An Agreeable Arrangement

by Shirley Marks

  “Let you down? How can you say that? After I was caught in a compromising position I didn’t abandon Marie, I married her. I’ve sent her money, kept her in comfort. She’s been living with her friends and family, happy. She’s ruined everything by coming here.” Edward poked an accusing finger at his brother. “It was you and father who wanted me to marry Cass. I was more than willing to go through with it-without consideration to my own wishes.”

  “What were you giving up? You still parade around like a young buck, eligible to all the ladies in the ton. You carry on with no regard to the consequence or how it will affect those around you”

  “Why shouldn’t I? I’m happy. They’re happy. Isn’t that all that matters?”

  “I’m afraid you don’t see the seriousness of the mat ter. Marriage is a responsibility between two people, a commitment for life.”

  Edward shook his head. “If you think Cass will have you now, you’re sadly mistaken.”

  “Why?”

  “If she can’t marry me, she’ll lose her precious home. And you’ll be the one taking it away from her.” A disgusting grin spread over his face. “What do you think she’ll feel for you then?”

  Julian stood silent. “You are no longer welcome at Stewart Hall” He wouldn’t let Edward have the satisfaction of seeing him show any kind of weakness. “I expect you to be packed up and out of this house immediately. If you’re smart, you’ll accompany your wife home to France” He walked to his desk.

  Edward raked his brother with a scathing look and stalked out without a farewell.

  As soon as Julian’s anger subsided, the meaning of his brother’s words struck him. Without marriage to Edward, Cassandra would lose her home.

  Tomorrow, Julian would have to inform her that since she had not complied to her father’s wishes, the ownership of Hedgeway Park would pass on to the present Earl of Thaddbury.

  How would Julian ever face her after that pronouncement? Could she forgive him for being the instigator of her worst possible fear?

  “You, sir, are the source of the problem.” He addressed the will as if he spoke to the late earl himself. The squire flung the wretched document across the room, disappointed it missed the hearth and did not catch fire.

  What am Ito do now?

  Drawing the special license from his pocket, he wondered if he had any chance with Cassandra or was that merely wishful thinking on his part.

  The squire barely noticed Maxwell enter. The butler lifted the document from the floor. Smoothing the rumpled pages one by one, in silence, he returned it to the desk and placed it in front of the squire.

  Julian regarded Maxwell and had to take a second look. “Maxwell, is that a smile on your face?”

  The butler’s normal visage of indifference returned. Julian had never seen Maxwell show expression of any kind.

  “What is it?” It wasn’t in the butler’s character to stare or gawk.

  “I believe this document was drafted years after you, yourself, had a similar agreement with your late wife and her family.”

  “Yes, father had arranged marriages for both Edward and I when we were mere children.” Julian knew the butler had understood the circumstanceshe had worked for the previous squire. “We both understood what was expected of us when we reached our maturity.”

  “I do not presume to know the language of legalese and I would never intentionally pry into your personal matters, sir. However, as I retrieved the document, I could not help but notice a paragraph that I believe might have referenced Lady Cassandra’s marriage before her twentieth birthday.”

  “The one naming Edward as her future groom. Yes, yes.” Julian stood up from his chair, impatient. He’d read it more than a dozen times these past few days.

  “I may be mistaken, but I do not recall, precisely, seeing his name, in particular, mentioned.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” Julian took the document and scanned each page until he found the clause to which Maxwell referred. “‘Pon my word.” His face brightened with a renewed sense of hope. “This … what it says here … it says … this says the son of Henry Stewart.”

  “It would appear so”

  “We thought-we always knew it was Edward who was to marry her.” The document astounded Julianwho thought he had read every word with the utmost care.

  “You had been in the early years of your marriage yourself when your father departed. I’m sure you gave no additional thought to who would wed Lady Cassandra when the earl passed” Maxwell paused. “However the circumstances of your family have changed. Mr. Edward has a wife, while you are the available sibling.”

  “Which means … I could marry her.” Julian couldn’t believe it. This was incredible. How had he ever overlooked this? “I could marry her and she would meet the terms for her inheritance.”

  “I believe you are correct, sir.” A small smile graced Maxwell’s face.

