by Cheryl Bolen
“Oh, I can't,” she said.
“I insist.”
“You'll take yer death of cold.”
“I once told you I'd die for you.”
Oh, my. Dottie hoped she didn't faint. She drew a breath and plopped her slender foot upon his sodden cloak. One step. Two. Three. Then she scurried toward the door. Though her thoughts were flying in different directions, she was still vaguely aware of how fiercely cold it was.
Inside the house, she waited to express her appreciation to him. Her satin slippers—a castaway from Lady Sophia that were still perfectly beautiful—were neither muddy nor wet but only slightly damp.
He came striding in like a knight of yore, handing the drenched cloak to a footman while uttering directions on what to do with it. Then he came to her. “My dear Dottie, I should like to take the liberty of speaking to you in the library for a moment.”
They went to the library. She was shaking all over and was quite sure she would truly be incapable of speech.
He eased the door shut and came to stand before her. “I wish to apologize for my appalling manners yesterday. I had decided that I wished to ask you for your hand in marriage for many reasons, one of them being that I perceived you needed me to take care of you. Because you were not able to speak.”
How Dottie wished to squeal with delight and tell him she did want a big strong man like him to take care of her. How difficult it was not to launch herself into his arms.
“When Miss . . . that is, Lady Sophia said how capable you were, I felt deflated, like you didn't need me.”
“Oh, but I do.”
So she was able to talk, after all.
The corners of his mouth lifted. “Do you mean that?”
She nodded.
“I must tell you it wasn't the fine clothes you wore that engaged my affections. It was you. Your small stature. Your sweet face. Your intoxicating kisses. It was your face that I pictured every night as I lay in my bed. Last night was torture.” He drew her into his arms and held her for a moment.
It was surely the happiest moment of her life. Then he lowered his head and kissed her with far more passion than previously. Then he held her some more.
“I don't even know what your last name is, my dear Dottie. Whatever it is, I should like to change it.”
“It's not that bad a name, really. Not nearly so foolish as Door. Whatever would you change it to?”
“I've grown very fond of the name Thompson.”
Then she realized how foolish she'd been and wondered if hearts could explode with happiness. “I have grown very fond of Mr. Thompson, and I should prefer your name above all others.”
Once more he drew her into his arms. “There is no happier person in the kingdom than I.”
“I believe I am. It's been a doubly blessed day for me, for my dear Lady Sophia has found her heart's desire. And so have I, my dear Mr. Thompson.”
Chapter 21
Darkness had fallen. Their hands were clasped, her head rested on his shoulder, and rain pelted against the roof of her husband's brand new coach. She tucked the rug more tightly to her chilled legs. “How much farther, my darling, to your brother's country home?”
He sighed. “We should have been there by now. Blasted rain.” He dropped a kiss on top her head. “This isn't how I'd planned to spend our wedding night.”
“Once we get to Adam's, all will be well. He sent staff ahead to ensure fires were built in every chamber.” She began to trace slow circles upon his muscled thigh and rasped. “We will have the entire place all to ourselves.”
Neither Dottie nor Thompson was to come. William had said assisting his wife into and out of her clothes was to be a pleasure reserved for himself.
“By the way, love, are you not going to read that letter you received from Thompson just before we left?” she asked.
“I'd forgotten about it.” He took it from his pocket and began to read. Then he refolded the letter and restored it to his pocket, saying not a word.
“Well?” she queried.
“Thompson tells me he is taking time off from his duties for an important occurrence.”
“Did he tell you what the occurrence is?”
“He did.”
She glared. “And . . . ?”
“He's to wed. I believe you are acquainted with the bride.”
She began to squeal. “Give me that letter!”
He chuckled and gave it to her.
After she read it, she smiled from ear to ear. “Oh, my darling, this is the best day of my life. Dreams have come true for me and for my dear Dottie.”
“And for your husband.” He drew her into his arms for a tender kiss.
Since Adam's estate wasn't far from London—and since no one else would be there—it had seemed like the perfect place for their honeymoon.
“I shall instruct the servants to leave a tray of food on the floor outside my bedchamber door because, Mrs. Birmingham, I don't plan to leave the room all week.”
“How curious it is that we think so much alike, my love.”
“I knew we did that night when you knew Pope.”
“What did you know?”
“That you were THE one. The one for me. The only one for me.”
She effected a mock pout. “My taste in poetry is all that captivated you?”
