Minerva's Match

by Lisette Giroux

  Marie rushing in pulled her from her thoughts. “What are you still doing slug-a-bed, miss? Your parents wanted you up and dressed early this morning!” It was comical the way the girl’s French accent would disappear when it was just the two of them. Louisa also suspected the girl’s name was closer to Mary than Marie but it wasn’t worth puncturing her illusion just to be right. The deception probably brought the girl a few extra pennies more from Louisa’s status conscious mother just for the pleasure of telling her friends that they employed a French maid. Marie started pulling dresses from the chest and tossing them on the bed while she mumbled to herself. The girl did have an eye for line and color. After discarding three frocks as unsuitable, for what she wouldn’t say, Marie held up a yellow muslin and Swiss dot dress.

  “Yes, this one. We’ll have to put some color in those cheeks but with your blue eyes and that bright red hair it should do nicely.”

  “Nicely for what, Marie? You are being cryptic.”

  “I’ve been sworn to secrecy, miss. Come on now we’ll need to hurry! Up. Up!” Louisa tossed her fairytales into the trunk at the end of her bed. She spared a brief glance at the items of her trousseau. She couldn’t help the snort of laughter. No sane man could survive her mother’s meddling long enough to propose and her parents would only accept someone with a title. The situation was impossible. A thought reared its dark auburn bushy-bearded head that one man might be her savior but she swatted it away almost before it could fully form. Marie was clucking at her from the dressing room to hurry and bathe.

  Bathed, dressed and coiffed, Louisa was herded down the stairs to her parents. The front parlor doors were closed which was odd but she didn’t have time to dwell on what it might mean since her mother nearly dragged her into the dining room.

  “Louisa, it is time for you to make good on all the education and training we’ve given you.” She almost stared gaping at her mother. Education? Training? If it hadn’t been for being placed in the same suite as the other Heiresses of Eris she would have learned nothing at Barton’s School for Girls except how to make cow eyes at a man and curtsey properly, along with a little French because a lady had to be able to know what her dressmaker was saying behind her back. And hold her tongue, but for that, her parents had given her all the education she needed before ever arriving at school.

  Her mother had been an actress. Her father was a wealthy merchant, not that he’d made any of the money himself, with a taste for beautiful women, or at least one beautiful woman. One he never seemed able to say no to, more’s the pity. Louisa had learned at a very young age not to correct her mother’s telling of family history. Perhaps her mother really had been a simple farmer’s daughter at one time but she had taken the only advantages she had, her looks and her ambition and run with them. Her mother wanted better for her, if it meant the woman could then travel in better circles, why should it bother her so much.

  Her father burst into the dining room, red faced and huffing. “What is taking so long? We can’t hold up the...”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  Her mother rounded on her. “He’s a Laird, Louisa.” Her stomach dropped into her toes. Oh no. No! He’d found out where she lived and had spoken to her parents. And of course it wouldn’t have occurred to them to get rid of him, or even to ask her opinion.

  “He’s here?” Her breath came out in short puffs. Each one fighting for escape, just like she should be.

  “Yes! And you’ll behave as you should. Your father and I are counting on you. We need you to do your duty to the family, our business depends on this.”

  That was worrying. “What does this have to do with the import business?”

  “We need his help. That is all you need to know.”

  “Fine, I’ll see him if it is so important to you. But don’t blame me if he runs off.” She would make damned sure he did but that didn’t mean she wanted to incur her parent’s wrath. The man made her squirm and there was no way she would survive a meal in his company let alone several, a dance was more than enough.

  “You’d better make sure he doesn’t.” Her mother pinched Louisa to bring pink to the pale skin of her cheeks. Lord, she hated that! Not that she said anything to her mother. It wouldn’t have done any good anyway. She was surprised when her mother reached behind her and pulled a small posy from a bud vase and handed it to her. “Hold these. It will make you look more fetching.” She managed to stop her eye roll before her mother noticed, unfortunately her father saw her.

  “You’ll do this or you’ll be living on bread and water for the next six months.” Where her mother was bombastic, her father’s comments always seemed to draw blood. As if she needed reminding she wasn’t fashionably thin. That her parents resembled children’s tops made their condemnation of her figure that much worse.

  “Yes, father. I’ll meet the man.”

  “You’ll do more...”

  Her mother stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Well, let’s go in. Shall we?”

  She walked across the entry hall to the parlor door. All the air left her lungs when she saw the minister standing on the far side of the room and Colin Campbell looking at her expectantly. There were a few other people there also but she didn’t even spare them a look. Her cheeks flamed where her mother had pinched them. They couldn’t be serious. Not like this?

  She spun on her heel and raced back to the dining room with her parents hot on her heels.

  “Louisa!” Her mother barked as soon as the door closed behind them. “You will go back in there immediately!”

  “You want me to marry a man I barely know?”

  Her father tucked his thumb into his watch pocket. Something he did when he had made a decision he had no intention on of backing down from. “We’ve gotten to know him. He is more than suitable. It is a good match.”

