Forever Winter (5 page)

At least three dozen people stood as Susanna entered, far more than she expected. Several were important guests from neighboring areas while many were from London. A fair number of servants stood near the back with their grinning children.

And then her gaze met Camden’s. He stood before the reverend and the elegantly adorned hearth, the mantel trimmed with ivy, berries and tulle. Love and devotion beamed from his eyes. Dressed in a fashionable silver cloak with padded shoulders, a gray, double-breasted waistcoat, frilled shirt and stiffened gray cravat, strength and pride emanated from his muscular frame. Dove-gray trousers and dark leather shoes lengthened his long legs. A silver ribbon held back his silky brown hair. She had never seen him look more handsome.

Susanna wanted to run down the aisle, grasp him close and kiss him before the reverend uttered a word. No other man had ever made her feel so passionate. She longed for his touch, his kiss. She belonged to him and he belonged to her. This chaotic day proved it. Here they were, after every mishap, about to marry. Nothing could stop them.

Her heart pounded a ferocious rhythm. She barely heard the beautiful music. Barely breathed. She knew Camden had always considered himself strong and proud, a man who needed nothing and no one, but the longing in his eyes defied that knowledge. He needed
her
. And before she realized it, Susanna and her father were just feet away from him.

The baron smiled and placed his daughter’s gloved hand in Camden’s, then stepped back and stood beside his grinning sons in the audience.

Susanna wrapped her arm around Camden’s and felt him shudder. Heat flared in his eyes and she assumed it took all of his willpower to behave. As they approached the reverend, she lifted on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “Are you surprised about the dress?”

An amused grin split his lips. “Very much.” A strand of ivy brushed across his nose as he leaned down to whisper. “The pink is perfect. You couldn’t have worn a better gown.”

Relief filled her face. The whispering couple quieted once they reached Reverend Chauncey. The tired, middle-aged man leaned against an elegantly-carved wood lectern but straightened at their approach. They nodded respectfully,
thankfully
, and as the music faded, the guests resumed their seats
.

The reverend repressed a yawn and opened the large, heavy book sitting on the lectern to a particular passage. “I must say I am blessed to be here. After the snow and ice, this morning is truly special for all of us.” Reverend Chauncey rolled his eyes toward heaven in gratitude. “I have known the bride and groom since they were wee ones. They deserve happiness—especially after today. Viscount Camden Beckinworth, the Honorable Miss Susanna Lorican, let us begin.”

The next half hour passed in a span of minutes. Susanna listened attentively as the reverend spoke lovely words of hope and praise from his heart and recited from the antique Bible. The entire morning felt surreal. She half-expected another mishap. The rest of the ceremony or the upcoming breakfast could be potential disasters.

As Camden repeated the vows the reverend spoke, he removed her glove and slipped a gold wedding band onto her finger. Their initials and wedding date had been inscribed on the inside of the band. He gently folded her glove and slipped it into his pocket while reciting his vows.

Susanna swallowed a sob of happiness. His heartfelt words meant the world to her. As the reverend focused on her, she managed to repeat his words through falling tears and slipped a similar band on Camden’s finger. Words of love flowed from her mouth and heart, churning Camden’s gaze with emotion.

Once the reverend pronounced them man and wife, every thought left her mind except one. She married him.
Finally!
A man eight years her senior, a young boy she once admired from afar, Camden Beckinworth was now hers! As Camden lifted her veil, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She couldn’t help herself. She needed to feel him all around her and breathe the air he released from his lungs.

She heard the reverend laugh at her enthusiasm as Camden’s arms circled protectively around her waist. The world spun. Laughter and applause echoed all around them. The sounds barely registered in her awe-filled mind. She closed her eyes and melted into his warm embrace. He held her as if she was the most precious, prized possession he could ever own. And she held him the same way.

A deep growl escaped Camden’s throat once he finally pulled back. Her eyelids fluttered open and she drank in the sight of her handsome, beloved husband. His dark eyes burned with lust and love, excitement and relief. She never felt more wonderful than at that moment.

“May I present,” the reverend drew the crowd’s attention, “Lord Camden and Lady Susanna, Viscount and Viscountess Beckinworth.”

As the crowd cheered, the newly-wed couple rushed from the hall. Ribbons and flower petals spiraled around them. Susanna and Camden stalled in the vestibule, directly under mistletoe. With a mischievous smile, he jerked her back into his embrace and kissed his wife. She returned his kiss with equal need and fervor. Ready for night to fall, ready to pleasure each other as only a husband and wife should, the moon couldn’t rise quickly enough.

