"Look at you, how pretty you are," Matthew said with a tremulous smile and a heart brimming over with so much love and suppressed emotion that he thought it would burst. "Are you all ready for the wedding?"
"I am. But you might want to borrow something from Philip?"
Matthew looked to Jasmine. She nodded. "We've laid out a couple of choices for you in that little room down the hall. Take what you need."
"Thanks. You're an angel. Back in a minute."
By the time he returned, the three couples were all assembled and Matthew took Althea's hand. His knees felt weak, and he hoped he was not going to stumble too badly over his vows, or choke on them. But no. He loved Althea. He just had to try to come to terms with the suddenness of it all, and what he had done.
She had been his benchmark by which every other woman in his life had been measured, and come up short. He had no cause for complaint, no reason to repine. He only prayed the same would be true for her.
He was too worldly to consider himself devout, but he found himself praying harder than he ever had before. And wanted to try to do better, at least attempt to match some of her piety.
She looked so innocent and fresh in the embroidered night set, he had all to do not to kiss her senseless. He was all too aware of the rise and fall of her perfect breasts under the thin lawn fabric Could swear he saw her delicate pink nipples' blush through the folds. His mouth went dry and a frisson of desire peaked him. Damn. A full blow cockstand right in the middle of his wedding, and his bride with two black eyes. What a bastard he was.
That thought sobered him, and he dragged his gaze away from his bride's bosom and tried to concentrate on the service.
Jonathan kept the ceremony simple, but offered Matthew some words of comfort in the circumstances through his choices of text. Since his friend had been named after one of the four evangelists, he selected Matthew 5: 1 to 10 for them both.
"Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
For his general remarks on the nature of marriage, he selected Genesis 1: 26 to 28. "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'"
He continued with Mark 10: 6 to 9 and 13 to 16, "But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
"Like Ruth in the Bible, Matthew is going to be giving up her home to join with you. As it says in Ruth 1:16 to 17, "But Ruth said, 'Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you.'
"In turn you are giving her a solemn undertaking to forsake all others and cleave only to her. As the Lord reminds us in John 15: 9 to12, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
"If you keep this convenant, and abide my the commandments, untold joys await you. You shall bring her into your home and create a new paradise on earth if only you love one another with all your hearts. As in the Song of Solomon :10 to13, Matthew shall entreat his bride, 'Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.'
"Psalms 128:1 to 6 tells us, 'Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Lo, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children's children!'
"I know everyone here will join me in wishing all this and more for this lovely couple as they journey down the road of life together."
"Amen," was echoed around the room, and Matthew could feel the tears welling up in his eyes once more as he looked down at Althea's dusky blue eyes.
Then Jonathan reached the benediction, for which he had chosen Hebrews 13: 20 to 21. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory forever and ever, Amen."
At last they were married, and Matthew smiled and kissed his wife's hand.
His wife.
He had dreamed of this moment, but had never imagined it would be like this. But he never even saw her bruises as her lovely eyes shone up at him. He could not resist then, and kissed her firmly on the lips. It wasn't an open-mouthed kiss, but it had all the impact of a battleship broadside. His friends all beamed at him as Althea stroked his cheek tenderly, and lifted her lips for another kiss.
He resisted the temptation, however, and kissed her hand instead. "Thank you all for your help and for coming. These have been a most trying couple of days. I have no doubt the next few are going to be hard too. But I give you my word I'll do anything to see Althea well. I know you all want to help, and have been most kind. If I forget to express my thanks often enough, just know that it's because I'm so distracted, not because I'm ungrateful."
"Anything you need, please ask," Sarah Davenport offered, and her husband Alexander nodded.
Philip said, "I'll have guest rooms prepared for anyone who wishes to stay. Even if you don't nurse Althea yourselves, I'm sure Matthew will be glad to have friends who can help him divert his thoughts."
They all offered to stay, and Matthew said, "Thank you so much. If I leave the door open, you can come in and help and visit. If we shut the door it's because we need privacy."
