One Week to Wed

by Laurie Benson

  Andrew took off his glove and held his right hand out to her. Strangely, for the first time in a long while it felt as though she wouldn’t be alone.

  She took off her right glove and slipped her hand is his. ‘You are so cold,’ she said. ‘Why did I not think to send you inside straight away? We can talk about this tomorrow. You need to get out of those wet clothes.’

  ‘I expect my valet will be vexed when he sees how I’ve ruined this coat. It’s a pity since he took great pains to remove the grass stains.’ There was a wet leaf on his sleeve that he tried to pick off with his other hand, but his glove was still on and he was having difficulty. His determination was thwarted by a sneeze.

  Using the tip of her nail through her glove, Charlotte was able to remove the offending leaf. ‘Please go inside and take a warm bath. It should help with the chills.’

  His body stilled and she found herself anxious for him to say something. Anything.

  ‘I have a mother, Charlotte. I do not need another.’

  There was gravity in his tone that had her swallowing the next thing she planned to say to him. How would she fit into his life? Suddenly she needed to know now, regardless of how wet his clothes were. ‘Why do I think you already have an idea of how you would like us to proceed?’

  His gaze dropped to the ring around her neck and he let go of her hand. ‘I think we should live apart. Not immediately,’ he clarified. ‘Just long enough for it to appear this marriage wasn’t to stop a scandal. My life is here in Town and your life is in the country. You have no desire to be my wife. You still mourn your husband. Of course, I will support both you and the child, and visit. I do want to know my child, but there is no reason either of us has to alter our lives completely because of this.’

  ‘How long would that be?’

  He shrugged and let out another sneeze. ‘I don’t know. Not long—a month, maybe two at the latest. Just long enough for me to become acquainted with your staff and familiar with the property. We don’t want your servants speculating on the nature of our sudden marriage or your neighbours gossiping. We can eventually say we each could not agree on where we wanted to live together. You enjoy the country too much and my life is centred around Town. It is not unheard of for husbands and wives of the ton to live apart.’

  ‘It seems you’ve given this much consideration.’

  ‘I had time to think of many things during my walk. Do you agree this is the best way to proceed?’

  Charlotte looked down at her hands that were once again clasped tightly together on her lap and nodded. He was giving her everything she could have wanted. She could resume her life in the home she had lived in for the past nine years, but now she would do so with a child at her side—her child. So why did knowing they would live apart make her feel so hollow inside?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Even though Gabriel had handed him his favourite brandy, Andrew wouldn’t have known it since he couldn’t taste a thing. He was still trying to accept that he was standing in his brother’s drawing room awaiting the arrival of his fiancée and her family.

  His fiancée. The mother of his child.

  Even the warm smooth liquid sliding down his throat wasn’t relaxing him the way it normally would. Nothing had relaxed him since Charlotte had told him about the baby two days ago—not even racing his stallion through the parkland of Richmond in the early morning hours. No matter how far he rode, he could not escape his fate. He was going to be a husband in less than a week and a father in a matter of months. How could he be there for them, when every mission he took could be his last? How could he marry her and promise her a stable life, when his life was the very definition of unstable?

  There were people depending on his survival now. The thought of it made him want to get back on his horse and ride further than Richmond—further than England.

  He went to down the remainder of his brandy, and discovered the glass was already empty. ‘I need you to give me something to do,’ he said, turning to face Gabriel.

  His brother was seated in a wingback chair in front of the hearth, swirling the brandy in his glass.

  ‘Would you care to assist Bennett polishing the silver? I’m sure he would appreciate the help.’

  ‘You’re amusing. I don’t know why I’ve never mentioned it before.’ Andrew ran his hand through his hair. ‘All this time without being in the field is giving me too much time to think. I have too much time to tell myself this is all wrong. She doesn’t need a husband like me and that baby certainly doesn’t deserve me as a father.’

  ‘You’ll make a fine father. I see how you are with my boys.’

  A nephew was not a son. What he wouldn’t admit was that his own child deserved a father who would be alive to see him grow up. Andrew didn’t know if he would be alive next month. Finding and subduing traitors and would-be assassins was in his blood. It wasn’t what he did. It was who he was. He could never give it up. And yet for the first time in his life, his very existence determined the stability in the lives of two people. Now he wasn’t just protecting the Crown. Now he was also protecting Charlotte and their child. What if he couldn’t do that?

  ‘I need more brandy.’

  ‘It’s over there,’ Gabriel said, motioning to the crystal decanter on the table Andrew had just walked past. ‘I’m sure every man feels as you do when they find out they are going to be a father.’

  He couldn’t relay his fears to Gabriel, no matter how close they were as brothers, as well as friends. If he did, Gabriel might relegate him to desk work and, if he had to decipher codes or track correspondence most days, he would go mad. ‘My mind might be at ease if the papers were already filed and I was certain that, should anything happen to me, Charlotte would have the necessary funds to take care of herself and the child.’

  ‘Warren is the epitome of efficiency. It will all be completed tomorrow. Your Will will be set.’ Gabriel picked a speck of lint off his sleeve. ‘Perhaps a different line of work would suit you better now. You do have a head for successful investments.’

