Page 89 of Conquest

Pressing a kiss to his chest, she snuggled against him as he reached for the remote and flicked on the television.

“I’ll get up in a bit,” he promised. “I just need a minute.”

“Same.”

“Hey, Amelia?”

“Mm?”

“Will you marry me?”

“I said two more weeks, not two hours,” she mock-grumbled, trying to hide her smile, but her gaze slid to the ring snug on her third finger. It was still on her right hand, but she already knew she’d move it to her left sooner rather than later.

EPILOGUE

Six months later,Amelia and Leo were married. The morning of their wedding day, Amelia found herself surrounded by her girlfriends, her sister, and her mother, reclining in a luxurious hotel suite as she sipped champagne and got ready to become Mrs. St. James.

The air rang with laughter and easy conversation, happiness filling Amelia from head to toe. At first, her sister had been totally against the marriage. Maggie had come back from her honeymoon to the news that Leo and Amelia were together, and she’d actually brought a fireplace poker to Amelia’s apartment, shaking it menacingly at Leo.

Amelia hated that they thought so little of Leo, but he just put his arm around Amelia and kissed her temple, telling her to be patient with everyone. It would take time, he told her, to show them he’d changed. He acted like he deserved their derision, which made her so angry she wanted to scream.

It took a couple of months for everyone’s opinion of Leo to truly improve. Every time Amelia heard a comment about Pestilence, she grew apoplectic, which seemed to amuse Leo. Eventually, he reasoned, people would understand that he was more than the reputation he’d encouraged. And if they didn’t, they weren’t worth the time or worry.

Amelia was less Zen, but her sister did finally come around. Camilla and Lucy had already been convinced by his initial proposal, what with their soft romantic hearts swaying their opinion without any encouragement from Amelia. Apparently, he’d banged on Camilla’s bakery door and begged to know where Amelia was when he hadn’t had any luck finding her at her apartment.

Scarlett seemed happy for Amelia, but she did lament the fact that Amelia would never experience a true slut phase. Joking, mostly, Amelia thought.

It was fast. Amelia knew it, Leo knew it, all their family and friends knew it. But six months had been enough for Amelia to realize that she didn’t want to live without Leo. Six days had been enough.

Now, as they all helped her get ready to marry the man she loved, her family and friends knew just how important Leo was to her. They knew that he was hard-working, loving, and utterly devoted. Amelia even caught her sister sighing when she saw Leo tuck a strand of hair behind Amelia’s ear.

“Oh, look!” Lucy waved her phone around. “They’re saying Meredith’s trial date has been set.” Cora’s real name was Meredith Brown. Her name and picture had been splashed all over the local news for three months straight after her arrest.

“Did they ever find her accomplices? Didn’t they find evidence that there was a whole operation?” Camilla leaned over Lucy’s phone to look at the article.

“Was there?” Amelia tilted her head. “I never heard about that.”

“You were too busy making cow eyes at your fiancé,” Scarlett said, grinning. “Not that I can blame you.”

Amelia stuck her tongue out at the florist, who laughed. They’d grown close over the past six months, and Amelia appreciated Scarlett’s no-nonsense nature.

“Yeah, they had shopfronts on all the major online stores like eBay and whatnot. Look.” Lucy tapped her phone, then spun it around to face Amelia.

It was an archived version of a website, where dozens and dozens of items were for sale. All of them stolen. Very few of them recovered by the police.

Eyes wide, Amelia scrolled through the images and shook her head. “She seemed so nice. I can still hardly believe it.” She scrolled some more, then frowned. Her eyes bugged. “Wait.”

“What?” Scarlett leaned over to look.

“These candlesticks. These were in Mrs. Gordon’s house!”

“Your neighbor?” Maggie frowned, a tube of lip gloss held halfway to her mouth. “Didn’t she die?”

“No, she disappeared.”

“What, like Mob-style?” Camilla’s eyes were wide. “She’s swimming with the fishes?”

Amelia laughed. “No, just moved out all of a sudden. There’s been a young couple living in her old place since May.”