The Accidental Marriage

by Sally James

  Julia had retired, Foster told him when he arrived home. Sir Carey nodded and climbed the stairs to his own room. He wondered for a moment whether to go to Julia, but he had never been into her bedroom here, though at this house their rooms were separated only by his own dressing room. Then he shook his head. He had promised her he would make no demands. They could talk in the morning, and he would send Caroline home straight away.

  Tanner was waiting for him in his dressing room, and Sir Carey undressed swiftly. He dismissed the man and put on his night robe. He spent a few minutes writing a letter to his steward at Courtlands, and then picked up the candle and walked through to his bedroom.

  Setting the candle down on the night table he pulled aside the curtains, and blinked. There was someone in his bed. For a moment his heart leapt as he wondered if Julia, for some reason of her own, had invaded his privacy, and then he saw that the curls peeping from beneath the covers were paler than Julia’s bright locks. He snatched up the candle and bent closer.

  ‘Just what the devil do you think you are doing?’ he demanded.

  Angelica smiled lazily up at him. ‘I came to you, my love. I thought it was time to stop this silly game.’

  ‘Get out! You’ll go home at once, and I never want to see you again. By heavens, I had a fortunate escape when you jilted me!’

  She stared up at him, disbelief and anger striving for supremacy in her face. ‘But you love me!’ she almost screamed. ‘Carey, it was all a mistake! Mrs Webber told me you know it was her brother. He and your cousin kept telling me of the women you had in Vienna. They made me think you were unfaithful, and I only meant to show you I didn’t care, to make you come and plead with me to forgive you! I never meant to marry him!’

  She had struggled out of the bed and ran towards him. She was naked, and had drenched herself with the strong perfume she favoured. He grasped her arms and shook her. ‘You she-devil! Who helped you? How did you get in here without anyone seeing you?’

  ‘I won’t tell you! Carey, you can get an annulment, and then we could be wed as we planned. Please! Carey, I love you so much!’

  She fell as he released her and moved away, then she began to crawl towards him, moaning his name continuously.

  He turned and saw Julia standing in the doorway.

  ‘I heard the commotion,’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll find her a wrap.’

  Angelica saw her and began to hurl abuse at her.

  ‘You’re not a real wife,’ she shouted. ‘You’ve never shared a bed! It’s not a proper marriage. Tanner told my father’s valet, and he told Papa, and I heard him and Mama talking about it, saying you should get an annulment, because that woman trapped you, but it’s not a real marriage. You could still marry me!’

  ‘You are the last girl I would ever marry,’ he said, ‘and unless you agree to leave now, I’ll carry you back to your home just as you are.’

  Julia returned bringing one of her own dressing robes, and a small phial. Between them they wrapped the robe round Angelica, and Julia pushed her to sit on the bed.

  ‘Take this, it will calm you,’ she ordered, and poured something into a small glass. Meekly Angelica obeyed.

  ‘Where are your clothes?’ Julia asked, and Angelica gestured towards the far side of the bed.

  ‘Behind the curtains. I hid them. I hid under the bed when the maid came to turn it down.’

  She seemed to have collapsed, all her furious energy gone. She permitted Julia to dress her, while Julia asked questions.

  ‘Who helped you? Was it Caroline?’

  She nodded. ‘I persuaded her to. She said she wanted to pay you back for recognizing her at the masquerade.’

  Julia turned to Sir Carey. ‘Can you go and find a hackney? Best not use your own carriage. We can take her home, and perhaps no one need know.’ She turned to Angelica, who was now weeping quietly. ‘If we cannot return you to your parents your reputation will be completely ruined, so you had best cooperate.’

  * * * *

  It was some time before Sir Carey, Julia and Angelica were dressed and able to slip down the back stairs into the garden. Julia waited with the girl while Sir Carey went to fetch a hackney, which they clambered into at the end of the road. She was wondering exactly what Sir Carey would do to Caroline for this latest escapade.

  Angelica seemed to revive slightly as they drove towards her house.

  ‘Let me out at the end of the road. I can get into the house without anyone knowing.’

