Page 9 of A Lady by Chance

He reached the mansion and brought his horse to a halt. Patrick pushed the serving lass and her mysteries from his mind as the groom waiting at the entrance hurried forth to take the reins. With a fortifying breath, Patrick climbed the steps to Gledstone’s massive double doors and the deed that would seal his fate.

Haunted or not, he was about to become a married man.

***

“Papa will skin you alive if he finds out you chased a kitten into the woods.” Chastity frowned down at Jessica as she brushed her hair, doing her best to remove the tangles and yew needles. “You even have resin clumped in the strands. And we do not have time to bathe you again, much less rewash your hair.”

“I don’t care,” Jessica said. “My groom can see me all dirty and my dress torn for all I care.” Chastity tugged hard at a tangle. “Owww.” Jessica jerked a glance at her in the vanity’s looking glass. “Be careful.”

“Whatever were you thinking?” Lucy asked.

Jessica looked at Lucy and Olivia, who sat in chairs near the divan, where lay the satin, ivory-and-gold gown she was to wear today. “What would Patches think if I’d let one of her kittens escape?” she said. “He made it all the way to the yew grove—”

“The yews are at the very back of our property,” Olivia interrupted. “If he made it that far, he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”

Jessica huffed. “You are heartless.”

Chastity set aside the brush and began braiding a length of seed pearls into Jessica’s hair. “You should not be going into the woods alone.”

“That’s right,” Olivia said. “We love you, and couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. Come now, think how happy you will be with a wonderful new husband.” She dabbed at her eyes.

Jessica clamped her jaw. “A week ago, you begged Papa not to marry me to the lieutenant.” She watched her sisters in the mirror and caught the glance that passed between Olivia and Lucy.

“You must admit that Sir Stirling knew what he was about when he married Lucy and I,” Olivia said. “He is right. We must have faith in him.”

“Everything is arranged,” Lucy said. “Even now, he and Sir Stirling are sequestered with Papa in his study.”

“Did you see him?” Her heart beat faster. “Is he an ogre?”

Chastity began pinning the pearled braid in place.

“Sir Stirling would not insult you by choosing a man you cannot admire,” Olivia said.

Jessica picked at the fabric of her petticoat. “What if I cannot desire him?”

“Never fear,” Lucy soothed. “He will make you swoon straightaway, just as Quinn did me.”

Jessica looked at her in the mirror. “You said Quinn piqued your anger when you first met.”

A faraway look entered Lucy’s eyes. “He did. But that is the way with love. If I hadn’t been moved by him, his words would have had little effect on me. It will be the same for you, I promise.”

Jessica shifted her attention to her eldest sister. “What do you think, Chastity?”

Chastity’s gaze remained on Jessica’s hair. “No one can deny the magic Sir Stirling has wrought with Lucy and Olivia.”

“He can’t be right all the time,” Jessica said.

“No one can be right all the time, kitten.”

“You are.”

Chastity smiled gently. “Nae, not even me. There is little to say. You are to wed the man today.”

“That is what is so unfair.” Jessica pouted. “I told Papa and Sir Stirling that I would make my prospective groom hate me, so they didn’t give him a chance to dislike me. They just married me off.”

Chastity released a breath. “That does seem to be the case. My advice is that when you walk down the aisle, if you find you really cannot abide him, do not marry him.”

“Chastity,” Lucy cried in unison with Olivia’s, “Oh dear.”