He chuckled. “I know you are accustomed to having your beauty praised, but remember the night we met you looked as if you'd just swum the Channel.”
“I must have been a most piteous sight.”
He lovingly stroked the side of her face. “It didn't take long before I realized you were possessed of stunning beauty. But that was only one of your many attractions.”
“There are others?” She hoped that she had pleased him that one night in his arms.
He nodded and spoke in a husky whisper. “Why do you think I plan to spend an entire week in bed with you?”
She drew in a long breath. “I just lost my appetite. For food.”
The rains started coming down even more fiercely. It was no longer the top of the coach getting the brunt of the hammering rains. Now howling winds drove the rain sideways.
“The last thing we need is for the coach to get stuck in mud,” he said.
“I agree. We need to find a place to stop before that happens.”
He conveyed that message to his bedraggled coachman.
Ten minutes later, they pulled into an inn yard.
“Allow me to go make the arrangements. I shall ask for the finest room.” He took both her hands. “I'm sorry our wedding night will have to be spent at a coaching inn.”
“As long as I'm with you, I will be the happiest woman in the kingdom.” She lifted the hood of her red velvet cloak.
Five minutes later he returned. “I shall have to ask that you not show your beautiful face, my dearest.”
Her brows lowered. “Why?”
He shrugged as he swept her into his arms and began to carry her from the coach. “Because the innkeeper may remember that on a previous visit I said you were my sister. Tonight I've said you're my wife.”
That was when she saw the swinging sign for the Prickly Pig.
“Oh, dear. Will we have to use his private chambers again?”
“Thank God, no. It's early enough that we have been able to procure the largest suite.”
William's coachman held open the inn's thick timber door, and William went straight for the narrow wooden staircase. She was careful to keep her head turned away from the populated rooms.
The chamber he brought her to was large, and it looked nothing like the cluttered chambers of the innkeeper. Best of all, it was warm. A wood fire blazed in its big stone hearth. The bottle of Madeira and two glasses he'd requested awaited them on a table next to the settee in front of the hearth.
He put her down, and she divested herself of her wet cloak. She was otherwise bone dry—thanks to her husband carrying her from the coach. She watched hungrily as he removed his sodde
n greatcoat, then the damp coat beneath it. When he sat to remove his boots, she went to her knees and assisted.
Then they stood, and she flowed into his arms like clay to its mold. “It seems almost incomprehensible that we met just two weeks ago beneath this very roof.”
“I know. It seems as if you're a part of me, that we've always been together.”
“It's fitting, I think, that we're back here for our wedding night. I fell in love with you here. I had not the slightest doubt of it even though I'd just met you.”
“I realize now what I'd felt for Isadore that night must have been love.”
“Isadore?”
He held her tightly. “Do not be surprised, my lady, when you're a shrunken little white-haired woman and your husband is still calling you Isadore.”
EPILOGUE
Six months later . . .
Sophia had been pacing the floor waiting for her husband to return. He had obtained one of the coveted seats in the House of Lords' gallery for the trial of the century. Today was the day the verdict would be handed down in the Lord Finkel trial. Every word spoken in the proceedings had been faithfully recorded, and there was scarcely a person in London who had not heard of the vile lord's reprehensible deeds or read of them in the many newspapers that reported on the trial.
When William finally came through the door, she was standing there. “Guilty?”
He nodded grimly.
“The punishment?”
“He's to hang until his death.” He shrugged. “I confess when we went into this, I feared the lords would protect their own. I had not gauged how mightily those men detested his actions. And Devere was instrumental in swaying the more lenient lords.”
“My brother has always commanded respect.” She came to her husband and wrapped her arms around him as she nestled the side of her face into his chest. “I'm not sorry about Finkel. I had grown to hate him. He would have killed you that day at Finkel House to keep you from disclosing the existence of Lucy Mackenzie.”
“And he would have done other things that don't bear contemplation.”
She cringed. She would most definitely have splattered herself on the pavement beneath St. Paul's dome rather than subject herself to Finkie's embraces. And more.
“One good thing.”
“What?” he asked.
“Were it not for the man's vileness, I would never have met you that night at the Prickly Pig.”
“Then it seems I owe my happiness to the most hated man in all of England.”
THE END
Win a $50 Gift Certificate
I hope you enjoyed Oh What A (Wedding) Night. If you did, would you please consider posting a review by the book's listing at Amazon.com or another a site where you might have read it? If you do, please send me an email at [email protected] and I will enter your name in one of my quarterly drawings for a $50 gift certificate to an eBook retailer of your choice. Each time you review one of my books, let me know, and you will get another entry for each review. There will be a drawing each quarter.
