CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

C HAPTER T HIRTY -O NE

B efore everyone had retired the previous evening, Charlie had gathered them and listened to what had been settled and what was left to be accomplished. Oriana had never been so proud and amazed by him. In fact, she was so impressed that she did not hear him call her. “Oriana? Did you hear me?”

“Oh, sorry. We have a list of everyone who will expect to be invited. The invitations will be carried around after they will have departed their homes for the ball.”

“Grace?”

“The wedding breakfast will begin at eleven o’clock. That will give our guests time to recover from the night before. It is good that we do not keep late hours in the country.”

Oriana had heard that her aunt had been told, but she did not know if there was a response. “Charlie, have you heard from Aunt Prue?”

“I apologize. I did. She’ll join us for breakfast.”

“I sent a note to Mama,” Dotty said. “That way she can end the ball at a reasonable hour.”

“Excellent work. All of you,” Charlie said. “Let’s retire and meet again in the morning.”

Mary came up to Oriana. “Do you know where my room is?”

“I do.” She smiled. “Thank you again.”

Mary returned the smile. “I will see you in the morning.”

Charlie leaned over and kissed the side of Oriana’s neck. “I’ll escort you to your dressing room.”

“Thank you.” She knew he still was not happy about her decision, but he was taking it very well.

When they got to the door he opened it and wrapped his arms around her. “One kiss good night.”

Her mouth opened to his, and fire raced through her veins. Their tongues danced and his hands slid to her derrière. Oh, Lord. If they kept this up, she would soon be in bed with him. Reluctantly she pulled back. “I will see you at breakfast.”

“Until then.” He ran his hand along her arm to the tips of her fingers before letting go.

Kerby sighed. “He’s like a hero out of a novel.”

Oriana hoped he never heard anyone say that. “Get me undressed. I am sleeping in Lady Mary’s chamber tonight.”

“That’s what I was told so I could ready it for you.”

* * *

The next day everyone rose early to resume working on the wedding. Oriana was having trouble thinking of it as her wedding and probably would not believe it until tomorrow. By the time they arrived at Stern Manor she was ready for the ball to be at an end and it had not even started yet.

There were a great many satisfied glances and smirks on faces around the table. Charlie was right. Something was afoot. As soon as dinner was over, they were directed to the ballroom, which was prettily decorated in summer plants, flowers, and ribbons.

Charlie nudged her when her cousin and the Pettigrew party arrived. Then the prelude for a waltz began. “Shall we?”

“Indeed.” They were surrounded by his family as they made their way to the dance floor. The minute the music started she was in his arms. “I love dancing with you.”

“Not as much as I love dancing with you.”

She focused on Charlie and could barely hear her cousin talking. Another gentleman was also complaining about something.

As Kenilworth and Charlotte passed them, he said, “See me directly after the set.” Then danced away.

“I wonder what he wants.”

Charlie’s lips turned up as he gazed down at Oriana. “I shall find out soon.”

When the set ended they were once again surrounded by his sisters and brothers-in-law. It was as if they were forming a barrier around them. Kenilworth whispered in Charlie’s ear, he nodded, took her hand, and placed it on his arm. “Let’s go onto the terrace.”

“He has no right standing up with her. She is going to wed me,” her cousin practically shouted.

She caught a glimpse of her cousin’s angry red face. He attempted to follow but was blocked by Harry Stern.

“I tell you that he is contracted to marry my daughter,” Pettigrew said. When he tried to hail Charlie, Rothwell stepped in front of the man.

Charlie and Oriana strolled down the terrace steps and into the garden. Once they were out of direct sight of the house she leaned against his arm. “What are we going to do? Lord Pettigrew is insisting you wed his daughter and Ognon is declaring that he and I will marry. This is a disaster.”

Charlie turned her to face him. “We both know that neither of them are telling the truth.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his head down for a kiss. “I know that, and you know that, and our families know that, but what of the rest of the world? We do have our reputations to consider.”

He feathered light kisses over her chin before claiming her mouth. “I decidedly will not marry to satisfy anyone other than myself. What a miserable life I would lead.”

She dropped her forehead against his shoulder. “I feel the same, but that does not answer the question of what to do.”

From the direction of the house the sound of light voices and music seemed to float on the air. “Let us stroll to the fountain.”

She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “What is there?”

