“I did not anticipate that I would feel quite so anxious,” Richard said mostly to the reflection in the mirror in front of him. “And yet, here I am—sweating buckets over a contractual marriage with a woman who likely only tolerates me as a means to an end.”
Lord Wentworth pushed off of the wall where he was leaning and crossed the room to where Richard’s servant was putting the finishing touches on his outfit for the special occasion. To say that things had been whipped together hastily would be an understatement. It was through sheer willpower that he had managed to convince the vicar to marry them today. It had been no small feat at all to get the special license in the first place.
“Give her more credit than that.” Anthony extended the glass of brandy in his hand for Richard to take, and he did so gladly. He drank the whole glass with the hopes that it would steady his nerves even a little bit.
“I have faith in her, mostly, though her choice in men is obviously questionable.” Richard sighed and handed the glass back to his dearest friend.
“As if you truly gave her any options in the issue? You were determined to wear her down one way or another. Truthfully, I have never seen you pursue another woman so determinedly in all of the years that we have been friends with one another,” Anthony said.
“That cannot possibly be true. You exaggerate.”
“Not at all. I have seen you with women, I know the moves that you like to make. Just as you would call me out for doing the same thing. You have treated Lady Catherine differently from the beginning, and you might as well admit it.
She will be your wife in only an hour, after all.” Anthony placed the empty glass down on the nearest surface and then took the liberty of smoothing the shoulders of Richard’s coat for him to ensure that he looked the best that he possibly could.
“Everything changes after this,” Richard confessed, a strange feeling in his chest. “There is no going back.”
Even if it was only for a year. While the unconventional terms of their marriage had been his idea in the first place, it did not change the fact that he felt as if the terms and conditions were hovering like a storm cloud over this otherwise enjoyable day.
This was the right thing to do. Not only for himself but for the whole Thompson family. This was a move that could not be undone by his father. It was perhaps the boldest statement that he had ever made to his father. From this day forward, he would no longer be under the older man’s control.
He was taking control of his own destiny and moving forward. No more threats and mind games, no more schemes or violence under the name of ‘tough love’. This marriage would purchase his own freedom as well.
No more annoying Lady Isabella Harrington and her constant, obsessive advances toward him. He would be liberated from both that awful woman and his father.
But was it fair to the both of them? Anthony was right; he had basically coerced her into this marriage in the first place. He had worn her down over time. Was she only doing this to make her mother and himself happy? Was she merely trading a valuable year of her youth just to be rid of both of their nagging?
“You have to do this,” Anthony interjected. The words were sharp enough that they cut through the spiraling train of thought that almost pulled him under like a whirlpool.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You would have to, yes, if you do not go out there and marry this woman.” Anthony smiled. He was teasing, of course. He implied that if Richard did not go out and marry Catherine, that perhaps he would be tempted to himself, or that if Richard was not smart enough to marry her, that he deserved whatever bad luck that would bring him.
“Since when do you care who I do or do not marry?” Richard grinned right back, playing along.
“It would be cruel, Richard, for you to catch cold feet now. You have been a great many things in the years of your life that we have been friends, but cruel was never something that you were. Do not start to develop new traits now,” Anthony answered flatly. It did not sound like a compliment somehow.
“I am not developing cold feet,” Richard answered.
“Are you certain? You have that flighty, shifty look in your eyes that makes me very uncomfortable.” Anthony pointed from one of Richard’s eyes to the other and then back again.
“I do not like it. Lady Catherine’s reputation has already suffered more than enough because of your actions, do you not agree? It is the very least that you can do to march out there right this minute and marry her. I shall be with you.”
Anthony pushed one of Richard’s shoulders to force him to turn and then gave his friend a firm shove to the back to make Richard walk toward the altar, where he would wait to see if Catherine was the one who grew cold feet instead of him.
There were very few people gathered in the church to witness their union. He supposed that was for the best. He did not know if it was the sort of wedding ceremony that Catherine had always wanted or not, but he had left all of the planning to her discretion. Wildflowers of every color were placed here and there.
A particularly stunning assortment was clutched in the hands of Arabella, her mother. She was nearly vibrating in her seat, she seemed so happy to be present to finally see her daughter married, and to a well-off man.
She likely would not be so happy whenever the time comes that the duke finds out what he had done here today. Richard knew that he would just have to ensure that there were no grounds for his father to call for an annulment. Plans had already been made. But for all the planning in the world—nothing could have prepared him for Lady Catherine opening the doors.
He shifted his weight anxiously from one foot to the other as he could hardly tear his eyes off of her. Her dear friend Elizabeth sat in the front row beside Catherine’s mother. Elizabeth’s father stood to his right as the focus of the room and the small assortment of guests turned in admiration to Catherine in her beaded white gown.
Simple, elegant, and wholly breathtaking, as she smiled demurely at him before taking her place.
The ceremony itself seemed to pass in a blur around him. He could see nothing other than the way her wide eyes gazed up at him and the myriad of emotions reflected there. He wanted to learn to name each of her emotions by merely the look in her eyes. It was as worthy of an endeavor as he had ever undertaken before.
Before he knew it, it was over—and he was finally,finallyallowed to kiss her. Encouraged to. In that moment, the energy that passed between them had nothing to do with arrangements, bargains, nor contracts. It was not a moment of two people drawn together solely for convenience, but something so much more.
