Bridgerton Collection, Volume 2 - Julia Quinn Page 0,131

we leave?” she whispered.

“Right now?”

She nodded.

“Oh, yes,” he said enthusiastically.

And no one saw them for several days.

Epilogue

Bedford Square, Bloomsbury

London, 1825

“It’s here! It’s here!”

Penelope looked up from the papers spread over her desk. Colin was standing in the doorway of her small office, jumping from foot to foot like a schoolboy.

“Your book!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet as quickly as her rather ungainly body would allow. “Oh, Colin, let me see. Let me see. I can’t wait!”

He couldn’t contain his grin as he handed her his book.

“Ohhhh,” she said reverently, holding the slim, leather-bound volume in her hands. “Oh, my.” She held the book up to her face and inhaled deeply. “Don’t you just love the smell of new books?”

“Look at this, look at this,” he said impatiently, pointing to his name on the front cover.

Penelope beamed. “Look at that. And so elegant, too.” She ran her finger over the words as she read, “An Englishman in Italy, by Colin Bridgerton.”

He looked ready to burst with pride. “It looks good, doesn’t it?”

“It looks better than good, it looks perfect! When will An Englishman in Cyprus be available?”

“The publisher says every six months. They want to release An Englishman in Scotland after that.”

“Oh, Colin, I’m so proud of you.”

He drew her into his arms, letting his chin rest on top of her head. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Yes, you could,” she replied loyally.

“Just be quiet and accept the praise.”

“Very well,” she said, grinning even though he couldn’t see her face, “you couldn’t. Clearly, you could never have been published without such a talented editor.”

“You won’t hear any disagreement from me,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head before he let her go. “Sit down,” he added. “You shouldn’t be on your feet for so long.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, but she sat down, anyway. Colin had been overly protective since the first moment she’d told him she was pregnant; now that she was only a month from her due date, he was insufferable.

“What are these papers?” he asked, glancing down at her scribblings.

“This? Oh, it’s nothing.” She started to gather them into piles. “Just a little project I was working on.”

“Really?” He sat down across from her. “What is it?”

“It’s . . . well . . . actually . . .”

“What is it, Penelope?” he asked, looking exceedingly amused by her stammers.

“I’ve been at loose ends since I finished editing your journals,” she explained, “and I found I rather missed writing.”

He was smiling as he leaned forward. “What are you working on?”

She blushed; she wasn’t sure why. “A novel.”

“A novel? Why, that’s brilliant, Penelope!”

“You think so?”

“Of course I think so. What is it called?”

“Well, I’ve only written a few dozen pages,” she said, “and there’s much work to be done, but I think, if I don’t decide to change it overmuch, that I will call it The Wallflower.”

His eyes grew warm, almost misty. “Really?”

“It’s a little bit autobiographical,” she admitted.

“Just a little bit?” he returned.

“Just a little.”

“But it has a happy ending?”

“Oh, yes,” she said fervently. “It has to.”

“It has to?”

She reached her hand across the table and rested it atop his. “Happy endings are all I can do,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t know how to write anything else.”

Dear Reader,

Have you ever wondered what happened to your favorite characters after you closed the final page? Wanted just a little bit more of a favorite novel? I have, and if the questions from my readers are any indication, I’m not the only one. So after countless requests from Bridgerton fans, I decided to try something a little different, and I wrote a “2nd Epilogue” for each of the novels. These are the stories that come after the stories.

At first, the Bridgerton 2nd Epilogues were available exclusively online; later they were published (along with a novella about Violet Bridgerton) in a collection called The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After. Now, for the first time, each 2nd Epilogue is being included with the novel it follows. I hope you enjoy Penelope and Colin as they continue their journey.

Warmly,

Julia Quinn

Romancing Mister Bridgerton: The 2nd Epilogue

“You didn’t tell her?”

Penelope Bridgerton would have said more, and in fact would have liked to say more, but words were difficult, what with her mouth hanging slack. Her husband had just returned from a mad dash across the south of England with his three brothers, in pursuit of his sister Eloise, who had, by all accounts, run off to elope with—

Oh, dear God.

“Is she married?” Penelope asked