Charlie guided Oriana along the path toward the large fountain in the garden. “Possibly the answer to our dilemma.” When they arrived, he faced her. “What do you think of a compromise?”

She tilted her head and stared at him in confusion. The voices became louder, and her expression cleared. “A compromise. Why did we not think of it before? That is the perfect solution. We are obviously so in love that we cannot help ourselves.”

“Indeed.” He grinned. “Shall I propose again?”

She slid her arms up his shoulders. “Considering I accepted your proposal and never reneged, I do not consider it necessary. Aside from that, you could never do a better job without being covered with mud.”

This was one of the reasons he was marrying her. What other lady would like a mud-covered man proposing? “I do love you very much.”

“As I love you.” He could hear steps approaching. “Are you ready to be compromised, Miss Ognon?”

“Never readier, my lord.”

Charlie lowered his lips to hers and she threaded her fingers in his hair. She opened her mouth and their tongues tangled.

“Good gracious!” one lady said, holding her hand to her chest.

“Oh yes, what a surprise,” Lady Stern commented drily.

“It is Charlie and Oriana,” Theo said. “I knew they were in love.”

He broke off the kiss, and he and Oriana turned to face the small group of ladies. “Ladies, Miss Ognon has done me the great pleasure of agreeing to be my wife.”

“This certainly has thrown a spanner into Pettigrew’s plans,” the first lady said.

Charlotte and Kenilworth strolled up. He raised a brow. “I think you will discover that Pettigrew never had an agreement for his daughter to marry Stanwood.”

Oriana gave him a suspicious look and matched him a raised brow. “It is amazing how you think of these ideas.”

The corners of Kenilworth’s lips tilted up. “I daresay this will do the trick.”

“It had better,” Charlie muttered to himself. He glanced at his publicly acknowledged betrothed. “Shall we share our news?”

“Yes. We might as well get it over with.”

Lady Stern regarded them for a moment. “Allow us to go before you.”

Her friend nodded. “To ease the way, as it were.”

He and Oriana exchanged glances, and Oriana inclined her head. “Thank you, my ladies. That is an excellent idea.”

Charlotte and Kenilworth accompanied them back to the house. By the time they arrived they were greeted with good wishes from most of the party, aside from a red-faced Lord Pettigrew and a belligerent Viscount Ognon.

“My lord, you know you were to wed my—”

Charlie gave the man a hard look. “I know no such thing, and neither does anyone in my family, nor our solicitors. Aside from that, the proposal you did make to my father named him as the sixth Earl of Stanwood. I am the sixth earl, and I can assure you that I have never made an agreement with you. The only contract I signed was with Miss Ognon.”

Miss Pettigrew scowled at her father. “I shall not marry a gentleman who is in love with another lady.”

“You will wed whom I say!”

“No, she will not,” Lady Pettigrew stated. “She shall wed whom she chooses as long as he is eligible.”

Oriana tugged Charlie’s arm. “Let us leave them to it.”

“Yes, let’s.” They joined his family and her aunt, who had formed a circle on the other side of the ballroom.

Ognon stomped up to them. “You agreed to marry me.”

Oriana turned and glared at him. “Never.”

“Your vicar told my rector that the appropriate action would be taken.”

“Yes, and that action was to do absolutely nothing.” She looked as if she was about to smite the bounder. “If you have anything further to say, you can say it to my husband. I am being married tomorrow.”

Sir Henry joined them, followed by two footmen. “My lord, I believe you may depart now.”

Ognon glared at Charlie. “You haven’t heard the last from me.”

He took out his quizzing glass and aimed it at Ognon. “Oh, I believe I have. You see, I am in possession of sufficient evidence to take to the Lords and have you convicted of crimes including malicious trespass. Although, you don’t have to take my word for it. Mr. Stern is a barrister. You can ask him.”

Harry gave an imperceptible nod. “Stanwood is correct.”

Charlie speared Ognon with a hard look. “I suggest you take a nice long vacation on the Continent and leave someone competent to run your properties here.”

“Lord Ognon.” Sir Henry bowed. “Your company is no longer desired.”

The two footmen stepped forward and Ognon headed for the front door.

“Follow him and make sure he leaves,” Sir Henry said before turning to Pettigrew. “If you can behave, you are welcome to remain. However, if you wish to depart, we will ensure that your wife and daughter arrive home safely.”