  “For your business you mean?”

  “Yes, well. There is that too.”

  “You promised when I married I would get a part of the business. You promised gran when she was dying.”

  “How could you remember that?” But from the looks on their faces they knew she was right. He had promised his mother that when the time was right he would give her a small piece of the business the woman and her husband had built from scratch. “Fine. I’ll tell my solicitor to give you a token amount, say one percent...”

  “Two.” Her father’s eyes widened then narrowed. Did he really think she hadn’t learned to bargain growing up with the two of them as parents? She softened her outburst with a little cough. “Two sounds like something and it really isn’t much more. It isn’t as though even with two I could make any real decisions. Isn’t that right?” He looked as though he wanted to argue but there was a knock on the door and a man asked if everything was alright. Her mother gave her father a stern look that she always used to win any argument.

  “But Prudence?”

  “Harland, just give it to her. She’s correct, what could she possibly do with two percent of the company. It is just a token anyway. You were going to give Campbell more than that until he said he was willing to take her instead.” Louisa swayed on her feet. She knew her parents to be calculating but to essentially sell her to a stranger. This was beyond even her low expectations of them.

  “Fine. Two percent. But you will marry him, and today.”

  “But the banns?”

  “Damn the banns, so we’ll post an advertisement instead. He has business to conduct and can’t wait.”

  “He paid for a special license.” Her mother was beaming. No doubt that would add to her cachet among her social circle.

  She was going to get even with him. Oh yes. If he thought she was ‘prickly’ at the Duke of Northford’s house party, he was going to have to come up with a new definition of the word while he was bleeding all over the floor. She pulled the posy from her mother’s hands, and marched across the hall to meet her intended, er, enemy, it was the same either way. She was going to have to save her parents f
rom their own foolishness. Again!

  Hera’s Husband Chapter Two

  What in all hell was going on? Colin Campbell knew this wasn’t a love match but surely it couldn’t be a good omen when your intended turns on her heel at seeing you waiting for her at the altar. Why was she acting so surprised? He liked fillies with a little fire and he was certainly getting that with Miss Louisa Compton. His thoughts went to a different high-spirited woman. He pushed the thought away like the bad omen it was.

  Miss Compton burst through the door with her parents almost running to keep up behind her. It was all he could do not to laugh. The Comptons were an odd pair, one nudge and it looked like both would topple over. Their daughter was less round but still soft, or at least she was on the outside. Right now she looked to be made of fire itself. On a blonde, her pale yellow dress would have looked juvenile but with her red hair and blue eyes she looked like the flame itself. And just as likely to burn him to a crisp. Fine, if that was how she wanted to start this off, where she was fire, he could be ice. He wasn’t doing this to gain a wife so much as the trade routes he needed to stock his mercantile. This was business, not some love ever after fairytale. And to mother his child. But he wasn’t letting her anywhere near his Bonnie before he knew her better. Then she was standing in front of him looking like she wanted to claw at him. Odd how that got his blood up.

  “Miss Louisa, you look especially lovely this morning.” He was almost as surprised as she was at the compliment.

  “I can’t believe you are doing this.” She hissed at him. Why that made him smile he had no idea but it did. She looked as if she was torn between hitting him and running off. He clucked to her under his breath as you would to calm a horse and then held both her hands in his. The minister took that as his cue and began the ceremony.

  When he looked back at his bride she had the slightest smile on her face. She was plotting something; he’d have been disappointed if she weren’t. He was marrying to make his life easier yet doubted that would be the case with this girl. He should stop the whole thing now, but as he stood there looking at her he couldn’t do it. The minister continued droning on and then it was time for him to ask if any had cause to think the marriage shouldn’t take place. Louisa was fairly bouncing on her toes to say she did. He couldn’t let some silly girl ruin this for him, he needed those trade routes.

  He couldn’t very well cover her mouth with his hand so he did the next best thing. At first she went rigid under his lips. The sweetness of her was a shock to his system. Lips didn’t actually taste like anything. He’d kissed enough women to know. The only part of a woman that had any real taste wasn’t something you could kiss in front of a minister and a girl’s parents. The sweetness urged him to lick at her lips and in her surprise she opened to him. Not eagerly like some country lass but shy, as if he was the first to coax that reaction from her. She was like good whiskey. Her taste on his tongue making him want more, even as it set his blood on fire. As he licked at the corner of her mouth, no need to scare the girl, she went soft and he wrapped his hands around her shoulders as much to feel the weight of her in his hands as to keep her from sliding to the floor.

  It was only the minister’s cough and not so gentle tap on his arm that brought him back to the moment. “Not yet.” The minister rebuked but his kiss had had the intended effect and Miss Compton stood blinking at him with a pretty blush rushing from her cheeks down her heaving chest. Unfortunately, the kiss made him wonder what else might be sweet about her. He found himself sucking at his own lips to get more of her flavor. He was not here to be bewitched by some spoiled girl raised to dance and choose pretty dresses.

