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“Holton is getting married to Lady Victoria Summerton,” Wycliffe said.
“Congratulations,” William said, lifting his glass in acknowledgement.
“I say, I thought you would have offered condolences,” Holton said, his dark green eyes firing with amusement.
William rubbed a spot over his chest that damn well ached. “Every man is expected to marry at some time,” William said drolly.
“Not you,” Welham said, slapping his shoulder. “There is even a wager in the books here that when you damn well get married it will be to some scheming vixen that trapped you in a web you could not escape.”
William stilled as if he had been dumped into an icy lake. “What?”
Wycliffe sent him a frown, and his friends looked at him with varying degrees of curiosity.
“Wait…” Welham said, straightening. “Were you compromised?”
“No, of course not,” William said with an unconcerned smile, and a dismissive wave of his hand. “You should know me better than that. Not even the most vicious of compromises could force me to the altar.”
Inside, his damn heart twisted as this shock of awareness flowed through him. Pippa did not deserve marrying under a cloud of scandal and tattered reputation. That’s what he had wanted to save her from, yet if she had said yes to his offer, she would have endured this ugly speculation into why he had married her. Another scandal, a different sort of disgrace. He knew how malicious gossip of thetoncould be, and how insidious. Though he knew her to be a stubborn, passionate little fire-cat, their spiteful tongues would terribly wound her heart.
No one in society would believe that William was a gentleman who would marry for any sentiments.And Pippa herself did not believe it. He stiffened, recalling the profound flash of hurt in her eyes before she had lowered her lids. A breath hissed from him. It was that wounded look that had driven him to leave Hertfordshire right away. William scrubbed a hand over his face and downed the contents of his glass in a single swallow, excusing himself despite his friends’ protests. This was not where he needed to be either.
A pretty pair of laughing eyes swam in his thoughts, and William knew with profound certainty that was where he wanted to be right now, with Pippa. He stood outside the club, inhaling the frigid air into his lungs. William almost felt he could not think for the heaviness that sat upon his heart like a boulder. The memory of her wide, wounded eyes slammed into him, and he wanted to roar. Other memories flowed into him…the flowers, their dance, the sweet bright-eyed way she stared at him, the indescribable taste of her mouth, and the way he had burned alive when they made love.
She was…sweet mercy, she was someone he wanted with every breath inside of him.
“You’ve met someone,” a voice said quietly to his left.
William had been so damn absorbed he’d not heard Wycliffe’s arrival.
“Yes,” he admitted gruffly.
“And you want to marry her?”
There went that hungry leap inside his chest once more. “I think I damn well do,” he said with an incredulous laugh.
Wycliffe offered him a lit cheroot and he took it, dragging its taste inside.
“You do know what you need to do, don’t you?”
William smiled. “I know it. Still, she might say no because I made a mess of it, ordering her to marry me by special license only yesterday.”
The earl chuckled. “This is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. Do not muck it up.”
A few weeks ago, he would have scoffed that marriage could be the most important decision a gentleman could face, yet something about Wycliffe’s words felt right. William bid his friendadieuand walked away. He fetched his horse and strolled along the streets with his faithful steedcloppingbehind of him. William needed to carefully plot his next steps.
He wanted his delightful little minx in his life; he now admitted that, though infuriating as she was, he wanted Pippa always.
Was this love?
He recalled her assertions that she knew the beginning of it. Had she meant with him there in the cottage? William took another drag of the cheroot. He would have to be patient; the duchess’s party at Hartford Hall was not planning to return to Town for another five days, but then he would put his plans into action.
She did not deserve to marry in haste with a special license like she was a dirty secret. William would damn well show her and the world that he did want to marry her. He would wait for Pippa’s return and then he would go about things the proper way… he would woo her.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Pippa was unsettled as she returned to her parents’ home. Her heart and mind were in turmoil after her refusal of William’s proposal and, despite her vow to remain buoyed, there was a melancholy upon her heart. The duchess’s party had returned to Town later than they had planned, partly because the roads were still so appalling, and the weather had been changeable. Her friends from Berkeley Square had done their best to comfort her, and she had practiced her smile and laughed at their jests. However, she had decided not to accept any more of their dares and, when the season was fully over, she would suggest to her mother that they return to Bath for a spell.
“Are you not looking forward to tonight’s ball?” her mother queried from where she sat opposite to Pippa in the carriage, which rattled along the cobbled streets of Mayfair, taking them to Lady Pinault’s midnight ball.
