“To the bride! To the Duke and Duchess of Stonebridge!” he called, leading the rest of the crowd.
Immediately, they began to reply in a clumsy chorus, the sordid air of scandal giving way to a cheerful atmosphere of celebration. They would not get their pound of flesh today, but theywereprivy to a wedding announcement that no one else in thetonyet knew about. And it seemed everyone was satisfied with that.
Everyone but Anna… and Beatrice.
“I cannot believe you did this,” Anna said quietly, her face drained of color, her eyes wide and unblinking. “Excuse me, I think I hear my goats bleating.”
She pulled away from him, a false smile pasted on her face as she walked up the steps to the terrace. He heard her thank the guests who offered congratulations, and heard her hurried excuse of, “I shall not be a moment; I just need to powder my nose. Please, enjoy yourselves and celebrate in my absence.”
And then she was gone, vanishing through the drawing room door, likely with no intention of coming back to the party.
Jeremy thought about all the doors she could lock and the rooms she could hide in, and immediately knew he had to resolve this before it could fester. Announcing that he was heading down to the cellar himself to pick out the finest champagne for the occasion, and eliciting a lively roar of appreciation from the guests, he quietly followed after his bride.
CHAPTER 23
How could he do that?Anna fumed as she thudded up the stairs to her bedchambers, her thoughts in disarray.I know he has not changed his mind about marriage, so… why has he done this?
It couldn’t have been because she played one innocent game with Colin. Yes, Jeremy had clearly been furious and more than a little bit jealous, but he had had every opportunity to ask her to marry him in a private setting. And he had not. He had only done it because Colin had, strangely, coerced him.
She turned sharply as she heard footsteps in the entrance hall below her, praying they were Katherine’s but knowing they were not; the footsteps were too heavy, too much like the drum of a man who had come to explain himself.
“Don’t run,” Jeremy said, his hands up. “Anna, stop.”
Her gaze drifted toward the landing and the thought of her peaceful bedchambers, as she attempted to gauge whether or not she would make it before Jeremy caught up to her. To her dismay, she remembered that she had not locked the dressing room door, nor the adjoining door to her room. Even if she made it to her bedchambers, she would not be able to lock so many doors before he made it to her.
Still, she couldn’t very well have this conversation here, where anyone might eavesdrop.
She turned around and slowly made her way to the landing, then through the curtain that sealed off her territory. With each step, she was aware of Jeremy following, her body traitorously responding to the promise of his proximity.
She halted at her chamber door and folded her arms across her chest, glowering at him as he approached.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Her temper flared. “You have the gall to ask me that?”
“It solves our problems.” He shrugged. “And I wasn’t going to let ye face slander alone. I wasn’t going to let ye face it at all, not when it was me who took ye into the gardens. The fault was mine, so I remedied it.”
He really had no idea why she was upset. Evidently, he thought he’d done the righteous thing, and maybe he had, but what did it matter for someone like her?
“I am a widow,” she replied sternly. “No one would have cared that much. The scandal would not linger. And Katherine was there,alreadyremedying what you did by leading me away. Besides, as I said, I have been married once. I am not a debutante; people would assume I am not innocent anyway, so it is not as if it would ruin my virtue or prospects.”
Faint warmth crept into her cheeks, still embarrassed to speak of such things even though he was the man who had awakened her to less innocent acts. He was the man her body longed for, even now.
“Did ye want me to let ye risk that theory?” Jeremy asked, his eyebrow raised. “That’s ridiculous, Anna.”
She laughed stiffly. “Is it any more ridiculous than marrying a man who only cares for me when he kisses me? A man who has told me, already, that hecannotcare for me and does not wish to? A man who said he wants no family of his own, which means no children for me? Is that truly any better than me taking my chances with the gossip of the guests downstairs? Maybe, to stay in your good graces, they would not have uttered a word.”
She cursed herself for letting him pull her toward that wisteria tunnel, for not being stronger. Then again, if she had caused a scene or wrenched away from him, it would have looked equally suspicious to any seasoned gossipmonger.
The true mistake, she realized, was ever going downstairs in the first place. She should have stayed in the safety and solitude of her bedchambers for as long as it took until the last guest went home.
“Did ye want to marry someone else?” he asked. “Did ye have someone else in mind?”
“No, but I had the choice!” she snapped. “And I had widowhood, which I rather liked until you came and ruined it.”
He edged closer. “I gave ye back yer home, lass. Ye don’t have to leave anymore. And I will have nay expectations of ye, since this will be a marriage of appearances, just a solution to keep ye safe from society’s barbs.” He shrugged in a manner that made her heart ache, a casual dismissal of her feelings. “If ye want to live as ye did before I arrived, ye do that; I won’t stop ye.”
She stared at him coldly, the enormity of what lay ahead hitting her like a brutal winter wind. He hadnotchanged his mind about any of it. That was why he had not asked her to marry him on his own. After everything they had shared, he wanted a marriage of convenience.
