Deceiving the Duke of Kerrington

Epilogue

Pierce watched anxiously as the double doors were pushed open to reveal Hope standing at the entrance of the chapel. The early morning sun beat down on her causing her golden hair to glow, matching the radiance that was basking from her very being. She had never looked more beautiful to him; her hair was upswept with a few loose curls framing her face with flowers interwoven throughout. She was dressed in a silk dress of pale pink that enhanced the color in her cheeks, and in one hand she held a simple bouquet of pink roses, while her other hand rested in the crook of her father's arm as he prepared to walk her down the aisle.

Her father, the Earl of Brattondale, had not simply taken their word on the matter when they had revealed to him the letter Matilde Hillburn had left behind explaining her abduction of his youngest child. At first he had insisted that they had forged the note so that Hope could acquire wealth and a titled family, but Pierce challenged him to explain the odd resemblance between her and Noelle, and when that still hadn't convinced him, he bent over and inelegantly pulled Hope's satin slipper from her foot and showed him the elongated heart shaped birthmark on her sole, the same birthmark that marred his arm.

Both the earl and Hope had been left speechless at this discovery, for she had never had occasion to see the earl's bare forearm and had no idea that the mark existed. It was enough proof to convince the earl that he did indeed have another child. Slowly he came around to the idea, especially when he realized that his own offspring would be marrying a duke and the connections that would provide for his family. After the disappointment of Noelle's marriage to a foreigner with no title, he latched onto the idea of having a daughter who would marry up in society with fervor.

Hope kept her eyes trained solely on Pierce the entire walk down the aisle. She could not bring herself to glance away for even a minute, but she didn't need to. She knew without looking who all was there; Caroline and Elliot were on the right, while on her left were Devon, Noelle, and Soren. Everyone in the whole world who mattered to her was in attendance and not a soul more, unless you included the priest, and the lack of guests was not due to lack of curiosity.

Once word had reached the ton of the scandalous behavior of Noelle and the shocking addition of a long-lost daughter, the rumor mill had been running rampant. Everyone could not stop talking about the lowly maid-turned-lady who had managed to steal the elusive Duke of Kerrington's heart. They had all anxiously awaited their invites to what was sure to be the wedding of the season, and they had all been hopelessly disappointed when one never came.

But it was exactly the way that Pierce and Hope had wanted it, the two of them were all that mattered and the love they shared between them. Though if Pierce would have had it his way, he would have taken her to Gretna Green the day after he found her, but his mother and the earl convinced him that there had already been enough scandal involving them and that a small but proper wedding would be the respectable thing to do. Pierce finally relented on one condition, that the wedding be held within a week.

And now, barely a week after being reunited with his love, they were about to become husband and wife, never to be separated again. As the priest finally muttered the words, "I now pronounce you man and wife," Pierce eagerly leaned forward to kiss his bride. As he sought out and found her soft lips and kissed her with all the love his soul possessed, he realized that he had waited his whole life for a kiss like this, for a woman like this and it felt like he had finally come home.