“Not any,” the king disagreed. “Only the sort of man I was searching for to appoint Deputy Surveyor. I believe I’ve found him.”
A tiny gasp escaped Rose’s lips, and her hand tightened on Kit’s arm. It took a moment for the man’s words to sink in before Kit swept him a deep bow. “I-I don’t know how to thank you, Your Majesty.” It had happened so fast, he could scarcely believe his long-held goal was achieved at last. “I shall endeavor to ensure you chose the right man.”
“I expect no less.”
“There’s more,” Wren said.
King Charles nodded. “I’ve stripped Gaylord Craig of his title and properties. I wish to grant them to you. You shall henceforth be known as the Earl of Rosslyn.”
Dumbfounded, Kit looked between the king and Wren. “It seems only fitting,” Wren said graciously.
Kit’s knees locked. He felt all the blood draining from his face.
“Sit down.” With a laugh, Rose pushed him back onto the chair.
Clearly enjoying his own magnanimity, King Charles grinned. “I’ll accept your gratitude later, Rosslyn.” Rosslyn. “My queen is awaiting a birthday toast.”
“Congratulations, my lord. My lady.” Wren bowed and walked off.
As Kit watched them both go, his world slowly stopped spinning and righted itself. Almost.
“Deputy Surveyor and an earldom,” he murmured. “Wren is Surveyor General and only a knight.”
Rose moved closer. “Wren didn’t save King Charles’s children’s lives.”
It still didn’t seem real. “You’re a countess now,” he told his wife. “Lady Rosslyn.”
There in front of all the court, she perched herself on his lap and closed her fingers around his cravat, using it to pull him near for a quick kiss. “I don’t care,” she said gaily, adding “my lord” with an impish grin.
My lord. Two short words that meant so much. He kissed her again for good measure, feeling, at the moment, that she was the only familiar thing he had to cling to. “After all those weeks of putting up with that deuced duke’s attentions, you cannot tell me you don’t care—”
“I don’t,” she repeated. “You’ve been vindicated, and we’re off to explore the world together, and that’s all that matters.”
That sounded wonderful, but too simple. A maid came by with more champagne, and he took a glass, still dazed. “I’m not sure,” he said slowly.
“Sure of what?”
“Anything. Where the Rosslyn lands are, for starters.”
“Good heavens,” she said with mock alarm, “I hope it’s not Northumberland.”
“And what it will take to care for them.”
“I can help you with that.” She looked both startled and pleased at that thought.
“And whether I can go off to explore the world when I’ve just been appointed Deputy Surveyor.”
Now genuine alarm widened her eyes. “You can go. We’re going. Tomorrow. The post will wait. It will be winter soon, anyway, too cold for building, and—”
“Very well, we’ll go. Before the king has a chance to say otherwise.” It would be the first time in his life he’d acted irresponsibly, but blast if he and Rose didn’t deserve their dream of traveling. They could cut their holiday short, but they would go.
It felt strange to be putting the present before his future, but maybe it was about time.
As the courtiers raised their glasses all around him, toasting the queen, he blew out a breath and set Rose on her feet, then stood and raised his own. He was one of them now, and that felt strange, too.
But Rose was right. It didn’t really matter. They were together, and that was enough.
She smiled up at him, raising her face for a bubbly champagne kiss. His heart swelling, he leaned her back over his arm and gave her one that had all the jaded courtiers around them whistling by the time he finished.
“A thing of beauty,” she whispered, gazing up at him—and she didn’t mean the spectacular building.
He knew just how she felt.
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Next up, read Chrystabel and Joseph Ashcroft’s love story in The Cavalier’s Christmas Bride, a special holiday prequel novel. Read on for an excerpt!
If you'd like to learn more about the real people, places, and events in The Gentleman’s Scandalous Bride, turn the page for Lauren’s Author's Note...
BONUS MATERIAL
Author’s Note
Explore the Chase Family World
Excerpt from The Cavalier’s Christmas Bride
Books by Lauren & Devon Royal
Contest
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Dear Reader,
Perhaps, like me, when you read a historical novel you wonder which characters besides the king and queen might actually have lived. I hope you won’t be disappointed to learn that all of Rose’s suitors were invented. All of King Charles’s mistresses, however, were real people.
Charles II kept many mistresses throughout his life. Although some were disliked by his subjects while others were accepted, never in English history has another royal mistress been as popular as “pretty, witty” Nell Gwyn.
Whether Nell was actually born in a brothel is open to question, but legend has it she came into the world in Covent Garden in February 1650. As a young girl, Nell sold oranges at the Theatre Royal and began as an actress there in 1665. Charles saw her on stage, and by 1668 she became his mistress. Nell bore the king two sons, Charles in 1670, later the Duke of St. Albans, and James in 1671. Charles never tired of Nell, and on his deathbed, his last request to his brother is said to have been “let not poor Nelly starve.”
In opposition to Nell’s popularity, Louise de Kéroualle was universally disliked. Born in