  ‘Think again,’ Sir Carey told her. ‘I am coming in to inform your parents of what you have been doing. Then it is their business, but I hope they take you back to the country and don’t permit you to set foot in London for several years, until you have grown up and can be trusted to behave responsibly.’

  ‘I only wanted to live in a castle,’ she said, bursting into tears. ‘It wasn’t you I wanted, but your house. It was so romantic, to have a real castle for a home.’

  ‘Then I suggest you try to find a man who has a real one he actually lives in,’ Julia said. ‘Sir Carey’s is little more than a picturesque ruin, but there are inhabited ones.’

  ‘Especially in Scotland,’ Sir Carey added. ‘That might be far enough away.’

  Roused from their beds, Angelica’s parents greeted them with astonishment and dismay. Sir Carey told them exactly what had occurred, and when Mrs Philpot began to say Angelica was a good girl and would never have behaved in such a fashion, he was exaggerating and being vindictive because she had jilted him, Julia quietly told her she had witnessed all of it.

  ‘What’s more, she has been trying to insinuate herself into our home,’ she added. ‘She meets us when we are out riding, she comes to Courtlands on the flimsiest excuse, and I am getting tired of it. She is a nuisance, and it is time she was taught a little decorum. I hope you will see to it.’

  They left soon afterwards, and as it was only a short distance to Upper Brook Street Sir Carey suggested they walked.

  ‘I think we will be safe enough,’ he said. ‘The moon’s full, and though London has a reputation for thugs, there are still plenty of people about.’

  At that moment a clock began to chime the hours and they stood and counted.

  ‘Eleven,’ Sir Carey said. ‘Thank you, Julia, for your help.’ He tucked her hand through his arm and they began to stroll companionably homewards.

  Julia was thinking of the harsh words he had uttered towards Angelica. If he meant them, and they had not been fury at the situation she had created, it appeared he had got over his infatuation for the girl. She might have felt sorry for Angelica but for the girl’s claim that it was the castle she wanted, not Sir Carey. Had she meant it?

  Sir Carey must have been thinking similar thoughts. ‘Romantic little fool,’ he said. ‘But Caroline goes home tomorrow.’

  ‘Do you want me to go with her?’ Julia asked.

  ‘Of course not. I need you here. Miss Trant can deal with her. If I know Caroline she will by now be quaking with fear, aghast at what she did.’

  Julia gave a sigh of relief. She’d had to offer, but she had no desire to be closeted with a resentful Caroline who would probably try to blame her for her ills.

  * * * *

  Frederick appeared at the Pryces’ house looking triumphant. ‘I have a house, and it’s only just round the corner,’ he told Fanny. ‘So will you agree to move into it?’

  ‘I thought it was impossible to hire one this year,’ Fanny said.

  ‘Yes, but the Webbers, who had hired this house for the Season, suddenly have to go home. I didn’t understand why, but they were anxious to be gone, and only too pleased to sell me the rest of the lease. I can renew it next month until Christmas, the agent tells me, so if we have to stay here until the child is born, we have our own home until then.’

  ‘And the rest? The other women?’ Fanny asked, trying not to show her feelings too plainly.

  ‘The rest? Oh, Fanny, I was a fool, and I admit it, and I promise there will be n
o more such incidents to vex you. So will you forgive me and come back to me?’

  ‘If Sir William says I can move, yes, I will,’ Fanny said, and smiled secretly as Frederick kissed her. Would this husband who she loved despite his faults now treat her more carefully?

  When Julia called later in the day to see how she was Fanny could barely contain her excitement.

  ‘He truly has repented,’ she insisted.

  ‘I hope so,’ Julia said, kissing her sister. ‘But you need to remember not to give way to him all the time, or he could forget and begin to treat you with little consideration, as he did before.’

  ‘He won’t,’ Fanny said confidently. ‘I know how to deal with him now. I hope Sir William will let me move. How fortunate the Webbers had to go home, and their house is only just round the corner. Elizabeth says the girls can continue to have lessons here with Miss Jenkins, so I don’t have the trouble of finding a governess for them. It’s all happening for the best. And if I have a son Frederick will be so pleased he’ll do anything for me!’

