Instead of having become engaged to a wealthy marquess, one would think she'd been stricken with a fatal disease. She was beginning to understand how a condemned man must feel when presented with a sumptuous banquet just prior to his march to the gallows.
Which was exactly why she'd decided to put on a brave face. She refused to feel sorry for herself when everyone else was taking such morose satisfaction in pitying her. She might have disgraced Sterling during her debut, but she had no intention of disgracing him during her wedding. If it was to the gallows she must go, then she would go with head held high. Fortunately, Harriet was too caught up in the melodrama of the situation to realize just how brittle Lottie's good cheer was.
Tossing aside the Chronicle, Lottie plucked the last French cake from the tray resting on Harriet's lap. "I must confess that it's rather unsettling to be reading about myself as the tragic heroine of my own story." She licked a drizzle of honey from her upper lip. "Perhaps I should simply consider my impending nuptials as research for my first novel. A chance to delve into the shadows of the marquess's heart and solve the mystery of his first wife's demise."
"That's all very well and good," Harriet said glumly, "but who's going to solve the mystery of his second wife's demise?"
Shooting her friend a chiding glance, Lottie swept up the afternoon edition of The Whisperer. "Oh, this is rich. The article describes our desperate, secret love for each other and paints Sterling as the heartless villain seeking to keep us apart."
"How terribly romantic!" Harriet exclaimed, pressing a hand to her heart.
"How utterly ridiculous." Lottie snapped the pamphlet closed, ignoring a curious pang of wistfulness. "I can promise you that the marquess harbors no love for me, secret or otherwise. Although I must admit that Sterling did look rather villainous last night when he started brandishing that pistol around." She scanned a particularly lurid account of last night's scandal in one of the cheap broadsides distributed on the docks. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed, feeling her throat heat. "According to this writer, you'd think we'd been caught in flagrante delicto."
"Smelling delicious?" Harriet asked, Latin having been one of her least favorite subjects, right before geography and after ladylike deportment.
Sighing, Lottie cupped a hand over her friend's ear and explained the phrase.
"Oh my!" Harriet breathed, blushing to the roots of her mousy hair. "Surely you won't be expected to do something so horrid. With him."
Before Lottie could elaborate, a gentle rap sounded on the door. She settled back against the mountain of pillows, hoping for more French cakes. But it was her sister, Laura, and her aunt Diana who came sweeping in, a pair of footmen trailing after them. Laura's eyes were red-rimmed from weeping, while Diana's were ringed with shadows.
Although Sterling's cousin wasn't truly Lottie's aunt, her easy affection and brisk common sense made her a natural for the title. Despite the elegant severity of her forest green gown and tightly wound chignon, the kiss Diana pressed to Lottie's brow was as tender as a mother's. "Hello, pet. If your dear Miss Dimwinkle will excuse us, your sister and I need to have a little chat with you."
"Can't Harriet stay?" Lottie asked, just beginning to realize how lost she was soon going to be without her devoted friend. Upon Hayden's insistence, the two of them were to depart for his home in Cornwall immediately after tomorrow morning's wedding.
"We'd rather she didn't," Laura replied, exchanging an odd look with Diana.
Lottie waited in curious silence as a disgruntled Harriet was borne away by the footmen. After carefully securing the door behind them, Laura sank down on one side of the bed, Diana on the other.
Diana reached over and took Lottie's hand. Fortifying herself with a deep breath, she said, "Your sister and I both feel we would be remiss if we did not seek to prepare you for the days— "
"And the nights," Laura added, blushing furiously.
"And the nights," Diana concurred, "to come."
Lottie's apprehensive gaze traveled between the two of them. Perhaps it wasn't too late to burrow beneath the pillows and feign sleep.
Diana was squeezing her fingers so hard that one of Lottie's knuckles popped. "As I'm sure you know, a woman's most cherished duty is to her husband."
"And never is that duty more cherished than on that most joyous of all occasions — her wedding night," Laura said, her bottom lip beginning to quiver.
