“Thousands.”
“Well, then.” Lucy placed her hand on his cheek. “Tell me which one you would like to start with.”
Matthew closed his eyes and tipped his head to lean it on her palm. He took a deep breath and looked at her as if she contained the answer to all of life’s most difficult questions. “I’d like to start with the one where you look me in the eye and tell me that you aren’t disappointed in me. Tell me that I am the man that you choose, and I need you to mean it.”
“So wewillbe talking,” she said.
“No, we won’t. Not after you say those things to me.”
“Matthew, I’ve been waiting my whole life to find a man like you. Someone loyal, kind, and if I’m being truly honest, attractive. I thought when I agreed to an arranged marriage I would be lucky to get one of those things, and I’d settled on kind. You are all of those things and more. You were loyal to me even when you didn’t know me. I’ve seen your kindness to all of those around you, including the people you work with and little Mandy. And as far as your appearance goes, I found nothing wanting when I first saw you in the churchyard, and time has only improved my impressions in that regard.” She leaned forward and kissed his mouth softly. “You have exceeded my expectations in every regard, and I believe I am the most fortunate woman to be able to call you mine.”
Matthew closed his eyes and kissed her again. Lucy tipped her head to one side and Matthew put a hand to the back of her head and dipped his chin so he could cover her mouth more thoroughly. One of Lucy’s hands gripped the solidness of Matthew’s shoulder, the other rested on the smooth wooden bench. Marge made a noise like a huff and then took a step forward, throwing both of them into the backrest. Matthew smiled against her lips.
“When we are married…” Lucy started.
Matthew kissed the corner of her mouth. “Yes?”
She pulled her face away. “I think we should purchase Marge and this cart from Mr. Bennion.”
He smiled and it filled her with more joy than she could have dreamed possible three years ago. Who would have thought, when she agreed to her parents' idea of an arranged marriage, that she would be kissing the man she loved on a cart in a small town outside of London?
“Absolutely.” Matthew replied. “Your parents may have wanted you to marry me for my title, but you and I both know you fell in love with me because of Marge and my cart.”
CHAPTER 24
If there wasone thing Matthew loved, it was hearing his name read in church. At least, when it meant he would be forever connected to the woman standing next to him. Lucy Bateman, who had indeed baited him, wasn’t Scottish, and her father owned a leather company which had nothing to do with the delivery business.
Fortunately, Matthew wasn’t marrying Lucy for all the things she wasn’t, but for all the things she was. The vicar’s smile was broad as he read from the pulpit, but no one could match the smile on Matthew and Lucy’s faces.
Lucy turned to him and recited her vows, her deep brown eyes soft with emotion. Every word she spoke put back pieces of his heart he hadn’t even known had broken off. How could one woman be exactly who he needed in his life? And how had he been so blessed to actually marry her?
He hoped his vows healed any pieces of her heart that needed a cure. One thing was for certain—he wasn’t going to run away again. He’d spent the last few days as they traveled from Fenswallow to London and then from London to the Bridgewater parish making it very clear he never wanted to be separated from her.
The ceremony finished and he took his bride by the hand and led her down the aisle until they reached the church doors, then they pushed them open together.
Once outside and on the steps of the church where friends and family greeted them, Matthew raised Lucy’s hand high in the air and everyone cheered. Mr. Garvis gave him a big wink. Matthew turned to face Lucy. “Mrs. Harrison,” he said with a smile that nearly hurt his face.
“Yes, Mr. Harrison?”
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, and then pulled her into his arms.
He’d meant to kiss her briefly, but when Lucy’s arms went around his neck, he forgot everyone around them and pulled her closer. She tasted the same, and her arms were just as warm as they’d always been around his neck, but this kiss felt different, more permanent, as if this kiss was a beginning to a story that would never end.
A cough from someone in the crowd reminded him they had an audience, and even then, it took him a moment to pull away.
When he did, there were cheers once again. He turned to Lucy. “Should we escape? I’m rather adept at dashing away after my name is read in this church.”
She squeezed his hand and swayed toward him. She’d better say yes, or he was going to kiss her again in front of everyone, coughing neighbors and all.
“Aye,” she said in her old Scottish accent, and the word nearly did him in. “As long as we are dashin’ away together.”
He nodded and pulled her forward through the crowd toward his carriage. Men stopped him to shake his hand and women kissed Lucy as they passed through the crowd. With only a few more feet until they could be blessedly alone, he quickened his step.
“Quite affectionate.” He heard an elderly woman’s voice just ahead of them, and looked up to see Mrs. Harper, a widow who enjoyed gossip, speaking to another elderly woman he didn’t recognize. “I thought this was an arranged marriage.” She gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like the one that had interrupted their kiss earlier. “Didn’t they just meet a few days ago?”
Matthew didn’t mind adding fuel to this fire. He paused just as they were about to pass the two women. Lucy looked up at him with furrowed brows, and he didn’t blame her, as his carriage and the privacy it allowed was only a few steps away. He dropped her hand and grabbed her by the waist, then lifted her up in the air and spun her around. Lucy threw her head back and laughed, exposing her neck which in just a few short minutes would be covered in his kisses. A few people laughed, Mrs. Harper gasped, and somewhere closer to the church doors Mandy let out a squeal of delight.
He lowered Lucy back down and she shoved him gently on the shoulder, but her smile belied her indignation, as did the kiss she planted firmly on his mouth before pulling him back toward the carriage.