EPILOGUE

Northern Derbyshire, England

Five Years Later

Viscountess Susanna Beckinworth adored her husband’s estate. The Beckinworth family moved to the area two centuries before and built a grand manor along a trout-filled stream. The estate was a massive amalgam of towering trees and heather moors. Nestled near the summit of a rolling mountain, the manor was in desperate need of a woman’s touch, if not an upgrade, when she’d first moved in. After a few decorating adjustments, the manor felt like home.

The cotton spinning mill was larger than she expected. After spending several weeks reviewing various accounts, logs and books with every intention of helping her husband run the business, she realized he truly didn’t need assistance. He turned a failing business into a prosperous one in only a few years. The upgrades, safety precautions and pay raises he established for the workers were extraordinary and nearly unheard of in the country. Still, he wanted her by his side during routine inspections and meetings with the mill’s managers. He also wanted her to monitor the books.

That was until she became pregnant with their first child soon after the wedding. At first, he rarely restricted her activities, but once she started wobbling when descending staircases and eating enough for two grown men, he regulated her activities to simple sitting, light reading and relaxing. Her overprotective husband claimed toiling over mathematical books was too stressful and visiting the cramped millhouse too unhealthy for her delicate condition. She scoffed in his face but his adamant demands never wavered. Since she knew his demands stemmed from worry, she eventually agreed. Besides, once the baby was born, she wouldn’t have much time for the millhouse, anyway.

Her sister, Beatrix, gave birth to a healthy son a few weeks before Susanna found out she was expecting. Bea and her husband were ecstatic. Assisting the midwife, what Susanna had witnessed as a child staring through a crack in a doorway did not compare to this new experience. The entire family was there for the birth, including her brothers and their wives—except Deandra.

Poor Beatrix admitted she slept with Lord Gaynor before she met her husband. She felt pressured into it, but did so willingly. She was infatuated with him. But once she married her own earl, she refused Gaynor’s advances, to his angry dismay. He had harassed her just as he did Susanna for years. Unfortunately, both women were too embarrassed and worried to confess it. Now that Susanna knew, as did her parents and Camden, the sisters had grown much closer.

Beatrix’s husband, however, remained oblivious. According to Bea, he cast aside his mistresses just a month before she gave birth for a monogamous relationship. Susanna prayed everything worked out.

Five years passed without a word from Lord Gaynor. Camden and her father spoke to him before the wedding and settled on a truce. Still, Gaynor wasn’t the sort of man to keep his word. They still worried about a lawsuit—Camden had taken too many liberties in striking a man of higher social standing—though nothing ever came of it. Deandra, who occasionally visited Lorican Manor with her children, explained to her parents that she convinced her husband not to press charges because she believed Susanna and Beatrix would undoubtedly press charges against
him
in return. And while that would most assuredly tarnish her sisters’ reputations, Lord Gaynor feared his own reputation would suffer in the scandal, as well. Even though Deandra accepted the truth that her husband harassed her sisters, she avoided them instead of making amends.

Susanna rested her hands over her rounded stomach and smiled. At least six months pregnant and due during the Christmas season, she hoped for a daughter this time. Relaxing in the library with several books scattered across an ornate desk and her four-year-old son sleeping on a sofa, she fondly remembered her wedding day.

Not surprisingly, the reception was a catastrophe. A back door to the kitchen was left open and nearly a dozen squawking chicken and geese, covered in snow and slush, flocked into the dining room with wings flapping. The ensuing chase knocked over tables, chairs, food, presents and wedding guests. Susanna simply fell to the floor and laughed the whole time. Better to laugh than cry. Once the servants finally ushered the birds outside and back into the barn, Camden picked her up, both of them covered in feathers, and laughed. He had kissed her so thoroughly, in front of so many people that she silently thanked the birds for the mess.

The snow continued all day. She thought it would never cease, and that it would always be forever winter. Spending their wedding night in her bedchamber, they made love for hours. The snow ceased by morning and within three days the ice and snow melted enough for travel. The stranded wedding guests left as soon as possible. With careful preparation of the horses and carriage, the Beckinworths left for their honeymoon. Luckily, not a single mishap occurred in France.

As Susanna stared out a large window in the library, thunder boomed in the distance. Her little boy immediately woke and rushed to her side. He buried his face in her skirts just as two strong arms wrapped around her heavy stomach. Warmth seeped into her body. She relaxed into Camden’s strong embrace and smiled.

Life was perfect. She wouldn’t change a single thing.

The End