Epilogue
Three years later
Perdie felt the mattress shift beneath her as another person added his weight. She cracked her eyelids open and squinted at the warm sunlight passing between the open drapes. Sleepily, she mumbled, “I’m not ready to wake up yet.”
Thaddeus pressed a kiss to the bare skin where her neck met her shoulder. In his thickest brogue, which never failed to make her shiver in delight, he whispered, “I wager I can make it worth your while.”
She laughed and rolled onto her back. He was half-dressed, his hair out of its queue and framing his face as he held himself over her. The laces of his shirt were undone, giving her a tantalizing glimpse of the flesh beneath.
She cracked a yawn. “You’re insatiable. We were up nearly until dawn.”
As he leaned down, his smile grew. He brushed his lips over hers. That light touch wasn’t enough, and he knew it, the fiend! She threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled him down for a longer, more languorous kiss. By the time they resurfaced, she was far more willing to be awake at this hour.
He stretched alongside her, leaning most of his weight on an elbow. With the other hand, he dragged a feather-light touch up and down her arm. Gooseflesh rose in his wake.
“You’re teasing.” Her voice was hoarse now. She didn’t stop him, though. She liked him in a playful mood.
“We’ve nearly been married for three years.”
“Have we?” She lay back on the mattress, limp, as she frantically counted the months. “No, that can’t be. We’re at least two months away.”
“Two months can go by verra fast.” He kissed her again, this time more greedily.
She surrendered to him, but her heart was beating fast.
When he moved lower, pressing kisses along her neck and shoulder, he punctuated them with words. “A year traveling through Europe.” He found a spot near her collarbone that made her squirm. “Two years in London.” He moved lower still. “Where to next?”
He’d given her what she’d wanted, everything she’d asked for. She knew it was time for her to give him an heir, but she hadn’t sated her wanderlust. She still wanted to see, do, experience more things.
She cleared her throat, her voice trembling for reasons other than arousal when she guessed, “Scotland?”
He lifted his head in surprise. She brushed strands of hair out of his eyes. Marriage was sometimes about compromise, and she loved him dearly enough that she would willingly face her fears. Whatever challenges children brought them, he would be alongside her to conquer them.
“Come now, love. We have our entire lives to explore Scotland. You cannot mean to stay now.”
She held his gaze, though it was an effort of will. In the years of their marriage, he’d somehow grown even more handsome. He was thirty years old now, and she knew he fielded questions from his aunt as to when to expect children.
“You’ve given me my year abroad and two in London. It’s time I listened to your aunt and gave you children, don’t you think?”
Because she was still looking at him, he caught the fear she tried to keep from her face.
“Bugger my aunt,” he said with enough feeling that she couldn’t help but laugh. He rolled over in bed, taking her with him until she lay across his chest. His arm curled around her waist, anchoring her there. She wasn’t about to flee.
“You don’t mean that,” she whispered against his collarbone.
“I do. Maggie’s son will be six months old soon. Let him inherit. The only time I wish to hear a discussion of children leave your lips is when or if you want them.”
Shyly, she lifted her head. She was more comfortable with Thaddeus than she was in her own skin, but she’d been avoiding this conversation for a long while. Now, she studied his face. Utterly serious, his stubble scraped clean, he met her gaze with a surety that made her melt.
“You wouldn’t regret not having children?”
“Not at all.” He squeezed her waist. “I have you, my dear. I have everything I could ever want.”
She kissed him for so long that she nearly forgot what they’d been speaking of. Somehow, she managed to pull away, despite being out of breath and aching to feel more of him than his clothes.
“Why did you mention the anniversary of our marriage?”
He grinned and leaned forward to nibble at her earlobe. It was a lucky thing she wasn’t standing, because that always made her knees weak. In between kisses, he whispered, “Because I happen to have spoken with a gentleman looking to embark on an expedition south in a couple months. They’re botanists looking to catalogue plants in the rainforests of South America. The expedition would take two years, there and back again, and they’re in need of a patron.” He pulled back with a winsome smile. “What say you, my countess? Would you like to fund a scientific expedition?”
Her breath caught in her chest. “Two years abroad?”
He nodded. “To places neither of us has ever dreamed of.”
“I say yes!”
“The sweetest word I’ve ever heard.” Then, reversing their positions, he proceeded to show her precisely how many times he could coax her into saying it again.