"We'll set up a nursing schedule so you can get some sleep."
"I'd appreciate a trundle bed made up in here, Philip. I'm not leaving her."
"But Matthew, you're going to be exhausted in no time," Jasmine protested. "Everyone here will-"
"Do their best, yes, I know. But I have to do better even than that. Althea is my wife now. She means the whole world to me."
Blake's arrival a short time later with his wife Arabella helped them all get more
organised, but he respected Matthew's insistence that he remain with his wife at all times.
"You do what you feel you have to. Just tell us when you need some time alone."
"Listen, Blake, I really do appreciate you coming back to Town like this-"
"Think nothing of it. I'm only ashamed that you would even have hesitated to call on me."
"Well, Antony's been so helpful, he and Oliver. And you were gone, and-"
The tall dark haired doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "You know us. The Rakehells never let a chap down. And if you're thinking I'm mad at you over Arabella, don't be silly. Any man in the world who didn't want to marry my wife would be a fool and not worth knowing." He grinned.
Matthew offered his hand and they shook heartily.
"And while I'm here, let me just say congratulations. I hope you'll both be very happy. As soon as you're back down in Somerset, take Althea to see Eswara. She'll be much better off talking to a woman."
"Thank you."
"And come see me yourself if you need someone to confide in," he said with a long, lingering look at the pale and nervous young man, a far cry from the worldy and self-assured Matthew Dane he knew of old. "I'm going up to my room for a wash. I'll be back."
Philip popped his head around the door a short time later. "I'm heading down to Enfield in the morning with Jasmine and the Davenports."
"Be careful."
"Don't worry. Alexander is nothing if not clever and resourceful."
Matthew nodded, but all the same, he found himself praying again that whatever he and his friends did wouldn't end up making matters worse for poor Althea.
Chapter Nine
Matthew was moved at how his friends had all banded together to help him, but he insisted on nursing Althea as much as he could by himself. He dressed her, changed her, fed her, mopped her fevered brow. All the while her body was so near his, tantalising in its pink perfection, that his hands trembled. And touched.
And as the days and nights passed, he went on from touching to full possession.
He didn't know what had come over him-it was if he had taken some sort of drug that rendered him incapable of rational thought where she was concerned.
All Althea had to do was turn her face up to his for a kiss, wrap her arms around him to steady her reeling world, and his tilted off its axis.
He had no idea if she even knew what she was doing as she snuggled into his body so importunately at night when they were alone and the whole house slept. Her fervent breathy cries told him she was fulfilled, but was this uninhibited response the result of his skill as a lover, or the drugged state she was being weaned from?
All he knew was that he couldn't resist her. Though he tried to be gentle she drove him on, sometimes even taking the dominant role on top, guiding him into her feminine sweetness when he was scarcely even awake.
Other times she simply stared into space, and he didn't know if her confusion was from the opium withdrawal, or a deep unhappiness. He tried to get her interested in the things she had liked, embroidery, music, reading, but she was so listless it was heart-rending to see. He got her a kitten and a puppy to try to take her out of herself more. She fed and attended to their needs, even played with them, yet not once did she ever smile.
Only when Althea looked at him at times, before he kissed her, did Matthew ever see a hint of the sparkle that had once lit her blue eyes. It was as though all of her spirit had been leached out, leaving this pale and wan copy of the bright, lovely debutante who had turned the head of every man in London.
Was that how this had happened? Someone had seen her at a dance, coveted her, snatched her from her friend's home, a ball or soiree? Had a seemingly innocent offer of a lift home turned ugly, into the abduction and brutality the poor child had had to endure?
When he thought about this, and his own part in her ruin, he felt his gorge rise once more. Then he would try to withhold himself from her, sleeping on the trundle bed until Althea would awake screaming in the night and cling to him hysterically.
Often she would only quieten if he made love to her. He would start out gently, but her urgent entreaties would drive him on fiercely, sometimes over and over again all night, until at last her wakefulness subsided.
