Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

“ H urrah! You have found me at last.” Cedric’s arms swept open wide in greeting.

Theodore turned coolly to look at his friend as Cedric hastened down the stairs toward him with Gabriel standing in the doorway.

“You have to tell him,” Gabriel hissed, practically in Theodore’s ear.

“I’m telling as few people as possible.”

“And Cedric is one of our oldest friends in the world. Better to hear it from you than read it in a scandal sheet.” With these final words, Gabriel turned and fixed his attention and Cedric. “Ah, the wanderer returns. How was your grand tour?”

“It was something special. Come, come, I shall tell you all about.” Cedric swept a hand rather flamboyantly toward an open doorway leading to his sitting room. “It’s been so long since I’ve been on this estate, I feel as if I’m learning my way around again. What’s this…”

He halted and picked up Gabriel’s wrist. “Wed? Ha! And I thought you were joking in your letter.”

“No joke. I am wed.” Gabriel chuckled. “Have you been starting on the wine already?”

“I have the finest red wines I have brought from Italy for you both. Come, you shall drink it.” Cedric clapped Gabriel on the shoulder and steered him into the sitting room.

Theodore followed, though at a distance.

It couldn’t be denied that he and Cedric were very different people indeed, but meeting as children had formed a bond between them, despite those differences, not to mention fierce loyalty. More than once had Theodore pulled Cedric out of a gutter when he was drunk, just as he had masked any number of scandals Cedric would have had with the ladies that kept him company at night.

“Ah, Theodore.” Cedric turned to greet him next, already passing him the rather full glass of red wine. “Still as silent as ever, I see. No one managed to make you smile in my absence? I’m disappointed. I keep hoping one day the icy marble will crack.”

He pointed at Theodore’s face and laughed. “You know I jest.” Cedric clapped him good-naturedly. “In truth, I find your constancy somewhat reassuring. You’re a pillar of strength, my friend, when the rest of us flounder.”

“Flounder, eh?” Gabriel called from where he sat down next to the decanter of wine. He took a sip and was evidently so enamored by the taste that his second sip followed swiftly. “Some of us manage to change our behavior.”

“Clearly, you do.” Cedric pointed at Gabriel. “What’s this I hear of you being a family-oriented man now? Quite the devoted husband now. I know you’ve always been a good father, but it’s a while since you’ve been such a loyal husband.”

“That’s because I am one. My wife and my children are the most important things in my life.”

“He is a devoted family man.” Theodore agreed, taking the seat beside Gabriel. He too sipped the wine and finding it so good, practically took a gulp.

Yes, this is what I need. Distraction.

Since he had made the decision to marry Lady Margaret, much had changed. He now had a bride, which was what he wanted in order to improve his business prospects, by marrying a lady from a titled background.

He was doing his best not to entertain any other thoughts about what being married meant. When he glanced Gabriel’s way, he found himself very determined never to turn into Gabriel.

“Well, a leopard can change his spots after all.” Cedric laughed and sat down opposite him. “I, myself, don’t think my spots will ever change.”

“Is this when you tell us you seduced half the ladies in Italy whilst you were there?” Gabriel asked with a chuckle.

“Not half, but some.” He winked as even Theodore managed a smile.

“Some things must change though, Cedric. Speaking of which, Theodore has some news for you.” He elbowed Theodore into speaking.

“Yes, I do.” Theodore nodded, speaking just as Cedric took a sip of wine. “I am to be married.”

Cedric choked. The sound was so sudden that he looked in danger of spitting out the wine across the room.

“You…? Married?” Cedric pointed at him with the glass.

“I told you he’d be surprised,” Gabriel muttered with a snigger. “So leopards can change their spots after all.”

“I need to marry.” Theodore sighed. “Thanks to my father’s dodgy business deals, there is still suspicion about my own business practice. If I am to ever improve things, then I need to shift people’s perception of me and my business’ reputation. By marrying a woman from a titled family, it helps.”

He chose to keep out the point that her own reputation may have been a little sullied as of late.

“Why do I feel like there is something you are not telling me?” Cedric asked, leaning forward.

“We may have been hurried into the marriage,” Theodore said in a dangerous voice that warned Cedric not to ask anymore, but Cedric had never been frightened of him. They had known one another too long for that.

“Well, I never! The serious, cold and distant Theodore, was caught in a compromising situation with a lady?” Cedric affected an air that was not that different to Lady Sedgwick’s, comically clutching at his chest. Gabriel fell about laughing as Theodore just shook his head. “It’s rather comforting to see you give way to human fallibility.”

“I did no such thing,” Theodore warned him. “Nothing happened between us, it was a mistake, but it will end in marriage.”

Cedric paused a little, a keenness in his eye which suggested to Theodore that his friend didn’t entirely believe him.

