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“She’s in good hands, Your Grace,” Lord Pearl assured. Then, as Richard turned away, leaving his mother to the care of these two men, he heard Sebastian continue, “Now, Your Grace…you gave us quite a scare. Just sit yourself right back down and have a drink of this.”
“What is it?” his mother questioned.
“I…well…I don’t entirely remember what I put in there last night, but whatever it is, I guarantee, it’ll perk you up in no time.”
Richard groaned inwardly but determined that finding Leticia now was the right thing to do. The congregants around him whispered loudly but were respectful enough of his presence to move aside when he began making his way down the aisle.
“Your Grace!” The squeal that came from Miss Loery’s lips right then stopped him in his tracks. He spun toward her, feeling as if the entire room rotated as he did. Those who had been hissing at each other moments before held perfectly silent as all eyes turned to the bride, who was still standing at the altar.
“Yes?” Richard asked, trying to exude a sense of calm.
“What is going on here?” Miss Loery inquired. Her finely arched eyebrows lifted high on her head, and her steely blue eyes skewered him where he stood.
For a moment, Richard thought to explain he had no idea, but before any sort of excuse could be wrung from him, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Once again, he swiveled, but this time, the cold blue eyes appraising him belonged to Miss Loery’s father, the Viscount.
“Lord Loery—” Richard started but was unable to finish as the older man spoke over him.
“I want to know what kind of circus you’re running here, Your Grace.” The Viscount lifted a hand and ran it through his beard, stroking the ends that came to a point. He eyed Richard shrewdly. “What reason could you possibly have for leaving my daughter at the altar?”
Richard gestured helplessly over his shoulder in the direction of the front of the church where Miss Loery did indeed still stand right next to the vicar. “I did not mean for any of this to happen, Lord Loery,” Richard said hastily. “I cannot tell you what is happening because I don’t know exactly myself.”
“And the wedding? What do you mean to do next?” The Viscount’s eyes hardened, and the look he gave Richard was full of loathing, but then, as Richard was scrambling for some sort of reasonable answer to that question, he heard Leticia call out once more.
“Please…just let me—”
“I must go speak to Lady Leticia,” Richard answered. He saw the way rage flared in the Viscount’s eyes, but he chose to ignore it.
I’ll deal with him later. But for now, I must know why Leticia went to such lengths to get my attention.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
“Please, Aunt Amelia,” Leticia begged as her aunt carted her down the hallway by the arm. “I’m telling you, I just need a moment of Richard’s time.”
“Whatever you have to say to Richard should have been said yesterday or the day before or even—”
“I know,” Leticia moaned. “I never meant to—”
“Well…you’ve put your foot in it now, haven’t you?” Harry asked, appearing from nowhere at Leticia’s side. He took hold of the arm Aunt Amelia was not holding and now, together, the mother and son nearly carried her down the hallway.
“Harry,” Leticia breathed, “I’m so glad you’re here. I need to speak to Richard.”
“Yes,” he said with a sarcastic smirk. “We all heard. Apparently, you’re violently in love with him.”
Leticia groaned. “You know I only said that because the vicar asked if I had just cause as to why the couple could not be married.”
Harry pulled up short then, and Leticia and her aunt were forced to stop walking. “I’m sorry. I fear I don’t understand entirely. So, do you love Richard madly, or were you just trying to stop his wedding ceremony for kicks?”
Leticia bit on her lower lip to restrain the annoyed retort that came to mind. “I need to speak to Richard. That’s all I’m willing to say until I’ve been granted a private audience.”
“That’s not likely to happen,” Aunt Amelia snapped. These were the first harsh words she’d uttered since she began hauling Leticia out of the sanctuary, but now that they were in a deserted corridor, her sentiments came tumbling out. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Leticia? Not only have you made a mess of this wedding, but you’ve embarrassed both Richard and Margaret. How will they ever be able to show their faces in London again?”
Leticia shook her head. “I think you might be overexaggerating a bit, Aunt. I didn’t mean to embarrass either of them, and surely, the blame for all of this will fall upon my head.”
Aunt Amelia’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “And do you think just because the members of thetonwill look on you with disdain that somehow your cousin, or myself and your uncle, will be kept away from their censuring eyes?”
“No one could think badly of you, Aunt, or Harry and Uncle Sebastian. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Leticia argued, infusing her words with hope as she tried to assuage her aunt’s fears.
“Silly girl,” Harry scoffed. “Of course, Mother has the right of it. What you did in there did not only impact you but your entire family as well as all the Braxtons. You might have even jeopardized the Loery family’s future and—”
