The beast of yorkshire, p.37
The Beast of Yorkshire, page 37
“I think you should let me down here. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“I’m not scared of him. Besides, nothing happened.”
“All the same, I’d rather not lose any more family.” She hugged Reese tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of yourself, Reese.”
“Take care of him,” Reese said.
“I will.” Suddenly Duncan’s deep voice reached their ears.
“Bloody hell, unhand my wife! I’ll challenge your sorry arse to a duel. Pistols or swords, you name your preference.”
“Here we go,” Reese said, rolling his eyes.
Penelope giggled. “I’ll calm the Beast while you disappear. Don’t worry, all will be well.” Penelope was once more standing on the ground when Reese turned his horse and rode off. Duncan ran past her, still raging at his brother’s retreating figure. Penelope sighed and started walking the short distance to the ruins.
“Your lover left you behind.”
“He’s not my lover.”
“I saw you kiss him.”
“You saw me give him a brotherly peck on the cheek and wish him well.” She whirled on Duncan, her golden brown eyes flashed with emotion. “If you would stop acting so beastly and jumping to conclusions then you would have seen past that red haze of anger you always carry with you.” She turned back around and marched to the old abbey, leaving Duncan to either stand and stare at her or follow her. He followed her.
“It’s not anger, it’s jealousy, if you must know. I worry you will grow tired of me,” he admitted. He quickly changed the subject before she could comment. “Why are you not in bed? You should be resting,” Duncan advised.
“Duncan, I’m going to have a baby, that doesn’t mean I’m an invalid,” she argued.
“Fine, then what are you doing here?”
“Sometimes I wonder,” she muttered.
“What?”
“These, I came because of these.” She held the two letters aloft.
“You read them.”
“Yes. Did you mean them?”
“Every word.”
“Read this part to me.”
“Why?”
“Please. I just want to hear the words.”
He took from her hand a letter that he had written to himself, as silly as that sounded. It was the night he had first seen Penelope at the ball during her Season. Her one and only ball, and he had felt moved to put pen to paper, to remember everything about that night. He cleared his throat and began to read, “She was the most bewitching creature I have ever seen. She stood in the shadows, as if they could hide her beauty. I watched her for what seemed forever. I could see things about her that the others could not. There was a bit of desperation around her eyes that reminded me of myself. She looked like a lost soul, as if she wanted to belong to something or someone. I was yelling curses inside that I was affianced to another. I moved around the room to hear her voice. It swept over me like water on the parched ground. I asked a passerby who she was. It took several times before I finally had my answer. Imagine my delight when I found out that this fey creature was my fiancée’s sister. Perhaps there is hope. I will plead my case with the old man, for her father is useless. Tonight I went to the ball with my shoulders drooping with the weight of the world and I return feeling as if I were walking on air. Did I mention that I found out her name? Penelope. I will dream of her until she is in my arms.”
“And now this,” she ordered huskily.
“Lord Bolingbroke, I understand that we had an agreement. That I would marry your oldest granddaughter, but as I have explained, things have changed. It is Penelope that I have fallen in love with. I cannot, nay, I refuse to marry one when I am in love with the other. You have denied my request to marry her more times than I care to count, even though I offer you double the amount for what I was willing to pay you to marry Whitney. Penelope is worth a king’s ransom to me; therefore, I am offering four times the amount to marry her. That is £10,000. If this is not accepted, I would suggest you hire armed guards, for I will be taking her as my own with or without your blessing or approval.” He looked at her doggedly as he folded the letters once more.
“Is it true?”
“I would not have written them if it weren’t.”
“And the others?”
“All true.”
“You felt this strongly about me from one chance encounter?”
“I couldn’t take my eyes off you that night. You seemed so sad yet so strong. You were smart and kind. You were everything I ever wanted in a wife, in a lover, in a friend.”
“Truly?”
“Penelope, I cannot apologize for my previous relationships. Living through what happened brought you to me. But I have said goodbye and put them where they belong, in the past. You are my present and my future. I love you so much that my heart is bursting and I want to shout it for all to hear.” He turned away from her and looked towards the channel. “I love Penelope Anne Taggart with all of my soul!”
“Duncan!” she scolded then saw the smile that lit his handsome face.
“What?”
“I love you so much!” she finally managed to say. “I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but feared that I was competing with ghosts, and you could never love me as you did them.”
“I turned Isabelle into a false saint, and the others I merely mourned their untimely passing. You, Penelope, you are the love of my life, the mother of my future children, and the one I want to grow old with.”
