“Harriett! Frederick has asked Father for my hand.” She held up her hand and a huge diamond ring flashed. “We went to Rundell and Bridge at Ludgate Hill for it. Isn’t it beautiful? We’re to marry in a month’s time.” Her lovely violet-blue eyes shone. “At St Georges, in Hanover Square.” She put a hand on Harriett’s shoulder and whispered in her ear. “Frederick has eight thousand pounds a year.”
Her future husband had risen to his feet and gazed indulgently at Leonora. She went to tuck her arm through his. “I’d like to introduce my fiancé, Frederick, Viscount Northwood, only son of the Duke of Debnam. Frederick, this is my sister Harriett and Gerard, Earl of Foxworth.”
Frederick bowed. He would be in his mid-thirties, she surmised. He smiled warmly, his curly chestnut hair brushed artfully over his forehead. She found she liked his gentle grey eyes and noted that Leonora already had him wrapped around her little finger. That he was destined to stay that way for all of their lives, and be quite happy with it, she felt sure.
After she and Gerard offered their congratulations, Harriett made an announcement of her own. “Gerard wishes to speak to you, Father.”
Mama gasped. “You can’t mean...you and Gerard?” She stared at her husband. “You’re not in the least surprised, Edgerton,” she admonished him.
“I confess I’m not.” Father rose to seize Gerard’s hand and pump it. “No need to ask, my boy. You’re the perfect man for Harriett, thought so from the first.”
“I plan to get a special license, and we’ll be married in two weeks if that suits.” Gerard raised Harriett’s hand to his lips.
“Such haste, Gerard.” Her mother groped for her fan. “I shall need at least a month to organize Harriett’s trousseau.”
Harriett wanted to argue, but bit her tongue. She was learning to curb her impatience it seemed. But it was dreadfully difficult. She was determined to choose her wardrobe at as little cost to her father as she could manage.
Leonora’s delicate brows rose in astonishment. “Don’t you wish to wait and have a big London wedding, Harriett? I most certainly do!”
“A simple wedding at Gerard’s church will suit us perfectly,” Harriett said, smiling at Gerard.
“We shall need to have a wedding gown made.” Despite her furious fanning, her mother’s cheeks bloomed like a crimson rose. “You have nothing suitable.”
“I shall buy one.”
“What! Store bought?” Mama looked so shocked; Harriett might have uttered that swear word that she’d heard in the stables.
Harriett wasn’t about to delay her wedding for the sake of a gown. She gazed at her handsome husband-to-be. “Store bought will do nicely.”
Surprisingly, her mother didn’t argue. She rose to her feet, her expression absorbed, as if constructing an invisible list. “Still, we must return to London tomorrow. I have a good deal of shopping to do.”
Harriett was aware of her father’s sigh of resignation, but when she gazed at him, he was smiling.
♥♥♥
The next morning, as Gerard was preparing to leave for Town, a horseman rode down the lime walk. As he came closer, Gerard saw it was the Parish constable.
He dismounted looking flustered. “My lord. I have disturbing news. The magistrate wanted you advised. There will be no need for a trial.”
“Why, what has occurred, Cutler?”
“When I was transporting O’Hara to the county jail, a rifle shot rang out. Hit O’Hara in the head, milord, killed him stone dead.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“No milord. They were hidden amongst the trees. I heard them ride away. Two men. I consider myself lucky to be here on God’s earth.”
“Indeed. A strange business.”
Cutler removed his hat and scratched his head. “Can’t imagine what, milord.”
“Perhaps the Irishman was part of a band of robbers,” Gerard suggested.
“Yes, that occurred to me, too. Didn’t want O’Hara spilling the beans,” he said. “Well, it tidies the matter up neatly and saves the cost of hanging him. Would have liked the names of the rest of the gang though.”
“Yes. A Pity.”
He watched the constable ride away. British agents had acted swiftly, and it appeared that his involvement was at an end.
All to the good, he thought, as he mounted his horse. He could return to being a country squire again. And enjoy life with his new wife. He grinned, and nudged the horse’s flank.
