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“Very well. I shall write and inform him.” He stood and returned to his desk, where he drew a parchment and began to write.
Bridget’s life was changing, but this time, it was a change that she was in control of.
CHAPTER 2
“It appears I am to be wed in a sennight.” Harry Westwood, the fourth Duke of Alderham, folded the missive he had just read and regarded his friend, Mr. Gerard Belmont, whose gray eyes were wide with surprise.
“I beg your pardon?” Gerard blinked, and his pale brows that matched his blonde hair creased.
“This is from Viscount Malmore.” Harry shook the letter in his hand. “He visited a fortnight ago while you were in Gloucestershire, offering his daughter’s hand.”
His friend wore a deep frown now. “Miss Turner?”
“Correct.”
“Harry, I know you do not make decisions on a whim, but this is rather sudden. Do you know anything about her?”
“Are you referring to what the gossip sheets wrote?” One of Harry’s brows rose with his question.
“Yes, precisely that. Scandal follows her.”
“I have courted scandal since Salamanca.” His shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I am merely doing the honorable by marrying her now.”
“What brought on this change? You did not wish to marry before.”
“Look around you, Gerard.” Harry made an expansive gesture. “My home is crumbling, and my tenants detest me. This alliance will bring me fifteen thousand pounds, and four thousand a year.” He watched Gerard’s brows rise at this announcement and smiled. “Only the veriest of fools would decline such an offer.”
“I see,” was all Gerard responded with, and Harry knew he was not pleased.
“You wish to save me from this woman, dear friend?”
“Indeed, I do. Your good name should not be tarnished with scandal.” Gerard’s response was emphatic, which drew a chuckle from Harry.
“I am the Beast of Grayfield, Gerard. I have no good name.” He sounded unconcerned as he said that, but Harry was less than happy about the tales that had been spread about him. Miss Turner must truly be desperate to agree to marry him, a man that only had half of his face to show. Without intending to, his fingers moved up to the right side of his face to lightly touch the scar that ran from his forehead to his jaw.
Gerard pulled out a watch from his waistcoat pocket and examined it before declaring, “I must leave now if I am to reach Cambridgeshire by nightfall.”
“Perhaps I will be married by the time you return,” Harry quipped.
“Never!” Gerard grinned as he stood. “You need me there, and I promise to save you if she is anything less than pleasing on the eye.”
Harry shrugged, unconcerned about Miss Turner’s appearance. He was not marrying her for her beauty. Still, a part of him wondered what she was like, and whether she would be a chore to bed. His battle wounds had swiftly put an end to his rakish ways, and it had been very long since he last touched a woman.
“Farewell, my friend,” Gerard said, gaining his feet.
“Have a good trip,” Harry replied with a slight smile.
An hour after Gerard’s departure, Harry left his study to meet his steward, Mr. Meyer. As he walked past one of the drawing rooms, he caught sight of his aunt, Belinda Thornfield, and poked his head into the room.
“I am getting married, Aunty.”
“I beg your pardon?” Belinda’s eyes were like saucers.
Harry rolled his eyes.Why was everyone surprised he was taking a wife?“I am getting married to Miss Bridget Turner, daughter of the Viscount of Malmore.”
A crash followed his announcement, and his aunt stood abruptly. She had dropped her teacup onto the floor. “Miss Turner?”
“You disapprove,” he observed, stepping into the room and pulling the bell near the door to summon a servant to clean the spilled tea and broken cup.
