AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good day, Lady Marina. Wait for my letter when I have the special license. With a little luck, we’ll be married by Friday.” He clicked his tongue, and the horse galloped away with such sudden speed that Marina scurried back out of the way of the gravel that picked up behind them.
“Friday,” she muttered to herself. “That is just four days away.”
CHAPTER6
“Do you know, I cannot believe you are doing this,” Michael said in his place as the best man.
“Talk a little louder, won’t you? I do not think the organist heard you.” James’ harsh sarcasm made Michael shift his weight between his feet and turn his gaze forward to the altar. “Speak quieter.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Michael whispered this time. “I thought one of your rules was ‘no marriage.’”
“Well, that rule is being bent now,” James accepted, a muscle ticking in his jaw at the frustration of it all. “It was necessary.”
“Was it?” Michael clearly didn’t believe him, elbowing him to get his attention. “You always keep to your rules. One-time last year, you said that bending the rules was just another way for someone to deny they were breaking them.”
James glared at his friend, not appreciating the reminder.
“Very well, you wish me to accept what is happening here?” James asked.
“Please do.”
“I am breaking my rule. It was not out of choice.” James glanced behind him at the church, aware that people were filtering in now, just the few that he could bear to invite to this hurried and tiny affair. “What was I supposed to do, Michael, hmm? Watch the Lady fall?”
“You have been linked with many ladies in scandal sheets before,” Michael pointed out, a little too loudly until James elbowed him in the rib. “Ow.” Michael rubbed the sore spot. “I’ll speak as loudly as I breathe now.”
“All of those articles were different.” James sighed deeply, knowing it to be true. “Whenever I was mentioned in scandal sheets before, it was all supposition and guesswork. No one ever truly knew if I had been with a lady or not. Lady Marina is a different case. Everyone believed we had lain together, even though we hadn’t.”
His eyes flicked to the altar again. Resting on the surface were two tall tallow candles on either side of a vast ornate cross. The scent of candle wax hovered under his nose, reminding him of the gravity of the situation he was about to undertake.
“If I didn’t marry her, she would have been ruined, and…” He glanced over his shoulder, looking at his side of the pews. One of the few people he had invited had turned up to his surprise. Neil was there though his brother was doing his best to avoid his gaze. “Neil would never have forgiven me for it if I did nothing. He probably would have cut off ties between us all together.”
“Hmm, I wish I could say it was not the case.”
The two of them fell quiet, both restless and struggling to stand still. Behind them, only two pews had guests. Alongside Neil was a cousin of James’, who sat rather quietly, whispering to Neil and apparently trying to find out as much gossip as he could.
On Lady Marina’s side of the pews, her mother was there, sitting quite alone at the front. Behind her were two young ladies and an elder, whom James presumed to be cousins and an aunt. Beside them were a pair of faces that he recognized in passing from events of the ton. Miss Caroline Davis and her father, Mr. Peter Davis, had come to attend. Judging by the worry in Miss Davis’ face, and the way she repeatedly chewed her lip, she was nervous for her friend and the commitment she was about to make.
Miss Davis was the only one who looked down at her own shoes. Everyone else stared around them, either gazing straight at James or looking to the church door, waiting for Lady Marina to arrive.
“They watch too eagerly,” James muttered, putting his back to them. He rather felt that their families had come to watch a slaughter take place, to feed on the gossip and scandal that was unfolding before them.
“At least your brother is here,” Michael pointed out.
“Hmm.” James wasn’t sure how good a thing it was at that moment. No matter what happened between them, he and Neil never saw eye to eye. Just as James couldn’t understand Neil’s constant need to please the ton and appear a perfect man, Neil couldn’t see why James had opened the gambling hall in the first place.
He's in denial if he ever thought I could have rescued the dukedom’s finances without it.
“So, you’ve broken your rule,” Michael said, clearing his throat and opting for a more conversational tone now. “Does this mean you’ll be trying port yet? Maybe claret?”
“No. I still like to stay in control at all times. One bent rule does not mean the abandonment of another.” James’ words were harsh, but Michael seemed unaffected by that tone. He simply nodded. “It’s a marriage of convenience. Lady Marina will have her life, and I will have mine.”
“Convenience? What an odd word that is,” Michael said with a small laugh. “Forgive my impertinence –”
“You’re apologizing for such a thing now?” A smile grew on James’ face. “That would be changing the habit of a lifetime.”
“Perhaps,” Michael smiled too. “The point I wish to make is that I have seen your bride-to-be. Lady Marina is a beautiful woman. Are you telling me that once you are wed, you will have nothing to do with her? Ha!”
“I can stay away from her.” James had already made up his mind on that score. Marina was attractive, and she had such spirit that he couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to lie with her. It could be passionate indeed, and the thought of the way Marina would moan in his ear and tip her head back as he pleasured her made his body stir, wanting to rise to the occasion.