“I love you,” she choked out and found herself in his arms, being spun around. When they stopped spinning, he kissed her deeply and passionately and for the first time in her life she felt like she was home.
Epilogue
“I have to get out of here,” Penelope told Agatha and Helena.
“But, my dear, you could have that baby at any moment,” Agatha argued.
“Agatha, she knows what she’s doing. Besides she’ll take Duncan with her.”
“Of course, I will,” Penelope said crossing her fingers behind her back. Her dear, sweet, loving husband was one of the reasons she had to escape, if only for a few hours. Everywhere she turned around, he was there. It was because of him that their house was full of family. He had invited everyone out to keep her company before the baby arrived. He was underfoot, she was tired of being pregnant, and she hurt, everywhere, but most especially her back. She had not been without a backache for almost a week. What little sleep she got was when Duncan rubbed her back at night in their bed.
“Your buggy is ready, Your Grace,” a footman announced.
“Thank you. Are the blankets still on the back?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Where’s Duncan?” Agatha asked worriedly.
“He’s meeting me at the buggy,” she lied. The footman followed her out of the house and helped her into the conveyance.
“Was I supposed to get His Grace? I thought you said—”
“You did the right thing. I’m just going for a short drive to clear my head. I’ll be back soon.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Penelope slapped the reins against the horse and they clip-clopped down the drive. The spring day was warm and sunny. A barely there breeze caressed her face, and the sun kissed her cheeks. Her back spasmed uncomfortably, and she reached around with her free hand and rubbed at the spot. She drove to her and Duncan’s favorite spot in the world, the ruins of the old abbey. Just as it came into view, the ache in her back intensified once more, taking her breath away. Her fingers fisted in the reins, causing the horse to whinny in agitation. She willed her body to relax, and the back ache seemed to go away, leaving only a memory of the pain. She pulled the horse to a stop, and managed to lower her ungainly form to the ground.
She tethered the horse to a thin column before strolling around the grounds. Penelope had just reached their favorite lookout point when she felt an odd shift within her. This time the cramp in her back had her crying out in pain, and she gripped the stone window tightly to keep from falling to her knees. When it passed, she rested her head against the frame and worked on recovering her breath.
“No, baby, you can’t come now. Not here,” she rubbed her stomach and felt the oddest thing. Her stomach grew hard and it was synchronized with the back pain she felt, followed by a burst of water. When the pain had passed, tears pricked her eyes. “Your Papa’s going to kill me.”
“Yes, he is,” Duncan said. “What were you thinking of, going riding on your own like that?”
“You’ve been underfoot and everyone watching me all the time was driving me a little mad. You were hovering, and I had to get away for a bit, but Duncan, listen to me—”
“I only hover because I love you and worry about you,” he said then broke off when Penelope bent at the waist and moaned, resting her head against the bottom of the crumbling window. “Penelope, what have you done?” Noticing for the first time that the lower half of her dress was soaked.
“The baby’s coming,” she said, panting after the pain passed.
“We must get you home,” he said, panicked.
“I’m afraid he isn’t going to wait.”
“I’m going to ring your neck.”
She knew he was teasing, of course, hopefully. “Can you please do it now? I hurt so bad,” she said, tears shimmering on her lashes. “Oh, here’s another one.”
“You are strong and can do this,” he encouraged her. He rubbed her back as the pain build, peaked, then ebbed, leaving her drained.
“You have amazing hands,” Penelope sighed.
“I know. That’s why you’re in this predicament.”
“Oh, Duncan,” she giggled and it quickly turned into a groan.
“Another one?”
She nodded her head and he rubbed her back. “The blanket and oilskin are on the carriage. Get them.”
“But I don’t want to leave you.”
“Trust me when I say I’m not going anywhere. Go,” she waved him away. He had been gone less than a minute when the most powerful contraction yet ripped through her body. She could not contain the scream that was ripped from her. This one had been different, more intense, and she found she wanted to push, to expel her child from the confines of her body.
“What is it?” Duncan ran back to her, arms full.
“I think the baby is ready to make its appearance.”
“But it hasn’t even been a half an hour. Aren’t these things supposed to take hours, days even?”
“The backache I’ve been having,” she explained.
“For days?” he asked, both livid and shocked.
“Blankets,” she gritted out as her body was caught up in another pain. She could feel her child moving downward and wondered how it could simultaneously be the most amazing and torturous thing to happen to her.
“I’m here. What do you want me to do? Do you want to lie down?”
“No. I couldn’t move if I wanted to. Kiss me,” she ordered. And he did, first on her lips, then on her forehead, making her feel loved and cherished. “You’re going to have to deliver our babe.”
