When He Was Wicked: The 2nd Epilogue Read Free

now.”
    “Here?”
    Francesca nodded.
    “Where everyone can see?”
    Francesca looked around. “I don’t see anyone watching. And even if there were, who cares?”
    Charlotte’s lips pursed, and Francesca could practically see her mind at work. “Not me!”
    she announced, and she linked her arm through Francesca’s. Together they did a little jig, fol-lowed by a Scottish reel, twisting and twirling until they were both breathless.
    “Oh, I wish it would rain!” Charlotte laughed.
    “Now what would be the fun in that?”

    “Uncle Michael!” Charlotte shrieked, launching herself at him.
    “And I am instantly forgotten,” Francesca said with a wry smile.
    Michael looked at her warmly over Charlotte’s head. “Not by me,” he murmured.
    “Aunt Francesca and I have been dancing,” Charlotte told him.
    “I know. I saw you from inside the house. I especially enjoyed the new one.”
    “What new one?”
    Michael pretended to look confused. “The new dance you were doing.”
    “We weren’t doing any new dances,” Charlotte replied, her brows knitting together.
    “Then what was that one that involved throwing yourself on the grass?”
    Francesca bit her lip to keep from smiling.
    “We fell, Uncle Michael.”
    “No!”
    “We did!”
    “It was a vigorous dance,” Francesca confirmed.
    “You must be exceptionally graceful, then, because it looked completely as if you’d done it on purpose.”
    “We didn’t! We didn’t!” Charlotte said excitedly. “We really did just fall. By accident!”
    “I suppose I will believe you,” he said with a sigh, “but only because I know you are far too trustworthy to lie.”
    She looked him in the eye with a melting expression. “I would never lie to you, Uncle Michael,” she said.
    He kissed her cheek and set her down. “Your mother says it’s time for dinner.”
    “But you just got here!”
    “I’m not going anywhere. You need your sustenance after all the dancing.”
    “I’m not hungry,” she offered.
    “Pity, then,” he said, “because I was going to teach you to waltz this afternoon, and you certainly cannot do that on an empty stomach.”
    Charlotte’s eyes grew to near circles. “Really? Father said I cannot learn until I am ten.”
    Michael gave her one of those devastating half smiles that still made Francesca tingle.
    “We don’t have to tell him, do we?”
    “Oh, Uncle Michael, I love you,” she said fervently, then, after one extremely vigorous hug, Charlotte ran off to Aubrey Hall.
    “And another one falls,” Francesca said with a shake of her head, watching her niece dash across the fields.
    Michael took her hand and tugged her toward him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

    Francesca grinned a little and sighed a little, and said, “I would never lie to you.”
    He kissed her soundly. “I certainly hope not.”
    She looked up into his silvery eyes and let herself ease against the warmth of his body. “It seems no woman is immune.”
    “How lucky I am, then, that I fall under the spell of only one.”
    “Lucky for me.”
    “Well, yes,” he said with affected modesty, “but I wasn’t going to say it.”
    She swatted him on the arm.
    He kissed her in return. “I missed you.”
    “I missed you, too.”
    “And how is the clan Bridgerton?” he asked, linking his arm through hers.
    “Rather wonderful,” Francesca replied. “I am having a splendid time, actually.”
    “Actually?” he echoed, looking vaguely amused.
    Francesca steered him away from the house. It had been over a week since she’d had his company, and she didn’t wish to share him just then. “What do you mean?” she asked.
    “You said ‘actually.’ As if you were surprised.”
    “Of course not,” she said. But then she thought. “I always have a lovely time when I visit my family,” she said carefully.
    “But…”
    “But it’s better this time.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why.”
    Which wasn’t precisely the truth. That moment