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He flung himself onto one knee in front of her and grabbed her hand. “Do forgive me, my love,” he said loudly. He flipped a lock of wet hair away from his eyes. “My carriage wheel flew off halfway to the church. Nearly lost the coachman.”
Mama clutched the lace at her throat.
“After I made certain the fellow would live, I rode the rest of the way,” Lord Hatherly continued. “I rode as hard and as fast as I could.”
Such a deliberate emphasis he placed on hard and fast.
Several members of the congregation gasped, hanging on his every word.
Some were probably hoping for a scandalous last-second jilting.
Alice contemplated fulfilling their every fantasy by snatching up a piece of religious statuary and smacking the marquess across his aristocratically hewn jaw before making her escape.
She could clearly imagine the fun the newspaper editors would have tomorrow: Bride Bludgeons Bridegroom with Blessed Saint and Bolts.
Of course, she’d do nothing of the sort. She needed him too much. The plan was already set in motion. The scholars in Calcutta were waiting for her to arrive with the lost chapters of the Kama Sutra. Well, they were waiting for Fred to arrive, but they’d have to make do with her.
“Lord Hatherly, please stand up,” she hissed. “You’re making a scene.”
“Not until you forgive me, my darling,” he said loudly.
He was a consummate performer; she’d allow him that. It almost made her giggle, the sight of the arrogant Lord Hatherly down on his knees, playing the attentive, besotted bridegroom of her mother’s dreams, the assembled witnesses hanging on his every word.
He winked at her and her anger dissolved.
He was here now, and everything could go on as planned.
She could make him pay for his tardiness later.
“Well then... I forgive you,” she proclaimed loudly.
A sigh rippled across the room. Her friend Thea caught her eye and gave her a brief, encouraging nod.
As he rose, he took the opportunity to whisper in her ear. “I’ll make it up to you. Tonight. When we begin our lessons.”
Alice felt her cheeks heating.
She’d been thinking about those lessons. Preparing for them. She’d nearly translated the whole of the Kama Sutra chapters. But there were still some words and phrases whose meaning eluded her.
All would be revealed tonight.
Sir Alfred nodded to the priest, who moved to his post and opened his Book of Common Prayer.
“Shall we begin?” The priest’s flat blue eyes pierced through Alice, daring her to lose her nerve. “Dearly beloved, 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...” droned the priest in his dry, raspy voice.
Hatherly’s rain-soaked pantaloons were practically painted onto his powerful, thickly muscled thighs, Alice noticed.
He caught the direction of her gaze and gave her another intimate wink.
She swiftly tore her gaze away and stared at the stained glass window.
The priest droned on about the holy estate of matrimony, enjoining Hatherly to love her, comfort her, and forsake all others.
Ha, Alice thought. Not much chance of that.
“I will,” Hatherly lied blithely.
He didn’t seem at all concerned that the entire ceremony was a lie and that they barely knew each other in any meaningful way.
