“And a book,” she said, stunned by the strangeness of life, “tucked in the closet. It is just a remarkable thing that our lives should hang on such chance.”
“No, it isn’t chance,” he said firmly. “You were always meant to be mine. I know that with every bit of my heart. It is why I was meant to be friends with your brother. It is why he took me in to be close to your family when I had so little love of my own. And it is why,” he said, his voice rough with his love, “we are here together now in each other’s arms. Not by chance but by love and by fate.”
Epilogue
Ophelia slipped the book back into the closet. She did not know if it would stay there. She had a strong feeling it would find itself in new hands, helping some other wallflower find love. She glanced over her shoulder and heard one of the shopkeepers clear his throat.
She turned quickly and carefully pressed the panel shut behind her.
She smiled at the shopkeeper, who was looking at her most strangely. And then she bustled to the front of the shop to join her husband.
Peter was peering over several of the new romances put in stock by a few authors that she’d not heard of before but was eager to try.
He already had a large stack for her.
“I think this is a good beginning for you, my love, don’t you?” he said.
“A very good beginning,” she agreed.
Ophelia looked out to the street.
Rain was coming down in a solid grey sheet which had intimidated most book buyers. But not ones who were as devoted as she.
Winter was setting in.
Suddenly, she realized that they were going to have a great deal of time indoors together. She turned a wicked look upon Peter. He seemed to understand exactly what she was thinking as he met her gaze and beamed. “Don’t you love the rain?” he asked softly.
“Indeed, I do, Husband,” she said. “I can think of so many lovely things to do in such weather.”
He pulled her to him, despite the scandal of it. He gazed down in her eyes and took her hand in his. “As can I, my love. As can I.”
About Eva
USA Today bestselling author Eva Devon has been publishing romance novels for seven years. She’s lived in London, Glasgow, Dublin, and currently lives in the USA. London is her favorite town and checking out pictures of England and Scotland on her social media takes up a good deal of her time! Her first true loves of historical romance are Johanna Lindsey and Julia Quinn. When she isn’t writing, she spends all her time with three small heroes of her own and the one who stole her heart.
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A Brazen Agreement
Chapter 1
Miss Sutton Howard glowered at Logan Carleton, the Earl of Jersey from across the ballroom, her mind spinning at the sight of him again after all these years. How was it that he was back in London after a substantial time away at his country estate? Learning everything he needed to know about running an estate she supposed, now that he was the newly minted Earl of Jersey.
That time away had been six years. Some assumed town life bored him, and he would not be back. Sutton had hoped that would be the case. He'd rutted and raked during the years, or so she had heard, and now that he was back within the city walls, it looked as if not a lot had changed.
That wasn't entirely true. Logan had changed. Broader across the shoulders, taller too, if she were critical of his stature. His face had grown into a man's, no longer the boy's she once knew. The shadow of stubble marring his skin even in the middle of the ball told her he was a man. Some things, however, never changed. His lips twisted into a wicked grin, one strong enough to melt the iciest hearts, but not hers. Not anymore. She knew him too well for such foolery.
Years ago, when she was but a new debutante, full of hope and magical thoughts of what was to become of her life—whom she would marry—she had dreamed of Logan, what their children would look like, and hoped the future earl would ask for her hand.
He had not.
He had broken her heart and her trust instead.
In fact, he had not asked anyone to be his countess, which she supposed was some consolation, but only a little. With a foolish heart she had waited for him, had even denied a suitor on the verge of proposing her first Season, all because she longed for a man who did not deserve her love.
Sutton had been a fool then. A silly little chit who trusted a gentleman simply because he was her brother's best friend and she thought herself in love. That her brother Malcolm's friendship had cooled after Lord Jersey's treatment told her all she needed to know about the man. If her brother, a kind and generous landowner, was no longer friends with his lordship, there was little point in her reviving the friendship they once shared.
His lordship was a bad apple, rotten to the core.