Edith Layton (18 page)

“Excellent meter,” he said. “You should think of composing poetry. Don’t worry. I know that’s easy to say, but your new husband, whatever his sins, will be nothing like your old one.
That,
I can assure you.”

“I know. Still, I’ve been my own boss since Tanner died, and it will be hard for me to buckle under to someone else’s rule again.”

“Your husband won’t be a ruler,” Leland said. “At least, he shouldn’t be. There’s no fun for a fair man in that. And whatever else he may be, you must admit he is a fair man. Or at least, I hope you know that.”

“I do,” she said softly.

“Good, nicely put, keep rehearsing that line. And be easy. It won’t be an ending if you look at it as a beginning. I hear that husbands have done just that sort of rationalizing since the beginning of time.”

She smiled. “All right,” she said.

“Good, now sleep,” he whispered. “We don’t want to wake the beautiful dreamers, and you make me laugh, which would certainly do it. And most important, you have to be a wide-awake bride when the dawn comes. I think any vicar would be wary if a bride stumbled into his church all bleary-eyed and yawning. Drugs, not
love, would be suspected. After all, look at the pair accompanying you, the earl and myself. One fellow who keeps saying he looks old enough to be your father, and the other, a beanpole of a figure, not like any Romeo outside of satirical broad-sheets. And with your companion looking so nervous? No, special license or not, with such a weird wedding party in tow, and the bride half asleep on her feet, an honorable vicar would never marry you.”

She smiled again, and yawned, because he’d mentioned it. Then she closed her eyes. And so she slept until the long journey was over.

Leland stayed awake, watching her, and thinking hard.

Daisy opened her eyes to a soft, rosy dawn. And to the sight of Leland’s dark blue gaze fixed on her.

“We’re almost there,” he said. “Ready or not.”

“I’m ready,” Daisy said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “I just need to wash up first.”

“Of course the child must have time to change,” the earl said. “We’ll go to the inn in town first, and then to the chapel. That way, Daisy, you’ll enter your new home the mistress of it.”

“I shouldn’t worry about that,” Leland remarked lazily. “No doubt the servants will use the time to whip themselves into a frenzy making sure the house is in perfect order.”

“Very well,” she said, taking a deep breath, al
most as nervous about taking on the duties of a mistress of a huge estate as she was about taking on a husband. “I just need a few minutes. I’d like to change my gown. You’re supposed to be married in your best, and I’ve brought mine with me.”

That was why the groom caught his breath that morning, when his bride finally came to meet him at the church.

Daisy smiled. Much that had been done was out of her control. How she looked at her wedding was the one thing she’d planned, since the day she’d realized she had to be married.

She’d had her hair done up high, so the weight of it could be caught in long curls that fell to her shoulders, and left her neck exposed. That wasn’t all that was exposed. She wore her best gown, her fabulous gold gown, the one she’d wanted to save for a ball.

“Are you sure you want to wear this today?” Helena had asked as Daisy’s maid helped drop it over her mistress’s head. But when the gown fell into place, Helena sighed. “Of course,” she said.

The gown had been fit to her body by a master’s hand, but Daisy’s lush body needed no artificial enhancement. The gown didn’t flatter her so much as display her. Her high breasts, slender waist, lithe hips, and pert derriere did the rest. Most brides wore their best on their wedding day, but few wore a gown made by an expert mo
diste for wearing at a grand ball, and yet it was perfect for Daisy today, and she knew it. She wasn’t a blushing bride or a frightened virgin. She was a woman grown doing what she believed was best for her, and she wanted her groom to know she could have done even better, if she’d chosen to.

She met Geoff in the vestry of the old chapel, and smiled when she saw his expression. He took her hand in his, and speechlessly, never taking his eyes off her, led her slowly down the aisle. The gold cloth caught the sunlight and reflected it back so that it made Daisy glow as though she were still surrounded by the sunshine she’d left behind as she’d entered the ancient church. The flowing train of pink tulle that drifted in her wake lent color to her pale face. With her red-gold hair and the gold and pink gown, she out-shone all the antique stained glass windows above her.

But when she saw her groom’s face, where he stood at the altar, waiting for her, her smile out-shone it all.