  * * * *

  Sir Carey was thoughtful as he walked back to Upper Brook Street from the Foreign Office. He had been into the city to consult with his man of business, for he needed to make a will and provide Julia with a regular dress allowance and pin money, instead of handing her rolls of bills whenever she needed money. She had by now been able to set up accounts with various milliners and mantua makers, but a more regular arrangement was called for. When he left the office he noticed considerable excitement around the Exchange. The stock jobbers were scurrying about, full of suppressed excitement, and he heard an occasional word. ‘Victory’ and ‘Wellingon’ were amongst them, and he began to hope that this was good news of the long-awaited battle. He had called a hackney and driven to Whitehall, but no one at the Foreign Office had any official news. Perhaps they would hear more later in the day.

  He and Julia were invited to a ball that evening at the house of one of his old friends, another former Guards officer who had been wounded at Badajoz. She was wearing a new gown, of creamy satin embroidered on the bodice and along the hem with green and gold flowers. She had green slippers, and wore the emerald necklace, earrings and bracelets he had given her. Her honey-coloured hair was drawn back into a neat chignon, with ringlets escaping to fall either side of her face and onto her shoulders.

  She had a serene beauty, he thought as he handed her into their carriage. Her delicate bone structure would ensure that it lasted, whereas the youthful prettiness of Angelica would probably fade in a few years. He shook his head. He was finished with Angelica. Her actions had given him a disgust of her. Throughout Julia had been calm and dignified, ready with help and suggestions for dealing with problems. His marriage had been hasty and unconsidered, but it was one of the best things he had done. It remained to convince Julia of that, and he cursed inwardly that he had promised her not to demand marital rights. He frequently found he wanted, most desperately, to take her to bed and make love to her all night.

  ‘You are preoccupied,’ she commented as they drove along Piccadilly.

  Hastily he dragged his thoughts away from the pleasures of being in bed with Julia.

  ‘I think there is news from Brussels,’ he said. ‘There was something going on in the City today, and from the excitement I hope it is good news. There have been rumours of a great battle and a retreat, but that was not the mood I detected today. But I cannot understand why no one at the Foreign Office seems to be aware of it.’

  ‘We will hear soon enough,’ she said calmly. ‘Tell me about your friend. When was he wounded? Has he completely recovered? Has he been married long?’

  * * * *

  The ballroom was at the back of the house, but it was hot from the heat of hundreds of candles, the windows had been opened, and Julia was thankful to step out onto one of the balconies for a breath of air. She turned to smile at Sir Carey as he followed her.

  ‘Are you feeling faint?’ he asked. ‘Do you wish for a glass of wine?’

  ‘That would be welcome, though I am not feeling faint, just hot. Wait. Listen,’ she added as he made to step back into the ballroom. ‘What’s that noise?’

  They could hear cheering, coming closer, and gradually the chanting of hundreds of voices.

  ‘Boney’s beat! Boney’s beat!’

  ‘It’s the news, it must be,’ Julia said.

  Other people had heard it too, and there was a sudden stampede as the guests rushed for the door onto St James’s Square. Sir Carey seized Julia’s hand and they joined the exodus. As they reached the Square a large chaise went past, drawn by four horses and decked with laurels. Out of the windows hung three Imperial Eagles, and the French colours.

  ‘We’ve won! Wellington has triumphed,’ the crowd cheered.

  The chaise stopped further round the Square, and a man alighted and ran up to the front door.

  ‘That looks like Mrs Boehm’s house,’ Sir Carey said. ‘I heard some of the Cabinet were dining there tonight.’

  Faint cheers came from the house, and soon the crowd of people already in the Square were joined by others who had seen the coach and followed it, desperate for news. Julia looked round. There were many of the ton in evening dress, servants from the houses round about, hackney coachmen and link boys, and some of the prostitutes who plied their trade in Piccadilly. They crowded round the chaise, trying to touch the colours, and begging for news.

  ‘A great victory!’ the cry went up.

