Between the Devil and Ian Eversea: Pennyroyal Green Series
Page 27
And all those American flowers made her feel as though her parents and brother were there with her.
A crowd of townspeople gathered to witness the marriage, as did innumerable Everseas, including Sylvaines who rode into Pennyroyal Green for the occasion, and the servants. Reverend Adam Sylvaine conducted the service, and even he couldn’t get through it without pausing to clear his throat suspiciously.
Everyone wept, for different reasons. Really, said the magnanimous, it was very big of Ian Eversea to take Miss Danforth out of circulation, as she’d caused a temporary insanity.
And every man who acted like a fool was forgiven, since Ian Eversea had clearly acted like the biggest fool of all, and in doing so had won the equivalent of—as he legendarily said—a thousand Sussex marksmanship cups.
“BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, DON’T you think? Such astonishingly colorful flowers. Such a lovely day for a wedding. So warm and bright and clear. Didn’t she look beautiful? I never thought I’d see the day when Ian would agree to be leg-shackled. He even took the promotion for the East India Company, so he’ll be in London part of the time. But she certainly is lively. He’s unlikely to be bored.”
Olivia was nervous. She was prattling inanely, and she never prattled, let alone inanely. Landsdowne was so quiet, and it was a full sort of quiet, the quiet of the preoccupied. The quiet of preparation. He was either going to tell her that they were through, that it was no use. Or . . .
“By rights it ought to rain right—”
“Olivia.”
She stopped. And took a deep breath.
“I know you don’t love me,” he said.
She nearly choked. Shocked. “I . . .”
He saved her. “But I think that one day you will. And until then, I would be content to devote my life to making you happy. For your happiness is mine.”
“Oh . . .” And now her breath was lost completely.
He paused and turned.
“Olivia . . . my dear, beautiful, Olivia . . . would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. Her hands went up to her face.
And fell again.
It wasn’t as though she hadn’t known this might happen.
She looked up at Landsdowne.
He had become dear, or he had become familiar, and sometimes those two things were one and the same.
She told herself this.
She didn’t know anymore.
She wondered if she ever would know.
It was only one word, she thought. A word upon which her entire future would turn. The word would decide whether or not she had a future. She need only open her mouth and say it.
It was simple as the flip of a coin. She told herself that.
Her heart pounded like a fist against a wall.
“Yes,” she told him softly.
She laid the word down. It felt strangely weighted to her. Like a monument.
Or a tombstone.
He closed his eyes and mouthed, Hallelujah.
And he took a long, shaky breath. His face was brilliant with happiness.
And there was that at least: she had the power to make someone else supremely happy, and it was as close to happiness as she’d felt in a very long time.
And maybe one day she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
“I should like to kiss you now,” he said.
“I should like that, too.”
She found that this was true.
He gathered her into his arms.
And in that moment she felt like a girl. It had been a long time, a very long time, since she’d been kissed. And if a tiny corner of her heart where she kept a memory in a dungeon howled betrayal, she ignored it. Lyon wasn’t here, and Landsdowne was, and she was still young.
DROWSY, THOROUGHLY SPENT, happier than any two people on the planet had ever been since time began, or so Ian emphatically claimed, he and Tansy twined their limbs and rested after the fourth bout of married lovemaking in their new home.
“I wanted to give you something when we were alone, Tansy. Close your eyes and hold out your palm.”
“Very funny, Ian. It’s so large I’d have to hold out two palms to hold it.”
He laughed. “Just do it, please.”
She closed her eyes, and he trickled something that felt like a very fine chain into her hand.
“Open your eyes.”
She gazed down into a fine little pool of gold. She used her little finger to scoop it up, and lifted. It was a necklace.
Dangling from it was a tiny gold star.
He was rewarded when her eyes began to shine with tears and then she laughed.
“A gift! Of all things, yet another gift from Ian Eversea.”
“I’ve discovered I’ve developed a taste for giving them.”
Wonderingly, she ran her thumb over the tiny, simple, exquisite little star. Not expensive. But perfect.
“It’s etched!”
“Turn it over, Tansy, and read it.”
She turned it over and read it aloud: “Forever.”
“My favorite word!” she said delightedly.
“Mine, too. It’s our word now.”
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author JULIE ANNE LONG originally set out to be a rock star when she grew up (and she has the guitars and fringed clothing stuffed in the back of her closet to prove it), but writing was always her first love. Since hanging up her guitar for the computer keyboard, Julie has written books that frequently top reader and critic polls and have been nominated for numerous awards, including the RITA®, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice, and The Quill, and reviewers have been known to use words like “dazzling,” “brilliant,” and “impossible to put down” when describing them. Julie lives in Northern California.
Visit Julie at www.julieannelong.com
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By Julie Anne Long
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND IAN EVERSEA
IT HAPPENED ONE MIDNIGHT
A NOTORIOUS COUNTESS CONFESSES
HOW THE MARQUESS WAS WON
WHAT I DID FOR A DUKE
I KISSED AN EARL
SINCE THE SURRENDER
LIKE NO OTHER LOVER
THE PERILS OF PLEASURE
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND IAN EVERSEA. Copyright © 2014 by Julie Anne Long. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Epub Edition APRIL 2014 ISBN: 9780062118134
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-211811-0
FIRST EDITION
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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