Two years ago...

She walked down the aisle, her heart beating too fast.

She was surrounded by people dear to her and they were all smiling with delight. The twins were also there, crying as Alex took more steps.

There were flowers everywhere, wild ones picked by the Meriwether ladies from their own backyards.

Walking beside her was her father, a giant in comparison to the very few gentries in attendance.

And there, waiting for her was him—Ralph Everard.

Her heart skipped a bit and fluttered a few more as their eyes met.

She blinked.

And just like every other daydream, everything disappeared.

Alex was back to her lone post above her favorite stone tree.

She shook her head and directed a mocking laugh at her silly thoughts.

*****

"Dear, do you think them too nosy?"

Alex raised her brows at her future mother-in-law. "Who, Lady—I mean, Mother?"

Lady Alice raised her head from the copy of the Herald in her hand, her face contorted into a frown. "These people who claim to be writers for the Herald's gossip section, of course!"

"Well," Alex said, quite confused, "They're gossip writers fer reasons."

"They wish to know who Miss Alexandria Griggs of Blucksley is." Lady Alex was shaking her head as she folded the paper. "Should we tell them you are a bandit?"

"They won't believe it," Ralph wryly said as he looked out the window. "I am too bored. Should we have a walk in the park?"

"Precisely," Lady Alice said with a broad smile. "They will not believe the truth for they would rather want to make up their own!"

"I do like the idea," Alex said with a chuckle. And then she turned to Ralph with a scowl. "And nae, I can't stomach the people in the park."

"You have only been in Wickhurst a week, Lex," said Ralph. "It is common for the gossipmongers to stare. Simply throw them the dangerous scowl you gave them the other day. Or the one you often throw at me these days."

Alex ignored him, shaking her head.

"Ah! I forgot something!" Lady Alice said, jumping to her feet from the sofa. "Oh dear, I almost forgot! The companion!" She rushed to the door, crying out, "Emma! Emma! Where is that child running to all the time? I cannot always find her when I need her! Emma!"

The moment Lady Alice left the parlor, Alex jumped beside Ralph and hissed, "We're not free until we wed, guv, I tell ye. We barely escape yer mother since she abducted me from Beechworth! And now that I have te live with her 'til me 'Pa says yes, she's plannin' to find me a companion. A companion!"

She knew he was trying hard to suppress his laughter by the way he pursed his lips. "Because it is the proper thing to do, Lex."

"Companion me arse! Siege is a companion."

Ralph winced and cleared his throat. "And about your horse... perhaps it is best if she is attached to a carriage? When you go about Wickhurst whenever I am not here?"

Alex froze. "What did ye say?"

He gulped and cleared his throat once more. "Nothin'." He dropped a kiss on her lips and jumped away from the sofa. "It is best that you have your own companion for the time being. Your father is having a grand time making us wait, but we shall have to be very patient."

Alex narrowed her eyes at him.

Ralph offered his hand. "It is time to leave. Everyone else is waiting."

She rolled her eyes. "Are ye certain I can't wear me breeches?"

Ralph sighed. "You can very freely do so in Devonshire. I have doubled my pack for your disposal."

Alex huffed and Ralph pulled her away from the sofa. She pouted her lips. "I wanna go back te Beechworth. Take me with ye after Christmas, please."

Ralph shook his head. "No, darling, so long as we are not married, you stay with Mother."

"I love yer mother, Ralph, but she keeps paradin' me te every corner in Wickhurst dressed in... dresses!"

Ralph chuckled before he planted another kiss on her lips. "Patience, Lex. Patience."

Alex glared after him as he turned around to leave. She did not want to be patient!

*****

"Where d'ye disappear te when ye disappear?" Alex asked Emma, the two of them walking behind the children.

Devonshire was a large estate and it had three holes above its large plantation, making it the best place to want to escape to should you start hating Wickhurst. For Alex, it was the closest thing to Meriwether that she could enjoy.

"Take a walk, of course," was Emma's simple, nonchalant response. "Ayah! No! You hold Fee's hand. Yes, hold her hand. Do not let go or your father will kill us!"

"Faye, Lindsay's strayin'!" Alex added.

Faye sighed. "We should not have brought them."

"But they love the snow," said Fiona. "We should steal Harold next time."

"Ye young lasses wanted this. And nae," said Alex, shaking her head, "ye can't take Harold anywhere. Not 'til he's five like Lindsay."

At the mention of her name, Lindsay stumbled on the ground and fell. Faye immediately picked her up and brushed the snow off her skirts. "Now, now, do not cry."

"Not cryin'!" Lindsay shouted, blinking her eyes to keep the tears from escaping, her lips trembling as she bit them.

