As he pulled Eliza into his arms, he whispered, “I love you, my dragon-slaying queen.” And then he kissed her with everything he had inside of him, a new feeling coursing unchecked through his veins.
He really was loved for who he was, for what he was, and every dark shadow in between.
He didn’t need his father’s attention, his brother’s affection or England’s acceptance. He only needed Eliza and her siblings, and Sarah and his friends to be at peace.
His family. His future.
Epilogue
Silverware tinked against delicate china and wine glasses seemed bottomless as the evening meal was enjoyed by all. Never had there been a more ragtag bunch beneath the roof of a marquis enjoying a formal dinner in the formal dining room with the serving ware one usually only pulled out for kings and queens.
Anthony Germaine had almost declined the invitation. What would rubbing elbows with this lot—sailors, ruffians and bastards—do to his reputation and would it matter now that his hoyden of a sister was married to a titled man who was about to take on the schooling of a young duke?
He rubbed his brow with a clenched fist and in his mind sent them all to hell for their camaraderie and happiness. Mr Smith, who they all now knew to be Mrs Smith, was missing and news had spread quickly that an earl had been murdered in the fire that had claimed a good portion of docks. What was there to be so bloody jovial about?
“You look as though someone soured your wine,” Darius commented, his own glass halfway to a mouth that wore a grin most all of the time.
Anthony huffed a sigh, knowing the frown lines he wore ran deep. “It’s all right for some. You’ll flee this place with your pretty bride and not have to be the butt of cruel gossip for the coming months.”
His brows high, Darius looked for a second to have regretted saying anything at all but then he began to laugh. “Cheer up, Germaine! There are worse things in this world than marrying strangers.”
It was uncharitable of him to poke fun at a man who had lived his life so far under the mantle of bastard but Anthony wasn’t in the mood. How could he toast Eliza and her siblings travelling to a new world when his own teetered on a knife’s edge? He should go with them. Daniella had never needed his name or protection. He could run from the parson’s trap, from the scandal, all the way to the Americas, start again, be his own man for once in his damned life.
But that had never been his style. To run. From anything.
He was merely exhausted. That was all.
Daniella called to him from the other side of the table and said, “You’re bringing everyone’s mood down with your sullenness. You compromised a chit and now you have to make good. Deal with it, brother mine.”
Eliza joined the conversation with, “What was her name again? Perhaps I have heard of her?”
He shook his head. “She hasn’t even had a proper season yet. I doubt any of you would have heard of her.”
Trelissick added, “We’ve all heard of her father, and the incident. Terrible timing, terrible luck.”
He had to change the subject before misery dragged him down any further. “A toast!” He couldn’t stand because of his damned broken ankle, but he straightened in his chair, cleared his throat and said, “To changing your destiny and to new beginnings!”
Darius and Eliza would sail in less than a week with two of her three siblings and a baby they would tell the new world was their own. They would be this happy and more for the rest of their lives travelling between his land and hers, making a family out of the ashes of scandal and ruin.
At the very best, he could hope to have that with Miss Clairmont, who by all accounts was herself a social nobody without her name, a stranger to London. Of all the people he could have landed on in the darkened garden, why did it have to be a woman whose father would rather see him dead than wed?
As the echoes of his toast died down and everyone went back to their own conversations around the table, he drank until he was numb.
There’d be no escaping his destiny…
The End
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Want more? Check out James and Daniella’s story in The Road to Ruin!
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If you enjoyed The Slide into Ruin, you’ll love the other book in….
The Daughters of Disgrace series
Book 1: The Road to Ruin
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Book 2: The Slide into Ruin
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About the Author
Bronwyn Stuart is a multi-published, award-winning author of both contemporary and historical romantic fiction. Her latest Regency series, Daughters of Disgrace, will be released July 2020 by Tule Publishing. She and her shoe collection share a house in the Adelaide Hills with her husband, kids, dogs and cat. She’s a sucker for a love story and a bad boy. You can find out more at www.bronwynstuart.com
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