“You honor me,” Leland said, as he took her hand.

A
ll the while the vicar was talking, reciting text and explaining vows, Daisy kept reminding herself she was doing this because she had no choice, and wondering, even as she did, if there’d be some flash of divine retribution. Because she suddenly wondered if she was telling herself a lie.

She wasn’t unhappy. She didn’t feel trapped, or even frightened. Not now, not anymore. Instead, here at the altar, at the last moments of her independence, whenever she dared a glance at Leland, she definitely felt a thrill of…pride? Or joy? Or was it simply wonder because here she was, actually marrying a man she admired and maybe secretly desired? That last was
cause for alarm. But she couldn’t feel even that now.

Still, she did shiver. It wasn’t because of the thin material of her gown, or the fact that the ancient stones around her never let go of the cold, even in summer. It was because he’d been right. Her very
skin
was reacting to him, telling her he was beside her.

Leland Grant, Viscount Haye, stood at her elbow, correct and sober. He was so tall and stood so straight, she couldn’t see his expression without craning her neck. And here she was, parroting words that would soon make him her master. But she couldn’t summon up a twinge of fear. For all that he was, and that included his reputation, she never for a moment thought he’d ever hurt her in any way. She was so stunned by this revelation that she almost missed her turn at making vows.

He turned his head and looked at her, and she saw a hint of alarm in his cobalt eyes. So she flashed a smile of apology and said yes, she would, and knew in that instant that she would and maybe could make something of this marriage. In time, of course. She’d every reason to hope he’d give her that time.

He bent his head and touched her lips with his when the vicar announced they were man and wife. Then he smiled at her. “Well, there we are,” he said. “Good morning, my lady Haye, and well done. Welcome to my life.”

“Congratulations!” the earl said, shaking Leland’s hand.

Geoff took Daisy’s hand in both of his. Though his smile was tinged with sadness, it wasn’t forced. “Yes, and very well done,” he told her.

“Congratulations, my lord,” Helena told Leland. “I’m so happy for you,” she told Daisy, though her smile was wobbly, and she’d tears in her eyes.

They took the congratulations of an elderly couple Leland called his neighbors, the vicar’s wife, and a handful of other well-dressed local people he’d summoned to see his wedding.

“I’m sorry my boys couldn’t be here,” Geoff said. “But none of them could come so far on such short notice. I’ve sent word, and I’ll wager they’ll be here as soon as they may, though. You are staying on here for a while? Or are you taking a honeymoon trip?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Leland said. “What would you like, my dear?” he asked Daisy.

She flushed at the new, intimate way his “my dear” sounded to her now. She shook her head. “I’m not really anxious to travel,” she admitted. “My last voyage was so long, I don’t know if I could face another boat yet.”

“So we’ll stay on here a while, then see what you would like,” Leland said.

She nodded, gratefully.

“And of course, I’ll give a party for you when
you come back to town. I’ll invite the immediate world,” the earl said. “It will be the event of the Season.”

“So it will, and thank you,” Leland said. “It will be good for Daisy to be introduced to polite Society, and I emphasize the ‘polite.’ I fear I don’t have enough respectable friends to fill a teacup, but everyone in London will thunder to your door if you invite them, my lord.”

“As if you don’t know everyone in Society,” the earl scoffed.

“Alas, I do. But you know the worthy ones, who may not yearn to be premiere members of ‘Society,’” Leland said. “It’s easy to find people to drink, gamble, and carouse with. It’s harder to find any to socialize with
and
enjoy it. There must be some decent folk who would spend time with us, although I allow that I, at least, will have to win them over. I’m confident that in time my commendable behavior will lull them, and my lady will enchant them, but you must introduce us to them. You can be our guide in that. I want Daisy to know the best people. Those are the ones who doubtless know
of
me, but I doubt they know me.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” The earl laughed.

Then he and the other guests stood and smiled at one another, and shuffled their feet. It was an uncomfortable moment. For the first time this glorious May morning, Daisy had the time to take in her surroundings. There was a basket of
flowers at the altar, and sunlight streamed in the high windows. But the old church, small as it was, was almost empty. Their little wedding party looked pathetic, the scrambled haste of the affair now seemed obvious.

