Page 64 of A Duke to Save Her


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“Doesn’t she look a picture? But look at the time! We’d better hurry and get ourselves ready. We’ve got a wedding to get to. Come downstairs now, Eloise. Your father’s waiting for you. We won’t be long,” Claudia jabbered, and the two sisters hurried out of the room, leaving Eloise sitting dejectedly at the dressing table.

Like any young woman, Eloise had often wondered what her wedding day would be like, even as she had vowed never to marry until her sister had been found. But meeting Jackson had changed that. She had wanted to marry him, and his promise of helping her find Alice had been enough to make her realize that her own happiness was important, too. She had pictured an open carriage decked with flowers and a pretty church filled with all her friends. It would be the happiest of days, and she would marry the man she loved and who loved her. Marriage was not meant to be complicated. It was meant to be about love, but love seemed a long way off in the bleakness of what Eloise now faced.

“It’s time, My Lady,” one of the maids called, and Eloise rose reluctantly from her dressing table, glancing at herself one final time in the mirror.

There’s nothing you can do now.

She wondered if it had all been a mistake – the piece of paper, the sight of Jackson.

Perhaps he did not love her. She had heard nothing from him. She did not know of any plan to rescue her. All she could feel was despair. She made her way downstairs, where she found her father waiting for her in the hallway. It was a beautiful day, and the sunlight poured through the arched window on the stairs, creating pools of light on the marble floor of the hallway below. Her father was dressed smartly in a frock coat, with a purple cravat at the neck, and he nodded with satisfaction at the sight of Eloise descending the stairs.

“Yes, very good, very pretty,” he praised, as one of the maids handed Eloise a posy of flowers.

“You could call it off, Father,” Eloise said, and her father grimaced.

“Enough of that, Eloise. It’s not a matter of discussion. Do you understand me?” he hissed, as Anderton opened the door onto the street where a carriage was parked, waiting for them.

It was not decked in flowers, though the horses had ribbons tied in their hair. The Viscount took her by the arm and led her outside, just as Penelope and Claudia came hurrying down the stairs. They were dressed in matching orange dresses, with purple sashes and ruby slippers. They looked ridiculous, even if Eloise’s father exclaimed how beautiful they were.

“Well, one must make an effort. It’s not every day one’s brother gets married, is it?” Penelope said, climbing into the carriage next to Eloise.

Claudia sat on the other side, and the Viscount sat opposite. It should have been the happiest day of Eloise’s life, but instead, it was the most miserable. The carriage pulled off, and Penelope and Claudia talked endlessly about who would be at the wedding, and the prestige into which Eloise was marrying. But Eloise was not listening. She was thinking of Jackson, hoping beyond hope for something to happen – for Alice to return as his words had promised. But her hope was dwindling, and as they arrived at the church a short while later, it seemed the hour had come.

* * *

It was quite a squeeze in Jackson’s carriage that morning. Jackson, Delphine, Alice, Silvana, Arthur, and the Baron of Loxbury were all traveling together to Saint Martin’s in the Fields. It had amused Jackson to discover his uncle waiting for them that morning, for, despite his previous dismissal of their venture, he now seemed eager to be included.

“If you’re going to humiliate Lord Crawford, then I want to see it for myself. I might not have been the best of uncles over the years, Jackson, but I know how cruel he was to you at school,” his uncle had told him and had insisted on accompanying them.

The reunion between Alice and her mother had been heartfelt, and Jackson had been too pleased to see it. But the serious matter of what lay ahead was now before them, and Jackson was feeling increasingly nervous at the prospect of what was about to occur. He and the others were about to disrupt one of the most talked about weddings of the Season. It was no small matter to stand up and declare opposition to a marriage that everyone else believed should go ahead. But Jackson’s worries were assuaged by his thoughts of Eloise. He was doing all this for her. He loved her, and he would do anything to save her from the cruel fate hanging over her.

“Look at all the crowds,” Delphine exclaimed as they came in sight of the church.

Saint Martin’s in the Fields was a handsome church, no longer surrounded by fields but by the grandeur of London buildings, with steps running up to a portico beneath which a crowd had gathered to wait for the bride’s arrival. Jackson knew they could not be seen, and he had directed the carriage driver to pull at the west door so they could slip in.

“I hope this works,” Alice whispered, glancing nervously out the carriage window.

“We’ll make it work, Alice. Oh… I can’t wait to see the look on your father’s face when he sees you. And when he sees me,” Silvana said.

Jackson had taken an immediate liking to her. She was a strong, fiery-tempered woman, who was determined to have recourse against Eloise’s father. Together, she and Alice would prove what had happened all those years ago, and the scandal that had been so hushed up would then be revealed. Lord Crawford would surely never wish to be associated with such an occurrence, and that would be the end of the matter. That was Jackson’s hope.

“Come on, let’s get out of this stuffy carriage,” Jackson’s uncle grunted, and for once, Jackson agreed with him.

They climbed out of the carriage onto the street and made their way hurriedly through the west door of the church into the nave. It was a handsome building with its box pews and gallery. The communion table stood below a large, plain glass window, and several people were already sitting patiently, waiting for the ceremony to begin. The organ was playing gently. They made their way to the back of the church, the columns hiding them from direct view of the main body.

“Are you here for the wedding? You can sit at the front if you wish,” a verge said, rushing over to them in a long black robe.

“No… we prefer to sit here and wait,” Jackson claimed, as the others filed into the pew behind him.

“Oh, I’m shaking like a leaf,” Delphine whispered, and Alice took her by the hand and smiled.

“It’ll be all right, Delphine. We’ll get Eloise back, I promise,” she said, as the guests began to file in.

Jackson recognized many of them: school acquaintances and members of the aristocracy and high society. All came to witness the marriage of Lord Crawford and Eloise.

“They say she’s quite mad, you know. She went to the Royal Dance dressed in a mourning dress. I feel sorry for George, but… he’s made up his mind,” a man was saying, and Jackson clenched his fists, angered by what Lord Crawford had reduced Eloise to – a shadow of her former self.

“I’m here, my darling. Just a little longer, and it’ll all be all right,” he muttered to himself, watching the door of the church, poised to act.

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