“Nathaniel, there you are!” his cousin called out, lowering a cup she had been sipping from critically as her butler looked on, a bottle of rum in one hand and a plate of sliced oranges in the other. “Come here and taste the punch.”
Nathaniel made his way to the large silver bowl on the terrace drinks table and took the cup he was offered. When he first arrived, his temper had been frayed by Patrick’s nonsense and then further tested by seeing Cecily strolling about the gardens with that damned soldier.
Now that he had held her against him once more and tasted the sweetness of her eager lips, his dark mood had lifted. Soon, he would have a duchess to handle family responsibilities and a soft, warm, responsive bed partner with whom to quench his lust. While Cecily was largely unaware of her own nature, Nathaniel was confident that her desire matched his own.
Once he had opened her eyes and her thighs to all the pleasures that awaited them, there would be no more silly frustration on either side.
His gut-wrenching reaction to seeing his bride-to-be laughing with Colonel Lyons had been childish and out of character. Where in God’s name had it come from? But then, how could she have imagined he wished to break off the engagement either?
Both were absurd, and the sooner he had Cecily crying out her pleasure and need beneath him, the better for both of them. Yes, he believed it was pure sexual frustration that made them both act so irrationally.
“Very good, indeed,” he pronounced, to the satisfaction both of his cousin and her butler. “I shall take a full cup myself.”
“I did not know whether to expect you today,” Isabella said in smiling accusation as the butler ladled out the punch. “You didn’t reply to my last note.”
“By the time I was sure I could get here, my reply would have overlapped with my arrival,” he answered with a shrug. “There has been much to plan for my marriage. I don’t remember it being quite so much fuss the first time.”
“That is because you left it all to Lady Victoria’s family and to me,” Isabella replied, her tone one of fond semi-reprimand. “You only had to sign where I told you, get out of bed in time on the day, and repeat the vows after the vicar. If you have stirredyourself to plan your own marriage this time, I am only relieved. Now, when is it?”
“The sixteenth, at eleven o’clock,” Nathaniel answered.
“The sixteenth!” Isabella exclaimed, taking a large swig of punch to fortify herself. “We won’t have half of the trousseau ready by then, Nathaniel. What does Miss Holt say? Doesn’t she think it’s too soon?”
“She is ready,” Nathaniel stated confidently, thinking of Cecily’s lips parting under the pressure of his own, her hand caught in his hair, and her breast pressing warm and full against his palm.
Cecily was more than ready for him.
CHAPTER 16
“There, you look very beautiful, Cecily,” Lady Jackson assured her, adjusting one of the deep red rosebuds fixed in Cecily’s hair by her own lady’s maid, who had stood back to admire her handiwork. “Doesn’t she make a perfect bride, Mrs. Barnes?”
Cecily gazed into the looking glass at the dressing table in a guest room at Greyhaven Park. She had returned there with Mary last night, along with Lord and Lady Jackson, and today was her wedding day.
The dark red of the roses looked beautiful among her golden-brown curls, highlighting the pale cream of her skin and sparkling with the brown of her heavy-lashed eyes. Her wedding dress, made of cream silk with gold embroidery, was finished just in time. With its close-fitting bodice, short sleeves, and flowing skirts, it managed to be both revealing and modest, accentuating as much as it covered her short but curvy figure.
“There’s nothing like fresh flowers as ornaments for a young lady on her wedding day, My Lady,” the housekeeper agreed, presently holding the box containing Cecily’s bouquet of red and white roses, while other boxes lay on the bed. “They become you far more than any diamonds could, Miss Holt, though you’ll have more than enough jewels after you’re married, I guarantee you.”
“I must thank you for helping me dress today, Lady Jackson,” Cecily said sincerely, turning in her seat to face them. “And you, Mrs. Barnes, for arranging the bouquets.”
“You must call me Isabella now, and I shall call you Cecily,” Lady Jackson reminded her with a smile. “We shall be cousins very shortly, after all.”
The bedroom door opened then, and Mary came rushing in, her own dress of cream muslin tied with a red sash that matched the floral arrangements and the ribbons in her golden hair.
“Lilian won’t put on her dress, Mrs. Barnes,” she reported. “Miss Osborne says she cannot do anything with her and is looking for you.”
“Shall I come?” Cecily offered, getting up from the dressing table, but the older ladies shook their heads.
“Not yet, Miss Holt. It is your wedding day. I shall handle this,” the housekeeper said resolutely and laid down the bouquet on the bed before leaving the room.
Lady Jackson sighed and shook her head. “I was going to offer you some advice on the wedding night, Cecily, but I fear advice on how to deal with spoiled children might be more appropriate.”
“I am six-and-twenty,” Cecily made herself say with a light laugh. “Surely, I ought not to need either at my age.”
“Grandmother said that ladies should lie back and do their duty on their wedding night,” Mary prattled. “But that never sounded right to me. Lady Briggs said that she and Lord Briggs had ever so much fun on their wedding night, but she couldn’t say more in a public place?—”
“Thank you, Mary,” Lady Jackson interrupted firmly. “Could you please go downstairs and make sure that all is well with the gentlemen? Take down that small box of roses for them, too. Oliver and Harry must have their buttonholes. Tell them that I shall not bring Cecily down until Nathaniel and his brother have departed for the church.”
“If they are late, it is likely Patrick’s fault, for he is lazy and cannot stir himself to do anything properly,” Mary continued to chatter as she picked up the small box and made for the door to carry out Lady Jackson’s instructions. “I hope he will not be always hanging about here after the wedding, but I dare say he will since he has nothing better to do.”
