“What in blazes is going on here?” June demanded, rushing toward Ted and her father and brothers.

All of the men glanced to her in shock and surprise, but Ted was the only one who also seemed relieved. At least at first. Too soon, his expression tensed to worry and something that looked uncomfortably like suspicion.

“What have you been telling him?” she demanded as she grew closer. She shifted her gaze to Ted and asked in a gentler voice, “What have they told you?”

The crowd of Brynthwaite townspeople milling about as the contests got underway instantly realized something was afoot and gathered around them to watch.

Her father jumped to answer first. “I told him the truth, that you’re my daughter, first and foremost, and that you came home.”

“I did not—”

Her father leapt to her side and grabbed her arm before she could set him, and Ted, straight. “I told her that I would stand beside her, no matter what she decided to do, even if she chose to risk social ruin by leaving you.”

“That’s not what you—”

“Yeah, and we said we’d stand by her as well,” Wat said loudly, striding over to grab her other arm.

To an outsider, it might have looked as though her father and brother were hugging her and supporting her, but June knew when she was trapped. “Let go of me!” she demanded, struggling to break free.

“Let go of her,” Ted echoed. He was visibly upset. His shoulders were bunched and he looked as though he would leap toward her to intervene at any second. But his eyes held doubt.

“You should have seen the way our Junie wept with pity when she saw the state our home was in this morning,” her father went on. “She told us she made the right decision to come home.”

“I did not—”

“She went right to work, saying she’d never leave us again,” her father went on. “Didn’t she, Wat?”

“She did,” Wat said. He nodded, attempting to look sober and truthful, but he was a terrible actor.

“You dragged me out of—”

“She said she doesn’t like you at all,” Wat rode over her words. “That she couldn’t wait to get away from you.”

“Is that true?” Ted asked, his face drawn, sadness in his eyes.

His worried expression struck straight at June’s heart. How could he doubt that she wanted to be with him? How could he think she didn’t care? Except, she’d spent years pulling away from him and being embarrassed by his attention. She’d behaved like a cornered cat when he brought her into his home and into his life. As pleasant as things had become between them, she hadn’t told him how she felt, what he’d come to mean to her. So how would he know? People didn’t usually change overnight, and she herself was only just coming to realize how much she cared for him.

She let out a breath, all the fight going out of her. “Ted,” she began, meeting his eyes with genuine feeling. “I’m sorry that I’ve made a mess of things. I’m not used to the way you make me feel at all. I didn’t know what to do with it at first. And I’m sorry that I—”

“See,” her father interrupted, gripping her arm tighter, impatience and worry lining his face. “She’s sorry. She doesn’t want to be with you. Come on, Junie.” He nodded to Wat, and the two of them started to drag her off.

“What? No!” she protested, jerking her arms in an attempt to break free. “That’s not what I meant at all. Let me go!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to announce the winner of the Brynthwaite Summer Festival’s pie competition,” Mayor Farnsworth announced through a newfangled megaphone.

The announcement was so loud and its timing so jarring that June stopped struggling and her father and Wat stopped trying to drag her off. Everyone, from Ted to the people who had gathered to watch the confrontation, stopped what they were doing to turn to where the mayor stood on a small stage at one end of the square.

The mayor chuckled. “As usual, our undisputed winner is Miss June Lakes!” The crowd burst into applause, even as Mayor Farnsworth went on to add, “Or do we call her Mrs. Folley now?”

“Do you hear that, girl? You won,” her father said. He and Wat took advantage of her surprise to shift direction, pushing her toward the stage, where Mayor Farnsworth held an envelope that contained the cash prize. “Let’s go get our money.”

Frustration bit June so acutely that she stopped fighting and let her father and Wat hurry her along. She twisted to search back over her shoulder as she went, though, looking for Ted.

But Ted had turned away and was walking toward the edge of the crowd in the opposite direction from her.

It was harder for Ted to push his way through the crowd than he expected it to be. Or maybe it was his own reluctance to leave that had his feet dragging through the grass. June had been in the middle of apologizing to him when she was declared the winner of the pie competition. Apologizing for leaving him, if where he thought her words were going was right.

