Chapter 4

CHAPTER4

Edward never thought he would be seated in the parlor of neighboring Moore Manor, waiting to be admitted by the Earl of Moore. He tried to sit still, but something would not let him. It was almost as if there was a fire burning in the chair where he endeavored to sit, and all along the floor where he was pacing a moment later. He simply could not remain in one place, no matter how hard he tried.

The door suddenly burst open, and the earl appeared, with his daughter following closely behind. Neither of them seemed particularly joyful. Then again, neither was he.

"Good morning," he greeted them first, walking over to them.

"Your Grace," the earl gave him a quick, but respectful nod of the head, while his daughter whispered her barely audibly greeting. Edward wanted to kiss her hand, as custom dictated, but she kept herself behind her father, shielded by his wide body, so Edward had no access to her.

"Please, take a seat," the earl offered, gesturing at the armchair which Edward had already tried.

"Thank you, I would rather stand," Edward said politely, feeling his collar tightening around his neck. "I do not wish to take up more of your precious time than necessary."

Every word was dragged out of him, kicking and screaming. To say that he did not want to be here was an understatement. However, he wanted to be the kind of man his father always believed him to be, even if that meant marrying the woman who had somehow questioningly ended up in his chamber at night, an odd occurrence which was followed by the sudden appearance of a fire. It all still made very little sense, and Edward had many theories regarding the fire, but he wisely decided to keep them to himself, at least for the time being.

"Although our families have not been very close, the news of your parents’ untimely death saddened us all," the earl said. Regardless of the circumstances that brought him here, Edward appreciated these words of kindness.

"Thank you," Edward said. He did not want to delve more deeply in that right now. In fact, he did not wish to remain here a moment longer than was necessary. "If you would permit us to move onto the pressing matter at hand... I do believe that obtaining a special license would be best. It would allow me and... Leah... to get married as soon as possible, before the gossip becomes... even worse."

He regretted not having practiced this conversation before having come here. He was hoping that he would easily find the right words, only the right words did not seem to come to him. He felt as if his voice was choppy, just like his mind. He could only hope that he would be able to get his message across directly and succinctly.

"I wholeheartedly agree," the earl nodded gravely. Then, he cleared his throat to continue. "As Leah’s father, I must say that I am rather disappointed in both of you. I believed that Leah’s mother and I raised a daughter who would be more aware of repercussions that would follow reckless choices–" He turned to her, but her gaze was still focused down, at her feet. If she had something to say to this, she did not show it. "As for you, Your Grace, I must say that your behavior regarding this... affair has shocked me as well. With that said, I am consoled by the fact that you both saw reason and agreed to marry each other as soon as possible. That whole explanation that neither of you knew how she ended up in your chamber was absolutely ridiculous, and permit me to add, downright insulting."

Edward swallowed heavily. He could understand the man’s point of view perfectly. His daughter was caught running out of another man’s mansion in the middle of the night, and all she or that man had to say was that they had no idea how that happened. Of course, it was downright insulting.

"I never meant to offend you, My Lord," Edward said with as much reverence as he could muster, not wishing to antagonize the situation any further. Things were already bad enough as they were. "I also never meant to offend Leah either. Things simply... got out of hand."

He did not wish to admit to anything, but for the sake of everyone, admitting it was partly his own fault was the path of least resistance. That certainly did not mean that Edward would forget the whole thing as if it never happened. Absolutely not. He would get to the bottom of this fire and this mystery of how Leah ended up in his chamber, even if it was the last thing he would do.

"Everyone makes mistakes," the earl nodded, walking over to him. "It takes a good man to admit that and to do his best to make amends in any manner possible."

Edward agreed awkwardly. "I could procure a special license within three days."

"That quickly!" Leah gasped. Both men turned to look at her.

"The longer you wait, the worse it will be," her father pointed out. Edward suspected the man was furious. However, he could also see that this man cared deeply about his daughter. He wanted her to be happy, to not be touched by the venomous tongues of the ton, but that was impossible, especially under the circumstances.

