by Rebecca King
“I don’t understand,” she whispered tearfully. “I thought–but Cecily said–everyone-”
“You need to understand my parents and the way their strange minds work to be able to understand the machinations that go on between them. While they have had a long-standing and happy marriage, it is highly unconventional and a somewhat formal arrangement–or so I believed. In fact, what I have been witnessing of late is a strange discomfort between my parents that waged between formal and normal.”
“I don’t understand,” Georgiana whispered, wondering if she had slipped into a dream state where nothing made sense anymore. Her mind refused to work beyond the stunning realisation that Will hadn’t married Penelope Smedgrove after all, and never would be.
“Were you engaged to her?” Georgiana interrupted. She didn’t want to hear about his parent’s marriage, she wanted to hear about him.
Will shook his head.
“But you led me to believe-” she protested.
“I hope you suffered,” he said without apology.
“Pardon?” She asked in shock.
“I hope you have been just as miserable as I have,” he replied. “You see, my parents saw something in me that I had no idea was there. They recognised it many years ago, when I was a teenager apparently, only sat back and waited for me to grow out of it. When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to, and less and less likely that I would recognise it for myself, they decided to take matters into their own hands. As such, they began to pile on pressure and pester me about marriage about as much as your mother pestered you about, well, everything.”
Georgiana remained mute and listened while she struggled to understand.
“One day, they pushed too far, and we ended up having a blazing argument about it. I have lived with what I perceived was the stiff formality of my parent’s marriage. There was no earthly possibility that I would succumb to the same torment and so always refused to consider marriage. My parents might be happy in their arrangement, but having a wife who ate breakfast at a table that was twenty feet long was not my idea of a happy marriage. Moreover, no wife of mine was going to have her own suite of rooms on the opposite side of the house and live as bloody stranger under the same roof.”
Georgiana’s lips twitched at the fervency behind his words but she didn’t take him to task over his epithet. In fact, rather than be shocked by it, his utterance of it endeared him to her even more. It made him more of a person, less stuffy and formal. It was wonderful.
“I told my parents that if I was stupid enough to enter into a cold-blooded marriage, I would rather marry someone staid and boring like Penelope Smedgrove.” He huffed a laugh. “I left shortly after, but it seems that I handed my mother the perfect weapon to put phase two of her plan into action. She then went to the ball and announced to your mother that I was going to marry Penelope Smedgrove of all people. She made sure that the salient information was handed to your mother, who revelled in being the blessed with the confidence of someone like my mother, and began to twitter on about marriage and weddings soon after to anybody who would listen frankly.”
“I know,” Georgiana sighed. “I was there.”
Will nodded. He kissed her fingers. “Then you left and I realised what my mother was putting about. To my horror, she had taken what I had said in anger as consent that I was prepared to marry Penelope Smedgrove. When I found out she had already started to spread the word, I lambasted my father but was inevitably drawn into a web of deceit that had even me convinced that I was destined to marry the chit.”
“I don’t understand,” Georgiana sighed. “Why would they lie to you about something like that? It doesn’t make sense.”
“My mother is just as bad as yours. But, Agnes is considerably more underhand and sneaky. Yours is loud and brash and has a yen for theatrics. I would prefer your mother to my own, but we are all burdened with family we cannot change.” Aware that Georgiana was staring at him in confusion, Will sighed. “I digress. You see, I have no idea what my parents recognised in me at an early age that I didn’t understand, but they say they have known all along that I have a special relationship with you that goes far beyond friendship. I thought it was deuced odd that whenever you had your season in London, I was swiftly dispatched there as well to ‘keep an eye on you’. I didn’t raise issue with it at the time because I was more than happy to spend time with you. I have to confess that I have, over the course of time, interfered, and even thwarted the endeavours of a few ardent suitors whose intentions were less than honourable. Anyhow, you reached one and twenty without crossing paths with someone determined to race you up the aisle. I was able to relax, confident in the knowledge that while in Cranbury, your mother dictated enough of your life to make sure that no suitor would steal you away.”
“I was safe,” she whispered. “You could go your own way.”
“Yes, from any challenge to your heart,” Will replied.
Georgiana gasped. Her stomach flipped. “Pardon?”
“When I left here, I returned to Cranbury and adamantly refused to marry Penelope Smedgrove. My mother promptly dismissed that as a ruse and assured me that they have known all along it would be futile to try to persuade me to marry anyone but you. You see, my parents have known for many years now that I am in love with you. You have not just been my shadow, you have been a part of me even when I have not been anywhere near Cranbury. I have been unable to stop worrying about you no matter where I am, even to the point that I have altered my plans just to see you myself and make sure you are alright. This, I fear, has led my parents to understand that my affections are engaged with you and are not likely to change now that I have reached adulthood.”
“Are they?” Georgian gasped, her heart full of hope. “Are they engaged?”
