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.'

As the children left their chambers, Minerva reclined on the bed and let out a wistful sigh. 'Oh, Ben, when did this happen? I could have sworn Persephone was a babe herself just yesterday.'

'Oh, she was such a naughty little thing. Always sneaking off to grab pastries from the kitchen, or hiding from her governess.' Ben chuckled, the nostalgia washing over him like a pleasant wave over the sand on a beach. 'Do you remember that time she got herself locked in a closet?'

Minerva let out a sharp laugh. 'It's funny now, but I was convinced she'd been kidnapped. I was terrified out of my mind. We spent a good half a day looking for her.'

'At least she'd had the ingenuity to take some snacks with her into her hiding place.'

They spent a while reminiscing over old memories of their children before they got dressed and left to meet their youngest grandchild, who had been on this earth as of the night before only to find that he had fallen right back asleep after his feeding.

They had just exited to the hallway when they were hailed down by their son, who was carrying his two-year-old daughter in his arms. She, like her older siblings, had a head full of red hair and the most adorable round cheeks Ben had ever seen in life.

'Charles, when did you arrive?' Ben enquired his approaching son as he extended his arms for the child, crooning, 'Oh, hello Daphne, my sweetest girl. Did you miss your Grandpapa? I was so miserable without you, dearest.'

'Papa!' She grinned in delight and immediately reached for Ben, she was still unable to say grand just yet and Ben was more than fine with that. She was not in the least bit ashamed of her clear favoritism, only leaning over to wave at her grandmother before resting her head against Ben's shoulder. Minerva stuck her tongue out at the child and the child stuck hers out back in response. Minerva's only consolation was that even Ben came in second to someone when it came to Daphne's affections, the first place belonging solidly and by a large margin to her maternal grandfather, the Marquess of Graham.

'Ah, there you two are. Good morning.' The young man greeted his parents, though his brow was crinkled in concern.

'Charlie!' Minerva beamed in greeting as their son placed a kiss on her cheek and shook his hand. 'Did you arrive just this morning? How was London?'

Charlie now did the lion's share of management for the dukedom, allowing Ben to enjoy his 'retirement', as his wife liked to call it. It mostly consisted of being a horridly indulgent grandfather to Charlie's children and helping his youngest son-in-law, who was made an unexpected heir to a dukedom, learn his way around society and his new responsibilities.

But that was a story for another time.

Much to his dismay, his oldest, Selene, who had been born on American soil had found a way to return to it after her marriage to Andrew Carstairs, who at the time had been a struggling young businessman. His business had flourished in the coming years, but not without struggle.

But, that too, was a story for another time.

They still made frequent trips to England, during which Ben and Minerva amply made up for all the spoiling their son was deprived of.

'I left as soon as I received the telegram. Is Seph well? And the baby?' Charlie asked tersely. 'I saw Alaric but I do not think he's in any state to answer my questions.'

'Yes, both your sister and her son are fine and healthy. There were no complications, thankfully. What is the matter with Alaric?' Minerva replied, her own brow now also crinkled in concern. Colonel Alaric Campbell, Persephone's husband, was likely the most level-headed individual in their family.

'One of you must talk to Alaric. I believe the anxieties of being a new father have finally caught up to him. The poor man has become a father and a duke all in the same week. He's going to realize that being a colonel and ordering people about in the army was child's play compared to what comes next.'

'Oh dear,' Minerva shook her head in pity, 'I shall go see him, Ben why don't you go and see how Persephone is faring?'

'Shouldn't I be the one talking to our son-in-law about fatherhood?'

'Please. All you will do is make him more anxious. Charlie, you should have seen him when Selene was born. If she so much as sneezed, he would summon an army of physicians.'

'You must allow a new father to become accustomed to his new role in life. When the twins were born, I used to go to their nursery in the middle of the night to make sure they were still breathing. Or that their nursemaid had not kidnapped them.' Charlie came loyally to his father's defense, though he rather always had been partial to Minerva ever since he had been born.

'Thank you, Charles,' Ben beamed in triumph, shooting his wife a pointed look, who rolled her eyes at father and son; near mirror images of each other save for Charlie's sapphire blue eyes.

'You two are just as bad as each other. Coddlers of the worst sort! Now go and fuss over your daughter, let me handle our son-in-law.'

Nearly three weeks later, after the christening of the newest member of their family, the entirety of the Montgomery clan sat on the grounds of Hartley Manor for a grand picnic. As he watched his family settle onto the large blankets, the children running around playing some game, Ben pulled his wife close. He was glad that they had shown their children the importance of affection in a marriage for none of them had settled for anything less than a love match.

Alaric carried Persephone in his arms as he sang some Scottish lullaby to their newborn, while Andrew and Selene sat under the shade of a tree hand in hand. Charlie lay with his head inclined in his wife, Ainsley's lap, as she ran her fingers through his hair.

It was almost funny to Benedict how much pedigree had once mattered to him. How he had thought that marrying an English lady with a similar set of values was the best thing for him. And then came his wife, barreling into his finely laid plans. Not one of his daughters had married an Englishman and perhaps another version of him, the one who had not met Minerva, would have been disappointed. But now, there was no joy greater to him than knowing that both his sons-in-law would lay their lives down for his daughters.

'Thank you,' he murmured softly against his wife's hair, placing a kiss where he could see streaks of white on her scalp.

'Whatever for?' She turned her cheek up so he could deposit another kiss there.

He jerked his head towards their children; Persephone, Alaric, and their newborn. Charlie, Ainsley, the twins, and Daphne. Selene, Andrew, and William. Their family. The one they almost didn't have. His biggest blessing on this earth.

'We did it together,' she settled against him and he tucked her under his chin. 'So thank you, as well.'

'We've done a good thing.'

'We have, haven't we?' She smiled at him with lazy contentment.

'I love you, wife.'

'And I love you, husband.'

Their attention was diverted when Tom, in his attempt to open a jar of strawberry jam, upended the entire thing onto himself.

'Tom, really,' Ben chided him softly, 'you must wait for someone to help you. As the future Duke of Rothbury, you must set a good example for the rest of your cousins, hmm? Dukes cannot be remiss in their manners. Now, go with the nanny and get cleaned up.'

'But-'

'No buts. I will save you the jam tartlets you like, do not worry. You will get eaten by ants otherwise.'

'Yes, sir,' the boy replied sullenly but before he could get up, Daphne squirmed her way out of her mother's hold and walked right up to him. She puffed out her cheeks and set one hand to her hip, the other shaking at her older brother forbiddingly.

'Bad Tom! Rofbury, Rofbury!' She admonished him sternly before turning her pleased expression towards her grandfather. Clearly, that was meant to be an imitation of him and now she sought his approval. As the entirety of the party burst out into rowdy laughter, Ben joined in, thanking his lucky stars.

Yes. They had done a very good thing indeed.

A/N: And with that, we bring 'A Marriage Most Inconvenient' to a close. I thank you all for joining me on this journey, vocal and silent readers alike. A special thank you to the ones who took time out to vote and comment and made me feel appreciated as an author. Thank you for enjoying my work and characters. I am beyond humbled by the response to this book.

For those of you who are interested in Carlisle's story, come see him in An Inconvenient Arrangement!

- Love,
Zeen

Here's a lovely AI image done by jasmynkereama and I thought it was too pretty not to share!

Looking for another amazing book about a proud Duke reluctantly married to a woman he considers far beneath his station? Check out "A Reputation Reclaimed"  by Demri_Hess!