AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“As long as you do not follow her example. I intend to know where you are and what you are doing at all times, and if you put yourself in danger again, last night’s punishment will seem like a pleasant dream.”
“I will not,” she promised. Unlike Oliver, Rex had given her no reason to follow her example. While he had come to rescue her, he had also kept the secret of her Sunday meetings with Evie. Twisting her head to look at him, she smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you, petal.” He turned to catch her lips with a kiss. “The rest of this Season looks to be interesting.”
Yes, it likely would be, but Mary was not worried. They would face it together, as husband and wife.
“Are we telling your aunt and uncle about your adventure yesterday?” Rex asked suddenly.
Mary made a face. “I would rather not. They would worry so.” Poor Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Henry had been so good to her, she did not want to cause them any unnecessary concern.
“You keep an awful lot from your family.” Her husband affectionally bopped her nose with his finger. “You had best not have any ideas about keeping so much from me.”
“I am sure you will find an appropriate way to remind me not to do so,” Mary replied coquettishly. She shifted closer to him and winced. “Perhaps not today, though.”
Laughing uproariously, her husband pulled her onto his lap, ignoring her squeals.
Two matrons walkingdown Bond Street stopped and stared at the closed carriage as it passed, the sounds coming from it painstakingly unmistakable.
“Scandalous!” One of them gasped, putting her hand to her ample bosom. “And him, newly married.”
“Perhaps it is his bride in there with him?” The other suggested, squinting at the curtain as though willing it to move aside and allow them to see.
The first lady snorted indelicately. “His wife? Are you mad? What kind of nobleman would dothatwith hiswifein a carriage?”
Sighing, the second lady appeared rather wistful. “Perhaps more of them should.”
Epilogue
Josie
Joseph Stuart was an unmitigated, undiscerning, unintelligent, and completely insensitive ass. A dunderhead. A stupid, thoughtless, ratbag.
If she heard his name one more time in connection to Miss Bliss, she would not be responsible for her actions. An engagement announcement was expected imminently. Josie glared down at the ballroom floor where the pair was currently dancing, oblivious to everyone around them.
Five years.
Five yearsshe had mooned over that… that… nodcock. Done everything she could to gain a single moment of his attention. Learned how to behave like a lady to impress him. Followed him all the way to London when she would have been much happier in the countryside, riding her horse. But no, she had come to London, worried he might find a wife… and he had.
It did not matter how many gentlemen had crowded around her, singing her praises, Joseph had still not noticed her as anything other than his cousin’s little friend. He only had eyes for Miss Bliss, a young lady who everyone agreed was beautiful and accomplished but in no way compared to Josie, who had made a splash as a Diamond of the First Water and an Original. But it did not matter because Joseph did not see things that way.
She felt like Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
How happy some o’er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.
He will not know what all but he do know.
“Are you reciting Shakespeare in your head again?” Her friend Lily’s question was a murmur, but the accuracy dug under Josie’s skin. While she was grateful Lily had suggested retreating to the gallery when they saw Joseph and Miss Bliss making their way to the dance floor, so Josie would not have to tolerate the inane conversational gambits of the gentlemen courting her, sometimes, her friend was very annoying. “You should stop pining over Joseph and pay attention to one of the many men whodoeswant you as a wife.”
Josie just barely managed to keep from making a face. She had never wanted a London husband. She did not want to live in London. She wanted to live in the country with a husband who loved her, doted on her, and cared about horses as much as she did. If Joseph would just fall in love with her, he would make the perfect husband. She knew he preferred country living, he loved horses as much as she did, and they had always gotten along very well together.
“I do not want any of them.”
“Of course not.” Lily rolled her eyes. “You only ever want what you cannot have.”
