Lady Montgomery raised her voice, ‘Oh, I almost forgot. Argyle, I brought a note for you someone delivered this morning.’ She searched through her reticule and passed a letter to her nephew.
Argyle broke the wafer and scanned the single sheet of foolscap. A smile lit up his face and he looked at his new wife. ‘I have good news, my love. The injured horse is much improved—he will make a full recovery.’
Marguerite beamed and said, ‘Oh, I am so glad. That is the best wedding present I could have had.’
Argyle said, ‘The icing on the cake.’
As if on cue, Mrs Mowat entered the parlour bearing a large, iced wedding cake. She said, ‘I made a big one so that you can send pieces to all your friends in London, who are not here today.’ She looked at Marguerite meaningfully and added, ‘And we shall save some for the first christening.’
Chapter 21
When their guests had left, Argyle took off his coat and lay on the sofa, spent. His face was white, and he closed his eyes for several minutes, while Marguerite helped the others clear up, thanking them for their efforts. She told Flossie and Curtis that they would not be needing them any longer that night. ‘My husband will assist me with my clothes, Flossie, don’t worry.’ Flossie smiled, and Curtis picked up Argyle’s coat and went out with her, saying, ‘I will take this to be pressed, Your Grace.’
Marguerite went to sit by Argyle and drew his head onto her lap. They were alone, and all was quiet. She loosened his cravat and removed it, saying, ‘You will be more comfortable like this. And did you notice I referred to you as my husband just now, without even thinking?’
He said, ‘A wife. I have acquired a wife—I can hardly believe it, after all those years managing to escape such a fate. What did you do to me, you witch?’
‘No, what did you do tome?Mon Dieu, what have I done? I just remembered I did not want to be a wife.’ Her voice was anguished.
He laughed. ‘Too late now. You will have to bear with me, for better or worse.’
‘You started it. Could you not have waited for a few months before making your ridiculous proposal? I had just arrived in London. I wanted to…sow some wild oats.’
Argyle forbore to mention what sowing wild oats actually meant, saying drily, ‘I am certain that I am incapable of preventing you from sowing anything you like. I can only hope that the sowing will involve me.’
Marguerite laughed, ruffling his hair. ‘Of course it will,mon amour. We have been thunderstruck by love.’
‘We have. I’m sorry you have to spend your wedding night and your honeymoon in a lowly inn, sweetheart.’
‘On the contrary, I think it is most romantic. It is an adventure. We can perhaps have a wedding tour later, can we not?’
‘Yes. I will take you to Paris, and buy you perfume and extravagant hats, and you can visit all your old friends. But not yet, I’m afraid.’
‘I would like you to meet all my old friends, but I am in no rush.’ There was a pause, then she said, ‘It was amusing hearing Alice call you Thomas. She found it difficult, I think, and avoided it as much as possible.’
‘I must have been in a very mellow mood, to ask her to do so. Nobody has ever called me Thomas, except for my mother. And now you—and it was damned difficult getting you to do it.’
‘But then why—oh, Thomas, I wish you had told me this when you first asked me. Then I would have understood you had some regard for me.’
‘I did not know it myself, then. I asked you on an impulse.’
Marguerite sighed, then bent and kissed his nose. She said, ‘Tell me about your house in London, I am curious to see it. I assume we will go there, once you can travel.’
‘No, I think it is best if we go to my estate in Hampshire first. I would like us to extend our honeymoon and have more quiet time to ourselves. I can get my secretary to visit me there with any outstanding business—I don’t think I am up to facing London society yet, and we will have to postpone your mother’splans for a ‘magnificent ball.’ The mere idea exhausts me, and it would all make me exceedingly bad-tempered.’
Marguerite felt a momentary twinge of guilt—her mother’s ball delayed again. But she knew Argyle was right. She smoothed his forehead. ‘And thus insufferable—which will annoy me, and I shall have to quarrel with you. No, you are right, let us go to the country, where I can have you to myself. And I can start learning about the estate, can I not? If you have not changed your mind, that is.’
‘I do not go back on my promises.’
‘That is good.’ She paused. ‘It feels so strange that I have acquired a whole new life, in so sudden a manner—like sailing off into the unknown.’
‘I hope it is not making you anxious, my heart.’
She teased him. ‘It is even more strange that you should be worried about my state of mind! I will be fine, never fear—but I must know what to expect.Ma foi,I have belatedly realised I do not know much about you at all. In fact, I have been remarkably indifferent to your worldly trappings. Do you own a family seat?’
‘I did, but I sold it upon my father’s death. It went a long way towards improving my finances.’
‘So you did not think you had a duty to keep it in the family forever—that was brave.’