“Most definitely,” Will said huskily. “Upon seeing you in the lake, any good, respectable friend would have turned his back, scolded you, and left you to your own devices, or waited at a discrete distance to escort you home. Rather than doing any of that, I battled with the need to join you, and ended up kissing you in broad daylight for the world to see.”
“Of all people to be caught by, it had to be Mrs Atterton,” Georgiana replied ruefully.
Will grinned at her.
“I make no apology for kissing you,” she whispered.
“Good, I don’t want you to,” he replied huskily. He forced himself to keep his attention focused on what he wanted to say to her before he kissed her again because he knew that once he started to kiss her he wasn’t likely to stop.
“When my father found out what had happened, he began to laugh. Neither of my parents were surprised when I returned home without you and was thoroughly moody and miserable. They were even less surprised when I couldn’t stand being away from you and back for you.”
“You have been miserable too?” she whispered.
“Desperately so,” he assured her. “So much so that I can’t sleep properly, nothing seems right any more, and I am completely unable to find any interest in anything except for you. You seem to be my favourite pass-time because I spend most of my waking hours wondering where you are and what you are doing.”
“So why have your parents told everyone that you are getting married if you aren’t? It will cause a terrible scandal when word gets about that it has all been a lie. What about poor Penelope?”
“My mother hasn’t told anybody other your mother. I understand that your mother, in spite of being told not to, has discretely told a few of her acquaintances who don’t move amongst the ton,” Will replied. “My mother has admitted to telling a few of her friends that I am getting married but hasn’t mentioned any names.”
“Why?” she asked huskily.
“Because I am getting married, just not to Penelope Smedgrove,” Will said bluntly.
Georgiana saw the possession in his eyes and struggled to contain the wild leap of her heart. There was something inside her that still refused to accept this wasn’t all a dream, an
d that she wouldn’t wake up in a minute with tears on her pillow and an ache in her heart again like she had every day since she had learned he was to marry.
“Oh?” she asked, trying to keep her face bland.
She watched in astonishment as he knelt before her and held both of his hands in his. Her fingers were stone cold in contrast to his warmth, but she revelled in the comfort they gave her, especially when her world was spinning on its axis.
“Marry me?” He pleaded softly. “I love you completely, truly, honestly, openly, with everything I have. It appears that I always have. It has taken your abandoning me in Cranbury for me to realise it. While I must admit that I have been a buffoon to try to get you to stop experiencing your adventures, it is purely because I have been terrified at the prospect of losing you.”
“I still want to try some of them,” she whispered.
Will nodded. “I want you to try everything on your list, except for curricle racing. That is far too dangerous, and not worth risking your life for. You can drive my curricle any time you want to though.”
While he was talking, Georgiana had been leaning toward him, drawn to the moist temptation of his lips. When she heard what he said she leaned back and lifted her brows at him.
“You would do that? You would let me drive your curricle?” she whispered, her smile widening with his.
“You can even borrow my clothes if you like, although only in the house.”
Georgiana began to laugh and saw nothing but pure honesty staring back at her.
“You mean it, don’t you? You really would allow me to wear your clothing?”
“Of course. As man and wife we will share everything. I insist upon it,” he promised. “With you as my wife, I promise you that I will add a few new adventures to the list for us to experience together. I shall encourage you to complete everything you wish to do as long as you keep me by your side.”
“Will you?” he whispered when she merely stared at him in amazement. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and be my wife?”
“Yes,” she whispered joyously. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I love you, I always have. Since the moment I first set eyes on you at eight years old, you were my hero. You have been every day since.”
“Eight years old?” He leaned back to study her, his loving gaze full of wonderment. “I have to confess that when my parents told me they knew I loved you from an early age I had to question them, but the more I thought about it the more I realised they were right. I have always loved you too.”
“Your parents are sneaky,” she whispered. “I like them.”
“Well, that’s alright then because they love you.” At her astonished look, Will nodded. “In fact, my father informed me that if I didn’t stop wasting time and get up here to insist on your hand in marriage he would come and fetch you himself.”
Georgiana laughed. She had to confess that if Will’s father did that she would most probably go with him.
“I love you,” she whispered, tugging his head down for a very thorough kiss.
“I love you too.”
“Really?”
She studied him with a hint of wariness in her eye he didn’t like.
“Really,” he replied warily.
“Then you won’t mind me going skinny dipping again, or maybe sharing a glass of brandy with me in front of the fire occasionally?” she said hopefully.
Will’s brows lifted, but he didn’t mind one bit. “I wouldn’t mind sharing a goblet of brandy with you in front of the fire, and I don’t mind you going skinny dipping at all as long as you take me with you.”
When she would have leaned into his kiss, she drew back.
“Now that I come to think about it,” she said thoughtfully, and playfully punched him on his arm when he groaned. “I have to insist on one thing.”
