“Quite so,” he murmured.
Anna, sitting on the arm of his chair and smoothing a hand over Josephine’s very blond hair, smiled. “Then all has been said and nothing further needs to be added,” she said. “Except heartfelt wishes for your happiness, Elizabeth.”
“Nothing needs to be added?” Cousin Mildred said. “With all due respect, Anna,everythingneeds to be said. You must consider, Elizabeth—”
But there was another tap on the door, and Aunt Lilian and Uncle Richard stepped in with Susan and Alvin, and the whole thing started again.
“Lord Hodges came here a while ago,” Jessica told them before anyone else could. “He offered Elizabeth marriage again, and this time she said yes.”
Elizabeth pulled on the bell rope for the tea tray to be brought in while the room erupted into sound about her and everyone weighed in on whether she ought to do it or not. And, in the case of the naysayers, what she ought to do instead and how she would extricate herself from the situation without hurting Lord Hodges’s feelings. It would really be a shame to hurt them, they were agreed. He was such a pleasant young man with a tender conscience, though of course there was no need for his conscience to be feeling tender or otherwise over what was happening. He was as innocent as Elizabeth herself was.
“We will definitely have Colin here this evening,” Alexander said, silencing the voices before the tray arrived. “Perhaps you will send a note around to his rooms, Wren. We will talk this over and persuade him that marrying Lizzie would not only be unnecessary but would also be the wrong thing to do—for both of them. You must not worry, Lizzie, about already having—”
“It is too late,” she said, and everyone’s attention turned her way. “He hurried off to make sure he could get the notice of our betrothal into the morning papers.”
For a few moments only two persons moved. Josephine, who was standing on Avery’s lap while he had a firm hold on her waist, bounced and beamed at him. Matilda, who was standing beside her mother’s chair, clasped her hands to her bosom and beamed at Elizabeth.
•••
Colin was in time to stop the announcement of his betrothal to Miss Dunmore, though only just. And it was not easy to convince the editor with whom he spoke that it should be withdrawn when he was not the one who had paid to have it published. However, when Colin explained that hewasthe one who would pay a lawyer to sue the paper for publishing information they knew to be false about himself, he was given no more argument. And his own announcement was accepted meekly in exchange.
He was not sure as he walked away from the newspaper offices whether it was relief he felt or panic. There was probably a bit of both. If all had progressed as it had been progressing a week or so ago, he might well have ended up marrying Miss Dunmore and living a reasonably happy life with her. But he certainly would not have been happy at being forced prematurely into marriage by his mother and hers, especially as his mother would without any doubt have proceeded to dominate her.
But—was his marriage to Elizabeth any less forced? Had he given himself, and her, time to properly consider what they were doing? It was all very well to have told her quite truthfully that he had offered because he wanted to marry her and for her to tell him that she had accepted because she wanted to marry him. But what did thatmean?
Were they about to make the biggest mistake of their lives?
It was too late now, though, to do anything about it. And there was some relief in that thought too. He hated making decisions—the momentous ones that changed one’s life when it was impossible to know if the change was going to be for the better or the worse.
Besides, the thought of actually beingmarriedto Elizabeth really was a bit dizzying. More than a bit.
He had planned to return to the house on South Audley Street during the evening since there was much to discuss with Elizabeth—with hisbetrothed.He did not doubt that her mother and Wren and Alex were going to have plenty to say to him. But he found his steps taking him that way as soon as he had finished his business.
He was curious to see if they had come again, her family, and was not at all surprised to see three carriages drawn up outside the house. The Westcotts and the Radleys were nothing if not predictable. Endearingly so in many ways. They really cared for one another. They would not have gathered to gloat. They would have come to comfort and support and to offer solutions.
Poor Elizabeth. He wondered how they were reacting to her news. Provided she had had the courage to give it, that was, but he would wager she had.
Dash it all, he ought not to have walked this way. Having done so, he would consider himself cowardly if he did not rap on the door knocker. Besides, these people would have to be confronted sooner or later. Another thing about the Westcotts and Radleys was that they did not go away.
Two minutes later he was being announced and admitted to the drawing room. Upon entering he was stared at for a silent moment.
“Colin,” Elizabeth said then, looking quite her old self, poised and serene and smiling a warm welcome. She crossed the room toward him and slid an arm through his. “I am so pleased you were able to return so soon. Do come and sit down. I will pour you a cup of tea. It will still be hot. Everyonedoesknow.”
He could see Elizabeth’s manner for what it was, a sort of armor that hid what was quite possibly a massive vulnerability. And he marveled that he had got to know her well enough since last Christmas to understand that about her more and more. Her serenity was self-imposed and held in place by willpower and the determination not to be at the mercy of her feelings—or other people’s.
Everyone had recovered from any shock they must have felt. Wren came and hugged him wordlessly. Alexander wrung his hand and looked hard at him while he offered congratulations. Mrs. Westcott hugged him too and informed him that she was going to call him Colin since he was soon to be her real son-in-law rather than just an honorary one. Anna, Duchess of Netherby, hugged him as did—surprisingly enough—Lady Matilda Westcott. Everyone else offered words of congratulation and handshakes in the case of the men. Lady Josephine Archer blew a bubble at him.
And he sat on the love seat beside Elizabeth and wondered how they had all reacted when she told them. It was cowardly of him not to have stayed to face it with her, though he really had had a good reason for leaving.
“Mrs. Radley was just asking Elizabeth when,” Lady Molenor said to him. “And where. She had not had a chance to answer before you walked in.”
When and where?
“The wedding,” she added.
Ah. If he had his way, they would simply go off and do it, the two of them, as the Duke and Duchess of Netherby had apparently done a few years ago, taking only Elizabeth and the duke’s secretary with them as witnesses. He just wanted to be married to her. He wanted the nonsense over and done with.
“We have not decided,” Elizabeth said, her voice its usual calm self. “Colin had to rush away earlier. We will need to talk about it.” In private, her tone seemed to suggest, though no one else seemed to notice that.
