The Bad Luck Wedding Night, Bad Luck Wedding series #5 (Bad Luck Abroad trilogy) (17 page)

"I see." He slammed the trunk lid closed. "Speaking of Charlotte's wedding, can I assume that you still intend to help?"

What has him in such a lather?
"Of course I do. We've been discussing the event each day. I thought I made that clear the other night. When I give my word, I keep it."

"Oh really?" he arched a sardonic brow. "I wasn't aware of that. I seem to remember something about 'Whither thou goest, I will go.' "

Sarah's mouth gaped at his nerve as her own anger stirred.
How dare he?
"You're quoting the Bible, Nick, not our wedding vows."

"Are you certain that wasn't mentioned in the ceremony somewhere? I do know of another one I am certain you said. How about the promise to obey? Seems to me you broke that one from the first."

The venom in his tone all but took her breath away. Heart pounding, she rose and brushed the dust from her skirt. "Nick, what has gotten into you? Look, I apologize for snooping in your storeroom, if that is what has you bothered. However, I truly do not believe you want to take the conversation in the direction of wedding vows."

"Why not? Perhaps we should talk about them. Love and honor and promises that didn't last a night. What of—"

Now her temper exploded. "What of 'forsaking all others and keeping only unto her'?" Sarah quoted, stepping forward and stabbing his chest with her index finger. "I distinctly recall that one. Shall we talk about that?"

He winced, then his mouth twisted as he made a show of looking himself over. "Do you sharpen those fingernails with a whetstone, wife?"

"Trying to change the subject, Lord Weston? Now why might that be?"

He folded his arms. "You want to talk about my sexual experience during the past decade? Fine. I'll tell you all you wish to know. But you will not be laying all the blame at my feet. Be fair, Sarah, you must admit it takes an awfully long pair of arms to hold a woman from an ocean away. Whither thou goest..."

She poked him again. "That wasn't in the vows!"

He stared down at her finger, pursed his lips, and said, "Did you know that in Kualistan when a woman pokes a man like that she's asking him to make love to her?"

Even as her finger surged forward for a third assault, she froze. "I... uh... it's not that way in Texas."

"Aye, I remember how it was in Texas," he said, the sound of Scotland thick on his tongue, the heat of a Texas August in his eyes. "Vividly."

Sarah swallowed hard, uncertain how to take that, how to respond. She chose to brazen it out. "Me, too," she replied, her chin going up. She flashed a smile full of teeth and added, "Which is why the notion of your arms holding another woman doesn't bother me in the least. Now if you'll excuse me, your sisters and I have more wedding plans to make."

She sailed courageously past him toward the doorway leading from the tower room. Just when she thought she might safely escape, he reached out and grabbed her sleeve, pulling her to a halt.

He spoke in a low tone as sharp as ice shards. "You are a staggeringly beautiful woman, Sarah, but when you smile that particular way at me, you bring to mind the grin of a Louisiana swamp gator."

Shocked by the turn in the conversation, she jerked her gaze up to meet his, but his had drifted downward, lingering on her bosom, then trailing a leisurely path to the curve of her hip.

"I do not doubt," he continued, "that one delicious swish of your tail could bring me to my knees. It was that way ten years ago and it does not appear to have changed. Heaven knows I would love to wrestle with you here and now."

"Nick," she began. "I don't understand. What is happening here?"

"Happening? A warning, I guess. Our past is a murky swamp of hints and troubles, but you should understand that I'll have your hide for boots afore I'll let you chew me up and spit me out again. You think about that before you try it."

Now she was totally confused. What had stuck the burr in his backside? Not her foray into snooping in his storeroom, surely. Not unless he was hiding dead bodies or something up here. The place would smell bad if that were the case.

And what was he trying to say with this ridiculous alligator talk?

"Nick, what is it? What's wrong?"

Abruptly, he released her arm and stepped away. "We're needed downstairs. We've a guest waiting to speak with us."

"A guest?"

"Aye. The advocate is waiting in the library."

"Advocate? What's an advocate?"

"Solicitor. Attorney. It's Mr. Franklin. He's my damned lawyer, and he's here with the damned papers for us to sign."

Lawyer. Papers. The annulment.

Was this the reason for Nick's foul mood? If so, why? He was the one pursuing the darned thing. She was the one who should be upset, and maybe she was.

She'd be hanged if she'd let him see it, however. Sarah lifted her chin and gave her head a proud toss. "In that case, after you, Lord Weston. Let's not keep the gentleman waiting."

* * *

Nick sat behind a huge, carved mahogany desk and watched his wife pace the width of the room, back and forth, studiously ignoring the set of papers ready for her signature and his. Opposite Nick, his solicitor twisted in his leather seat to keep an eye on the action taking place behind him. Bright man, Nick's solicitor. He had reason to be cautious. Nick put the odds at fifty-fifty that Sarah would surrender to her obvious desire to fling a few leather-bound tomes at Mr. Franklin.

Unaccountably, Sarah's bad temper had served to improve his own.

This was the younger Mr. Franklin. His father had suffered a seizure six weeks ago and had turned all legal work over to his son and younger partner. Concerned about doing a good job for his richest and most powerful client, Franklin Jr. had reviewed Nick's records with a keen eye and discovered three different instances in which he disagreed with his father's legal position.

One of those was the subject of Lord Weston's marriage.

Sarah stalked to the empty chair beside the solicitor and took a seat. Her gaze settled on the desk's brass paperweight, then shifted to Nick, then returned to the brass bust of Aristotle. Also a cautious man, Nick moved it beyond her reach.

She folded her hands in her lap, then turned to Mr. Franklin and spoke in a calm, level voice that belied the temper snapping in her eyes. "What do you mean my word is not enough?"