Thank you from Cheryl Bolen
Brazen Brides series
Counterfeit Countess (Book 1)
One Golden Ring (Book 2)
Oh What A (Wedding) Night (Book 3)
Marriage of Inconvenience (Book 4)
Counterfeit Countess
“Readers who like their Regencies spiced with danger and desire will love Bolen's humorous and sexy romance”—Booklist
How can Edward, the Earl of Warwick, get rid of the beautiful woman who comes barreling into his house with no less than fourteen trunks, a younger sister, a maid, and a very large cat? The imposter claims to be Lady Warwick.
Under orders from his superior at the Foreign Office, Edward can't get rid of her because her late husband held the clue to the identity of England's greatest traitor, a clue they must get. But how can Edward be with Maggie, the lovely counterfeit countess, day in and day out—and still keep his pledge to wed another?
One Golden Ring
Holt Medallion 2006, Best Historical Romance
“Who can resist a marriage of convenience between a couple who have nothing in common—but passion!”—Eloisa James, New York Times Best-selling author
The past year has been most unkind to Lady Fiona Hollingsworth. First, the man she has been promised to for half her life (Edward, Earl Warwick, hero of Counterfeit Countess) broke her heart by marrying another. Then her beloved father died, leaving his financial affairs in shambles. And now her eldest brother has been abducted by Spanish outlaws who demand an exorbitant ransom to ensure his safe return. Desperate to save her brother, Fiona remembers a chance meeting with the handsome Nicholas Birmingham, the richest stockbroker in all of England, a man shunned by her brother. She casts her pride aside and goes to Nicholas, but all she has to offer as collateral is . . . herself.
Oh What A (Wedding) Night
As Lady Sophia Beresford (recently Lady Finkel) passes through the gates of her new bridegroom’s country estate and he begins to whisper in her ear of the delights that await her in his bed, Lady Sophia realizes she has made a most dreadful mistake. There’s only one thing to do. She must bolt.
The bride-on-the-run is rescued by the exceedingly handsome William Birmingham who thinks she’s a woman named Isadore, and though he’s the richest man in England, she mistakes him for a common (but well-to-do) criminal. Since she’d rather be dead than wed to Finkel, Sophia pretends to be Isadore and take her chances with the provocative Mr. Birmingham. But how could she have known that her ruse would bring the gallant Mr. Birmingham into such peril from the wicked man she married? And how could she have known her enigmatic rescuer would ignite passions she’d never known she possessed?
Marriage of Inconvenience
You can read about Maggie's bookish sister, Rebecca Peabody, in Marriage of Inconvenience.
“Long-time fans and new readers alike will be delighted with her [Rebecca Peabody's] story.”—In Print, Kay Hudson
A loveless marriage between bluestocking Rebecca Peabody (sister of Counterfeit Countess) and a powerful peer turns out to be anything but. . .
Other series by Cheryl Bolen:
If you enjoyed Oh What A (Wedding) Night, you may also enjoy Cheryl’s other Regency romance series, such as the six-part The Brides of Bath series, the three-part House of Haverstock series or the four-part Regent Mystery romances:
Brides of Bath series
Currently, you can get the first book in the series, The Bride Wore Blue, free at Amazon.com and other eBook venders.
The Brides of Bath Series (available in eBook and paperback formats):
The Bride Wore Blue
With His Ring
The Bride’s Secret
To Take This Lord
Love In The Library
A Christmas in Bath
House of Haverstock series
If you enjoy Regency romances, you may enjoy the House of Haverstock series: Lady by Chance (Book 1 in the series), Duchess by Mistake (Book 2) and Countess by Coincidence (Book 3). These books are available at Amazon.com in eBook and paperback formats.
The Regent Mysteries (a fresh romance in each book)
The Regent Mystery series follows the romantic adventures of the Regent’s favorite investigators (Captain Jack Dryden and his wife Lady Daphne): With His Lady's Assistance (Book 1), A Most Discreet Inquiry (Book 2), The Theft Before Christmas (Book 3) and An Egyptian Affair (book 4).
Contemporary romantic suspense series
If you enjoy reading contemporary romantic suspense, you might enjoy Cheryl’s Texas Heroines in Peril series.
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