“I have learned that family is not dictated by blood,” she said, caressing his arm. “I consider Ada and Lucien my family along with many others.”

“I admit to feeling a bit envious about that.”

“Don’t, for if we wed, my extended family will become yours.”

“Does this mean you’re actually considering it?” he asked, trying not to sound breathless.

“I told you I would. Right now, however, I’m contemplating what I might do to keep myself busy. I’ve nearly always worked, and I confess it would be difficult not to have something to occupy my mind. I did have an idea. A friend of mine runs the Siren’s Call. Are you familiar with it?”

“Isn’t it a gaming hell?”

“Owned and run by women. The proprietor is a friend. She was also a prostitute who made her own way in the world, though that was a long time ago. I doubt anyone remembers that about her. She founded the gaming hell to hire women who wouldn’t need to sell their bodies to survive. The men who go there enjoy talking to the women who work there—and ogling them, but that’s all they’re allowed to do.”

“You want to open something like that?” he asked.

“Not a gaming hell. I haven’t settled on the right idea yet.”

“What about a women’s membership club? Like the Phoenix Club, but only for women. There wouldn’t be a need for a ballroom, but perhaps you could have a shopping area where modistes and milliners and the like could come in a few times a week to sell their wares.”

Her fingers tightened around his arm. “You are brilliant. I love that idea!” Her excitement faded. “I don’t have enough saved for that large an endeavor, however.”

“Between the two of us, I’ll wager we do.”

“You’d want to do that?”

“I want to do everything with you. If anyone can make something like that a success, it’s you.”

She stared at him, her eyes full of wonder. “How can you be so persistently optimistic?”

He pulled her against him. “Because I don’t like the alternative. That’s just who I am. Now, who do you want to be?”

Curling her hands around his neck, she pressed her chest to his. “Your wife.”

Now he really was breathless. “Truly? You’ve decided already?”

“I only needed a little persuasion,” she said. “A very small amount, as it happens.”

He spun her about, laughing. “What did I say?”

“I don’t know if it was you or me. Probably Ash. He is most convincing.”

Ash barked from the bed where he stretched before trotting down the makeshift stairs.

Gregory looked down at the dog. “Ash, my boy, you have made all my dreams come true.”

After kissing Evie soundly, he set her down. They parted and together bent down to give their dog all manner of affection.