It seemed to occur to the bridegroom, too.

“I suggest we all repair to the inn,” Leland told them. “It’s just down the road. They’ll serve a lovely breakfast, the landlord promised his finest victuals, and you all are to be my guests. I’d invite you back to my home, but my staff is still preparing it for us.”

A peculiar strained silence met his words, and those few assembled tried to avoid his eye. Daisy wondered why.

Leland’s smile was wry. “An awkward moment, to be sure,” he told her. “The problem is that my home here has long been known as an oasis to those of my friends or acquaintances who found themselves at loose ends…”

He looked at Geoff, and his smile grew wider. “Unfortunate choice of words, even if it is also most unfortunately apt. Let us not mention their ends, shall we? Though that’s all they seem to think about when they’re here. You see,” he told Daisy, “my home has been an open house to those on the rackety fringe of the
ton,
those who seek privacy and comfort while they escape their creditors, or in some cases, their husbands or wives. That’s all going to be changed now, along with the sheets. Doubtless my staff is even now
airing the beds, after turfing out those who were in them. This may take some time. I don’t know who might still be there, if anyone, but I won’t take you home with me until I’m assured they’re not.”

“What a thing to tell your new wife!” the earl exclaimed.

Daisy was only thinking how odd it was to go to a place called home that she didn’t know, with a man she hardly knew. Then she remembered that she’d done it before, in far worse fashion. She repressed an involuntary shudder at the memory, and waited for her new husband to speak again.

“Worse if I didn’t tell her, I think,” Leland said. “Now, who’s for a wedding breakfast, and a toast to the future?”

They piled out of the church and into the sunshine, and Daisy let out a long breath. She felt relieved, almost merry, until she stepped down through the churchyard and saw the sunlight glinting on her wedding dress. She felt, for the first time, a little foolish.

“What’s the matter?” Leland asked.

“My gown seemed so magnificent in the box and in madame’s shop,” she explained, holding out a pleat of her golden skirt, “but here, in the daylight, it looks less so. The truth is that it looks almost tawdry.”

“It
is
magnificent; you look magnificent in it,” he said. “Although I’ll grant it’s not the thing if you were going berry picking. So of course it
looks a bit out of place in a country churchyard. Don’t fret; we’ll soon be at the inn, where it will resume its grandeur.”

He took her hand and led her to the waiting carriage that would carry them into the small village they’d passed on the way.

The local inn was as crowded as the church hadn’t been. Since it was smaller, it seemed even more so. But all the villagers seemed to have heard about the wedding and that the bride and groom were going to breakfast there, and had come to look for themselves. The couple were showered with greetings and congratulations the moment they stepped in the door.

“I wish I’d known they cared,” Leland whispered to Daisy, “I’d have invited them all to the church.”

She wondered if it was the marriage they were applauding, or the free drinks for all that Leland immediately called for. He bent his head to her ear again. “It’s not just the free pints and idle curiosity. They rejoice because they feel proprietary about me. I see now that they were less than pleased when my home was a playground for the rich and unscrupulous, because our marriage seems to have honestly thrilled them. As they don’t know you, or me, I suppose it’s because it can’t have been pleasant for them before, having their village known as the town at the foot of the sinful lord’s pleasure palace. I wish I’d known. Believe it or not, I feel guilty about it now.”

She wouldn’t have guessed from his manner. He wasn’t apologetic. But he was courteous and charming. Not a sly or salacious comment passed his lips. The tall, elegant gentleman didn’t seem to be the toast of the
ton
or a wicked gossip, not here in his home village.

She didn’t feel odd about her extravagant gown anymore, either. It was so dim in the inn that the gown glowed, rather than shouted, and there wasn’t room for the long tulle train to trail after her. The women in the inn seemed to genuinely admire it, and she turned for their inspection so many times that she got dizzy, which made her, and them, laugh. She could only hope they’d keep laughing merrily and not in derision when they heard her whole story. Because she didn’t doubt they would. She’d lived most of her life in a small village and knew how news traveled.

The landlord brought out platters of cold ham and warm pasties; sliced beef and cooked eggs; loaves of bread; plates of toast, jams, and cakes. Ale flowed and toasts were made as Leland invited all to share his wedding breakfast. He and his bride were too busy talking to people to have any of it themselves.

