She was exhausted. Throughout the night, Penelope had convinced Marina not to marry Colin, had found Marina a new husband, had convinced the new man to accept Marina and her child as a wife, had written the Lady Whistledown column, had delivered it to the printer, had ensured the dawn delivery, AND had gotten her first kiss from the love of her life.
Getting ready for bed, Penelope wanted to sleep for days. She should get up early to watch all her plans come together. On the other hand, she'd moved all the chess pieces to the best positions. There was nothing more she could do. Laying down, Penelope gives herself a moment to bask in the joy of Colin Bridgerton's kiss. Just for a moment, then she'll rest her eyes. Only a moment …
Penelope blinked awake to the blinding sunlight. She sat upright immediately. What had she said to Colin last night? Why was something just at the edge of her memory bugging her?
Wait, the sun was too high in the sky. Penelope furiously got ready for the day. She had to find out if everything worked out or … not. In record time, Penelope was dressed and heading to the sitting room.
No Marina but that didn't spell disaster, yet.
"Someone took their time sleeping in," Prudence muttered.
"Have we received today's Lady Whistledown?" Penelope asked.
"It's on the table. I have no interest in it. However, Mama hauled Marina off after reading it, to the modiste, I think," Phillipa said, scratching her head.
Penelope snatched the sheet to read it. While she had written it, she normally took more time with her columns. She wasn't sure if it would follow logic in the light of day. But as her eyes ran across the page, Penelope was proud of it.
She had effectively conveyed that Colin was posing as Marina's fiance to keep her off the market so that Frank, the love of her life, wouldn't have to worry about other suitors as he cleared his family's debt. With Frank successfully debt-free, Marina's true engagement could come to light. Lady Whistledown expected the announcement any day now - and the ensuing scandal it would cause.
"We should promenade," Penelope said.
"Without Mama?" Prudence scoffed.
"You're right. I should go visit Eloise!" Penelope said and headed out the door. The answers to her questions would be at the Bridgerton home.
Walking into the main room, Penelope noticed Anthony, Benedict, Eloise, Violet, Hyacinth, and Gregory were present - no Colin. But it was better for her if she didn't have to face him.
"Penelope! Thank goodness you're here. Can you believe the news from Lady Whistledown? Colin refuses to say a word about it. I don't know what to trust. Has Marina said anything to you?"
"Yes, Penelope. Has Marina said anything?" Colin's eyes were on hers as he walked into the room.
Penelope had to avert her eyes from the intensity of his stare. Everyone in the room tensed as it was clear who was walking in.
"No," Penelope said, quietly. "Mama and Marina had an early visit to the modiste. I missed them both this morning."
"Oh, did you sleep late?" Colin's tone was odd. Was he mad at her? Well, they had left quite a few things unresolved last night.
"Yes, actually." Penelope's tone was clipped.
"Interesting," Colin bit out. Yes, he was definitely angry.
"Anything you want to say about the Lady Whistledown column today, Colin?" Eloise probed.
"Why yes, Eloise. I found her descriptions of the events fascinating - particularly her use of the word 'hectic'. What do you think, Penelope?" Colin tilted his head as he looked at her.
Penelope squirmed. That was what had been nagging her this morning. She'd used the same word in Lady Whistledown, as she'd used with Colin. It wasn't that common a word.
"You are all so strange," Hyacinth said. "Come on, Gregory. Let's go see if we can catch a frog."
They both left the room in short order.
Violet got a constipated look on her face as though she could imagine what her two youngest would do with a frog.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to supervise. Anthony, keep an eye on your siblings." Violet left the room.
Anthony grunted, but he didn't look up from his newspaper. "Should be keeping an eye on Daphne and Hastings," he muttered.
"I'm off too. Don't do anything I wouldn't." Benedict directed a wink at Eloise.
"Wait, Benedict! I need to restock. Pen, I'll be back, and we can discuss new leads for finding Lady Whistledown." Eloise followed Benedict as he left the room. It seems that Penelope was now left alone with Colin and only Anthony as an inattentive chaperone. Oh goodness.
Colin's eyebrow lifted at Eloise's parting comment. But he settled on the couch next to Penelope where Eloise had been. "There are so very many things that I am angry about." Colin lowered his voice. "You were out and about running 'errands' at night, putting yourself in danger, talking to strange men outside White's, and you've no remorse for any of it, do you, Lady Whistledown?"
Penelope raised her chin in pride. "I refuse to be ashamed of any of that. For the record, I wasn't putting myself in danger for no reason; I was protecting Marina, you, and Harry."
Colin fought not to yell until she saw reason. Glancing at Anthony, Colin was assured his brother didn't even pretend to be paying attention. "Protecting Marina and me? We were to be married."
