“I will apologize to the lady today,” Benjamin confirmed.
“Lady Freya was afraid to light the fire in her room for she was not confident when the hearth and flue had last been used, what with your long absence from Kent,” Aaran explained, not wishing to paint the lady in a bad light.
“Mr. Boone, I will need to know the last time all the chimneys were swept, and you should also apologize to Lady Freya and thank Her Ladyship for her forethought in not placing all of us in danger.”
“Aye, my lord. Your request is quite reasonable, though the chimneys were cleaned before Christmastide, but I will see that all are examined again for safety.”
Thompson nodded his acceptance and returned to teasing Aaran. “So Lady Freya slept in the mistress section of your master suite?”
“I instructed her to lock both the main door of her suite, as well as the connecting door between our two respective dressing rooms,” Aaran explained.
“But you were tempted,” Thompson accused, while Aaran easily recalled the heat of Lady Freya’s mouth under his.
“I am a man, not a wooden puppet,” Aaran countered. “I was tempted,” he admitted, “but the lady deserves someone better than a man who could never lift her in his arms and carry her to his bed.”
“You do not believe Sir Patrick will wish to treat Lady Freya thusly,” Thompson observed with a raised eyebrow. “I imagine Sir Patrick’s paunch will prevent his wooing of the lady.”
That was not an image Aaran wished to entertain, but it stuck with him throughout much of the day.
Chapter Seventeen
Aaran was proudof the confidence both Thompson and Miss Whitchurch had in him. Both had asked him to keep his brothers and their wives in order. Though Aaran had assured the bride and the groom that he knew nothing of planned pranks, the happy couple did not seem to believe him. Then he understood, Benjamin and Victoria meant to keep him interested in the ceremony by having him stand guard against the others.
Such was not necessary, for a look of authority by the clergyman when he entered from the back of the church had everyone sitting straighter in their pews. Aaran stepped into place beside Thompson. “Breathe,” he warned Benjamin.
“Easier said than done,” his brother whispered back.
Lady Emma scampered to take her place beside her husband, and then Miss Whitchurch appeared in the arched opening. The lady was on her father’s arm and quite beautiful in a blue-tinted dress. Now that she was out of mourning for her sister, the black and gray hues had been abandoned. She was quite beautiful, but Aaran’s eyes slid to where Lady Freya had been seated beside Beaufort, as Lady Annalise was part of the wedding party also. Lady Freya studied the church, those rushing to their seats, and the wedding party, minus him. Beaufort had been chatting withher earlier, but now Navan watched his wife with such yearning in his eyes for Lady Annalise that it made Aaran sadder at the prospect of never seeing Lady Freya again. She had come to be quite essential to his well-being.
The vicar presented those gathered for the ceremony a knowing look and all within silenced immediately, all except Thompson who sighed heavily and whispered, “Finally.”
“Just a bit longer, my lord,” the vicar explained with a knowing smile.
After Miss Whitchurch paused first to kiss her father’s cheek and then hand off the spray of lilacs she carried, thanks to Thompson’s greenhouse, to Lady Annalise, they all turned to face the clergyman.
With a clearing of his throat, Mr. Deven began, “Dearly beloved friends, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in paradise…” As the man continued to recite the opening speech of the wedding ceremony from the Book of Common Prayer, Aaran wondered if he would ever know such happiness. The man continued, “Into which holy estate these two persons present: come now to be joined. Therefore, if any man can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined so together: Let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”
The majority ofThompson’s guests had departed, though a few overstayed their welcome, even after Benjamin and the new Lady Thompson retired to the dower house. Therefore, Duncan diplomatically ushered the last of the villagers on their way.
Aaran waited another respectable quarter hour before he rose from his chair in the corner, where he had nursed his brandy, along with his misery. Lady Freya had departed three-quarters of an hour earlier. His brothers’ wives and Mrs. Thompson had all stepped outside to bid Cunningham’s daughter a farewell. Lady Annalise and Lady Emma shed their tears, but Aaran had barely moved a muscle, fearing he would bend to the temptation of snatching the woman into his embrace and never permitting her to leave him again. “I need to stretch my legs,” he said to no one in particular.
“Go with him,” Lady Annalise instructed her husband.
“Graham is not one to welcome my intrusion into his life any more than I would welcome his into mine,” Beaufort protested.
“If it were not for Lord Graham’s so-calledintrusioninto our lives, we would still be waiting to marry rather than preparing to welcome our first child,” Her Ladyship countered.
Beaufort shrugged in defeat and stood. “Just know, my lady, I shan’t permit you to win all our contestations once our child makes an appearance in this world.”
“I look forward to our conversations, my lord,” Her Ladyship said with a smile for both of them.
Beaufort turned to him. “Where to, Graham?”
Aaran had a place in his mind, but he would not announce his thoughts to the room. “Just need to move this cramped leg of mine. But no gardens. Do not treat me as a man with a bum leg. If you do, Beaufort, I swear I will challenge you to a duel, and you know I am the better shot.”
“Grumpy, thy name is Graham,” Beaufort said with a chuckle. To Aaran, the conversation was reminiscent of his early days in Duncan’s household. Boys teasing one another. Learning to trust each other.
“Which way?” Beaufort asked when they exited the rear of the house.