He should be the one apologizing. For pushing her into a situation she didn’t want, for disrupting her life, and for taking her to bed. Everything had seemed so right at the time, but now…now he was just confused.

“And now to announce the winner of the home-brewed beer competition,” Mayor Farnsworth went on.

Ted paused, turning toward him with a wince. Whoever had invented that blasted megaphone device should be fined for disturbing the peace.

“And the winner is…Lord Basil Waltham!”

The crowd swelled with applause. Ted huffed a laugh and shook his head, continuing on. He hadn’t expected to win, not exactly. But the same as with June, he’d gotten his hopes up just enough to feel a sting when they were dashed.

But his sudden melancholy didn’t feel right. His feet seemed to grow heavier and heavier as he attempted to leave the scene of his humiliation. A voice in the back of his head kept telling him he was an idiot, that he should turn around and go back to June. She’d needed rescuing once, and part of him itched with the idea that everything wasn’t as it seemed, that she needed rescuing again. Or if not rescuing, then she needed him to stand by her while she made whatever decision she needed to make.

He stopped when he finally reached the edge of the square and turned to glance across the crowd, looking for her. She stood with her father and brothers, not far from where Mayor Farnsworth was still handing out prizes. She was too far away and there was far too much noise to hear what she was saying, but clearly she and her family were arguing. Ted’s gut clenched. He cursed at himself under his breath. She might not want him, but he was a fool if he retreated, like a dog with his tail between his legs. If she didn’t want him, that was fine, but she still needed his help.

He started back through the crowd, his energy doubling in an instant. What if she did want him after all that? What if this whole thing was a misunderstanding or some sort of trick on the part of Roger Lakes? That seemed far more likely than flat-out rejection from June, no matter how prickly she could be.

“Ted, there you are.” Ted was stopped in the middle of his charge as Basil met him halfway across the square from June. Elaine—Lady Waltham now—was with him, still dressed in her strange clothes, but looking like the happiest woman in the world as she clung to Basil’s arm. “I just wanted to apologize,” Basil said, a sheepish grin on his face. “There’s no way I should have won the beer prize.”

“He shouldn’t have,” Elaine agreed. “I tasted that beer.” She made a face.

Basil chuckled, beaming at his wife in adoration. “They only gave it to me because I’m an earl. But I want you to have the prize money.”

Any other day, Ted would have refused and argued that the gesture wasn’t necessary. But his mind was set on one thing and one thing alone. June had broken free of her family and was marching toward the edge of the crowd several yards away, but her father and brothers were in fast pursuit.

“Excuse me,” Ted said, barely looking at Basil as he picked up his pace to intercept her.

“Is there something you need my help with?” Basil asked, following.

Ted didn’t have time to answer. As soon as the wandering crowd realized another scene was about to happen, they parted, making it easier for Ted to rush toward June. She’d picked up her pace as well, and seemed to be searching beyond the edges of the crowd for something.

“June,” he called to her as soon as he was close enough. “June!”

June’s frown shifted to an expression of surprise as she turned to find him pursuing her. “Ted!” she called back.

She changed direction and started to make her way toward him, but between that and the way the crowd stepped aside, Roger and his sons caught up to her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Roger demanded.

“Yeah, you’ve got our money,” Wat said. The younger two brothers stumbled along behind him, looking worried and out of their depth.

“Stay away from her,” Ted demanded, closing the remaining distance in a few, long strides.

Roger and Wat looked ready to ignore him until Basil demanded, “Stay back!” in a loud, commanding tone. The two men nearly fell over themselves, they stopped so fast.

Ted ignored them, focusing on June. She let out a breath, sending her father and brothers a sidelong glare, and met Ted in a clear patch of grass left by observers eager to see a show.

“I was afraid you’d gone,” she said, moving to stand close to him.

Ted’s brow shot up. “Really? I thought you wanted me gone. Or at least that you wanted to go.”

She made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a growl of frustration. “I never wanted to leave you. My useless father and brothers snatched me from the kitchen before dawn this morning.”

