Several months later

 

Ella watched the dancers twirl in the ballroom and hid a yawn behind her fan. She simply didn’t have the energy to stay awake a moment longer. If only she could crawl back in bed and sleep for a week…maybe longer.

To her right, she spied the new nursery maid, Mrs. Winthrop, marching out of the ballroom with Cyril in tow. Ella hid a smile. He kept Mrs. Winthrop busy whenever he visited from school.

“Ella, dear,” a soft voice said at her elbow.

Ella turned to see Linda smiling warmly at her. They had grown close since the birth of her twins and Duncan’s disappearance.

“You should rest,” Linda suggested.

“Indeed, my dear child, you should be in bed,” the Lady Leighton said as she swept up to join them.

Ella shook her head stubbornly and tried her best to suppress another yawn. “I can’t miss Kinnettles’ first ball.”

The Dowager Countess smiled, the diamonds in her tiara glittering in the candlelight. “My dear, when he discovers why you wish to leave, he will be quite beside himself.” She pinched Ella’s cheeks and smiled.

Ella frowned. Surely the older woman couldn’t know. Ella hadn’t told anyone the cause…not yet, since she’d just found out herself that morning.

Lady Leighton and Linda shared a knowing laugh.

“Come now, Ashton may be blind, my dear, but we are not,” Linda teased. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall retire. I heartily suggest you do the same. It has been a splendid evening.”

Ella shyly kissed her cheek.

Linda had no sooner left than a man’s voice murmured, “Lady Strachan.”

Both Ella and the countess turned to greet the newcomer.

Sir Stirling James bowed. “How lovely to see you, Lady Leighton,” he said with an easy laugh.

“Indeed, Sir Stirling, I’ve been remiss in visiting you.” The Dowager Countess smiled, then shook her head. “You are a wizard. I should have trusted you far sooner to find Ashton’s match.”

Ella blinked.

“Oh, heavens,” She clamped a hand over her mouth then expelled a breath. “It was meant to remain a secret, but apparently, I am too old for secrets.”

“Never, my lady.” Stirling chuckled.

Ella arched a brow. “Whatever are you speaking of, Grandmother?”

“You mustn’t tell Ashton, child. Do you swear?”

Ella glanced from her to Stirling and back. “I swear, but what secret is this?”

“I couldn’t bear Anne,” she confessed. “When I discovered her rather delicate secret, I knew she and Ashton would soon part ways. I sent for Stirling straightway.” She beamed a broad smile at him. “I’d heard so many wondrous things about you, Stirling. They were all true.”

“This time, my lady, Fate stepped in,” Stirling said. “Plus, like you, I couldn’t bear to see Ashton tie a millstone about his neck.”

“Anne would have made a dreadful mistress of Kinnettles,” the Dowager agreed with a mock shudder.

“Wait…” Ella frowned. “I…thought you hadn’t made up your mind, Grandmother.”

The older woman fanned her face as she leaned over and whispered, “It was always Ashton, my dear, from the very beginning. He thought he was living, but I could see he wasn’t. I tried to make him engage with life by holding the inheritance over his head…” Her eyes twinkled. “He simply hadn’t met the right woman.”

Ella blushed.

“Ah, here comes Ashton. I’ve said far, far too much. Let us leave, Stirling. Come.” She pinched Ella’s cheeks one last time, then slipped her arm through Stirling’s and swept him into the crowd.

Stirling. Ella smiled. Her journey of recovery had begun with him.

“Ella? Are you ill?” Ashton asked as he reached her side. “You look pale.”

Ella smiled. He grew handsomer by the day. He towered over her, a powerful man of muscular perfection, dressed smartly in dark breeches and a gray silk waistcoat. The concern on his face touched her heart.

“There’s no need to fret,” she assured as she laid her head against his broad chest. Something crinkled beneath her cheek.

“Nae, I shall send for a doctor, my love. You should be in bed.”

“What’s this?” She slipped her hand into his vest and drew out a folded parchment.

“Stirling gave it to me. I haven’t had time to look at it,” he answered distractedly as he gently caught her chin and tilted her face up to his. “My dear, you do look tired. You should retire.”

Ella unfolded the parchment and smiled. “I’d quite forgotten about this.”

“What is it?”

With a laugh, she held out the contract of marriage. “You would have met the conditions, my lord.”

“Conditions?” he frowned, though his expression lightened as he took the paper from her hands. “Whatever are you on about? What conditions?”

Ella stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “The conditions of your inheritance, my lord. One wife and an heir, within the year.”

He laughed, then whispered, “Heir?”

She slipped her arms around his neck. “I confess, I found The Demon Earl rather fascinating from the start. I shall miss him.”

“Oh?” He kissed her softly and with reverent wonder, then flattened a palm against her belly. A glint of amusement entered his eye. “You’ve made me a demon between the sheets, my love.”

Ella giggled and traced his lips with a fingertip, then lay her head upon his chest with a sigh.