Pettigrew turned to his lady. Before he could open his mouth, she raised her chin. “Sarah and I are remaining. I wish you a good evening.”

Theo linked arms with Miss Pettigrew. “You see. I told you everything would work out as it should. Allow me to introduce you to the Duke of Chandos and the Earl of Rochford.”

Lady Stern strolled into the middle of the ballroom. “My friends, we have had an invigorating evening thus far. Let the music continue.”

Oriana tucked her hand in Charlie’s arm. “Can you please explain to me what happened?”

“We won.” He couldn’t help giving her a broad smile.

“But they just blew everything up.” She lifted her other arm and dropped it. “There was no finesse or bothering about any of the niceties about which we were so worried.”

Lady Stern came up to them. “We thought of every plan we could and none of them would achieve all of our desired goals. Then Kenilworth and Merton came up with this scheme.”

The Misses Carrington came up to them. “We wish the two of you very happy,” the older one said.

“Yes indeed. We are very pleased with this match. We do not know what took you so long.”

Behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Taunton were holding back their laughter. She touched Oriana’s arm. “We wish you happy and will see you in the morning.”

Mrs. Evermore was next. “I said you two should make a match. Congratulations.”

Lady Prue kissed them both on the cheek. “I am over the moon for both of you. I trust you are leaving me at least some servants.”

“They will all remain,” Oriana said. “I will still be managing the estate.”

Charlie and Oriana stood there for the next hour drinking champagne and accepting wishes for their future life. They went with their family down to supper at eleven o’clock and talk turned to the wedding.

Charlotte’s eyes sparkled. “I should tell you that the girls have decided to dress up Posy and Minerva for the ceremony. I did tell them that the dogs were not allowed to attend the breakfast.”

Madeline started to chuckle, which set off the twins. “Do you remember when we had the wedding for Duke and Daisy?”

Kenilworth groaned as if he was in pain. “I remember it as if it was yesterday. You almost gave me apoplexy.”

Oriana’s face was full of confusion. “I do not understand.”

Charlotte laughed. “I had refused to marry Con. Separately from that, the dogs had mated, and the girls decided they needed to be married before they could have puppies. Con arrived as the service was getting underway, certain that I had decided to wed another gentleman.”

“Ergo,” Kenilworth said, “I ran into the garden to stop the wedding. Imagine my surprise at seeing Worthington giving the service.”

“That is funny.” Oriana chuckled.

“I’m glad you think it was,” Kenilworth grumbled.

She turned to Charlie, spearing him with a look. “I thought you sent the miscreants who damaged my land to America?”

“I decided that night we needed statements from them. I wanted to consult with Harry first, and he suggested we keep them someplace close to a port in comfortable circumstances in the event we needed them. Aside from that, there wasn’t a ship leaving for any of the northern cities until next week. It is apparently quite a long distance from Virginia or South Carolina to New York or Boston where they needed to go.”

“But the two of you,” Grace said, addressing Charlie and Oriana. “You had no idea how to resolve this disaster in waiting, but you carried on, getting the special license, signing the marriage contracts, and deciding to wed tomorrow.”

“What would you have done if it hadn’t been resolved?” Rothwell asked.

“I don’t know.” Charlie shook his head. “Left for the Continent for a month or so, I suppose.”

Dotty raised her glass. “As they say, all’s well that ends well.”

“Hear! Hear!” The rest of them saluted with their glasses.

“Wait a minute.” Oriana glanced at all of them. “Why was my cousin invited?”

“That was my idea,” Aunt Prue said. “I thought that as long as we were dealing with Pettigrew we might as well kill two birds with one stone. Cordelia agreed, and very kindly sent him a card.”

“And the compromise?” This time Oriana looked directly at Kenilworth.

“Ah, well. After we had discussed the issue until we were blue in the face, I took Merton aside and we agreed that the only way to ensure that the two of you were married would be for Charlie to compromise you. You are both liked a great deal more than Pettigrew, and we thought that public sympathy would go to you.”

Oriana covered Charlie’s hand. “We will have an interesting story to tell our children.”

“We will.” He raised her hand and kissed it. “What is more important is that tonight is the last night I will sleep alone.”

“Is that all you think about?” she chastised him.

“Not all.” Just almost all. He wanted her by his side for the rest of his life. That included in bed.