“Well, who is the lucky lady?”

“My sister-in-law,” Gabriel answered, a certain coolness in his tone that Theodore hadn’t heard before.

Startled, Theodore jerked his head around to look at his friend.

“You disapprove?”

“I may have thought to protect my new sisters from the likes of him.” Gabriel gestured to Cedric with his glass.

“Oi.” Then Cedric’s insulted expression turned into a smile. “Well, you probably should.”

“Exactly. Even you admit as a rake that ladies must be wary of you, but you…” Gabriel turned his eyes onto Theodore. “I did not think that you of all people would be found closeted in the library with Margaret.”

“Closeted?” Theodore repeated, irked at this choice of word as Cedric burst out laughing. “I was not closeted with her. I was reading and she came in with a spoilt dress.”

“A spoilt dress?” Cedric repeated, his smile growing by the second into an expression of pure mischief. “And as a gallant gentleman, you, of course, had to offer to be of service to her?”

“Something like that,” Theodore muttered resentfully. “It no longer matters.” Though he cast a glance Gabriel’s way, wondering if his old friend was indeed irritated by the turn of events. “I am marrying her, Gabriel. Her reputation will be intact.”

“Just about.” Gabriel agreed with a nod. “I’ll be there all the same. I want to make sure it happens and that you won’t run out of the ceremony.”

“So loyal to his new family.” Cedric raised his glass in the air as a toast. “Admirable, my friend.”

“Thank you.” Gabriel inclined his head.

“I will not be rushing out of the church.” Theodore darkened his voice, to show just how much he found this claim an imposition. “I am a man of my word. I will be there.”

“May I come?” Cedric asked, sitting forward.

“No. It is to be a small affair. Tiny, in fact. We are having no wedding breakfast, no party, nothing of the kind. We’ll have the ceremony and that is it.” At Theodore’s words, Gabriel stiffened.

“No celebration at all? Nothing?”

“No. We are to be married by special license, Gabriel. It is right that we take no excessive celebration in the matter.”

Gabriel nodded though he hardly seemed impressed by the idea.

“Well, I never.” Cedric tutted and then laughed. “I hardly expected to come back from my grand tour to find Gabriel now a devoted family man and you about to wed, Theodore. Have pigs started to fly whilst I’ve been gone, too?”

“Next thing you know, you’ll be getting married, Cedric,” Gabriel pointed out. Cedric nearly spat out his wine again.

“Never,” Cedric assured him. “Well, if I am not able to attend this ceremony, at least you could tell me more about it.”

“There is nothing to tell.”

“Then tell me about your bride?”

“She is… proper.” Theodore frowned, realizing he knew very little about his bride to be at all. “She’s…” He struggled.

Yes, Lady Margaret had indeed struck him as a proper lady. Yet she had also argued with him that night at the party with great fervor. There was a fire in her, a boldness that he had not observed at some distance in the days preluding the event.

“She is loyal to her family,” Gabriel suddenly stepped into the conversation. “She loves her sisters dearly. She despairs of their father’s habits, and she has wit and boldness in her, once you get her to open up a little. Evelina also tells me she is very clever.”

“You know her better than her future husband does.” Cedric pointed out with interest. “Is she beautiful, too?”

“Yes,” Theodore found himself answering right away. Gabriel must have found this an interesting answer, for he jerked his head around to look at Theodore.

He could remember in the midst of their argument the fury, the pink cheeks, the way those green eyes flashed. They were perhaps unusually large, but when close, he could see how beautiful they really were. He had also been unable to escape the rather powerful intensity of her gaze when he had offered her marriage. Despite the fact she had said little, restrained herself, he perceived her anger.

Her cheeks had reddened once again, her breath quickening. It had all made for a very alluring sight. A distracting one, at that.

“Well, then at least you will like your wife,” Cedric nodded with approval. “That is something.”

“It’s better if we love them,” Gabriel said, taking another large gulp of wine.

Theodore matched his action, drinking, but not his sentiment.

I have never thought of love, never courted the idea, never sought it. Such things are for Gabriel, but not for me.

“You are like a statue,” Gabriel hissed in Theodore’s ear.

He stood by the altar, facing the priest and no other in the church. Already it had been a more flamboyant affair than he had hoped for. Yes, the congregation was small, existing of just his friends and Margaret’s family, but there were flowers at the end of every aisle, and the priest said that hymns had been chosen by the bride, something that Theodore had made no arrangements for.

“What do you expect me to do?” Theodore whispered back to Gabriel at his side. “Jump for joy?”

“You are a man who wanted to be married, didn’t you? Think of it like this.” Gabriel smiled. “The whole thing has been achieved with extraordinary little inconvenience to yourself. You have had no need for a long courtship, no worry about a father who might not give his blessing, and no fear of the lady’s refusal. You have got what you wanted.”

