A Kiss to Remember Read online

  Until an invisible hand passed over his brow, stirring his hair even though there was no breeze.

  Sterling gasped as a tremendous sense of peace flooded him, filling all the empty places in his heart. When he lifted his head, it seemed no less of a miracle that Laura was standing a few feet away beneath the shadowy branches of an old oak.

  He slowly came to his feet. "How did you know I'd come?"

  "I didn't," she replied softly.

  He nodded toward the gravestone. "I read her letters, you know."

  "All of them?"

  "All three hundred and sixteen."

  "She was a very dutiful correspondent."

  "That she was." Sterling thrust his hands in his pockets. "She thought I'd lived long enough to learn an important lesson. But I hadn't. Not until now."

  "And what lesson was that?" Laura asked, her eyes wary.

  "That sometimes people do all the wrong things for all the right reasons."

  Laura wasn't quite able to hide the bitterness in her voice. "Is that why you came here? To tell me you've graciously decided to forgive me?"

  "No. I came here to beg you to forgive me."

  She shook her head, utterly disbelieving. "For what?"

  Sterling moved toward her, no longer able to resist the temptation. "For having too much pride and too little sense. For lying about my reasons for marrying you. For pretending all I wanted from you was an heir, when the truth was I couldn't bear to let you walk out of my life. For making you my wife, but treating you like my mistress." As tears welled in her beautiful brown eyes, he cupped her face in his hands. "For not being willing to admit that your ridiculous little charade was the best thing that ever happened to me and probably saved not only my life but my soul as well." He brushed his lips against her downy cheek, wishing he could kiss away every tear he'd ever made her cry, every tear she would cry for the rest of her life. "But most of all, for not having the courage to tell you how very much I love you."

  When she pulled away from him, it was all Sterling could do not to groan aloud. He gazed at her unyielding back, balling his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her again. "If you can't find it in your heart to forgive me, I won't blame you. I know I don't deserve it."

  She turned to face him. "You once told me there was one thing you'd never forgive." Before he realized what she was going to do, she opened her arms to him just as his mother had done so long ago.

  Without so much as a heartbeat of hesitation, Sterling went into them, gathering her tightly against him and burying his face in the softness of her hair. "Oh, God, Laura, I don't think I could have waited another moment to see you, to touch you. When I saw you standing there, it was like a miracle." He shook his head. "If you hadn't come here to leave the flowers…"

  "Flowers?" Laura echoed, plainly puzzled. She leaned away from him, still clinging to his arms. "I didn't bring any flowers. I came to wait for you. I thought you brought the flowers."

  They stared at each other for a stunned moment, then slowly turned as one to look at the bouquet lying on his mother's grave. A warm wind suddenly whipped through the churchyard, sending the delicate blossoms dancing through the air.

  Sterling laughed aloud as he swept Laura up in his arms and spun her around in a dizzying circle. "She kept her promise, didn't she? She swore that I would never walk alone."

  Laura smiled down at him through her joyful tears. "And you never will, my darling. Because I'll always be here to love you."

  As the heavenly fragrance of the orange blossoms wafted all around them, their lips met in a kiss neither one of them would ever forget.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  « ^

  At four years of age, Nicholas Harlow, the future duke of Devonbrooke, could be quite the little devil. Especially when his will was being thwarted by his five-year-old sister. The two of them stood glaring at each other in the yard of the manor, his freckled nose nearly touching her snub one.

  "You have to do whatever I say," he proclaimed, raking his dark mane out of his eyes, " 'cause I'm Papa's hair and I'm going to be the duke someday."

  Ellie planted her hands on her hips, tossing her golden curls. "Papa's already the duke and Mama doesn't do everything he says. Besides, you might be Papa's hair, but I'm the Incomparable Beauty of the family. Aunt Lottie says so!"

  As she stuck her little pink tongue out at him, he stomped his foot and let loose with a blistering stream of profanity. Fortunately, no one could understand him because he'd picked up Dower's Cockney accent along with the naughty words.

  "Eleanor! Nicky!"

  At the sound of their mama's voice, they both whirled around to find their parents sitting on the back stoop, having witnessed the entire exchange.

  Their papa blinked at them, looking as innocent as the plump yellow cat drowsing on the flagstones at his feet. "Cookie just made a fresh batch of crumpets."

  The children exchanged an alarmed look, then went sprinting in the opposite direction of the house.

  "That was cruel!" Laura said, swatting Sterling on the arm. "Now you'll have to eat them."

  His wicked grin faded. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

  Laura sighed with delight as she watched their children romp across the sunlit meadow, two roly-poly mastiff puppies nipping at their heels. "They're just what you always wanted, aren't they? A boy and a girl."

  "That's what Nicholas Radcliffe wanted. I wanted half a dozen babes myself." He leered at her. "To begin with."

  She gave his hair a teasing tug. "If that's so, my lord, then you'd best be more diligent in your duties."

  He drew her into his lap, tenderly nuzzling her throat. "If I were any more diligent, we'd have a dozen babes by now."

  Laura twined her arms around his neck. "That would be quite a feat since we've only been married for six years." She shook her head. "It's hard to believe George will be starting his first year at Cambridge in the fall. And now that Lottie has reached the exalted age of sixteen, she's counting the days until that London season you promised her."

  Sterling shuddered. "I dread the thought of unleashing her on those poor helpless cubs. It wouldn't be such a terrifying proposition if the mischievous little hoyden hadn't turned out to be an Incomparable Beauty after all."

  "You'll simply have to find her a husband to keep her out of trouble."

  "Don't worry," he assured her solemnly. "You'll be the first to know if I find any unsuspecting prospects lying unconscious in the old oak wood."

  Laughing, Laura made a halfhearted effort to squirm out of his grip. "You are such a devil!"

  "That's what they tell me." Sterling caressed her cheek, the teasing look in his eyes softening to one of helpless wonder. "But that still doesn't explain why God chose to bless me with my very own angel and my own little corner of heaven right here in Hertfordshire."

  As he touched his lips to hers in a fierce, yet tender, kiss, the yellow cat butted her head against their entwined ankles, purring madly.

  Laura rested her head against Sterling's shoulder. "Your mother once told me that all of Lottie's kittens were descended from a single mama cat. Did you know that?"

  "Yes," Sterling said softly, his throat tightening as he reached down to bury his fingers in the cat's plush fur. "I think perhaps I did."