"Yes, no crying or Levi will hunt us down!" Emma said and she sighed and said to no one in particular, "I wish Ysa is here but she is very pregnant at the moment."

"Now, we can't have her 'ere, aye? Or Wakefield will hang us." They continued walking as the children regained their pace. Alex stole Emma a glance. "Ye've been meetin' someone, haven't ye?"

Emma shrugged. "Mayhap." When Alex merely looked at her, Emma sighed. "Yes."

"I won't ask who."

Emma snorted. "Thank you."

"Mrs. Brigid Beagle has gone missing again," said Faye. "I wonder where she is?"

"That unfaithful cat!" Emma cried out in horror. "Two mistresses and not yet satisfied?"

"Like a man," Alex murmured.

Emma let out a laugh. "Aye! Like a man!"

Alex frowned when she heard a distant sound. She looked over her shoulder and saw three horses coming toward them. She stopped and grabbed Emma who gasped and shouted for the children to stop.

"How far are we from the estate?" asked Alex.

"Quite far from the playroom we mentioned when we asked permission to be dismissed from the parlor earlier," Emma murmured. "Children, it is time to turn around and go back."

Faye and Fiona started to whine.

"Your fathers are currently on their way toward us," Emma hissed over her shoulder, causing the older children to jump in panic. Faye grabbed Lindsay from the ground while Fiona already had Ayah in her arms.

As the three men approached, Levi was already shouting, "Are you bloody insane!"

"You said the playroom!" shouted Cole.

"Remember what we talked about before you begged us to take you for a walk?" Emma whispered over her shoulder.

Faye and Fiona nodded.

"When and only when we get caught and your aunts' lives might be in danger?" Emma added.

Faye and Fiona nodded.

"Now is the perfect time to do it," Emma said.

Faye and Fiona nodded and started sobbing.

Ayah and Lindsay followed, seeing their cousins' fake tears.

*****

Emma and Alex were restricted from the children's playroom for the remainder of the day which gave Alex even more reason to sulk.

Maxine, Maxwell's wife, chuckled when she heard Alex mutter about overprotective fathers. "They tend to be just so," she whispered, "but they shall grow out of it, I hope."

"They won't, Max," she said. "I'm not married yet because of the same reason."

"Ah, Gustav... I do miss him," Ysabella smiled warmly as she said it, her hands absently caressing her bulging stomach.

"Oh, I do remember Gustav," said Maxine. "I would love to meet him once more. Perhaps he can join us on our next family dinner? Ned and Barto as well. They are everyone's favorite, I believe."

"I truly wish me 'Pa's here. And me cousins. And I want te be able te take ye Everards te Meriwether again! Without the ropes this time."

"Not one male in this family would want to encounter another yard of that rope," Ysabella said in between chuckles.

Alex sighed and frowned. "Where's Emma?"

Maxine frowned as she thought of an answer. "I believe the last I saw her she was chasing after Ralph?"

Ysabella shook her head. "It was Levi. He cheated on chess and now Emma demands to have her townsends back." She started to stand. "Tori and Margaret are out to harvest some fresh vegetables with Agatha. Shall we join them? I will sit by and watch you all do the work, of course."

"Sophia asked me to help her pack. She and Nick are leaving in three days," said Maxine, joining Ysabella to the door with a limp. Alex was informed that Maxwell's wife had met an accident a few years past, one that was orchestrated by Osegod himself. Everyone said it was a miracle she survived.

"Oh, how I wish William and I can do the same—travel the Town on our own!" Alex heard Ysabella say in a wishful tone as they filed out of the parlor. "Perhaps when our child is old enough to join us."

"Max!" they heard Maxwell call out from the other end of the hallway. "Your brothers just arrived."

They all turned to see him storming toward them, his hair flying behind him.

"He needs a haircut," Maxine said with a sigh as she watched her husband. "Lend me scissors, Ysa."

"He will never allow you to touch that mane, Max. He will throw a scary fit," Ysabella said under her breath.

"Who said ye have te do it while he can?"

Maxine nodded. "Precisely." She turned to Ysabella and winked. "He does not have to be awake, does he?" she whispered conspiratorially.

"Oh Good Lord!" Ysabella said with mirth.

"Alex, dear," Lady Alice's voice said from the grand staircase. Alex turned expectantly. "Would you join me for a moment?"

"'Cors!" she said, leaving Maxine and Ysabella to meet Maxwell.

She had taken too many walks with her future mother-in-law that she had gotten used to having an arm looped around hers. They had walked around Wickhurst many times that they knew too much about each other. As they all had said, Lady Alice was not one to hold back the moment she warmed up to a particular someone.