  He repeated the words the minister asked him to and listened as she mumbled something of the same. She looked lost in another world and damnation he felt himself concerned that she might be ill. He shook himself, he wasn’t here to care for her. He’d never hurt her, a man didn’t beat a woman just because he was bigger and stronger, but he had no intention of falling for her either. They could live companionably under the same roof. Plenty of couples did. If he felt the need for a different kind of companionship, then he could find it when he visited one of his stores. Everyone knew spoiled girls like Louisa Compton didn’t care for anyone but themselves and they certainly didn’t willingly come to the marriage bed. He wouldn’t force her and that would be the end of that.

  The minister finished with a very pointed “Now, you kiss the bride.” Only when he went to kiss her this time he faced a much less surprised and a much more angry girl. The best he got was the briefest touch of her cheek under his lips. He’d been correct after all, there was nothing sweet about Louisa, pretty as she was and with a body that made his blood warm, she was more spoiled than sweet. Still the taste of her lingered. He lifted her hand to his arm and she allowed him to wrap her hand in his. At least they looked the happy couple even if his bride wouldn’t look at him.

  As he looked at the people surrounding them, he noticed none of her friends were present. He knew Rothwell was still on his honeymoon, though he had only decamped to his townhouse. Smart man that Rothwell, why spend the money and time for some grand tour when you could get to know each other perfectly well under your own roof. Looking down at Miss Compton, er, his bride, he didn’t have any delusions about the wedding night. She may look like fire but ice could burn too.

  Hera’s Husband Chapter Three

  Louisa blinked. She was married. And to Colin Campbell. This was not how she had imagined it happening. Getting out of it immediately was impossible. Her parents would make her life a living hell. Eleanor had said Simeon had given her a cottage and the Heiresses could stay there if any of them chose but Eleanor was still on her honeymoon, even if they hadn’t gone farther than their townhouse. Louisa swallowed hard. Dear Lord, she was married to Colin Campbell. She would need to find out just why it was so important for the business that she marry him. She’d had the perfect plan to spoil everything. She just had to speak up when the minister asked if anyone knew why they shouldn’t be married. Well she knew, and was about to say so when he kissed her.

  She’d never been kissed before, not like that. Kisses were affectionate displays between friends. The kisses she saw her parents give each other were affectionate enough, her mother usually wanted some new trinket and her father was usually happy to give it to her for the price of a kiss. Mr. Campbell, er, Colin’s kiss hadn’t felt affectionate. It had sent heat racing over her skin and bubbling in her blood. It had only been surprise that had kept her from threading her arms around his shoulders. Damn the man for a pagan. When he’d licked at her she had wanted to taste him too. Good Lord, she needed to have a long talk with Eleanor. Did she have an unreasonable desire to lick her husband? Louisa gave a little shiver of revulsion but when she thought of Colin it didn’t sound like something awful.

  His kiss made her head swim. Perhaps he’d drugged her. Laudanum was supposed to smell sweet, not herbal and woody. Not like some male conqueror. But he must have drugged her, it could be the only reason she hadn’t spoken up. After his kiss she was lucky to stay standing. She repeated the words the minister had her mumble as if in a trance, but she had come back to herself by the time he tried to kiss her again. She wasn’t about to be fooled twice!

  Louisa looked down at her hand, well his hand really since his huge hand covered hers almost entirely. She tried tugging her hand free. The beastly man just smiled at her and held tight. Why on earth would he want to be near her? She looked up to see both her parents smiling at the two of them. That explained it. They’d done this to her. To them she was just one more commodity to sell. She refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her unease with the man. Let them think everything was wonderful. Her stomach lurched at the sight of a wedding breakfast laid out for the few people in attendance.

  Oh! None of the Heiresses were here. It had all happened so quickly the facts of the matter were just starting to penetrate her brain. No friends, Minerva and Virtue would have come in
a minute. Eleanor would have come if Louisa asked her, even taken time from her own honeymoon. Dear God, the honeymoon? He couldn’t actually press for a husband’s rights to the marriage bed? Not after the way she had been bartered to him. Could he?

  A vision of her... husband, as a satyr from one of Minerva’s naughty Greek texts swam before her eyes making her knees weak. Colin quickly slipped his arm around her waist to hold her against his side. Warm lean muscle bracketed her side and back. A sense of the strength of the man stole over her, the same as when they had danced or when he’d helped her untangle herself in Simeon’s maze. All that strength restrained was tantalizing. His hand held hers as if she might disappear before his eyes.

  “Are you faint, girl?” His breath warmed her cheek, her eyes closed to isolate the sensation. That clean, slightly smoky scent wrapped around her, not his breath just Colin. She wondered what he looked like naked and the thought startled her so that she tripped over her own toes. “Perhaps you should sit down?” He started leading her to the table where her parents had already seated themselves with two seats between them for her and Colin.