"Marina had a secret and if you had married it would have trapped you both …"
"So talk to us both about it!" Colin said.
"It wasn't my secret to tell. Marina made her choice."
"Yes, Harry, wasn't it? Is that who you were talking to outside of White's last night?"
Penelope gave a brief nod.
"What do you know?" Colin demanded.
"So many things," Penelope said. "I'm a gossip columnist."
Colin groaned. "Eloise doesn't know?"
"Of course not!" At her loud rejection, both Colin and Penelope looked at Anthony, but the man didn't look up from his paper.
"Thank Mercy for small miracles," Colin said.
"I can leave if I'm that much of a problem for you to deal with." Penelope went to stand.
Colin clamped a hand on Penelope's knee to keep her seated. "Don't you dare." Colin's voice deepened.
"What?"
"We are going to talk this through. If you refuse to give up Whistledown, we'll have to find a way to keep you safe in this enterprise." Colin had a pained look on his face.
"Why do you care? I'm not your fiance." Penelope had to try to keep some distance and scooched over. But he followed her and she could feel his hard thighs pressing against hers. There was no room between them on the couch.
"You could be," Colin said.
"No … that's … this is … we're having completely different conversations." Penelope stammered.
"Oh, we're going to have a lot of conversations, Miss Featherington. We're going to discuss how you became the most notorious gossip in the ton. We're going to discuss how you are never again to take the risks that you took last night: getting into a hired hack, sneaking to the alleyway of a gentleman's club, getting back into a hired hack. We're going to discuss how to get your paper delivered safely."
Penelope swallowed. "Why are you helping me?"
"What do you want me to say?" Colin asked. "If you think I'm ever letting you run around for your paper without protection again, think again."
"And, what? How will you offer me protection? What do you envision me with protection would look like? Are you planning to marry me and accompany me everywhere from now on?" Penelope said sarcastically since he was the one to mention fiances.
Colin waited until she let her eyes meet his. "If that's what it takes, then that is what it will take. It's clear you have a lack of someone to keep you out of trouble - how you've hidden this from Eloise I have no clue."
Penelope scoffed. "Eloise can't keep a secret to save her life. Even your mother knows about her habit of smoking on the swings with Benedict. We can't tell her."
"You think she won't be betrayed that you're keeping this from her? Have you been laughing behind all our backs every time we've speculated on her identity? How could you be so cruel?"
"No!" Penelope said. "It's not a game. It's not about laughing about others. It's about having a voice and letting someone hear me for once."
"I listen to you!" Colin couldn't have said it more forcefully if he roared it. He moved his hand from her knee to rest on her shoulder.
"Colin, relax over there," Anthony said. He turned to the next page in his paper, but he didn't look up. "Can't believe I have to remind you to calm down of all people."
"Oh yes, because 'Charming Colin' can't be loud or upset." Penelope snapped at Anthony. "You don't get to decide how other people feel about things."
Anthony dropped his newspaper and his jaw. Colin froze beside her. No one stood up to Anthony.
Colin blinked at Penelope. She was fierce, smart and willing to fight for what she believed in. Colin was suddenly struck by the thought that he could imagine the rest of his life alongside the woman seated next to him.
Violet and Eloise reentered the room.
"Penelope, will you marry me?" Colin said quite loudly. Now that the future with Penelope was in his mind, he wanted it to start immediately.
Eloise gasped. "What happened in the minutes that I've been gone?!"
"Colin Bridgerton! Remove your hand from Miss Featherington, this instance," Violet yelled. She walked over to her eldest and smacked him on the shoulder with the newspaper he'd dropped. "Anthony! You're supposed to be chaperoning."
Colin reluctantly removed his hand, but his eyes remained locked on Penelope's.
"So, are you going to marry me or not, Penelope?" Colin asked, as though they hadn't been interrupted.
She shouldn't. Oh, she really shouldn't. But Penelope loved this man. He wasn't the perfect man of her dreams - the one she'd been dreaming of since they'd met. No, he was the imperfect man of her life.
Giving a slight nod in response, Penelope kept her eyes on her new fiance as the room erupted around them. (Eloise began asking if Penelope was sure - did she know Colin still spilled food when he ate, Violet began making noises about coordinating with Portia for the wedding, and Anthony was grumbling in the corner.)
Colin, ignoring his family's comments, kissed his new fiance.
The End.
A/N: Did Colin pull a Cressida from the book? Maybe. Also, is the word really that uncommon in the 1800s? Probably not, but please let me get away with this writer shortcut (I'm begging you!). I just really wanted Colin to puzzle out that Penelope was Lady Whistledown himself. That argument was a doozy - I've rewritten it several times. I don't think I struck the right tone with it, maybe I'll come back and tweak it later. But, I've decided that I'm done with this story for now.