2 years later.

 Catherine laughed as she watched Aaron chase around their son on the lawn, the little boy who had inherited her red hair and green eyes, giggling madly as his father pretended to be a tiger and tried to catch him.

“Papa is a tiger!” Moses squeaked, tumbling down onto the grass and laughing at his father. “Mama, Papa is a tiger!”

“I can see that,” Catherine laughed back. “You must run, my darling, or you shall surely be eaten up!”

“I thought one could not outrun a tiger, did you not tell me that once?” Aaron gasped, standing up and smiling at his wife, eyes glinting with humor. Catherine grinned back at the memory of one of their first conversations, so long ago, at her relatives’ house.

“I told you the only sensible course was to run, actually.” Catherine wiggled her eyebrows at him. “You suggested such ravenous beasts should be shot. How do you like that now you are the feline victim?”

“Not one bit,” Aaron chortled, pretending to duck behind the hedgerow. “Do not shoot me, milord!” he beseeched his son in a silly voice that made Catherine grin. “I shall be your pet tiger, if you should like?”

This stopped the little boy in his tracks. He turned to his mother with wonder in his eyes.

“Mama, can I have a tiger?” Moses asked breathlessly.

Catherine frowned at her husband in mock consternation as if to say, now what have you done? Aaron only grinned back, shrugging cheekily.

“No, my dearest,” Catherine smiled down at her son, “I am afraid you shall just have to hunt this one and shoot him with your pistol.”

“Such cruelty!” Aaron cried out as Moses lunged at his father only to receive a mock growl that had him pelting away, shrieking, to hide behind his mother’s skirts. Aaron dropped to his hands and knees to pursue, pretending not to see the child who giggled breathlessly behind her. Catherine smiled fondly at them both. When she had first met Aaron, she had never imagined he would be like this, capable of showing such freedom, informality and affection.

“Go on, little gentleman,” Catherine urged her son, happy to join in his play. “The tiger is near, and you must stalk him and hide in the jungle!”

Immediately, Moses launched himself from behind his mother, diving into the bush at the edge of the lawn, his delightful giggles emerging from the trembling leaves. Aaron turned his face towards Catherine, a surprising lift of his eyebrows causing a shiver to go down her spine. She knew that look and tried to stop herself from grinning. Instead, she folded her arms and raised her eyebrows defensively. Aaron’s face took on a predatory delight.

“What about you, dear Duchess?” Aaron said, standing up slowly. “Do you fear the wild beasts?”

“Oh, I think the tiger might have to do some prowling if he wants to get what he wants,” Catherine said archly, standing still as he approached her, that watchfulness in his stormy grey eyes making her stomach turn.

“Oh, indeed,” Aaron growled, bending down to kiss her softly in a way that might her tingle all over. “I am a fierce predator, after all.”

Catherine let herself fall into Aaron’s kiss, still as passionate and deep as the very first time in the library, still as all engulfing and all-consuming in a way that made her breathless.

“Papa! Come and find me!” Moses demanded from behind the bushes, clearly irritated that his parents had ruined his game. “Be a proper tiger like in Cachar!”

“Little imp,” Aaron breathed reproachfully against Catherine’s lips, brushing his nose against hers as they ruefully broke apart, chuckling at their son’s indignation.

“Well, this is what you get for telling him stories of all your Indian adventures,” Catherine teased.

“I have hardly told him anything,” Aaron protested.

“Oh really?” Catherine raised her eyebrow at her husband. “The battle of Cachar? You have already lit his imagination afire. You are only lucky that he does not demand your sabre.”

“I can have a sword like Papa? Really?” Moses chirped up, suddenly very attentive when there was mention of weapons. Aaron sighed and looked at his wife pointedly.

“That was your fault.” Catherine grinned. “Now, I believe you have a tiger to be?”

“Well, at least he can’t run me through with a sword. Yet.” Aaron sighed, wiggling his eyebrows at his wife before dropping into an elegant bow. “Forgive me, dear lady, I must go to my duty. After all, there is a royal commander to be stalked.”

“Happy hunting.”

Catherine kissed his cheek and watched him go, smiling indulgently at the sweet way Aaron pounced on their child, making him shriek and wriggle in delight. Unthinking, she pressed her hand to her lower abdomen, to the flicker of new life that was beginning there. Soon, they would be a family of four. She couldn’t wait to tell Aaron about their happy event, couldn’t wait for the long nights of lying together in their bed, thinking of names for their next child.

She had a sudden notion that it would be quite humorous to write a few suggestions down and then present them to an unsuspecting Aaron. What a fun way to tell him of their family’s expansion! Chuckling to herself she moved through to the study, thinking of names for a girl. Perhaps Marigold or Jasmine, in honor of Aaron’s time in the far east. A boy would be easy to name, since the Abercorns favored biblical names.

With an Aaron and a Moses in the family, she thought David could be a good addition. Reaching her husband’s desk, she pulled open the drawer to dig for a piece of paper and stopped when she felt something hard and cold under her fingers. It was her portrait. Slowly she withdrew it, smiling ruefully at the portrait that had started it all for them, the one she had sent to Captain Lambton all those years ago. She held it in her hand, running her hand over the tarnished and scratched back of the locket, feeling the edge of an engraving she had forgotten about. She turned it over, remembering as she saw the words, what she had chosen as a fitting message for the man she had thought she loved.

For the love of my life.

Catherine smiled, feeling joy creep into the corners of her heart. The darkness and sadness of the past resolving into the truth of her reality. She hadn’t known it at the time, could never have anticipated how the storms of life would blow her onto another path, but the words she had chosen had been true. She hadn’t known how true they would be. The portrait had found itself into the hands and heart of Aaron, the Duke of Abercorn, the true love of her life. Catherine smiled and put the portrait back, shaking her head at the twists and turns that life took and beginning to write down potential names of her future children.

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