“Teddy…er…what is this? What is happening?” she murmured, eyes wide as saucers.
He bent, drawing his mouth to her ear. “I want you to be in no doubt, whatsoever.”
She swallowed. “About what?”
He attempted to smile, even as anxiety twisted his insides. “Our marriage vows, which you so aptly pointed out, I do not recall.”
She blinked at him. Not exactly the reaction he was hoping for. Nevertheless, cheeks thrumming with heat, he tucked her fingers into the crook of his elbow and led her toward Mr. Danvers. She went easily enough. That was something. She did not require him to drag her.
Georgina’s mouth curved into what he assumed was meant to be a smile. “Teddy, I did say that, but…this really isn’t necessary.”
They stopped a foot from Danvers who, Teddy now saw, held a leather-bound tome in one large hand. The normally dour-faced man sent Georgina a gentle smile. “Before we begin, I need to ask if this istruly what you wish, Madam?”
Teddy was taken aback. What did the clergyman-turned-butler mean by asking his wife if she wished to proceed with a reenactment of their wedding ceremony? Of course, she wished it.
On the other hand, she had asked for an annulment.
He lowered his gaze to his polished boot tips and silently admitted that was why he’d chosen to spring this on her.
He waited for her reply, fully expecting to hear her make some sort of excuse as to why they should abandon this charade.
“I…do.”
His gaze shot to her face. Her eyes, those magnificent silver pools, glistened with a disturbing sheen of moisture. But she was smiling at him. An odd sort of resigned smile that nonetheless sent a profound wash of relief through him. “If this is what Lord Arlington desires.”
“Well, Major?Areyou certain?”
Major.The reference to his military rank startled him out of his befuddled state. He hadn’t expected to hear it, especially as his aristocratic title was, by all standards, of superior status.
Meeting Danvers’s dark-eyed stare, he realized the burly man had addressed him by his officer’s rank out of respect.
“Quite certain,” he replied.
“Very well. Kindly repeat after me…”
In minutes, Danvers, holding a well-worn Bible open before him, though he appeared not to glance at the pages once, intoned the age-old vows, with first Teddy, then Georgina, repeating the words:…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.
Then, he closed the book, tucked it under his arm, and eyed the two of them. “Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. I pronounce that they be man and wife, together.”
Chapter Seventeen
Georgina smiled andnodded, accepting the well-wishes of Peggy and Cook and Mr. Danvers, then watched in frozen silence as the butler shuffled the two women off the balcony, into the receiving room, and out the open double doors to vanish from sight.
The words she and Teddy had uttered in the fake ceremony rang in her head.
As did those of Mr. Danvers as he closed the pretend ceremony. “Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder. I pronounce that they be man and wife, together.”
Now, standing beside her on the breezy balcony made magical by the candles and flowers he’d seen to, Teddy slipped an arm around her shoulders. He was solid and warm and oh, Lord, how she loved him. She closed her eyes briefly and shivered, whether from cold, or nerves, or dread, or sheer pleasure at having him near, like this, she couldn’t say.
Of course, he noticed. He ran his hand up and down her arm and murmured, “Cold, darling? We could have done this inside, of course, but I thought—hoped—you’d prefer this venue.”
She gazed up at him, drinking in the sight of him bathed in thestuttering candlelight. “It was perfect,” she whispered, unable to think of anything more apt to say.
A smile flickered at his mouth, and she couldn’t be sure, but she thought his eyes tracked to her mouth. “Come.” He urged her inside and the comparative warmth seemed to melt her very bones.
On a table centered near the hearth, one candelabra burned bright. He led her toward that light, where a dripping silver bucket inside of which appeared to be an open bottle of champagne sat.
He had thought of everything.