"Your father is right," Edward confirmed. She cut him off with a steel-cold stare of those blue eyes. One thing was obvious. She considered him responsible for whatever happened. He almost laughed at this realization, because he considered her to be the guilty party. This whole charade was becoming more and more preposterous by the minute.

He turned his attention back to her father and suggested a few details regarding the wedding breakfast. The earl agreed to everything. Edward was waiting for Leah to intervene again, but she was as docile as a kitten. He had to admit that he didn’t expect that. Then again, perhaps the conversation she had already had with her father forced her into this submission. Whatever the reason, Edward was glad not to have to argue with his future wife-to-be.

The idea was still as foreign to him as ever. To be quite honest, he doubted he would be getting married any time soon, mostly because of what had happened with his parents and the way his own reputation had suffered as a direct result of that. If someone had told him that he would be having an expedient wedding to salvage someone else’s reputation and not his own, he would never have believed it. And yet, here he was.

"If that is all," he said, after about twenty minutes had passed, and he believed that the earl and he arranged everything. "I shan’t be keeping you any longer."

Hasty goodbyes were exchanged, with the earl seeming slightly more relieved, but his daughter was as closed off as the first moment they entered. Edward was happy to find his own way out, and just as he was about to enter his carriage, he heard someone’s footsteps. He turned and realized that Leah had run after him.

"Tell my father that you weren’t able to procure the special license," he heard her say, with her cheeks all flushed from having run all the way. "I can go to my mother’s sister in Scotland and stay there until everyone forgets about this whole silly affair."

Up until that moment, Edward was not angry. At least, he was not furious. He was upset, yes. He was annoyed, but he wasn’t angry. Not in the real sense of the word. However, now he was. Leah had referred to everything as a silly affair, while it was he who had agreed to basically be blackmailed into marrying her, all so that her reputation would be saved. And for her, it was all a silly affair.

His eyes were inflamed as he stared at her, incredulously, wondering if she was truly that naïve or if she was doing this on purpose. He could not tell.

"A silly affair?" he frowned, his brows furrowing, turning into one long, bushy line. "I doubt your father considers this a silly affair."

"That’s not what I mean, I–" she started, but he instantly cut her off.

"I know exactly what you meant," he snarled, allowing his rage to take over. "You were thinking solely of yourself. You would disappear, while I would be left behind to deal with the social brunt of the situation I am fairly certain you created."

"Me?" she gasped. "I did no such thing!"

"Then how come you were asleep in my bed?" he demanded. "How on Earth does that happen?"

"For all I know, you could have brought me there!" she shouted back more loudly than either of them expected.

Edward looked around hastily. There was no one there, but he could not be certain that they were completely alone. This conversation was not to be had out in the open, but rather between four walls.

He sighed heavily, pressing the bridge of his nose. "Regardless of what you or anyone else may think, I do not have to kidnap ladies in order to bring them to my chamber," he said through clenched teeth.

The truth was that he could not remember the last time he spent the night with any lady, not that it was any of her concern. What he did want her to know was that he would never do such a heinous thing. He was not the monster the ton considered him to be, but he had no desire proving that to anyone, especially not her.

"Your mere presence in my chamber, however it happened, has trapped me in this situation. I have to marry you. There is no other way out."

"I just offered you a way out," she reminded him. "I will leave London."

"Yes, but I won’t," he corrected her. "I have no plans of going anywhere, and if I don’t go anywhere, neither will you. Our wedding remains as planned. The special license shall be procured as soon as possible. I suggest you go and purchase a wedding gown."

With those words, he turned around and climbed into his carriage, closing the door behind him. He did not need to look out the window to know that she was staring at him with such hatred that he could feel it piercing through the very walls of the carriage, aiming for every part of his body.

He also knew that she was watching as the carriage disappeared in the distance. His future wife was watching him. The knowledge felt like a heavy burden upon his heart. Nothing in his life was developing the way he wanted it to, the way he had planned it. He felt as if he had done something terrible in another life, and now, it was time for payback.