A Marriage Most Inconvenient (Inconvenient Matches Book #1)

Epilogue

Ben stirred from his sleep to the sensation of a hand trailing over his chest. His mouth tugged into a grin even as he swatted the hand playfully. 'Get your lecherous hands off of me, woman! I am thirty no longer.'

His wife laughed in amusement and then pressed a kiss to his cheek. He tilted his head to press a quick kiss to her lips only to find those sapphire eyes he so adored- now lined with evidence of the many, many years they had spent together- twinkling with impish delight. 'You are right, you do not appeal to me any longer. Perhaps I shall take a lover, some younger man who can keep me entertained. One whose back does not ache if he does not find time to take his afternoon nap.'

'You're welcome to try,' his hand tightened around her hip, 'not many are in the market for a sixty-year-old hag, you know. Also, they can't offer you the skill that comes with experience. Not to mention this hair you seem to find so charming.'

His black curls were now salt and peppered, though the consensus from both his daughters and his daughter-in-law was that they had their own appeal. His wife often commented that he finally looked as pompous as he was, particularly when he used his reading spectacles.

She let out an indignant sound. 'I am five and fifty, you wretched old man! And much younger at heart. You've been seventy since you were five-and-ten and that is no business of mine! Besides, I look very good for my fifties, really.'

'You do,' he agreed graciously, 'and you still have the best bust in all of Britain, as far as I'm concerned.'

She laughed and called him a wretch once more but the rest of her response was forestalled by an insistent knock on their door.

'Yes?'

There was the sound of a small scuffle outside and then the door fell open, three little bodies stumbling in one after the other and landing in an undignified heap on the floor; it was the trio of their oldest grandchildren, the twins and William. Likely their scuffle had been about who would be given the grave responsibility of opening the door and delivering whatever news they had come to deliver.

Finally, it was decided that the oldest of the three, a boy of five years with red hair, would do the honors. He came forward with his chest puffed out. 'Good morning, Your Graces.'

Ah, the news must be very important indeed since they were not greeted as Grandmamma and Grandpapa.

'Good morning, Tom. And to you too, Lily and William.'

The twins were their grandchildren from their only son, while William was their eldest daughter's. The three were very close in age and had formed something of a group to rally against the rest of their cousins. Ben smiled in easy contentment at having his entire family under one roof for the christening of the newest member of their family. A family he hoped would grow even more now that his youngest daughter had also married.

And if he had cried in his study after the vows had been spoken, only their family cat -Countess, one of Duchess's many offspring- was any the wiser.

'Oh, do tell them, Tom!' Lily urged her twin. 'Or else I will.'

'Well then, what's all the fuss? And I do believe you all are forgetting the correct way to greet your grandmother in the morning.' His wife said with mock sternness belied by a fond smile. The children all shuffled towards them in a single file line, depositing customary kisses on her cheeks.

'Oh! Very well!' The boy bounced on his feet. 'The baby is awake! Aunty Seph says we can come to see him now!'

'Oh, lovely,' Minerva beamed at her grandchildren, kissing them all back one by one, 'we'll be along shortly.'