“She will grow to love you, in time.”
He did not add that it might take a decade or two. Adding to her nervousness, at this point, would benefit no one.
* * *
“I’m going to be ill,”Collette announced from the backward-facing bench in the carriage as she, Bethany, and Chase drove the short distance to Addison’s Mayfair townhouse. She rather felt like a woman being carried to the gallows.
“Do we need to pull over?” Bethany asked.
Collette could just make out her sister-in-law’s concerned expression in the shadows.
“No. But I wouldn’t mind turning around and going home.” She knew she sounded like a petulant child, but she’d dreaded this meeting since… even before Addison told her his mother disapproved of their marriage.
She’d known his mother wouldn’t approve before she’d accepted him. What duchess in her right mind would want her son marrying someone like Collette?
“Buck up, Cole. It’s not as though you’re going in there alone.” Chase wasn’t quite as sympathetic.
“That’s right. Bedwell won’t stand by and allow her to eat you alive.” Bethany actually giggled at this.
He wouldn’t. Would he?
“What do I say to her, though? How do I respond when she insults me?” Because she would. Collette had no doubt of that.
A flash of longing for her own mother swept through her. As a fallen woman, her mother had faced insults nearly every time she’d ventured out. Her mother would have known exactly how to handle the duchess—if only she could have been present tonight. Feeling like she was a child again, the back of Collette’s eyes stung.
“Remember what Miss Robins has taught you; take the high road even when you don’t feel like it and you will emerge the better person.” Miss Robins was the woman hired to instruct her in all matters of social importance. Collette had expected her tutor to be an elderly spinster, stern and unmoving, but instead found herself pleasantly surprised when she’d discovered Miss Robins to be enthusiastic and even inspiring. Collette especially enjoyed that her tutor had a sense of humor—and that she not only taught the rules that must be followed, but explained why they existed in the first place.
And when the reasons were ridiculous, she acknowledged that as well.
“Here we are,” Chase announced as the carriage drew to a halt in front of an elegant but not grandiose townhouse. Addison had pointed it out to her on one of their drives, but until tonight, she’d not been invited inside.
It would not have been proper for her to enter her fiancé’s residence unchaperoned.
A wave of fear hit her as the carriage door was pulled open, and she drew in a steadying breath while Bethany climbed out in front of her.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Chase met her gaze, one brow cocked. When she hesitated, he added, “Murder? Bloodshed?”
“No.” She couldn’t help but giggle at the absurdity of his question. But then she gave the suggestion serious contemplation. “She could always poison my food.”
“Have one of the footmen taste each dish before you eat then.” Her brother’s eyes sparkled enough that she could see he was trying not to laugh.
“But then some poor servant would die.”
“I doubt she’ll go to those lengths. Too much of a scandal.” He held out a hand to assist her to the open door.
Addison awaited her just outside, dressed immaculately and looking so handsome that, for a moment, she forgot all about his mother.
She forgot all about everything except for him.
“I was beginning to think you were going to order your driver to turn around and deliver you back to Byrd House.” He clasped her gloved hand in his, the warmth in his gaze wrapping around her. “I’m pleased that wasn’t the case.”
As the meeting of one’s future mother-in-law was a pivotal occasion in any woman’s life, Collette and Bethany had gone back and forth determining which gown she ought to wear. And now, glancing down, she was glad they’d decided on the peacock silk.
The cut was delightfully modern, the skirt billowing out from her waist with an asymmetrical lace overlay, tightly fitted bodice, and puffed sleeves that draped on her arm as though tired. She had never worn anything as elaborate.
Addison tucked her hand into the crook of his arm to greet Chase and Bethany.
As a single rider approached from the opposite end of the drive, he dipped his chin. “My brother.”