  ‘Don’t do that,’ Andrew practically shouted. ‘Don’t change my life for me. It’s changing enough as it is.’

  Gabriel held up his hands. ‘I am merely stating it is something to consider.’

  Andrew paused from placing the stopper back on the brandy decanter. ‘Could you consider changing what you do?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Gabriel replied indignantly. ‘But we are referring to you and your need for reassurance at this time.’

  Andrew approached Gabriel’s desk and rested his hip against it. ‘I imagined you to be much more upset about this than you are. Why is that?’

  ‘You’re conducting yourself with honour. No scandal will mar our family and it’s your life, not mine.’ Gabriel tilted his head and his eyes narrowed. ‘Will you be able to hide all of this from her? She cannot know what we do.’

  ‘As we’ve already discussed, Charlotte and I will only be living together for a month or two. We won’t be living together long enough for her to find out. You lived with Olivia for six years before she found out. Unlike you, my marriage is in name only and I can keep secrets.’

  ‘I can keep secrets. The only reason Olivia found out was because she was inadvertently caught up with a duplicitous friend and stumbled upon what we do. My recommendation is to distance yourself from your bride as quickly as you can and pray she has no friends who are interested in harming Prinny or George. I am rather amazed you have found yourself tied to one of the Sommersby sisters. I know in the past you have felt rather hunted by the Duchess of Skeffington.’ There was a look of amusement in his eyes. ‘Now you will be able to spend Christmases with her.’ He smiled into his glass of brandy. ‘I imagine family gatherings would be awkward since the woman had her eye on you for ages.’

  Andrew walked around the chair and dropped into the plush cushion. His family always s
pent Christmases together in Kent. Would he want to spend Christmas with his child? Would Charlotte want to spend them with their child and her family? He rubbed his brow, trying to wipe away the pain in his head. He wanted his old life back. ‘I haven’t given a thought to any of this until now.’ Andrew was so focused on Charlotte and the baby that it hadn’t occurred to him that the Duchess of Skeffington would be his sister. ‘Skeffington’s widow will be here today. That will be...’

  ‘Awkward?’ Gabriel arched a brow and had the nerve to smirk. ‘You’ll be happy to hear Her Grace will not be here tonight. Your fiancée sent word to Olivia. Lady Charlotte will be arriving with just her youngest sister and an aunt by the name of Mrs Robert Sommersby.’

  ‘It wouldn’t be awkward if she were here. I’m sure there are numerous men who have caught her eye.’

  ‘Not that I’ve noticed. I still have no idea what she finds attractive about you.’

  ‘Well, I am marrying Charlotte, so I’m sure the attraction is over.’

  ‘You don’t understand women, do you? Is Lady Charlotte anything like her sister?’

  ‘No. Where the Duchess is concerned with status and prestige, Charlotte is more concerned with character. Where the Duchess has been known to spend to an excessive degree, Charlotte appears content to live a quiet life in the country in a small but respectable home. She’s...’

  Gabriel sat patiently waiting, but Andrew couldn’t finish the thought. Charlotte was many things—many good things—and it was for the best that he didn’t dwell on them. No good would come from a strong attachment between them. She had lost one husband to violence prematurely and mourned him still. He couldn’t let her grow attached to him and mourn him as well. It might destroy her.

  When it was apparent he was not going to elaborate more on Charlotte, Gabriel stood up and placed his glass on the small oval table beside him. ‘They will be arriving soon. We should join the others in the drawing room and greet them there.’

  Andrew’s stomach dropped and the urge to escape on his horse once again was overwhelming.

  ‘Come now,’ Gabriel said, motioning towards the doors. ‘I bet you Monty says something inappropriate at least once this evening.’

  A wager... Andrew could focus on a wager. It would give him something to concentrate on all night that didn’t have to do with this mess he had got himself into.

  ‘I wager five pounds he says two inappropriate things,’ Andrew replied.

  Gabriel stuck out his hand, and they shook on it.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Andrew stood by the window in Gabriel and Olivia’s Green Drawing Room and watched the carriages roll by at a distance. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Almost five,’ Gabriel replied from where he sat by the unlit hearth with Olivia.

  ‘Maybe she changed her mind,’ Monty said from somewhere behind him. ‘Women are apt to do that from time to time...or so I hear.’

  ‘Do not tease him,’ Olivia chided. ‘Can you not see he is in no humour for such an exchange?’

  ‘He hasn’t been for ages. Why is that, do you think?’

  ‘Montague.’ The reprimand came from their mother this time, and it thankfully made his brother stop talking.

  Never in his life had he anticipated and dreaded something at the same time the way he did Charlotte’s arrival this evening to meet his family. They would eventually be living apart. It should not matter what his family thought of her. While Gabriel was surprised by the news and warned him unnecessarily of the dangers of revealing what he did to Charlotte, he had received no reaction at all from his mother. She only enquired what he intended to do. There were no questions about how it happened. There was no request to tell her about Charlotte. There was nothing. And for a woman who would ask him twenty questions before the soup course was served at dinner, this left him the most unsettled.

  Turning from the window, he caught Olivia’s sympathetic gaze.

