“Your grace?” a man’s voice commanded, and Kate turned to see the lord chancellor himself staring straight at her.
She nodded. “Lord Chancellor.” Apparently, her reputation preceded her. She should have expected as much.
He arched a brow. “May we help you with something?” His voice echoed off the wood-paneled walls.
She cleared her throat. “As I believe you already know … I am the dowager Duchess of Markingham. And I’m here to see Viscount Medford.”
Muffled gasps rippled through the gallery. If every eye hadn’t indeed been trained on her before, they certainly were now. She pushed up her chin another bit. Where was James?
A great deal of coughing and mumbling ensued. Her gaze scanned both sides of the gallery. As soon as he stood, she saw him. James raised himself from a bench in the center of a large group of men on the right. “I’m here, Kate.” He stared at her with reverence in his eyes. Her breathing hitched. Her chest hurt. She broke into a run.
“Your grace, what’s the meaning of this?” The gavel cracked, and the lord chancellor’s voice thundered across the gallery, filled with outrage and indignation.
Kate didn’t care. She ran, her slippers slapping against the marble floors. She ran straight into James’s arms. He’d climbed over the side of the wooden box in which he was sitting and grabbed her and hugged her. He spun her around.
“I thought you’d never come,” he whispered in her ear as tears ran down her face.
“I only read the pamphlet today,” she said against his rough, wonderfully familiar cheek.
“Your grace.” The gavel cracked again and the lord chancellor’s angry voice rang out. “It’s completely improper—”
Keeping her eyes fastened on James, without turning to the lord chancellor, Kate summoned the loudest voice she could muster. “Oh, we’re far past improper, my lord.” She smiled to herself as she imagined the scandalized look that surely rested on the dignitary’s face. Poor man.
James ran his hands along her cheeks and kissed her then, and her knees almost gave way. “Kate,” he murmured. She felt so much in that one word.
“James,” she murmured. “I’m waiting for you to tell me you love me.”
He crumbled then. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her fiercely then moved his mouth to her ear. “I love you, Kate. I love you. I love you.”
“And I love you, James,” she said between kisses and tears.
“You know your reputation will be completely gone if you marry me,” she said, with a bit of a laugh.
He kissed her cheeks, her temple. “It’s already gone. I don’t miss it.”
“You know you won’t be able to fix it?”
He glanced around at the crowd staring at them with a mixture of shock and anger. James smiled a wry smile. “After this little scene, I doubt we could fix anything. Besides, I’m through trying to fix the wrong things.” He stepped back and smiled at her.
She kissed him again. “Does that mean you plan to stop publishing?”
“No. I intend to use my press to help people from now on. It’s as you told me, Kate. I never wanted to publish anything for the sake of scandal. I’ve always been trying to use my press to fix things. First the plight of the frightened bride, then to satisfy the curiosity of the young women who’d considered running off to Gretna Green. But now, now, Kate, I intend to use it for an even greater purpose, to fix things … the
A younger man leaped from his seat. “Hear, hear.”
James and Kate swiveled their heads toward him. “Who is that?” Kate asked.
“That is Oliver Townsende,” James replied, the hint of a smile on his face. “The new Markingham. Good chap.”
Ah yes. Now she recognized him.
She didn’t have long to contemplate the new duke. The lord chancellor cracked his gavel against his podium so hard, Kate was sure it must have split in two. Oliver Townsende sat down. “Lord Medford,” the chancellor thundered. “What in the devil’s name are you talking about?”
“My pamphlets, gentlemen. And my press,” James called out. “That’s right. I’m sure you’ve all read it in the latest edition. And I have absolutely no intention of resigning my seat in Parliament. You’ll just have to get used to the idea of having a scandalous viscount among your ranks. Now, if you’ll excuse us. My future wife and I are leaving.” He bowed to the gallery and led Kate by the hand down the aisle and straight out the doors.
EPILOGUE
Kate sat next to her husband on the front seat of their curricle as they prepared to ride through the park. They’d been holed up all winter. Today was the first good day for riding.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” James asked, regarding her from the corner of his eye.
“Yes.” She nodded. “I don’t care if we get the cut direct from every single person in the park. We have just as much right to be here as anyone. And I am feeling beautiful in my sapphires today.” She touched the jewels on her neck.
“Your wish is my command, Viscountess Medford.” He winked at her. “Let’s go.” He clucked to the horses and they took off down Rotten Row.
Kate laughed. “I thought I couldn’t be any happier after you got me Margaret the Second from the farm as a wedding present,” she said. “But I do love my sapphires.” She touched them again and smiled.
He grinned at her. “The sapphires don’t do you justice. You far outshine their beauty. And as for Margaret the Second, I daresay you’ll be the only viscountess with a pig in her town house.”
“Yes. But I’m in excellent company, with a marchioness who owns a raccoon and a countess with a fox.”
“Very true.” James nodded.
They pulled to a stop in a little grassy nook off to the side of the dirt road. Lily and Annie and Devon and Jordan were already there. They waved to their friends.
“Ah, the viscount and viscountess, welcome,” Lily called.
James helped his wife down from the vehicle and escorted her over to the gathering. Kate had their picnic basket tucked under her arm.
“If it isn’t Lord and Lady Scandal,” Ashbourne called to them, a wide grin on his face.
Annie slapped at her husband’s sleeve. “Oh, don’t listen to him,” she said to James and Kate. “Your wedding was just beautiful. Even if it was just the six of us and Justin. Who cares if you didn’t wait the requisite year of mourning?”
Kate nearly choked on her laugh. “Who cares? Why, I believe that would be the entire town.”
Lily shrugged. “Not us.”
“The entire town but for the four of you, and Lady Catherine,” Kate amended with a wink. “But we decided we were already such a scandal we might as well just get it over with.”
Lily sighed. “What is it that Lady Catherine always says?”
“If you’re going to be a scandal, darling, be a
They all laughed.
Lily shook her head. “I, for one, cannot tell you how happy I am that everything has worked out. Now, if only the rest of the
Kate lowered herself to the quilt that lay atop the grass. “I still cannot believe it. I can’t believe I was accused of murder. I cannot believe I was acquitted. I cannot believe I was ever married, actually. The first time, that is.” She smiled at James. “The entire last ten years seem like an awful dream from which I have finally awoken.”
