"I've been at loose ends since I finished editing your journals," she explained, "and I found I rather missed writing."
He was smiling as he leaned forward. "What are you working on?"
She blushed; she wasn't sure why. "A novel."
"A novel? Why, that's brilliant, Penelope!"
"You think so?"
"Of course I think so. What is it called?"
"Well, I've only written a few dozen pages," she said, "and there's much work to be done, but I think, if I don't decide to change it overmuch, that I will call it The Wallflower''
His eyes grew warm, almost misty. "Really?"
"It's a little bit autobiographical," she admitted.
"Just a little bit?" he returned.
"Just a little."
"But it has a happy ending?"
"Oh, yes," she said fervently. "It has to."
"It has to?"
She reached her hand across the table and rested it atop his. "Happy endings are all I can do," she whispered. "I wouldn't know how to write anything else."
Where did Eloise disappear to in the last chapter? Find out in the next installment of Julia Quinn's magnificent Bridgerton series "To Sir Phillip, With Love".