Diana shot her a warning look. "For then comes the long awaited moment when a man and woman's affection," she stumbled over the word, her own impeccable composure beginning to desert her, "for one another is finally free to manifest itself in a physical manner."
"And thus will begin a tender initiation into a lifetime of commitment and hap — hap — happiness." The last word rose on a wail as Laura collapsed against Lottie's shoulder, bursting into tears.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Laura, stop blithering!" Diana dabbed at her own overflowing eyes with her handkerchief. "You're going to frighten the poor child to death."
"There, there, now," Lottie murmured, squeezing her aunt's hand and stroking her sister's fine brown hair. "There's really no need for a lecture on the rigors of earthly love. I did grow up on a sheep farm."
Lottie knew her sister and aunt were probably thinking about how her marriage bed would differ from their own. They had both been blessed with husbands who adored them, a luxury she would never know. Instead, she would be expected to go willingly into the bed of a stranger — a man who bore her no long-standing affection, a man who had been coerced into a marriage he did not want to a woman he did not know, a man whose animal passions might very well override his tenderness. The thought of Hayden St. Clair on top of her, inside of her, awakened a dark thrill deep inside her soul, the shadow of an emotion that frightened her even more than he did.
Diana swiped away the last of her tears, determination sharpening her features. "There are things you can't learn on a sheep farm, my dear. Things that can bend even the sternest and most intractable of men to your will."
Lottie leaned toward her aunt, suddenly giving the woman's every word her rapt attention. Laura jerked up her head, so scandalized, her tears dried up mid-sob. "Diana, surely you can't mean to…"
"I most certainly do. If Lottie is to march into this enemy's camp to do battle, then she'll not go unarmed. And you and I know just the weapons to give her."
* * *
From the mournful mood hanging over Devonbrooke House the next morning, one would have thought its residents had gathered to witness a funeral instead of a wedding. Laura and Diana huddled together, handkerchiefs at the ready, while Thane and George stood side by side, their posture nearly as rigid as their expressions.
Rather than wearing black as the drollest of the scandal sheets had suggested, the bride wore pink. There had been no time to consult a seamstress, so Laura and Diana had helped Lottie choose a rose satin gown draped with an overskirt of ivory lace from her extensive wardrobe. To hide the trembling of her hands, she clutched a posy of purple hyacinths Cookie had hastily plucked from the house's courtyard garden. Cookie's teardrops still shimmered like dew on the velvety petals.
Lottie nearly popped the blooms off the hyacinths when Hayden St. Clair appeared in the arched doorway. He was accompanied by a tall, slender gentleman whose short-cropped blond hair was tinted more silver than gold.
As the men took their places before the marble hearth that was to double as an altar, the stranger boldly assessed her, then winked at her. Caught offguard by the impish charm of the gesture, Lottie nearly returned it before remembering to scowl back at him. It would hardly do for her bridegroom to think she was engaging in a flirtation right beneath his nose. She might not even make it to Cornwall alive. She could already see her family weeping over his hastily scrawled note informing them of her tragic demise after the train of her gown became entangled in the spokes of his carriage wheels.
A lone violin sobbed out a melody, Lottie's cue to take her guardian's arm and
allow him to escort her to her bridegroom's side. She took a deep breath. If this was indeed her march to the gallows, then the time had come to face her executioner.
Garbed all in black except for the crisp white of his shirtfront, cuffs, collar, and cravat, Hayden St. Clair looked even larger and more imposing than she remembered. She was touched to note that he'd made some effort, however futile, to tame his unruly hair. Without the stubble shadowing the hollows of his cheeks and the curve of his jaw, he looked closer to George's age than Sterling's.
As Lottie drew nearer to him, a thousand tiny heretofore unnoticed details reminded her that he was a stranger to her: the nearly imperceptible cleft in his chin, the thin white scar just below his left ear, the faint shadow above his upper lip even the keenest of razors would never dispel.
As she took her place at his side, she almost wished her aunt and sister had kept their counsel. Although her insatiable curiosity had driven her to drink in their every word, she could hardly imagine doing some of the shocking things they had described with this man.
Or to him.