  ‘Are there any casualty lists?’ an elderly man near Julia was demanding urgently, and she turned to look at his haggard face.

  Many of the other people crowding round the chaise were also anxiously demanding news, but there was none. Battles meant deaths, she reminded herself, and turned away. Sir Carey put his arm round her shoulders and led her away.

  ‘We’ll hear more in the morning,’ he said quietly. ‘Shall we go home now?’

  Julia nodded. Despite the relief of hearing news of the victory, it was tempered by the distress that would be felt by all those who had loved ones in the army, and who might not know for days whether they were safe, wounded or killed.

  She slept little that night, and wished she could have been comforted by Sir Carey’s arms around her, and perhaps have comforted him. She knew no one in the army, but he must have known many fellow soldiers, some of them friends, and be wondering about their fates.

  In the morning Sir Carey went early to the Foreign Office, then returned to escort Julia to the Parade on the Mall.

  ‘One of Nathaniel Rothschild’s men heard the news, in Belgium, and rode to London, beating the official messenger. That explains the excitement in the City,’ he told her.

  ‘Was the battle bad?’ Julia asked.

  ‘There were many casualties,’ he said. They were walking towards the Parade ground, having decided it would probably be too crowded for a carriage. ‘We haven’t many details yet, apart from what the messenger knows. It was a brief note only, Wellington was too exhausted to write much, I understand.’

  ‘That is not surprising.’

  The Parade ground was crowded, and the windows and roofs of every house overlooking it were crowded with people. Julia had to blink back tears when a man in a blood-stained uniform alighted from a coach and was greeted by the Duke of York. The crowd cheered wildly, and the band began to play See the Conquering Hero Comes.

  ‘That’s Henry Percy, A.D.C. to Wellington,’ Sir Carey told her. ‘It’s said he delivered the dispatches to Lord Liverpool and the Prince Regent last night, and was instantly promoted to Colonel. We’ll hear more news over the next few days.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sir Carey was thankful to be going home to Courtlands. They were taking the large travelling coach, as well as a separate one for the baggage and the servants, which they had sent on ahead, for they had a great deal of luggage. He would not be needing it for some time, he decided, as neither he nor Julia wished to return to the continent. Julia had bee
n busy purchasing fabrics for the new curtains, and when Sir Carey saw how much room these parcels took up, as well as the trunks of clothes, he elected to ride. He needed time to think. The arrangements Lord Castlereagh had worked for in Vienna would hold, now Napoleon was once more defeated and had again abdicated, though as yet he had not been captured. He would probably be sent to a far-distant place. He was no more a threat, and he could look forward to the birthday celebrations Julia was busily planning for the middle of the month.

  They had decided to hold this at Courtlands, where all his tenants, the villagers, and local squires could attend. ‘For they know you well, and are more important than the people we know in London,’ Julia had said. He smiled in appreciation. It was what he wished, but if Angelica had been in charge she would have wanted a large party in London, to show off to as many people as they could accommodate. He smiled. Most people would have gone to Brighton or some other seaside resort by mid-July, so attendance would have been sparse.

  Angelica had been taken home in disgrace after her latest escapade. Perhaps, he hoped, she had ceased her pursuit of him. If, as she had claimed, his attraction had been his half-ruined castle, then she would soon turn her attention to some other unfortunate owner. If that had been mere bravado, she was young enough to get over any affection she felt for him, especially after the brutal dressing down he had given her. He gave thanks, as he frequently now did, that he had escaped her and instead found his Julia. He thought back reminiscently. He had liked Julia in Vienna, enjoyed her company, but felt no more than liking for her then. It had been a marriage of convenience, when he had been sure he would never be able to love another woman. Why had he promised her he would make no other demands?

  Gradually, as they had spent more time together on the journey, and she took charge of his home and sisters, he had come to love her. He looked forward to spending the rest of his life with her. He wanted to have children like her, but in view of his promise how could he ask to share her bed? Unless she wanted it too, and she had given no sign of that, he could not suggest it. She might think she had to agree, and would feel cheated as she had been promised it would be a marriage in name only.