“But I’ve never done this,” he said. “Well, at least not with humans.”
“See, of the two of us, you have the most experience.”
“Dear Lord, help us all.”
But Penelope didn’t hear him because she was caught up in the struggle of delivering their child. She no longer had a respite between the pains as they washed over her, one on top of the other. She did what her body was ordering her, and together she and Duncan welcomed their baby into the world.
* * *
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Penelope asked Duncan.
“She’s not quite as beautiful as her mother, but it’s a close thing,” he said.
They were now back home in their bedroom. Everyone was examined and announced to be in fit health, including Duncan. Right after being found, he had very nearly passed out. He would deny it until his dying day, but it was one of the things that endeared him so much to Penelope.
“When you have healed from your ordeal, I am taking you over my knee.” Duncan sat facing her, his hand braced next to her opposite hip.
“That would be something new,” she said saucily and winked at him.
“What kind of an example are you setting for our daughter?”
“I’m showing her how much her parents love each other,” she said.
“And I do. I love you so much, Pen. I was so frightened that I was going to lose you. It was all happening so fast, I was certain something was wrong.” He kissed her passionately and rested his forehead against hers.
“Nothing wrong, I just didn’t realize I had been in labor for days. I’m sorry I worried you, but I am glad that you arrived when you did,” she said over their sleeping daughter. She cupped his cheek with her free hand.
“Me, too,” he said. “I have something for you.” He held out a box for her.
“You hold her while I open my present,” she said, passing her daughter into her husband’s very capable hands.
She opened the box to reveal a stunning necklace. “It’s to replace your mother’s pearl necklace. I know that I promised I would have it fixed, but I just don’t want something from her gracing your beauty and kindness. This is mother of pearl and it comes from the same place as the pearl, but I think it is much more interesting to look at, like you.”
“It’s beautiful, thank you,” she said huskily.
“I should be thanking you. Look at all you have been through since coming to marry me.”
“You saved me,” Penelope said. “I love you so very much.”
“And I love you.”
She swiped at a lone tear that was threatening to fall.
“Here, let me take care of that.” Duncan shifted slightly so he still cradled his daughter and could retrieve a handkerchief.
“What is this?” Penelope asked, looking at the stained, tattered piece of fabric.
“You mean it doesn’t look familiar?”
She took it from him, spread it out, and studied it. “This my handkerchief from the night Helena found me.”
“I found it. I missed you by minutes that night. I nearly went mad when I saw it lying in all that blood. My imagination went wild. I took it home that night and cleaned it the best I could and have carried it every day since just so I would have a part of you close to me.”
“Why are you giving it back now?”
“I thought, despite what I said, you might want something to remind you of your family.”
“You keep it. I have this precious little girl to remind me of you anytime I wish. The two of you, and whatever future children we have, are my family—in all ways that matter.”
“You are my everything,” Duncan said huskily, kissing her once more.
“And you are mine.” She returned the kiss, and their lips clung together. Finally Penelope pulled back. “What are we going to name this sleeping beauty?” she asked, peeling back the blanket slightly as they studied the face of their newborn with the rapt attention and love that only new parents can.
“Well, since she was born at the abbey and perhaps conceived there…”
“I think Abbey is a beautiful name. And I think she should also have the name Victoria for your mother. From all you have told me, she would have loved having a granddaughter,” Penelope said.
“Yes, she would have. We are a family now, you, me, and our Abbey Victoria.”
“You have made all my dreams come true.”
“I love you my beauty.”
“And I love you my beast.”
* * *
Can’t wait to find out what happens to Reese in the next installment of Those Scandalous Taggarts? Click here.
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Books by Tammy Jo Burns
The Reluctant Lords Trilogy:
A Traitorous Heart
A Thin Line
To Love and Protect
The Reluctant Lords Boxed Set
The Rogue Agents Trilogy:
Taming the Wicked Wulfe
Seducing the Ruthless Rogue
Enticing the Weary Warrior
Those Scandalous Taggarts:
The Beast of Yorkshire
Wild Lord Taggart - Out now!
All books can be read as stand-alones; however, you will see repeating characters throughout the two trilogies. To purchase these books, click on the titles or to read more about any of these titles, please click here.
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I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas, but have always been fascinated with the land of my forefathers – England, Scotland, and Ireland. I also classify myself as a true romantic, and find I frequently dream of greater than life heroes that leave me thinking – that is what love should be like. So, I work on creating love stories with strong women and stronger men, and let the battle of wills ensue. I am currently busy writing my fourth book in my little cottage in the woods of North Texas with my cat, Ajax, to keep me company.
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