“Insist? On what?” He adored her so much that he was prepared to offer her the world, and agree to anything she suggested as long as it made her happy.
“I don’t want a staid and boring life. Your family’s estate is large, and a certain amount of expectation will be placed upon me as you wife and I am happy to play my part but I don’t want our life to be dull.”
“You will be under a certain amount of expectation darling, but you will also be the Lady of the house. Your job is to make the decisions for everybody else, with the Housekeeper’s help of course. So, in a way, whatever you have to sacrifice to fulfil the job of Lady of the house, you will gain because you will be in command of everything, including me and whatever children we have.”
Georgiana hadn’t ever stopped to consider marriage like that before, but he was right. It made her small sacrifice well worth the huge gain she would have by marrying such a wonderful man, who already owned her heart.
“Marrying you will be no sacrifice,” she replied. “I give you my heart willingly.”
“You have always had mine,” he replied with a rueful grin. “I just didn’t realise it. It took losing you to make me see that.”
“I promise to take care of it,” she whispered, and peppered his cheek with loving kisses.
“Will you promise me something?” He asked after several moments of very thorough loving.
“Anything,” she promised.
“Let us make a new list of adventures. One we can both complete together,” Will said.
Georgiana laughed. “As long as the first adventure on the list is marriage, then of course we can.”
“Well, the second one has to be children,” Will replied with a grin.
“Oh?” Her cheeks heated as she looked at him.
He nodded. “At least three or four.”
“That’s sounds an adventure,” she declared happily.
“It is. It is the adventure of a lifetime,” he assured her.
The End.
RECKLESS DESIRE
Saved By Desire Series
Book Six
RELEASED FEBRUARY 2017
Horrified at receiving a proposal from the one man in London she would never marry, Marguerite leaves the scene, and runs straight into the arms of Joseph ‘Joe’ Haversham, one of the Star Elite’s best undercover operatives.
It quickly becomes evident that Joe suspects she is not as innocent as she appears and is instead involved in helping one of London’s most notorious criminals commit his crimes. Determined to clear her name, Marguerite is drawn into a confusing mix of deceit and pretence that makes her doubt everything she sees and question everybody’s behaviour, including Joe’s.
Joe is coldly furious when he finds himself having to prove his innocence to her just to get to the truth. When he does, he demands something in return–something that at first, Marguerite isn’t prepared to give. When someone makes an attempt on her life, she has no choice but to go along with Joe’s proposal to capture the person responsible. Posing as Joe’s intended wife is just about as ridiculous as accepting the Count’s offer of marriage but, if it proves to Joe that she isn’t involved in any crime then Marguerite knows she must. In doing so though, she alters the course of both of their futures, and quickly finds herself contemplating making the charade become a reality.
With his colleagues surrendering to the dubious delights of matrimony all around him, Joe is more determined than ever not to become one of them. Unfortunately for him, Marguerite has other ideas. Will she succeed in catching her man, or will Sayers finally capture one of the Star Elite’s most hardened warriors?
TO HONOUR A WAGER SERIES
THE BET
RELEASED MARCH 2017
Book One
When five friends, Rufus, Elijah, Sam, Robard, and Myles, watch one of the most celebrated rogues of their time marry, a bet is placed. The stakes are high. Nobody can afford to lose.
The bet is to avoid marriage for the next twelve months. It sounds simple enough, but with desperate relatives and conniving and relentless matchmaking mamas determined to trap them at every quarter, and Fate throwing them in rather unusual and adventur
ous circumstances, the men realise that winning the bet is considerably harder than they ever imagined.
When Ben, the instigator of the bet, receives devastating news he has to abandon his friends and race home. What happens on his journey alters the course of his future and suddenly a lifetime is not enough to put right the damage he causes.
Estelle’s life is changed forever during one dark and stormy night, especially when she crosses paths with an arrogant oaf who seems to believe the countryside belongs to him. In a bizarre series of events she is drawn into a dark and dangerous world of lies and subterfuge which makes seemingly innocent local folklore become something far more sinister.
Unable to leave Estelle to face the dangers surrounding her home alone, Ben is drawn into her fight for survival. However, with more than his fair share of problems surrounding him, can he reach home before death takes its toll on a loved one, or will he have to face losing Estelle forever?
Whatever the case may be, this marriage wager may not all be what is expected by the men who make it, or the women who stumble into their lives and alter their futures forever. Can happy endings ever be found, or does Fate have other ideas?
OTHER BOOKS BY REBECCA KING
Further details on all of Rebecca’s books can be found on her website:
Rebeccaking-author.co.uk
SAVED BY DESIRE SERIES
One Penny Surprise (Book One)
To Catch a Thief – Released (Book Two)
Mistaken Identity (Book Three)
A Scandal Most Daring (Book Four)
Hiding Rose (Book Five)
OTHER BOOKS
Shattered Dreams
Lies and Misdemeanours