A Spinster’s Sinful Temptation – Extended Epilogue

Two Months Later

Derrick looked up when he heard the door to his study opening. Randall stepped into the room, and Derrick grinned as he put his pen down.

“Randall! I was beginning to think you weren’t going to be here.”

“I had a few things to tie up, but I wasn’t going to miss a dinner of yours, was I?” Randall spread his hands. “Now that would be a crime for me.”

Laughing, Derrick got up and walked around the desk, clasping his friend’s hand warmly. Randall had gone to Manchester shortly after the incident, so it was good to see him again. And it wouldn’t be just him who would be happy to see that Randall had managed to come to dinner.

“Have you seen Ellie?” Derrick asked.

“I have. She was talking to your mother when I came in. The two of them seem to get along well.”

“A little too well. It’s like they’re as thick as thieves. I’m a little worried about it.”

“Wasn’t that what you wanted?” Randall queried.

Derrick chuckled. “I didn’t want them that close. This is something else.” He moved back to the desk. “Let me just put everything together, and I’ll join you in a moment. Unless you want to go and find Lady Regina? I’m sure she would be delighted to see you again.”

Randall didn’t respond, and when Derrick looked back he saw that Randall was shuffling from foot to foot, his face almost as red as the jacket he was wearing. Derrick smiled.

“You’re still not going to admit it, are you?”

“Admit what?”

“That you like her.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous!” Randall cleared his throat. “I mean, I do like her, but not in the way you’re suggesting. That… that’s not possible.”

Derrick was certain it was otherwise. He had seen the way his friend behaved around his sister-in-law, and it was clear that there was a strong attraction between them. Randall certainly spent a lot of his time around Regina. Derrick wouldn’t be surprised if they actually announced their courtship by the time the Season started up again.

“Well, just so you’re aware,” he said as he adjusted his papers into a pile, moving the letter he had been writing aside for the ink to dry, “Regina likes you.”

“Really?” Randall sounded hopeful, and then he coughed. “I mean, oh, really?”

“Yes. Maybe taking that next step won’t be as bad as you think.” Derrick winked at his friend. “You never know, you might actually find courtship enjoyable.”

Randall grunted. “I don’t know about that.”

“Well, have a think about it. I’m sure my wife would be happy to see her sister smiling more.” Derrick pushed away from the desk. “Shall we go and find the rest of the guests? Dinner won’t be ready for a while, but I’m sure we can provide our own entertainment.”

“Regina was playing the piano when I arrived.”

“There you are, then. And you can meet the Earl of Gillingham. He’s managed to make the journey up here to visit us.” Derrick let Randall out of his study before following him. “I think he and Mother are going to get along really well.”

Randall groaned. “You’re not going to try and matchmake your respective parents, are you?”

“Of course not! I wouldn’t dare with Mother.”

“Oh, but you would.”

Derrick smiled in response and they made their way to the drawing room. It was only going to be close family and friends, so less than ten people. That was just how Derrick and Ellie wanted it; if they were going to host anything, they were going to make it really small and intimate. Having too many people in the house sent Derrick into a panic. And if it did that to him, he shuddered to think what would happen to Ellie.

They were almost at the drawing-room door when Randall slowed.

“Oh, by the way, I saw Lord Saxton yesterday,” he said in a low voice.

“Did you?”

“He didn’t look particularly happy. Whenever I’m around him, he’s always very pleasant and cheerful, but this time he looked like he was under a thundercloud. His mood was terrible.”

“He’s probably had an argument with Catherine.”

“Did your mother tell him about what Catherine tried to do to you and Ellie?”

Derrick shook his head. “No, Mother said she would never say a word about it, providing Catherine never approaches us again and causes trouble. The moment she hears that Catherine has opened her mouth around Ellie, and she’ll be telling Saxton about his wife. But Catherine has turned on other people.”

Randall arched an eyebrow. “You mean she started bothering another married couple?”

“You could say that. Dorothea told us about it last week. She witnessed Catherine being… close with someone she knows is married. They were talking and Catherine was a little too intimate.”

“But didn’t she say that she was in love with you and that was why she did what she did?”