"Before another family ruckus begins later, I wish to ask you a question. Have you heard from your father, dear?"

"He sent me a Christmas present," she said. "A knife."

"Of course." Lady Alice nodded, guiding Alex up the stairs. "And of the wedding? Has he said anything? I was hoping we can have something to tell everyone later at dinner."

"None." Her shoulders sagged. "Ralph came to him but all they did was get foxed. Me cousins had to take him home te Beechworth the mornin' after."

"Hmm... your father is taking his time."

"He's bein' difficult!" Alex almost growled. "And yer son's fine with it! I could be carryin' his babe and all he says is 'patience, Lex,' and he drinks ale with the old man!"

"Carrying his child!" Lady Alice cried out in mock horror. Instead of regretting the slip of her tongue, Alex was curious, seeing the glint in Lady Alice's blue eyes as the woman said, "Oh, that will be a scandal, dear."

"'Cors it will be, Mother! Me, pregnant and unwed!"

Lady Alice was fighting off a smile. She bit her lips and they kept walking, arms looped around each other. When they reached the landing, Lady Alice stopped and leaned closer to Alex. "It may be very wrong of me to say this, dear, but I do have a plan. Would you like to hear?"

Alex was suddenly filled with vigor. "Any plan is welcome, Mother."

*****

"Everyone's asleep," Ralph heard Alex whisper in his ear.

He stirred awake and then alert.

Beside him lay Alex, very much naked under the covers, fingers working on his shirt.

He turned to face her and frowned. "Alex?"

Her beautiful grey eyes twinkled with wickedness as she pressed her body against his. "If we're very quiet, guv, they won't hear."

Ralph blinked a few times to make certain he was not dreaming. Bloody hell, he had been dreaming of this for more than a week now to not be in doubt.

But she was truly here and he was not dreaming.

His arm pulled her closer, his body already awake and on fire. "Bloody tarnation, this is Devonshire. We can scream if we want," he rasped before hungrily capturing her mouth.

If she had planned anything other than this, it would not happen quite soon, Ralph thought, for he was not planning on taking a respite just yet.

He was undressed quicker than he came awake. And when he was, he rolled her on her back and a guttural sound escaped his throat when he finally entered her.

He almost reached the peak, but he did not want to do so without giving her the pleasure she deserved. He was too fast. He had to take it slow for her.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear as he moved in a slow, agonizing rhythm.

Alex wrapped her legs around him, their body one and dancing in one rhythm. "And I love ye," she moaned back, her breath hot against his ear.

"I love it when you say it like that," he said with a smile.

"I know," she throatily chuckled.

Ralph shuddered and he almost exploded. He clenched his jaw and plunged deeper.

Alex writhed beneath him.

This was not new to them both, but every time they were together like this, Ralph always felt like he was having it for the first time and the last.

He was not certain of many things, but he was certain he would never tire of this feeling.

He needed and wanted her so badly that he was starting to feel impatient.

Yet he knew it would be worth it. Gustav had said so the last they talked.

*****

When Ralph opened his eyes, he felt they were too heavy.

Confused, he tried to remember last night.

Making love with Alex. Twice.

And then eating and drinking in bed, laughing as they talked about the Guards and Peters' reaction when they heard of his engagement with Alexandria Griggs. Ralph thought they also danced barefooted but he was not quite certain. It could have been a dream.

And then... and then he could not remember what happened next.

He groaned and frowned when his vision finally cleared.

He was no longer in the same bedchamber he was in with Alex. He was not lying on the same large bed.

"W-where—"

"Good, yer awake," he heard Alex say before he saw her appear before him, dressed in a white, slim dress. Were they not in Devonshire where she had been wearing naught but his breeches and shirts? Or were they not in his bedchamber where she was not wearing anything at all?

Ralph closed his eyes and gulped, confused. And why was he sitting?

He opened his eyes and she was still standing before him, dressed in the same dress and smiling like an angel that she was quite not.

"Lex?"

"Aye. Ye awake?"

Ralph blinked again. "Where—"

"A tavern near Tiny Town." Ralph blinked a few times. He could see her clearly now and he could very well see that they were, in fact, inside a tavern. He looked down and found that he was bound. "We just eloped, guv. We can't have me 'Pa delay it more, aye?"

Ralph's eyes widened. "What the bloody hell—"

"Fret not, I have Mother's blessing."

Ralph froze. He thought he was going insane, but the mention of his mother seemed to give everything sense now. "By mother you mean my mother."

Alex smiled, the ray of light coming through the window behind her made her look heavenly. "Aye," was his beautiful vixen's reply.