“Wait,” he said, and pulled her to the side of the sanctuary, ignoring the questioning looks on her siblings’ faces.
“You don’t have to go through with this,” he told her in a whisper.
She looked even more at a loss than before. “I…I don’t think—”
“I’ll be asked to take my vows first. When the time comes, if you wish to call this off, just shake your headnoand I won’t say ‘I will.’”
Lifting her hand, he ran his fingers over the bracelet’s amber stones, feeling slightly disoriented at the sight of the family heirloom on her wrist. It made this all seem so real, yet unreal at the same time.
He looked up. “I don’t expect they can actually force us to marry,” he added, thinking of Colin’s sword and hoping he was right.
She peeked around at her brothers, then lifted her chin. “If you’re willing, then I am, too.”
He had his reasons to be willing…he just wondered what hers were. What was wrong with her, then, that she thought she couldn’t do better than a robber for a husband? He wasn’t really one, of course, but he was aware she didn’t know that—doubly aware, since her brothers had made a point of keeping his identity from her, to the extent of asking this afternoon if it would be acceptable for his title to be left out of the proceedings.
She had a problem with dukes, they’d said, and since he didn’t care for the title either, he hardly thought it mattered. Married was married.
“Very well, then.” He nodded, and they returned to the altar.
The clergyman began the ceremony, and Kendra kept looking around, as though she expected something unforeseen to happen. Not that Trick could blame her. He found this more than a little disconcerting himself.
The preliminaries went entirely too quickly. Nobody showed just cause why they could not be lawfully joined together, and before Trick knew it, the parson was reciting the vows.
“Patrick Iain Caldwell, wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
Trick slanted Kendra a glance, but she didn’t shake her head. “I will,” he said, and his heart flip-flopped with the enormity of the step he was taking, but also with a sudden realization.
His arms itched to hold her; his mouth ached to take hers. And thanks to her scheming brothers, she had no idea he was a duke.
Whatever her reasons, she wasn’t marrying him for his title or his money. She didn’t know he had either. She wasn’t marrying the Duke of Amberley—she was marrying Trick Caldwell.
Despite the bizarre circumstances, the thought lit a hidden place in his heart.
A few more words, a simple gold band slid onto Kendra’s finger, and Trick’s arms slipped around her waist, just as they had yesterday. He bent his head toward hers, toward those soft lips that had been tempting him since he’d first laid eyes on her.
As his mouth met hers, she melted against him, her lavender scent surrounding him like a cloud. Every bit as responsive as he’d hoped, she kissed him back, untutored but amazingly eager. And so far as she knew, she was kissing plain Trick Caldwell.
When her brothers cleared their throats, he reluctantly pulled away. He couldn’t wait to see what pleasures lay in store when he brought her to the cottage tonight.
She wouldn’t discover until tomorrow that she was a duchess.
Ten
AN IMPROMPTUwedding feast was set out on the mahogany table in Cainewood’s dining room. Kendra sat beside her new husband, her head still spinning with disbelief.
She’d been shocked speechless when the priest concluded the ceremony, shook hands all around, and walked through the front door of the chapel, all without her brothers bursting into laughter. Just yesterday she’d been an innocent girl, fantasizing about a man she barely knew, and now it looked like tonight she’d be his woman, body and soul.
But this couldn’t be what it looked like.
Apparently the script called for the farce to go on a little longer. Yet she was willing to wager that before night fell, her brothers would be sending her up to her old bedchamber, congratulating themselves on the success of their practical joke.
“Aren’t you going to cut the cake, Kendra?”
Startled, she looked to Amy. Her sister-in-law was grinning widely and holding out a knife. Dominating the center of the table, the bride cake was double frosted, sugar over almond icing. Despite her churning stomach, Kendra’s mouth watered; she loved sweets.
Very well, then. If her brothers wished to continue the charade, she’d play her part.
Rising and taking the knife, she reached to cut the confection and felt Trick’s hand envelop hers. She turned her head, raising astonished eyes to find him leaning over her, bracing himself with one hand on the table. “We’ve yet to feast,leannan.” He nodded toward the servants still carrying in platters.