Twin bursts of relief and fury hit Ted at once, leaving him frozen with conflicting emotion. He sent a seething glare to Roger, who looked as though he would either bolt or be sick on Basil’s fine shoes.

“I’m sorry,” June said. “What I tried to say before—” she, too, glared at her father. “—was that I know I haven’t exactly been the cheeriest wife. I haven’t given you any reason to think that I wouldn’t walk out on you. I’ve been a pill, and for that, I apologize.”

“You haven’t been a pill,” Ted insisted, reaching for her. “And I understand.”

“You do?” she blinked at him, a touch of her old suspicion in her eyes.

“Everything happened so suddenly,” Ted went on. “And I’ll admit, my method for marrying you was a little underhanded.”

“You can only cheat a cheat to get what you want,” she said, sending another harsh look to her father.

“But it shouldn’t have been that way,” Ted said. “I should have had the courage to march up to your front door and demand to court you in a normal way.”

“Dad would have said no.” June arched her brow knowingly.

“Yes, but I should have done it anyhow.”

She lowered her head. “I probably would have said no.” Her cheeks pinked. “Which would have been uncommonly stupid of me.” She raised her eyes to meet his. “Because you are a fine man, Ted, no matter what a bunch of foolish schoolchildren used to say decades ago. You’re strong, hard-working, upright, passionate.” Her face grew even redder, and she couldn’t maintain eye contact with him.

“I wish I could have been more for you sooner,” he went on. “So I’ll understand if you would rather be with your father and brothers than me.”

Her brow flew up, and her face was a mask of surprise. “I don’t want to spend more than a second in their company if I can help it,” she said. “They forced me to go with them this morning, they forced me to clean up that pig sty of a house they have, and then they locked me in my room to keep me from going back to you.”

Ted’s jaw dropped. For a moment, his heart soared. June wanted to be with him. She had chosen him. A split-second later, anger overtook his elation. “They locked you in your room?”

“I broke the window to get out,” she said, turning back to her father. “And I’m not sorry for it at all.”

“You’ll pay for that, girl,” her father barked.

“Fine,” June said. She stepped away from Ted, thrusting the envelope of prize money at him. “Here. Take this. It’s the very last thing you’ll ever get from me.”

Ungrateful as always, Roger snatched the envelope from her hand and glared at her as though he was the offended party. Ted was ready to shout at the man for being an ungrateful wretch, but June stepped back to him before he could say a word. She took his hands.

“I have no desire whatsoever to leave you,” she said, squeezing his hands. “I’ve never been so happy in my life as I’ve been with you in the last fortnight. I might not be the easiest person to live with. I’m more used to being in a temper than being content. But I think I love you, Ted Folley, and I want nothing more than to be your wife for the rest of my days.”

The joy that filled Ted was so powerful and so sudden that it tipped over into laughter. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that,” he said, brimming over with too many emotions to count.

“You shouldn’t have had to wait so long,” she went on, her voice softening as she glanced up at him with affection. “I shouldn’t have been such a fool when we were in school all those years ago.”

“Young people rarely get it right,” Ted told her, brushing his hand along her cheek.

She turned to press a kiss against his palm. “I want to get it right now,” she said. “That night two weeks ago, you promised me that you’d do whatever you could to make me happy. Well, I want to make a promise to you too. I promise that I’ll be the best wife a man could possibly have for you. I promise that I’ll do my utmost to make you as happy as you make me.”

“I’m already the happiest man alive just hearing you say that.” He pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss square on her lips, no matter who was watching. Indeed, several people in the crowd made whistling, encouraging sounds. But Ted was too happy to care about their teasing. “I love you, June Folley.”

“And I,” she began, blinking rapidly and smiling uncontrollably. “Who would have thought it, but I love you too, Ted. Even though I don’t know what to do about it. I haven’t loved anyone for years. I’m not sure if I even remember how.”

“Of course you do,” Ted said, embracing her tenderly. “And if you forget, I’ll help you remember.”

She let out a breath and leaned against him, giving in to his embrace. “I’m not sure I deserve you.”

“We don’t always get what we deserve in life,” he replied, smoothing his hand along the back of her head and holding her as though he would never let her go. “Sometimes we get so much more.”