She lowered her eyes, hoping he would attribute her blush to maidenly modesty.
When the bishop commanded Sterling to give her hand into her bridegroom's keeping, Lottie had to tug her small hand out of his possessive grip.
The pleasant smile frozen on Sterling's face never wavered, not even when he leaned close to Oakleigh and growled in a voice audible only to the three of them, "If you break her spirit, I'll break your neck."
As Lottie and Hayden knelt before the bishop, her bridegroom's hand was warm and dry, his voice deep and unwavering as he vowed to forsake all others, keeping himself only unto her so long as they both should live. As Lottie echoed the lyrical words, she could not help but wonder if he was thinking of another woman who had made the same promise, only to betray both it and him.
The rest of the ritual passed in a blur. Before Lottie knew it, the bishop was closing the Book of Common Prayer and instructing them to rise. His eyes twinkling behind their wire-rimmed spectacles, he gave her new husband permission to seal their vows with a kiss.
Under the pretense of offering Hayden her cheek, Lottie whispered, "I'm sorry I got you into such a dreadful fix."
"I'm just grateful you found my attentions more tolerable than the king's," he murmured, his breath warming the sensitive shell of her ear. "At least you didn't bite me."
Lottie drew back to gape up at him, so shocked she forgot to whisper. "Who on earth told you— "
Before she could finish, her husband's lips descended on hers, silencing her with a kiss.
Chapter 6
Dared I hope for some shadow of tenderness from such ruthless hands?
WHEN HAYDEN EMERGED FROM THE STRAINED wedding breakfast hosted by his new brother-and sister-in-law, it was to discover his carriage so weighted down with trunks, boxes, valises, and bags that it was nearly unrecognizable. An army of liveried footmen was still swarming all over it, securing endless lengths of rope and seeking any overlooked nook or cranny into which they might stuff another parcel or case.
"Good heavens, man," Ned said, eyeing the sagging struts. "Your new bride certainly doesn't believe in traveling light."
"Her guardian already sent two baggage carts ahead of us." Hayden shook his head disbelievingly.
"If I hadn't sent my own servants with them in another coach, I would have had to hire an extra team of horses just to get us out of London."
"Isn't that…?" Ned pointed to the contraption strapped upside down at the very peak of the mountain of luggage.
Hayden squinted at what appeared to be the wooden wheels of a hobbyhorse — the trendy new conveyance invented by a German baron to propel himself around the paths of the royal gardens. "Yes, I do believe it is."
Lottie emerged from the house at that minute, staggering beneath the weight of a woven basket three times as big around as she was. Hayden moved to relieve her, but she quickly wrestled the basket out of his reach.
"There's no need to trouble yourself. I can manage quite nicely, thank you," she insisted, huffing and puffing her way to the carriage. She'd been eyeing him suspiciously ever since he'd mentioned her ill-fated encounter with the king.
An alert footman swept open the carriage door, allowing her to heave her burden onto one of the seats. Hayden peered over her shoulder, fascinated by the mysterious "mmmrrrwwwing" sound that seemed to be coming from the basket.
Although he was completely at a loss as to where they would find another inch of space, he suggested, "Perhaps we should have the footmen tie it on top."
The basket growled, shuddered, and made a little hop, as if in protest.
Lottie stepped back and slammed the coach door in his face. "That won't be necessary. It's my lunch."
Hayden arched one eyebrow, but did not think calling his new wife a bald-faced liar would start their marriage off on an auspicious note.
She had changed into a bottle-blue carriage dress topped by a collar of stiff white lace and a fur capelet. Her topknot of curls was gone, replaced by a tidy cloud of ringlets and a wide-brimmed straw hat crowned with a towering array of crepe, ribbons, and tiny silk rosebuds. He supposed she'd chosen the sophisticated style to make her appear more matronly, but she looked more like a little girl playing dress-up in her mother's clothes. She certainly didn't look old enough to be any man's wife.
Especially his.
"Wait, Lottie! You forgot Mr. Wiggles!"
Hayden stood aside as Miss Dimwinkle came limping out of the house, a squirming black cat held at arm's length.
