His lips stilled, and she felt him smile against her skin. “For what?”

“Everything, really. But mostly for being you.”

“Then you’re most welcome, Lady Kennard.”

“I’ll try to cut back a little,” she said. George was right. She probably didn’t need to do quite so much at Aubrey Hall. And the way they were going, she’d be pregnant sooner rather than later. She was going to have to learn to let go of her life at Aubrey, or at least loosen her grip.

She pulled back so that she could look at his face. “You wouldn’t mind if I took a more active role here at Crake? With the lands, not just the house?”

“Of course not! We’d be lucky to—” He stopped, his words interrupted by a knock at the door. “Enter!”

The door opened to reveal a visibly agitated footman. “A messenger, my lord,” he said.

Billie blinked in surprise. “This time of night?”

The footman held out a folded missive. “It’s addressed to Lord Manston, but he’s—”

“In London,” George finished for him. “I’ll take it.”

“He said it was urgent,” the footman said. “Otherwise, I’d never give over your father’s private correspondence.”

“It’s all right, Thomas,” Billie said gently. “If it’s urgent, it’s more important that it is attended to quickly than it is to deliver it to Lord Manston.”

George slid a finger under the wax but did not break the seal. “Does the messenger wait for a reply?”

“No, sir. But I directed him belowstairs for a hot meal.”

“Very good, Thomas. That will be all.”

The footman left, and Billie fought the urge to go to her husband’s side to read over his shoulder. Whatever was in the missive, he’d tell her soon enough.

She watched as his eyes scanned left to right, quickly reading the words. About four lines down his lips parted and he looked up. Her heart stopped, and she knew what he was going to say even before the words left his lips.

“Edward’s alive . . .”

About the Author

JULIA QUINN started writing her first book one month after finishing college and has been tapping away at her keyboard ever since.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five novels for Avon Books, she is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and is one of only sixteen authors ever to be inducted in the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. Please visit her on the web at www.juliaquinn.com.

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