“I believe that she is, but sometimes you can’t drop a favourite pastime, even if you’re told to back off.” Derrick sighed. “Well, Dorothea witnessed the fallout when the wife found them, and she gave Catherine a tongue-lashing that everyone in the street could hear. I’m sure it got back to Saxton, and he’s not too happy about it.”

“She got into trouble just by talking to a gentleman?”

“I think rumours of what she’s done in the past have gotten around, and people are wary of her now. She did do it quite a bit when we were younger.”

“Something like that should be grown out of by now,” Randall pointed out.

“Evidently not. I’m not about to go searching for her to find out what’s really going on.”

Derrick would be happy if he never saw Catherine again. Of course, he couldn’t completely avoid her if someone invited both of them somewhere, but Catherine’s instructions had been very clear: If she approached Derrick or Ellie in any shape or form, she would be in trouble. Although, given what had happened recently, it was likely that her actions against Ellie would not be that significant.

But she did have her husband’s reputation to think about. She might not like him, but it was important.

Hopefully, one day, she would grow up. Derrick didn’t know if that would happen anytime soon, but he hoped that it would; behaviour like this was not amusing.

“Randall! When did you get here?”

Ellie was coming out of the drawing room, her skirts swishing against the floor. Derrick couldn’t help but smile when he saw her. Since their talk in Kent, and in the subsequent weeks, Ellie had relaxed and smiled a lot more. It was like she had blossomed in front of him, and Derrick loved it. He loved anything involving his wife.

And he felt so lucky to be married to her.

“Ellie,” Randall kissed her cheek, “I’ve just arrived. I thought I’d get your husband out from his cave.”

“I’m glad you did. Dinner is going to be served soon, and I didn’t want him to miss it.”

“Miss dinner?” Derrick snorted. “Not a chance.”

“Not with his stomach,” Randall teased.

Ellie rolled her eyes with a smile before gesturing towards the door. “You go on in. Regina’s finished playing now, and I’m sure she would be delighted to see you.”

“Oh. Right.” Randall coughed and adjusted his jacket. “Very well. I’ll go and make my presence known.”

He walked away, Ellie watching him with a look that said she was close to laughing. Derrick touched her back.

“Do you think Regina will be happy to see him?”

“Of course she will. She’s been looking out for him since this afternoon.” Ellie turned to him. “She might not be willing to admit it, but she cares for him.”

“Well, the feeling is certainly mutual. And they’ve got time now that Regina isn’t in a rush to get married.”

“Let’s hope so. I don’t want them dancing around each other forever.” Ellie sighed. “It will just get annoying to hear my sister talk about something she doesn’t deal with.”

Derrick laughed and kissed her head. “I’m sure it’ll happen. Just as long as we don’t push it. Randall doesn’t like that.”

“For now.”

Derrick shook his head and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Come on. Let’s join our guests and not try to do any matchmaking, or we’ll get people cross with us.”

#

“I think that went really well,” Ellie said, watching Derrick as he sat on the bed to take off his shoes. “Your mother and my father seemed to be getting along well.”

“They certainly did. I wasn’t expecting that.” Derrick put his shoes aside and began to unbutton his breeches. “It takes a while for Mother to warm up to people, so seeing her being so friendly towards your father was a little bewildering.”

“I think she’s learning to soften to people, as well.”

“She certainly has for you. I’m sure you two are closer than I am with her.”

Ellie giggled. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I know, but now I have to worry about what you and my mother are plotting.”

“Don’t worry. We’re not plotting anything too bad.”

Derrick grunted. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Ellie sat up and watched as her husband undressed. This was something she wouldn’t get bored with, witnessing the man she loved stripping down to reveal that naked body she marvelled over. That was an ideal way to end the day.

Although she did have some news before they properly retired. Something Ellie had been struggling to keep in all day. She just had to wait for the right time and not just blurt it out.

“I’m glad you and Father are getting along, Derrick. I was worried you two wouldn’t be friends.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Derrick turned with a bemused smile. “You thought that he wasn’t going to approve of me?”

“No, it’s not that. I just…” Ellie sighed and shrugged. “I suppose I was worrying too much over it. It’s not every day that I have a husband to introduce to him.”

“I hope you’re not introducing him to a husband every day unless it’s me.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Derrick kicked aside the rest of his clothes and crawled into bed, tugging the bedsheets aside. “And I know what I want right now. Come here.”

