looped his arms around her, drawing her as close as two clothed beings could be. “I vow to spend the remainder of my days serving you, giving you pleasure. Loving you.” His gaze was dark and limitless and hot. “Will that satisfy you, Jess?”
“Oh, yes,” she whispered against his lips. “That will satisfy me, indeed.”
Epilogue
Four months later
The open window let in a faint trace of woodsmoke on the crisp autumn air. From her place at the kitchen table, with the ledgers open in front of her, Jess drew the fragrance deep into her lungs.
She sanded the pages now covered with her columns of numbers. Her work had taken her most of the morning and into the afternoon, but she didn’t mind her labor. Not when the end result was so wonderful.
Jess stretched as she rose from the table, working out the stiffness that had collected in her bones from sitting for hours. Once she’d loosened her body, she headed outside, eager to tell everyone the good news.
McGale & McGale Honey Soap thrived. She had the figures to prove it.
The staff was busy making enough soap to fill the staggering number of orders that had come in now that the term of exclusivity with Daley’s had ended. It seemed that having a duchess as part owner and operator of a business was enough of a novelty to attract customers, but the quality of the product kept them coming back for more.
Meeting the demand had been a struggle, since there simply hadn’t been enough hands. But after sending out word that the operation was in the process of expansion and in need of help, people found their way to Honiton. Many of the McGale & McGale workers were veterans, as well as widows, and others seeking steady employment.
She headed toward the main barn. As she walked toward it, she passed Fred.
“Come with me,” she said to him. “I’ve some information to share with you, Cynthia, and Noel.”
“You’ll find both of them in the shipping yard,” Fred said. “Can’t you tell me now?”
“No preferential treatment.” Jess sniffed, but she likely punctured her faux annoyance by grinning. “About-face, sirrah.”
Her brother grumbled, but he fell into step beside her as they walked toward the part of the farm where delivery drays were loaded. Several heavy wagons stood there now, and a line of workers passed crates of soap to each other, moving them from where they were boxed up to the drays themselves.
As Jess neared, her gaze moved down the line of workers. One man had his back to her as he accepted each box and stacked them in the bed of the wagon, working without a coat and waistcoat. No mistaking who it was—her husband.
The wild happiness she felt whenever she saw him struck her anew. It opened petals within her, blossoming.
“A duke stacking boxes of soap in a wagon is certainly not a typically aristocratic pastime,” she said as she approached. “But you’re anything from a typical aristocrat.”
“That’s because I’ve perfected what it means to be a toff,” he said easily.
“I’ve some news,” she said.
“Paul, will you take my place in line?” Noel asked the man standing beside him. When Paul nodded, Noel stepped away from his task. He grabbed his coat and waistcoat, which had been draped over one side of the wagon, and shrugged into both of them. A moment later, he stood next to Jess and took her hand in his.
At this rate, Jess would have a whole meadow full of happiness blooming inside her.
“Tell us!” Cynthia said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Jess looked at each of them—her sister, Fred, and Noel all looking at her expectantly—and couldn’t contain her grin. “We’ve made a profit. Not a little one, either. Our net profit margin is twenty-three percent.”
Cynthia let out a whoop, and Fred beamed.
Noel turned to her and cupped her jaw with one of his broad hands. Affection was warm in his gaze as he murmured, “By God, Jess, you’re a wonder.”
“It was a group effort,” she said. “The credit belongs to all of us.”
“But you were the one steering the ship. You brought us here.”
“I like that.” She ran her fingertip over his lips. “How you say us.”
“It’s always us, Jess.”
He bent to kiss her, but froze when Cynthia called, “Oof, have a care for your workers’ delicate sensibilities.”
Jess scowled at her sister. Before Jess could call back a rude reply, Noel lightly held her chin and moved her to face him once more.