All About Seduction(131)

“If I get close to you, I cannot guarantee I will ever let you go.”

“Why would I want you to?”

“Just one more thing,” he said, taking a step back. “I would very much like to be in a partnership with you for a rubber works, if you do not mind that I focus on medical uses instead of applications that might make more money.”

“Of course.” She stood to go to him.

He held out a hand, stopping her. Her heart squeezed.

“As long as that partnership is also a marriage. I know I have no right to ask for your hand, but I don’t think I could live without you. I love you, Caroline. I think I always have.”

“Oh, Jack, what makes you think I would have it any other way? And apparently my family must think it a good thing—or they never would have left me alone with you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Family. You will be saddled with mine, because much as I would like to wash my hands of them, I don’t think I can get rid of them.”

She slid her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “Your family is not so bad. I’m rather fond of Beth.”

He groaned and pulled her tight. He bent and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Will I make you happy, Caro? Your brother will kill me if I do not. He said you deserve to be happy after what you have been through. You are a rich woman. There are a lot of better born men, whole men, who would eagerly marry you.”

“John Applegate, I love you. I will always love you. And you will always make me happy. I cannot imagine life with anyone else. And it may be a seven year scandal, but I never want to sleep alone again.” She flushed as she reached up and pulled his head down to hers. “Now kiss me before I go to the mill and make plans for a warehouse cum rubber works factory.”

“Caro, I really think the mill should wait until tomorrow,” he said between kisses.

She wasn’t thinking about the mill anyway. “Or next week,” she agreed.





Epilogue



Caroline rolled on the blanket and stared at the fluffy clouds in the sky. The way the moors rolled around them behind the rubber works, they could have been all alone on this Sunday afternoon.

Jack leaned over her and fed her a grape.

“A penny for your thoughts, Lady Caroline.”

She smiled. “Will you ever tire of calling me that?”

“No. I want you to meet the patent people from the United States just so I can introduce you. This is my wife, Lady Caroline Applegate.”

“It only means my brother is now an earl.” Queen Victoria had decided the romance of a lady falling in love with a millworker as she nursed him back to health far outweighed the scandal of marrying one of the lower orders just a few months after being made a widow. If she knew of the arrest of Mr. Broadhurst, she must not have considered it significant.

Besides, Jack’s rubber works and patents were starting to bring in a steady if modest income, and the queen applauded his efforts to expand the use of rubber in medical devices.

“I feel sorry for Mr. Broadhurst some days,” Caroline said. “He wanted a son so badly.” While their son was christened as a Broadhurst, no one called him by that name. The solicitor had advised them there was no reason they couldn’t change his name to Applegate now that the Broadhurst estate was settled. He would own the house and mill when he was older, but other parts of the will conflicted with the marriage settlement and were thrown out. Caroline truly was a rich woman in her own right.

Jack snorted. “The man was a murderer. He didn’t deserve a child.”

“Mmm,” said Caroline, feeling sleepy. This rare Sunday afternoon picnic was a time for both of them to relax away from their demanding manufactories.

“Don’t go too far,” Jack called to little Johnny. One had only to look at the two-year-old to guess his parentage. He looked so much like Jack, it made her smile.

“So was that shipment the last of the cotton?” Jack stretched out beside her.

Caroline hadn’t realized that the extra cotton she’d bought before the beginning of the Civil War in the Americas would turn out to be quite so valuable. She was able to resell it at triple the price, while continuing to buy new from Egypt because she’d been ahead in the game, establishing contracts with growers there.

Her gamble had paid off.

She took Jack’s hand and placed it on her flat belly. “What do you think? Will it be a girl or another boy this time?”