They were chatting with a farmer and his wife when Leland looked up over the heads of the crowd, and his face lit with real pleasure.

“Daffy, you dog!” he exclaimed. “You’ve come, after all!”

Daffyd grinned broadly and came through the
crowd to take his half brother’s hand. “I missed the ceremony because my horse threw a shoe, but I’d have walked the rest of the way if I’d had to. Meg couldn’t come, of course; she’s still awaiting our new arrival. But I couldn’t miss this, even if it means I can only congratulate you for an hour before I tear back home again. I represent the family,” he told Daisy. “Amyas is too far off for a brief visit. And we know you don’t want guests on your honeymoon. He and Christian wrote to say they’ll come with their families as soon as your honeymoon’s over. We all hope that will be never.”

He laughed and batted Leland’s shoulder. “Just joking. We’re all planning to see you later this summer even if you’re throwing dishes at each other by then.

“Daisy,” he said, turning to her, his expression showing he spoke with all sincerity, “my warmest greetings and best wishes. I don’t know what he said to convince you to marry him, but I’m glad of it and happy for the two of you. Ho, Geoff!” he called as he saw the earl coming toward them, “Want to come back home with me after the celebration? Meg and I would be honored if you were with us when your grandchild arrives.”

“You don’t need me underfoot,” the earl said. “I can’t now anyway. I’ve promises to keep. And you really don’t need anyone to help you pace. But I’ll come to see you soon.”

“As soon as you may, I hope you will,” Daf
fyd said, then craned his neck to survey the crowd. “Where’s our sainted mama?” he asked Leland.

Leland shrugged a shoulder. “Who knows? Not I.”

“She refused your invitation?” the earl asked, his eyes widening.

Daisy’s eyes widened, too. For the first time in her whole tumultuous journey to wedlock, she thought about her groom’s mother, and realized that the icy lady wasn’t there.

“No, she couldn’t attend,” Leland said. “Because she wasn’t, in the strictest sense of the word, invited.”

Daisy put her hand to her mouth and bit back whatever exclamation she’d have made. This was dreadful. Why had he married her if he’d known his mother would hate her?

“I sent her a note telling her of my intentions,” Leland went on lazily. “As she sent none back to ask for more details, I didn’t feel I had to provide them. Of course, I only sent the note yesterday. No matter. There’s time enough for her to welcome Daisy to the family.”

A silence fell over all three men.

Daisy swallowed hard, and said carefully, “So she didn’t avoid the wedding, so much as not know about it in time?”

“Precisely,” Leland said.

A look of comprehension dawned on his half brother’s face. “Well done,” he murmured.

“Masterful,” the earl agreed.

Daisy didn’t pretend she didn’t follow. “Oh, I see,” she said bleakly. “She couldn’t insult me by not coming if she didn’t know she could.”

“No,” Leland said. “Actually, my dear, it had little to do with you. Does that hurt your feelings? Don’t let it. Ever selfish, it was
my
feelings I was considering. She’ll see us in London at the earl’s party, and believe me, that will suit her better. She never took much interest in my affairs; I’d no reason to suspect she’d want to now.”

Daisy kept looking up into his eyes.

Leland touched her cheek. “Please don’t be offended. She won’t be, I promise you. She’ll only be chagrined at having missed a party. It’s all she ever cares about, anyway. So if we tell her it was only for the local gentry, she’ll be appeased.”

“She won’t be happy with me,” Daisy declared, her eyes still searching his.

“She wouldn’t be happy with any female I married,” Leland said gently. “She won’t like being displaced and made to look like the dowager. But don’t worry. She tends to ignore those things that distress her, and she’ll never interfere with our lives. We won’t be living at Haye Hall so we’ll scarcely ever see each other. Still, family is family. If my younger brother weren’t off on the Continent on his grand tour broadening his mind and doubtless pleasing his body even more, he’d have been here. I’d have seen to it.”

Daisy drew in her breath. She felt ashamed of
herself. She’d forgotten all about his younger brother, whom she’d never met. Her only excuse was that Leland never mentioned him.