AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Evan set his hands on her shoulders and gave her a slight squeeze meant to be reassuring before he moved past her and set himself in front of the earl. “Grandfather, what are you doing in the dining room? And dressed? You should be resting. You know how tired ye get after the morning meal.”
“No. Not today, my lad.” His gnarled left hand lifted from his cane and he waved it in the air. “I want to see it, Ev.”
Evan glanced at his many cousins watching him, his look resettling on his grandfather. “See what?”
“Ye get married. I have the clergyman here and ready. What else do ye think your cousins would gather like this for?”
Evan’s jaw dropped, not a word able to form on his tongue.
Juliet’s sudden presence was beside him, her arm hooking into the crook of his elbow as the side of her pressed into him.
“Married? Today, my lord?” Her voice was poised—uncannily composed. “No. We cannot do this.”
“There be no good reason why not, lass,” his grandfather said.
“It is my family—my dear sister.” Her head tilted to the side in utter disappointment. “I was planning on them attending the wedding. They were so looking forward to it—my sister has talked of nothing else for the last month.”
The earl clunked the bottom of his cane into the flagstone. “Nonsense. Ye can marry here, then have a proper English wedding the next time ye travel south of the border. Your sister will get her grand wedding to attend in a few weeks.”
“Excuse us for a moment, Grandfather.” Evan spun about, throwing his arm along Juliet’s shoulders and he ushered her back out the door of the solarium.
He stopped them just outside the door.
Still within view of his grandfather, he positioned his body to block her away from the many eyes on them, but then spun her toward him so he could see her face. See what was really storming in her eyes.
Panic—frantic panic in her blue eyes.
It hit him oddly in the chest. The fear in her eyes. Fear at having to marry him.
He’d never even insinuated such a possibility was to happen, yet he didn’t care for her instant aversion to the thought.
Turning slightly to the side with the show of an easy smile on his face for his grandfather, he leaned down and set his lips by her ear, his voice a whisper. “We can divorce after this—we’re in Scotland, it is doable.”
Her eyes went wide, her breath catching in her throat and she coughed. She turned her head so her words were directly into his ear. “You want me to actually do this? You never said anything about the possibility of this.”
He nodded, the phony smile cut hard across his face as he whispered back to her. “I didn’t know—I never would have imagined he’d do this. That he even made it into his best clothes and into here—that he had the strength to arrange this, much less demand it—I never would have thought it possible.”
She reached up and grabbed his arm, squeezing it. “Yet here it is.”
“You’re right.” He shook his head. “This goes too far—I will tell him. Tell him of the ruse.” Evan stood straight, letting the smile dissolve from his face as he ushered them back into the room and stopped the both of them in front of his grandfather.
The earl looked to Juliet. “Juliet, ye have no objections to the wedding?” He looked at her for less than a second, then slammed the tip of his cane onto the stone before she could answer. “Splendid. Let us commence the ceremony.” He looked to Evan.
Evan braced himself. “Grandfather, I cannot—”
Juliet’s sudden hand on his chest stopped his words and she stepped in front of him. “We cannot thank you enough for arranging this. We’re delighted to have this done.”
The earl laughed, jabbing his cane into the floor with glee. “Excellent. Let’s get to it.”
He shuffled to the side and motioned to the clergyman that stood at the far side of the solarium.
The ceremony only took minutes.
Minutes where Evan could feel himself outside of his body, watching what was happening, but in no way able to stop it.
The numb disbelief deep in Juliet’s stormy eyes, her hand gripping his as though he was the only thing holding her back from dropping over a cliff, told him she felt much the same way. A wave had caught them, sucking them out to sea with not even a shred of a board to grasp onto.
Man and wife.