Matthew felt appalled at his own need, his lack of moderation where she was concerned. It was like taking advantage of someone who was ill. Not to mention the fact that she was after all his wife.
Even worse was him equating himself with the men who had held her in thrall. Was he any different from them, lusting after the poor girl? Keeping her under lock and key forcing her to bend to his will, to eat, sleep, drink, bathe, all at his say so, while he weaned her off the opium?
He felt so shaken and shamed, he did not even discuss it with her doctors, and was almost obsessive about keeping her, her nightrails and the linens immaculate, concealing his deeds from the rest of the world as his friends came in and out during the day to sit with her and allow him to get some real sleep.
Antony and Blake had told him everyone was different. That with some it took them very little time to become addicted, and with others a very long time to be free of the gnawing hunger for the drug.
Matthew wanted to be patient, never give up hope, but some days he wondered if she would ever be back to normal again. Then he would sigh at the thought. How could she ever be normal again? Ravished, and now wed. He wondered too if she even recollected their wedding ceremony.
He felt ragged, worn out, on edge, but he knew this was also because all their attempts to discover what had happened to Althea had met with a stony silence that was all the more telling because it was so utter.
Antony, Oliver and Philip had come away with nothing. If anyone knew anything, they were far too terrified to say. Again, it suggested a really powerful man or group of men had been responsible for what had happened, and would do anything to make sure they were never found out.
Try as he might, Matthew couldn't even begin to guess how his sweet cousin could have ever drawn the attention of someone like that. None of her friends knew anything either. All of them were safe and well, and seemed innocent of any knowledge of her whereabouts other than that she had been living quietly at Enfield with her step-mother and step-brother.
Alistair Grant, despite all of his connections, had no news either, but the barrister was confident that even if his men or the Bow Street Runners didn't find anything, some of Philip's or Oliver's seamier connections just might.
Philip's visit to Enfield had turned up only the fact that her step-mother had seemed a bit on edge, but she had convinced him that she truly believed Althea was staying with friends in London.
At his cousin Angelica's house though, he did learn one interesting thing from her shy daughter Patrice. Several girls had eloped from the area in the past few years. Enfield and its adjoining villages were not on any main routes to the Town, so this seemed strange. Equally odd was the fact that none of the girls seemed to have wanted to attempt a reconciliation with their families once they had done so.
In most cases, elopements were a bit of a strain and scandal, but the family usually had to accept that the couple were married, make some sort of marriage settlement, and the thing would gradually blow over. If the man were only toying with the girl, she would be ashamed, of course, and many hard-hearted parents would no doubt shut the door in their faces.
But Philip had found that all of the girls had been quiet, respectable, decent, church-goers. None of them had seemed likely to be very flighty. Their parents were good Christians, loving, not liable to be so uncharitable as to heap coals upon their heads when they were at their lowest ebb.
He called upon the local vicars, and they all professed some surprise at the sheer number of girls, which Philip guessed to be at least half a dozen in as many years, if not more. Was it possible that one man had systematically set out to ruin them all?
Unfortunately Althea had not been able to provide any clues as to what had happened
to her. She said she had gone to bed one night in her own chamber, and when she had next awakened, she had found herself tied up in a dank, lightless, airless dungeon. She wasn't even sure if she had been in London or Enfield, and no amount of coaxing could get her to say more.
The expression in her eyes was enough to convince Matthew and Alistair not to probe any further. If she did recall any more than that, now was not the time to ask her. She continued to suffer uneasiness, insomnia and confusion, and an overwhelming lassitude which had her husband fearing she was never going to be well.
As February advanced to March, her bruises had all healed, her broken bones had mended. Despite Philip's protests to the contrary, Matthew insisted that he had prevailed upon his friend's hospitality long enough.
"Blake needs to head down to Somerset. He has patients, and Eswara his assistant and her son are really at the end of their tether. So as long as we can travel down with them, so I can be sure Althea is safe and well, I ought to do it."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 4 (The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Sets) Page 59