“Did the baron cause all this destruction?” he asked.
Belle shook her head, her violet eyes swimming in tears. “Raven did it.”
Mikhail tilted her chin up, and dipping his head, his mouth covered hers in a lingering kiss. “I feared we would not arrive in time.”
“How did you know?”
“Squire Wilkins found irrefutable evidence and informed the constable.” Mikhail tightened his hold on her, reluctant to let her go.
“I want to go home,” Belle said, surveying the damage from within the circle of his arms, “but this mess needs cleaning and the windows repairing.”
“I will send my staff to set the house right,” the Duke of Inverary spoke up.
“I told you Papa would do that,” Raven said. “Your sense of accomplishment threatened our lives. I doubt I will ever be able to do housework again.”
“Tossing the crystal and porcelain at him saved your lives,” Constable Black said. “Good thinking, Raven.”
She shook her head. “I drugged his tea, and when he came after us, I tried to drop the chandelier on his head.”
Alexander Blake burst into laughter. “Does the witch need more control?”
Raven did not take exception to the name witch. She rounded on him, a surprised smile on her lips. “Do you now believe—?”
“Your hocus-pocus is nonsense.”
That wiped the smile off her face. She gave him a tight-lipped stare.
Alexander returned her grim look. Without warning, he grasped her upper arms and yanked her against his body. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
His mouth captured hers in a smoldering kiss. That melted into another. And then—
“Enough, Blake.” The Duke of Inverary cleared his throat. “Raven is still being punished for sneaking out the other night. And you, Blake, will not kiss her like that again until the vows have been spoken.”
Belle tilted her head back and gazed into her husband’s black eyes. “I love you.”
Mikhail put his arm around her shoulders and ushered her toward the door. “You believe me when I say I love you and have done since the first moment I saw you in the cottage garden?”
Belle gave him a serene smile. “Only a man in love would eat a spider sandwich.”
Eight Months Later
He arrived on the second day of spring, robustly screeching his reluctance to enter the world. His enamored parents called him Vlad, which meant “prince of the world.”
Holding his first son in his arms, the proud father announced his intention to pass his wealth of knowledge to this tiny miracle. His son would grow into a successful, admired gentleman.
Vlad’s weary mother gave her husband a benign smile, knowing hers was the more difficult task. She needed to civilize and soften him without weakening his strength. Gardening would be the best tool for teaching him patience and responsibility and a reverence for God’s creatures.
The first of many visitors arrived on the third day of spring. Smiling with anticipation, the five tea-party cousins filed into the bedchamber.
Princess Roxanne, their undisputed queen, was honored with the first close look and then frowned. “I thought the babe was a boy.”
“Vlad is a boy,” Belle said. “Prince Vlad Kazanov.”
Natasha wore a pained expression. “Vlad looks like Genevieve and Gabrielle,” she said, referring to her twin cousins born the previous day.
“All babies are pink and wrinkled,” Mikhail explained.
“Vlad is yawning,” Sally said.
“He is so precious,” Roxanne drawled, sounding like the duchess.
“I always thought boys never cried,” Bess told her cousins, “but Vlad never stops.” She looked at her father. “I love Vlad even though he is a terrible crybaby.”
“Vlad loves you too.” Mikhail looked at his youngest niece. “What do you think, Lily?”
“I think Mummy Belle should tell us how the baby gets out of the mummy’s belly,” Lily answered, and her four cousins bobbed their heads in agreement.
“I am sorry,” Belle said, “but the stork made me promise to keep the secret.”
“Do you know the secret, Uncle?”
Mikhail shook his head. “Mummy Belle would not share the secret with me.” He stood then and crossed the chamber to the door. “Come, ladies. Vlad needs his sleep to grow big and strong. Boomer is waiting to serve Mummy Belle’s angel cookies and stuffed meringues.”
Closing the door behind the girls, Mikhail returned to sit beside Belle on the bed, and they watched the thrilling sight of their sleeping son. His every whimper and tiniest movement held them enthralled.