The solicitor had the grace to look embarrassed. He cleared his throat and said, "You must understand, Lady Weston, that the dissolution of a marriage is taken quite seriously in Great Britain. Much more seriously than in America. Proof must be presented."

She glared at Franklin for a long, long minute. Nick winced. If his wife were a witch, the poor advocate would now be a pile of ashes.

Then she smiled, which was truly frightening. "Very well, we will get the annulment in America."

Mr. Franklin removed his handkerchief from his pocket and patted his damp brow. "But that dissolution wouldn't be recognized in Britain. Were he to remarry, Lord Weston would be guilty of bigamy."

Now she fired a glare his way. Nick shrugged and defended himself "I want children, and I will not father bastards. My children will not be forced to deal with that sort of insecurity."

She rose to her feet and resumed her pacing. Nick gave himself the pleasure of watching the graceful swing of her hips. His wife was one ripe, bonny lass.

She whirled to face him, caught him lusting, and bared her teeth at him. Nick choked back a startled laugh. Sarah folded her arms. "In light of your background, Nick," she said, "I understand your viewpoint about this. However, I don't appreciate the position your British citizenship has put me in."

In that case, chances are she won't care at all for the position I want to have her in.

The solicitor's complexion went a bit pasty as he continued, "Also, Lady Weston, you must be aware that should the physical examination prove... um..."

Nick whistled in a breath and braced for violence as she approached Franklin's chair, her hands on her hips, fury in her eyes. A red flush stained Franklin's cheeks, and he cleared his throat. "Should the condition of
virgo intacta
be proven, it is still possible the court might refuse you an annulment."

Nick's elbow slipped off his armrest. Sarah froze where she stood. "What!" they exclaimed simultaneously.

Mr. Franklin nodded. "It's true."

"That's ridiculous," Sarah shouted.

Nick dragged his hand along his jaw. "I don't understand. Nonconsummation is legal grounds for annulment, is it not?"

"It is, but I'm afraid your situation is not that simple."

"Certainly it is."

"I'm sorry, Lady Weston, but the extenuating circumstances in your particular case move your case into the gray area of the law, and thus the courts."

"What extenuating circumstances?" Nick asked, his mind racing to consider the possibilities this new information presented.

Mr. Franklin opened his file and reviewed a sheet of paper therein. "According to what you told my father, Lord Weston, you and Lady Weston exchanged vows, then spent your wedding night together."

Sarah shook a finger at the lawyer. "But not together in a literal sense."

"Um, yes, so I understand." By now Franklin was as crimson as the queen's coronation robes. "However, during the intervening years you portrayed yourself as wife and publicly used his title. In researching this case, I uncovered instances where the courts refused an annulment for less reason than that."

Nicholas swiveled his desk chair to one side, picked up a pencil, and began to tap it repeatedly on the desktop beside the legal documents. Mr. Franklin shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and then continued, "Take the case of Hopkins versus Ralston. The bride and groom were forced into marriage by their families when they were little more than children, twelve and thirteen, I believe. Following the wedding, the bride and groom shared the same home, though never a bed. Settlements were spent. She identified herself as his wife and vice versa. The court agreed."

Sarah shook her head at the story. "I repeat, that's ridiculous."

"I must agree with you on that one," said Nick, switching to a double-tap rhythm of the pencil.

Sarah reached over the desk and yanked the pencil from his hand. As Nick's brows winged up, she snapped, "You don't appear nearly as concerned about this as you should be."

Turning her angry attention back to Mr. Franklin, she added, "Or maybe Lord Weston appears unconcerned because he realizes you are overstating your case, sir. Aren't you being rather pessimistic? Isn't it possible, and in fact probable, that Lord Weston would be quietly granted an annulment based on our sworn statements?"

Franklin shook his head. "No, Lady Weston. I can give you no guarantee of that, especially in light of the recent mood of the court. May I speak frankly, Lady Weston?"

Sarah nodded.

"If you wish your marriage annulled, you must prove your virginity through a physical examination. Then, unless Lord Weston is prepared to swear to a condition of impotence—"

"That will not happen," Nick quickly interjected, sitting up straight.

Sarah glanced at him and absently agreed. "No one would believe it, anyway."

Nick squared his shoulders, preening a bit at that.

Franklin continued. "You must prepare yourselves for a thorough and public inquiry into your lives, beginning with the events of your wedding night and through the very day you testify in court. You arrived here at Glencoltran Castle within the last few days, correct?"

"Yes."

"Did you sleep alone?"

Her spine snapped straight, "Of course I did!"

"But under the same roof as your husband."

"It's a fairly large roof Mr. Franklin," Nick drawled.

"That is not the point. Depending on what view the court takes, one night beneath the same roof might well be enough."

Mouth agape, Sarah shook her head. "Now that's truly ridiculous. We are well chaperoned. His sisters are in residence."

"Unless they shared your room, it may not matter."

She glared at Nick. "You knew about this?"

He glanced down to make sure his clothes weren't blazing. "Honestly, no. It never occurred to me that our staying in this rambling old fortress could complicate the issue. It does seem rather nonsensical."

That observation offended the solicitor. "Such rules are necessary when people refuse to obey the law."

"It's a stupid law," Sarah grumbled.

His tone defensive, Mr. Franklin said, "I beg to differ, Lady Weston. Despite the reform of marriage laws in Britain during the past thirty years, both law and society continue to hold the view that marriage should be preserved at all costs."

Sarah looked to Nick, a plea in her eyes.

"There must be another way to do this." She looked toward her husband for assistance. "Another option."

His tone helpful, Mr. Franklin said, "You could divorce."

"No," Nick said flatly, coldly. "Sarah, if you wish to proceed with that particular solution, I will not cooperate. I believe my family's reputation can weather an annulment, but I will not subject my sisters to the inevitable scandal caused by divorce."