Ellie squeaked as Derrick grabbed her ankle and tugged her down until she was under him. She grasped his shoulders as he started kissing her neck.

“My father is in the guest room!” she hissed. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“He’s in the opposite wing of the house.” Derrick’s chuckle tickled her breasts as he shifted down her body. “Providing you keep quiet, he won’t know what we’re up to.”

Ellie wanted to protest, but she couldn’t bring herself to push him away. Not when Derrick was touching her and leaving her body shaking in his wake. His mouth lavished attention on her breasts, his hands brushing against her sides in a way that made Ellie squirm. She squirmed even more as Derrick slid between her thighs, his mouth moving to the heat between her legs.

God, that mouth of his was remarkable. Ellie was like putty in his hands when he used his lips on her body. She clamped a hand over her mouth and held back the moans as he drew her closer to her climax, drawing it out so slowly that Ellie was so close to begging for Derrick to put her out of her misery.

She shuddered through her climax and slumped on the bed as Derrick crawled up her body and entered her with a smooth thrust. Her moans started again, and soon Ellie forgot about being quiet, clutching onto Derrick with her legs, dragging him down as he made love to her, devouring his mouth while he plundered her body.

A slight shift in Derrick’s thrusts, changing the angle, had Ellie coming apart again, and she had to bite his shoulder to stop the screaming. Derrick was not far behind her, his body shuddering as he clutched onto her, his fingers digging into her hip to the point it was painful. It just made Ellie shiver as more ripples of pleasure went through her.

Derrick slumped over and kissed her soundly before shifting off her, falling onto the bed. He was panting heavily.

“I thought you were going to be quiet,” he accused with a smile.

Ellie swatted his shoulder. “You’re terrible.”

“What? What did I do?”

“You drew it out of me.”

Derrick smirked and stretched out, fully naked. “I aim to please. And I certainly pleased you.”

Ellie groaned and rolled onto her side, propping up on her elbow as she brushed her hand over his chest. Derrick covered her hand with his and his expression softened.

“I didn’t want to squash you more than I had. You’ve not been well recently, remember?”

“It’s just some nausea, that’s all.”

“But it’s enough that you struggle to eat properly. I didn’t want you to be sick on me.”

Ellie smiled. “You don’t need to worry about that. Besides, your mother and I went to your family doctor to see if he had any remedies that I could use.”

“Did you get anything? He’s normally very good.”

“Well, sort of.”

Derrick frowned. “What do you mean by that? Sort of? Didn’t he help you?”

“Oh, he helped me. He said that this would go away on its own, for the most part.” Ellie paused. “Just another seven months, and it will be completely gone.”

“Seven months? What sort of illness lasts that long and just goes away?”

Ellie bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. “Of course, I’m a little further into the time, but what happens at the end of nine months? From what you know?”

It took a moment for Derrick to understand. He stared at her.

“Are you saying you’re having a baby?”

Ellie took his hand and pressed it to her belly. She wasn’t showing yet, but the doctor said it wouldn’t be long before it was clear that she was carrying a child. 

Derrick rolled over and marvelled at where his hand was.

“I can’t believe this. You’re going to have a baby?”

“We are.” Ellie paused. “Are you happy about it?”

“Of course I am!” Derrick drew her close and kissed her. “You can guarantee that I’m going to treat you like a queen until the baby is born.”

“Only until the baby is born?”

“You know what I mean.” Derrick fell back on the bed, taking Ellie with him, his arms around her. “We’re having a beautiful baby girl.”

“We don’t know what we’re having,” Ellie pointed out. “We could have a boy. Then you would have your heir.”

“I don’t care about heirs. Boy or girl, I’m happy.” Derrick kissed her head. “If our first child is a girl and is pretty like you, I wouldn’t complain.”

“You’re such a charmer, do you know that?”

“You love me, anyway.”

Ellie smiled and kissed his chest. She did love him, and she was content. To think, not so long ago, she was coming to London to find husbands for her sisters—and she had ended up with a husband of her own.

It was certainly not how she had expected her year to go, but she wasn’t about to argue. Not when she had a handsome man she called her husband holding her in his arms.

Now that was definitely one way to end the day.

THE END

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