  Julian scrambled for the special license, forgetting where he had set it only moments before.

  “Could this be what you are searching for?” Maxwell held out the folded parchment.

  How did he get a hold of it? Maxwell hadn’t gone near the desk. Julian decided now was not the time to delve into Maxwell’s mysteries.

  “Send for the vicar at once!”

  “Vicar, sir?” Maxwell cleared his throat. “I believe that the priest has not yet left the house. He is presently in the dining room partaking of Madeira and fresh strawberry tarts with the rest of the guests” Maxwell clasped his hands behind his back.

  “Get him! Get them all!” Julian blew around the room, excited and uncertain to what he should do first. “Tell them we’re still going to have a wedding!”

  Cassie left the library and ran to her room. Layette chased after her, chattering in French, and Romeo ran alongside them, barking above their din.

  “But ‘oo is she? Where did she come from?” The maid followed Cassie all the way into her bedchamber.

  “I don’t know, Layette. I didn’t ask”

  “But she eez the wife of Monsieur Edward, eez she not?”

  “Please, leave me!” Cassie desperately wanted to be left alone. She chased the maid out the door and closed it behind her. Cassie felt so ashamed, humiliated.

  Without a knock, the bedchamber door opened. Cassie did not have time to prevent her visitor’s entry. She turned and faced the door in time to see that it was him.

  “Julian, please.” Cassie wiped at her tear-stained face. Perhaps she could speak to him tomorrow or the day after when she had calmed. “I don’t think I can-”

  He moved close to her, trying to gather her in his arms, but she would not allow him near.

  “I have ordered Edward away from the house,” he told her. “I tried to encourage him to remain with his wife. It seemed to me that she wasn’t the understanding type or perhaps it is her delicate condition that’s made her disagreeable. In any case, I’ll bet he’ll have a rough go of it.”

  And hearing that, somehow, made Cassie feel a little better.

  “It will be a very long time until he is welcomed back to Stewart Hall”

  “Is that it, then?” Now that Edward was gone, or would be shortly, there was no need for a wedding. She glanced at Julian. Yes, she loved him and she was certain he still loved her.

  And perhaps they would marry. When that day came, they would cause a further disgrace upon their families by marrying so soon after the initial scandal. It was comforting to know that it would most certainly be a very long time until she had to face that day.

  “I had thought to stop the ceremony moments before Monsieur Dubois arrived,” the squire confessed.

  “So did I,” Cassie admitted.

  Julian held her by both arms and stared into her eyes. “If you marry me today, right now, you will remain the owner of Hedgeway Park”

  “What? How is that possible?”

  “It is in accordance to your father’s willsomething I overlooked”

  “But h
ow are we to manage on such short notice?” Cassie could not believe that it was possible.

  `By special license.” He smiled and pulled the parchment from his jacket pocket.

  “But how is it you happen to have .. ” How had he acquired one? When had that been?

  “You should have seen the look on the clerk’s face when I applied for two licenses and named the same bride on each. I told him the lady was fickle”

  “Fickle?” Cassie raised her hand to slap his face. Julian caught her wrist before she could strike.

  “You see, you don’t even know if you want to kiss me or slap me” He chuckled in good humor.

  “I think I wish to slap you,” she said with a playful certainty.

  “I think not.” He drew her toward him and enveloped her in his arms. “I am quite certain you want to kiss me”

  She met his lips with hers. Nothing ever felt so perfect, so right. It was difficult to comprehend this was actually happening.

  “You are dressed to be wed and the guests are below, waiting to attend the ceremony. What do you say, Lady Cassandra? Will you marry me?” The softness of his voice bespoke a tenderness she had not felt from him previously.

  Yes, of course, I want to marry you.

  It was the best Cassie could ever have wished for, the man she loved proposing a match she desired.

  “I do not ask for your hand to save your precious Hedgeway Park nor do I ask out of duty because our fathers wished to unite our families. I ask you to become my wife because I love you.” He kissed her hand and waited for her answer.

  “I accept” It was all she could do to contain her joy. Cassie gladly told him, “I, too, love you, sir.”

  “Let us be wed. Then off to our new home Hedgeway Park” He took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm before quitting the room. “Where, I am quite certain, we shall live happily ever after.”