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him, knew he could with his bare hands, but that would solve nothing and it certainly wouldn’t bring Caroline back.
He’d failed her, failed every damn person he’d ever loved. The realization that he did, in fact, love Caroline, hit him hard, nearly knocking him to his knees. Why couldn’t he have seen it sooner, realized it this morning when he demanded she marry him? Had he proposed with words of love, she likely wouldn’t have left the house alone and then that bastard, Nigel Lamb, wouldn’t have gotten his hands on her.
The man lay in a heap on the floor.
Roe took a deep breath and knelt once again by Caroline. He smoothed his hand over her hair and gritted his teeth. “Oh Caroline, what have I done?”
“Roe?” Her voice came out in a harsh whisper.
Her eyes opened and stared up at him. He pulled her up, gathering her to him. She winced in pain. “I’m sorry, love, we’ll get you out of here, get you a doctor.” With that he scooped her up in his arms and stood cradling her against his body. He stepped over Mr. Lamb’s body and headed for the door.
“Roe, wait, what about Mr. Lamb, is he dead?” she asked, glancing at the man on the floor.
“No, he’s not dead. I just hit him really hard. He’ll have a hell of a headache when he wakes up.” He looked down at the man and resisted the urge to go back and kick him. “I’ll send the police to collect what’s left of him.”
“You can’t leave him here with these men. He tried to rob them. I doubt they’re going to stand by and wait for the police to show up.”
“Yes, precisely.” And then they left.
Roe didn’t remember much of the carriage ride back to his house. He’d sent Boomer in a separate rig to retrieve the doctor. Once they arrived home, Roe carried Caroline directly to his bedchamber.
He placed her gently on the bed, and retrieved some brandy for her. He urged her to drink several sips while they waited for the doctor.
“I said everything all wrong this morning,” he said.
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Can we pretend this morning didn’t happen, that I didn’t demand you marry me?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re calling off the wedding?”
He put a finger to her lips. “Shh, let me talk for once. What I should have said this morning was that I’ve been an idiot. That I love you madly, and I can’t believe I ever considered marrying you off to someone else. I want you to be mine, only and forever mine. I can’t promise I’ll be a good husband, but I will do everything in my power to endeavor to do just that. I shall never even look at another woman, which shouldn’t be hard considering you’ve ruined me for them in any case. Caroline Jellico, will you do the honor of marrying me and becoming my duchess?”
She winced a little and he thought she might faint again, but then she gave him a small smile. “I’m not certain I’m up for the task to redeem you. It’s going to take plenty of work.”
“I have no doubts about that,” he said. “But if anyone can do it, it will be you. Because for you, I would do anything.”
“And you don’t mind that I’m only a baron’s daughter?”
“What? No, I never even considered it. I don’t care who your father was.”
“Roe, I love you madly. I fear I always have, and I know I always will. Of course I shall marry you.”
“It’s about damn time,” his mother said from the doorway.
Epilogue
THREE MONTHS LATER
Caroline sat in the dining room with her mother-in-law, the dowager duchess of Chanceworth. “What do you think of this one?” she asked Millie, showing her yet another sample of upholstery.
“That one is lovely. I like that blue quite a bit,” Millie said.
“You don’t care though.”
Millie shook her head and smiled. “It’s your home now, my dear, so anything you choose will look perfect. Besides, I’m quite busy refurnishing the other house.”
“I still think that was such a perfect idea. I’m so pleased you suggested it. My old family home will make a perfect new Boys’ Asylum. Do you know when you’ll be ready to start accepting children?” Caroline asked. She was so happy that she feared her face would actually break from all the smiling she’d done lately. She finally had everything she wanted.
There was a loud commotion in the corridor and then trills of laughter.
“What the devil?” Caroline said. She and Millie stepped out in the hall in time to see Roe, on all fours, crawling through the corridor with a squealing Fiona and Beatrice riding on his back. Gretchen leaned against the wall doubled-over giggling.
“Go pony, go!” Fiona yelled.
Caroline’s eyes filled with tears. Roe had brought the girls home to be theirs only a day after the two of them married nearly two months ago. It had taken them several weeks before Fiona started talking, but now that she’d started again, she was quite verbose.
“You can’t let your daddy get all your giggles. Come with grandmother now and I shall read you some stories,” Millie said stepping into the hall.
Roe kissed each of the girls on their perspective heads, then they all scampered up the stairs on his mother’s heels. He pulled Caroline into his arms. “I am a disgrace of a duke crawling around on the floor like a common fool.”
She kissed him hard. “You are the most perfect of dukes.”
About the Author
A life-long lover of stories and adventure, it was either become a stuntwoman for the movies or live out those adventures from the safety of her PJ’s and computer. Award-winning author, Robyn DeHart chose the latter and couldn’t be happier for doing so. Known for her unique plotlines and authentic characters, Robyn is a favorite among readers and reviewers. Publishers’ Weekly claims her books as “sizzling romance” while the Chicago Tribune dubs her “wonderfully entertaining.” Robyn is an award-winning author as well as being a four-time RT Bookclub Reviewers’ Choice award nominee, and a three-time RomCon Reader’s Crown nominee. Look for Robyn’s new trilogy on forbidden love coming from Entangled: A Little Bit Wicked (fall 2012), A Little Bit Sinful (spring 2013) and A Little Bit Scandalous (summer 2013). Also in 2013, she’ll launch a new historical romantic suspense series with NAL, the first in the series is The Secrets of Mia Danvers (2013). Robyn lives in Texas with her brainy husband, two precocious little girls and two spoiled cats.
Also available from Entangled Scandalous…
A Little Bit Wicked by Robyn DeHart
Marcus Kincaid, Earl of Ashford, has returned to England after a ten-year absence to find his younger sister embroiled in a potential scandal that could ruin her chance at marriage. His aunt has already called in reinforcements—The Paragon.
Vivian March, known simply as The Paragon, moves through every circle within Society, smoothing out scandals and stopping gossip in its tracks. Everyone in London knows that if she aligns herself with you, Society will forgive your sins. What they don’t know is that she uses their secrets to cover her own jaded past.
But with every kiss and every touch that Marcus thrusts upon her, Vivian comes to believe life is infinitely more fun when you can be just a little bit wicked…
A Little Bit Sinful by Robyn DeHart
Justin Rodale is the wealthy bastard son of the Duke of Chanceworth. Educated with the rest of the aristocrats, he knows all the rules by which Society lives, but he is beholden to no one.
Clarissa Kincaid has been raised to be the perfect English lady…in need of the perfectly respectable English husband. She’s found her quarry, but the man won’t commit and she finds herself seeking assistance in the form of seduction lessons from someone the opposite of respectable…Justin.
This is a challenge the charismatic Justin cannot resist. She may think that he knows nothing about her needs, but he’s determined to show her that he knows plenty about her secret desires.
Once Upon a Wallflower by Wendy Lyn Watson
A Perennial Wallflower…
When Mira Fitzhenry’s guardian arranges her engagement to one of the most scandalous, yet devastatingly handsome lords to ever grace the peerage, all of society is abuzz. After all, the man has left a trio of dead young women in his wake, including his first fiancée.
A Gothic Villain…
Expecting to scare the chit away within five minutes of meeting him, scarred and brooding Nicholas, the Viscount Ashfield, is intrigued by the unfashionably lovely Mira, but his family’s dark secret means he must fight his attractions. No matter what his heart wants.
As the wedding approaches, Nicholas and Mira grow ever closer, yet so does the very real danger. Will the truth bring Nicholas and Mira together or tear their love apart?