Lottie accepted the offering, draping the furry little beast over her arm like a live muff. "You don't mind if I bring my cat, do you?" she asked him, a curious flush staining her cheeks.
"Of course not," Hayden assured her. "I'm sure he'll feel right at home at Oakwylde. The barns are overrun with mice."
"The barns?" Lottie echoed, a dangerous glint appearing in her eye.
Before she could say anything more, the rest of her family emerged from the house. Lottie's guardian looked as if he was already regretting trusting his precious ward into Hayden's hands. Devonbrooke doubtlessly would have liked nothing better than for them to spend their wedding night beneath his roof. But Hayden had no intention of remaining under the man's thumb for a minute longer than was necessary. One untoward moan from Lottie's luscious lips and the duke would be calling for his dueling pistols again.
As his bride's brother, sister, aunt and uncle, and even the servants thronged around her, smothering her in a noisy round of hugs and kisses, Hayden stepped back into the shadow of one of the portico columns. In their eyes he knew he would never be anything but an interloper — the wicked ogre who had spirited away their beloved fairy princess.
As Hayden moved back, Ned started forward. Hayden clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"Why, to kiss the bride, of course! As your groomsman, I consider it my sacred duty."
"Over my dead body," Hayden retorted. "Or yours if my bride discovers that you're the one who shared that little snippet of gossip about the king."
Conceding defeat, Ned leaned against the column. "If her teeth are as sharp as her wits, our monarch is lucky to be alive."
Lottie was keenly aware of her husband's retreat, but before she could draw him back into their circle, Harriet threw her arms around her in a crushing embrace, earning a protesting squeak from the cat.
Tears fogged up the thick lenses of the girl's spectacles. "I so wish I could come to Cornwall with you! I haven't any prospects of my own, you know. Who's going to want to marry a plain, dull-witted magistrate's daughter with no fortune to speak of?"
"Don't be silly," Lottie chided her. "By the end of the Season, you'll be writing to tell me you've received a dozen offers and can't decide whose heart to break first." Handing the cat off to her brother, Lottie held her own handkerchief to the girl's nose and ordered her to blow.
Sho
oting Hayden a narrow look, George leaned over and whispered, "If the two of you don't suit, you can always poison him, you know."
In spite of her jangled nerves, Lottie's lips twitched. Neither one of them had forgotten the time a jealous ten-year-old Lottie had tried to permanently remove Sterling from Laura's life by baking deadly toadstools into his cake.
"Given the marquess's reputation, he's more likely to poison me," she informed George from the corner of her mouth.
Her brother gave her shoulder a heartening pat. Although their relationship had always been a prickly mix of exasperation and affection, he probably knew her better than anyone. And loved her in spite of it. Although she knew it would mortify him, Lottie flung her arms around his neck. To her surprise, he didn't duck her kiss, but returned it with a hard squeeze of his own.
"You should be happy for me, you know," she whispered in his ear. "It's not every day a humble rector's daughter becomes the bride of a marquess."
George tweaked one of her curls. "There's never been anything humble about you."
"Which is exactly why there's no need for you toworry. I can make him love me if I want. I can make anyone love me, can't I?"
"Of course you can," George assured her. He reluctantly released her, his crooked smile reflecting both of their misgivings.
Then Cookie was there to press a package wrapped in waxed paper and string into her hand. From its warmth and the spicy aroma wafting to her nose, Lottie quickly deduced it was gingerbread, fresh from the oven. Although Cookie's nose was red and swollen, her smile was radiant as she enfolded Lottie in her ample arms. "That handsome rogue had best take care of my little lamb or I'll make him a batch of my crumpets, I will."
Lottie burst out laughing. Cookie's crumpets were so notoriously dry her husband had been known to use them to patch holes in the plaster.
As the maid withdrew, dabbing at her eyes with her apron, Lottie was faced with the moment she had been dreading the most. Although she had managed to retain her cheery demeanor through all the other farewells, the eyes she turned to Laura and Sterling were suspiciously bright.
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