hear!” the dowager agreed, and they all drank a toast.

Viola leaned over to Jack and whispered, “I suppose we have scandal to thank.”

“I will thank whomever or whatever I must for the rest of my life.” He tapped his glass to hers. “To scandal. And toyou. You’ve made me the happiest man alive.”

“No, you’ve made me the happiest man—and woman.” She winked at him, and he chuckled low in his throat as he kissed her cheek.

He spoke so only she could hear. “If you don so much as a whisker again, I shall have to consider wearing a gown just to spite you.”

Her eyes glowed with heat. “I don’t care what you wear so long as you take it off.”

“Careful, Viola, or you’ll cause a scandal right here in your grandmother’s drawing room.”

She gave him a captivating smile that was quintessentially Viola. “Who said one scandal was ever enough?”

Jack took her hand and pressed a kiss to her wrist. “With you, my love, nothing could ever be enough.”