He feared perhaps they couldn’t.
CHAPTER 2
Vanessa
Vanessa appreciated what Merritt was trying to do by sitting with her, holding her hand, chatting with her as if this was just another day and not one tinged with regret and worry and confusion. Merritt was older than she was by several years, but from the moment Vanessa had entered society, the marchioness had gathered her up and called her friend and offered her glimpses into worlds she longed to more fully explore.
Merritt tilted her head slightly and explored Vanessa’s face. “I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my advice on your wedding night.”
Vanessa’s eyes went wide and she choked on her next breath. “I…you are offering to give me the talk?”
Merritt nodded. “I know it is the provenance of a mother on a day like this, but I have to believe she would do a terrible job of it. Tell you to lie there and think of your duty, all while she pulls faces of disgust. It wouldn’t prepare you.”
“You know I don’t need it,” Vanessa said, dropping her voice so no one would overhear that shocking fact. “I have already…done what I will do with Arnold…Arthur tonight.”
Merritt pursed her lips. There were a few people in this world who knew Vanessa’s secret, but only one was her champion, entirely on her side. The marchioness was that one.
“Perhaps it will be different,” Merritt said, squeezing her hand.
Vanessa caught her breath and ducked her head. “No. He…he doesn’t want me. He’s made that very clear, even more so as the wedding date has neared. I am nothing more than an account to him, one that will be made available the moment he says I do.”
“I’m sorry,” Merritt said, and looked genuinely so. “I wanted more for you.”
“Like what you have,” Vanessa said, glancing up.
There was a knowing sensuality that entered her friend’s eyes. “If you wanted that, I would love for you to have what I have.”
Vanessa sighed. “Well, at least I can fantasize. Thanks in no small part to the books you sneak to me.”
Now Merritt smiled in triumph. “I am very proud of how I’ve completely corrupted you and opened your eyes to pleasures beyond what society says is proper for a lady to desire. Did you enjoy the last book I shared with you?”
Vanessa’s cheeks got hotter. “Yes, very much. I was quite scandalized by the idea of a lady with two gentlemen, as happens in part of the tale.”
Merritt arched a brow. “Scandalized or titillated?”
“Take your pick. Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference when I’m reading it.”
Merritt drew a short breath and it seemed she was about to say more on the topic when the door to the parlor opened and Darrius Warwick, Arthur’s younger brother, and Benedict Norfolk entered. Vanessa wished she hadn’t been thinking about such scandalous things as she looked at them standing together, both as handsome as anyone could want a man to be.
But they did not look happy and she slowly rose to her feet. “What is it?”
The two men exchanged a brief look and then Mr. Warwick was the one who answered, “Miss Gardner, we need to speak to you and your parents.”
As if on cue, Vanessa’s parents hustled into the room behind the two men in a burst of dramatic flair. Her mother’s hands fluttered around her head and her father was almost purple with what seemed to be anger.
“We have been looking all over, Mr. Warwick,” he stormed. “Just where is your brother?”
“Yes! He has not been anywhere to be found,” her mother all but sobbed. “He was to meet with us this morning and did not appear at the agreed upon time. Where are the manners in this family?”
Vanessa jerked her head toward them. They were having a clandestine meeting with her intended without inviting her? On her wedding day? Why?
“I will not stand for it, Mr. Warwick,” her father continued, stepping up to the man with his finger in his face.
Warwick moved his head slightly away from the offending finger and glowered down at her father, his impossibly blue eyes narrowing. “Sit down,” he ordered.
Vanessa caught her breath at the calm command he lowered onto the room with those two words. Her father sputtered into silence, as did her mother, and that was a rare enough occurrence that Vanessa nearly smiled.
Except she couldn’t, because whatever these two men were about to tell them all, it wasn’t good. She reached back to catch Merritt’s hand and clung there with all her might, wishing she could take a bit of her friend’s fountain of strength.