  ‘I don’t think this was a wise idea,’ he said to her.

  ‘It’s too late now,’ Gabriel replied offhandedly. ‘You must agree, your life would be more agreeable should we all approve of her.’

  ‘I don’t approve of a woman trapping a man into marriage,’ Monty offered. ‘Should you need an escape, I offer you the spare room in my set.’

  ‘She didn’t trap me,’ Andrew retorted. He wasn’t giving up his set at Albany. Gabriel knew. The others didn’t need to. Not yet.

  Olivia tried to change the direction of the conversation. ‘Tell us what she is like.’

  ‘Since she captured Andrew’s interest, I imagine she is fond of boxing. What do you think, Monty?’ Gabriel asked, baiting their younger brother for that bet.

  ‘And brandy,’ Monty added with a broad grin, ‘or perhaps gin.’

  ‘She might spend her days racing horses. A member of the Four Horse Club, perhaps?’

  The idea that they were poking fun at Charlotte’s expense tied Andrew in knots, even though he knew Gabriel was trying to win the bet. His right hand curled into a fist.

  ‘I’ve heard there are women in the countryside that are quite unconventional and have taken to boxing themselves,’ Monty said through his smile. ‘I would not be surprised if Lady Charlotte—’

  Andrew charged at Monty and Gabriel jumped up. He came between them and pushed Andrew back by his shoulders so the punch he threw missed his younger brother’s face by mere inches.

  ‘Lady Charlotte Gregory, Mrs Robert Sommersby, and Lady Juliet Sommersby.’ The voice of the footman at the doorway silenced the fight going on in the room.

  They all froze in the absurd tableau and turned to the three women who stood in the doorway. The tips of the fingers on Charlotte’s right hand were raised to her neck. Mrs Sommersby, who was standing to Charlotte’s left and bearing a strong resemblance to their nanny, looked as if she wanted to scold all of them. And the younger woman to Charlotte’s right, who he assumed was her sister, was shooting daggers with her eyes at Monty, who was staring back at her with his eyebrows up near his hairline. If he was uncertain if their tussle had been witnessed, their reactions confirmed that they had.

  He shook himself out of Gabriel’s hold and adjusted his collar as he walked over to greet Charlotte. How did one welcome their fiancée, whom they were forced to marry, in front of their entire family for the first time?

  He pasted on a smile and bowed over her hand. She curtsied in return and introduced her Aunt Clara and sister Juliet to him. The assessing appraisal her sister gave without trying to be inconspicuous let him know her family would be judging him tonight, as well. He had done the honourable thing. He was marrying her sister. What more could she want from him?

  Olivia joined them by the doorway. With her presence beside him, the moment felt less awkward and he didn’t feel as if he were in a rowing boat without an oar.

  She introduced herself and invited them into the room, guiding them through the protocol in the situation. Andrew presented them to Gabriel first and he knew his brother was taking notice of every small detail about each woman even while he was respectful and reserved.

  His mother was next. He could barely take his eyes off her when he introduced Charlotte. It surprised him how much, at that moment, he wanted his mother to like a woman he didn’t even love.

  ‘Lady Charlotte,’ she said, ‘I understand you are the Earl of Crawford’s oldest child and your other sister is the Duchess of Skeffington. Your late husband was the third son of the Earl of Haslington, I understand. He served admirably under Wellington and was killed at Waterloo.’ Her gaze travelled down Charlotte’s grey gown. ‘You have my condolences.’

  It appeared his mother had spent a very busy day gathering information about his future wife. No wonder she hadn’t asked him anything about Charlotte.

  He was relieved to see Charlotte’s composure, considering his mother was not e
xuding any of her usual warmth, as she gave her a respectful curtsy. ‘Thank you, Your Grace.’

  ‘I expected to see the Duchess here today,’ his mother continued as she looked over at Andrew and held his gaze for a few seconds too long. Over the years, she had advised him about the Duchess of Skeffington’s interest. ‘Is your sister ill?’

  It was the first time since she’d arrived that Charlotte looked uncomfortable. ‘She had a prior engagement.’

  For a brief moment Andrew thought he saw sadness in her eyes. Was her sister too scandalised by Charlotte’s pregnancy to support her? Families should stand together in times of crisis. His always had. It hadn’t occurred to him that not all families might react the same way. Had their indiscretion created a wedge between Charlotte and her sister? At least he had every member of his family there to support him. Charlotte had arrived at his brother’s door with just one sister and an aunt.

  It was obvious her parents had died at some point. How many times had she suffered through the loss of someone close to her? He couldn’t allow himself to be added to that list. The faster they married and the faster they separated, the easier it would be for Charlotte if something happened to him. Their relationship could not develop into anything more than it already was. He would not be responsible for causing her any more pain. However, as much as he came to that realisation, he still found himself stepping up beside her as she faced his mother.

  Thankfully the conversation changed as his mother tilted her head at Mrs Sommersby and narrowed her eyes. ‘Clara, is it not?’

  ‘It has been a long time. I did not think you would remember me.’

  A smile finally lightened his mother’s expression. ‘I have fond memories of my first Season and recall some of the times we spent together whispering behind the columns of Almack’s.’