Theodore glared at his friend. Maybe Gabriel had a point, yet something about this whole affair left him unsettled.

“Are you going to share what is bothering you or not?” Gabriel asked in a more serious tone.

“I thought to marry, I was intent on it, and I know it must be done.” Theodore nodded, showing he was not intending to back out now, least of all when he stood at the altar. “That does not necessarily mean I have always considered what marriage entails.”

“A companion for life? A friend? A lover?” Gabriel offered up.

Theodore felt as if a bucket of cold ice had been thrown over his head. He jerked his head back to face the priest.

I will not have a lover in Margaret.

A wild idea entered his mind. He recalled the simple moment when he had kissed her hand and wondered how Margaret would respond if he kissed her lips instead. The quickened breathing, the pink cheeks entered his mind, then he pushed it away.

I’m doing this for the sake of my business and standing in society. Nothing more.

The church doors opened, for Theodore could hear them swing aside. The priest smiled and waved a hand at the organist who struck up a note.

Theodore bristled, for he had certainly given no orders for organ music to be played either. It seemed Margaret had been bolder than he had given her credit for, in making her own arrangements.

“Turn and face her.” Gabriel hissed. “This is a woman you are marrying, not an ornament. For God’s sake, Theodore, face her!”

Theodore knew his friend was right. He could at least handle this moment with some amount of dignity, no matter the worries in his heart. He turned on the spot to look down the aisle.

Margaret was walking up the aisle on the arm of her father. Theodore scarcely noted that Viscount Edlerglen’s cravat was out of place, the waistcoat buttons misaligned, before his gaze slipped back to Margaret.

Where the Viscount’s appearance was scruff, Margaret’s was as perfect as was possible in comparison.

The white dress she was didn’t have a fray in it, and it sat neatly on her shoulders, each patch of lace across the bodice and skirt symmetrical with its sister. Her brown hair had been bundled at the back of her head, so the few loose locks were elegantly placed, laying delicately against the nape of her neck. Her own green eyes she struggled to raise, choosing instead to rest them on the bouquet in her hands.

In spite of himself, Theodore inhaled deeply.

She truly is beautiful.

He could imagine her being a pleasant presence in the house, certainly to look at. She could be even pleasanter if she looked at him with that same keenness and boldness that had been in those eyes before.

The Viscount halted beside Theodore, offering up Margaret’s hand. As her gloved palm was placed into Theodore’s he then saw close up everything he had missed before.

The lace gloves were frayed a little, and in her effort to hide any holes or wear in her dress, it had been sewn up, many times. A tightness constricted Theodore’s throat at the sight.

Under the cover of the organ music, he leaned toward the Viscount.

“Did you not buy her a new gown with the money I left you?”

The Viscount actually swallowed, the fear palpable in the air between them.

“He did not.” Margaret answered in his place. “Will I do, Your Grace?”

Such an anger rose in Theodore, directed purely at the Viscount, that he tucked Margaret’s hand into the crook of his arm, protectively. Had Theodore ever had a daughter, he would not have squandered the money away on gambling, as he now presumed the Viscount must have done. No, he would have bought the finest dress he could for the sum.

Steering Margaret toward the altar, he led her forward, aware that her hand now pulled tightly on his elbow.

“Your Grace –”

“Theodore.”

“What?”

“That is my name,” he whispered to her. “After today, if we are to be husband and wife, let us call each other by our Christian names. Even if that will be the only intimacy between us.”

He saw the narrowing of her eyes. Her lips parted, as if she wished to say something more, but they were out of time. The organ music had finished, and the priest had opened his bible, ready to begin.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the house of God, to bring together this man, and this woman.”

Theodore didn’t think he paid attention to much that the priest had said. Instead, he was painfully aware of Margaret beside him and her hand on his elbow. At one point, it drew very light, as if she was afraid to touch him. Without thinking, he laid his hand over hers, showing she was not to let go at this moment, for if she did, everyone in the church would see it.

We have suffered enough scandal already. We do not need anyone leaving this church whispering about how she has pulled back from me.

“Now, for the vows. Your Grace, would you repeat after me please?”

“I, Theodore Notley, Duke of Thornfield, take thee, Lady Margaret, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish…” He paused. Such vows were strong indeed. Here he was vowing to love a person he barely knew, and her green eyes were looking back at him, blinking rather rapidly when she noted his pause. “Till death do us part.”

As he completed the vow, he saw her sigh with relief.

As the priest turned away, he saw Margaret raise her eyebrows in silent question. She wished to know exactly why he had paused.

“Later,” he practically mouthed the words to her. “I have some rules to this marriage. I shall share them with you in the carriage.”