Oliver thought he’d heard wrong. Did she mean what he thought she meant? “Join them?”
She nodded. “We’d have lots of time in my carriage, and we’d get to experience the thrill of elopement.”
“Louisa,” Oliver said slowly, not wanting to imagine meaning in her words that she might not intend, “is this your way of proposing to me?”
“Well, you did give me a ring. It’s on the right hand now, but I would very much like to move it to the left hand. That is, if you accept.”
“I accept,” Oliver said instantly. “The part about the ring. Not the elopement.”
Surprise lit her gaze. “You do not wish to elope?”
Oliver shook her head. The idea didn’t sit well with him at all. “No, I would like to share such a day with family and friends.”
“Friends, certainly, but you do realize that with family we would be placing Cavanaghs and Talbots together in a confined space.”
Oliver chuckled. “Well, one does need entertainment at a wedding, does one not?”
“There will be scandal enough with Camilla’s activities exposed, along with Lord knows who else.”
That’s right. They wouldn’t be able to escape some form of scandal. But the fact that this book, this investigation, had brought him to Louisa, and her to him, was something he wanted to cherish and celebrate.
“Are you certain you wish to expose her, and not have your father handle her according to his wishes?”
Her brows furrowed. “Wouldyoube happy with that?”
“It’s not my family who will suffer for this,” Oliver pointed out. “My mission is to dismember her organization. How they are dealt with is not my concern. So, I’ll follow your direction.”
A slow, sultry smile played on her lips. “And here I thought you weren’t romantic.”
He really wasn’t. But for her, he could most certainly try. A thought suddenly occurred to him. “How is the duchess? I think I snapped her wrist.”
“Oh, you did, but it’s nothing she doesn’t deserve. The doctor already treated her injury after he treated yours.”
He nodded. “A graze.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You still collapsed.”
His ears heated. “It happens.” What else could he say? It was deuced embarrassing.
She scoffed, laying her head on her chest. “The sound of your heartbeat is strong.”
That is because it’s beating for you.
And it would beat so, forever.
Until his dying breath.
Epilogue
London, three weeks later
“Dear Lord, thiscake . . .” Theodosia murmured, chewing.
Louisa grinned. She was back in London in the Talbot townhouse, enjoying tea and cake with her friends, Theodosia, Harriet, and Selena. “What do you think? I am considering this orange flavor for our wedding.”
Theodosia swallowed, then said, “Oh?You plan to bake your own wedding cake? Do you think that is wise?”
“I suppose you are right,” Louisa said, mind racing. She didn’t want to spend days in the kitchen. “It might not be enough for the guests. I must prepare the recipe for Cook instead.”
