“You’re getting married!”
“Because of the scandal! Because Lord Abbott feels compelled to be a gentleman. If not for that, I would merely be a scandalous spinster!”
“You’re not a spinster. You’re a young woman of worth and your mama would be proud of you!”
Gwen’s jaw set into mutinous lines. “She would not be proud of me trapping a man in marriage!”
Octavia sighed, pushing Gwen’s hip so she would make space before taking a seat on the bed beside her. “Mrs. Smythe would understand that in a single magical moment, the right man found you and then fate happened.”
Gwen fell silent once more, saddened to think of her absent mama.
Octavia Hanning had been taking care of the Smythe women for many years. She was practically part of the family. Gwen’s friend throughout the past lonely years. Being an intelligent woman with scholarly pursuits made Gwen unattractive both to men and women of her class, but Octavia had always been at her side to encourage her.
“I know not what happened. One moment I was wishing that I had a suitor with whom to share the glorious view of the heavens, and next thing Lord Abbott was at my side. Before I knew it, we had embraced and half the ballroom stumbled upon us.”
Octavia nodded. “I think Lord Abbott is a good man.”
“Why do you say that?”
“There is no gossip about him. He finished at Oxford, then went on his Grand Tour. Since he returned, he has caroused with his friends, but he has not visited any widows or courtesans, nor danced with any young ladies.”
The widespread web of the belowstairs gossip was often a source of amazement to Gwen. Octavia knew things about noble families that Gwen had yet to even meet.
“What of his family?”
“Lord and Lady Moreland have a pristine reputation. There’re no paramours for either of them, and they’re committed to each other, by all reports.”
How would Lord Moreland feel about his heir being required to marry her, Gwen pondered.
“And the sister? The one who was recently in the scandal sheets?”
Octavia grunted. “We’re all rather confused about that. The Abbott servants do not like to gossip about their household. Miss Abbott claimed she was with Lord Filminster the night of the coronation, when it became clear he was to bearrested. There’s no word of inappropriate behavior from any household she’s visited, or even much contact with Lord Filminster, so I cannit say how they had the opportunity to …” Octavia bobbed her hands in a lewd gesture to indicate the coming together of two lovers. “They wed within a few days, and the servants of Ridley House will not speak on anything happening there.”
Gwen reflected on this. The servants were either scared to speak, or they were intensely loyal to the Baron of Filminster and his new wife.
It was strange to think she would marry into a family she had never even met. Lord Abbott himself was a stranger. A handsome stranger with firm lips and passionate eyes, who accurately quoted great poetry, but a stranger nevertheless.
“Do you know why Lord Abbott was at the ball?”
Octavia shook her head, causing little tendrils of her mousy brown hair to escape the knot at her nape. “The footmen are amazed. Dennis said he thought that perhaps he saw Lord Abbott and another gentleman enter with Lord and Lady Hays, but it’s all so unexpected. There’s no news of Lord Abbott seeking a wife, so no one knows why he would have attended the ball.”
“Not only that, the ball is not even in the Season. Many families have already left for the country since the coronation. I do not know why the Morelands or Lord Abbott were still in London. Papa scheduled it now in a bid to save coin on the event.”
Octavia clapped her hands together. “What does it matter? You’re finally to wed. You’ll be a beautiful bride and join a great and powerful family. Then you’ll have babes and one of those babes will be the future Viscount Moreland!”
Gwen thought of a little boy with chocolate brown hair and bright eyes as she had done the night before, and a wave of yearning threaded through her veins to settle in the regionof her heart. This might be a strange beginning to a marriage, but, if nothing else, her desire for children of her own would be fulfilled. Little ones she could teach the wonders of the ancient world to.
And Lord Abbott had promised a real marriage. And fidelity was a family trait, from what Octavia had revealed.
It was rather overwhelming to contemplate her sudden change in circumstances. The only issue that nagged at the edges of her consciousness was to mull over why Lord Abbott had been at the ball.
Why had he been on the terrace?
And, why in heaven had he kissed her when no eligible man before him had displayed any desire to do the same?
There was no denying that Lord Abbott was an enigma.
“He is coming to negotiate marriage contracts today.”
