Simon, you perfect fool. Bless you for your timing.
Phoebe gave a little shriek and broke away from Robert’s embrace, quickly rearranging her dress from its disarray. The three then stared at each other; Simon’s countenance registering sincere shock. Phoebe burst into tears, covering her face in shame.
“I am ruined. Oh, dear Lord—I am ruined,” she whispered and made a move to run away but Robert shot out an arm and stopped her.
“Nothing to fear, my dear,” he said softly. “And, Simon, I know I can count on your discretion. Why, there is nothing untoward taking place here in the least. Miss Phoebe has just done me the greatest honor by accepting my offer to become my wife and the new mistress of Brentwood Manor. I know you will wish us joy. But, do keep it all a secret for now.”
“Uh, yes…indeed, I shall, Robert, and much joy to you, too, Miss Graham,” Simon stammered. “My sincere congratulations to you both. Now, if you will excuse me.” He bowed, then nearly ran out of the garden.
Robert turned to Phoebe and shrugged. “I do apologize, Miss Graham—Phoebe—for my display of affection. I was overwhelmed with your charm and beauty and quite let my ardor get out of control. But, you need only say you accept me and all is well. You need not fear anyscandal.” He reached out and took her hands, smiling down on her tear-streaked face. “Say you will marry me, my dear, dear Phoebe. I promise to devote my life to your happiness.”
Phoebe lowered her eyes, exhaled slowly, and nodded. “I have no choice but to accept. Despite your assurances of your friend’s discretion, I know far too well word will get out. Gossip is the currency of the Season. Therefore, I suppose we may consider ourselves…engaged, Mr. Morton. Robert.”
He pulled her close for another kiss, his hands roaming freely. She resisted just briefly, then she relaxed in his arms, and he heard a weak moan. Oh, she was so willing. He nearly pulled her down onto the grass right there to take her, but forced himself to stop and play the gentleman.
“My dearest, thank you for the honor of your acceptance. But, I confess I truly cannot wait weeks or months to call you my wife. Let us fly tonight, this minute, to Gretna Green,” he said, urgently. “We can be there in no time, wed at once, and return man and wife. Will it not be a great and happy surprise to all? Then, any rumors that might come from a careless word from Simon will be of little consequence. Your reputation will be intact—for we shall simply say that we were so eager to marry that Gretna Green seemed the best choice.”
He studied her face, praying his argument had been more persuasive with her than it had been with Charlotte. To his enormous relief, she nodded.
“Yes, yes, I think it best.” She looked up at him adoringly, then pulled his face down to kiss him again, rubbing her body against his.
Saucy minx. This is even better than I hoped.
After a while, he gently disengaged and came up for air.
“Come, Phoebe. My carriage is just outside the garden gate.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Aweek later,Robert Morton and his new bride rode in his carriage from London to Brentwood. Behind them, a hired man drove Phoebe’s phaeton rig, which she had refused to part with.
“I bought it with my own money, Robert, and my aunt will have little use for it, for I declare she rarely goes out,” she said with a little toss of her head, making her blonde curls bounce. “And, I could not imagine leaving my horse, Sylvie, behind. I must have them with me for I cannot wait to explore the countryside all around my new home.”
Robert had considered trying harder to convince her to sell it, seeing as Brentwood had a similar one. He even thought about telling her she could keep the money from the sale for herself but ultimately decided to let her have her way. She seemed so attached to it and besides, he could always sell it later.
Not that he needed the money now. Thanks to the success of his plan and swift elopement, Robert had no more fears of losing Brentwood to the many creditors. The two had fled from the ball, stopping briefly at Phoebe’s aunt’s house so she could quickly pack some clothes and necessary items. She also left a note for her aunt, advising her of the elopement plans. Then, within a half hour they were back in the carriage, bound for the north.
They had gone as far as Robert thought necessary to escape any possible pursuit that first night, stopping at a small inn that appearedinexpensive, but reputable. There, Robert had paid for one room, having earlier explained to Phoebe that there would be little point in paying for two since they were soon to be married, anyway. He had said he simply could not wait for her to share his bed and to be able to show his love for her and hold her all through the night. His true motive, he had to admit, was to absolutely make certain that she wouldn’t get cold feet over the elopement and abscond in the night. Taking her virginity would ensure the marriage would take place in Scotland even should she have any present doubts. After a moment’s thought, she had agreed to the one room and, to his surprise, she was a most willing and eager participant in that night’s bedtime activities. She so appeared to enjoy herself that he even briefly wondered whether she had prior experience, but he put such thoughts out of his head. He decided to count his blessings that he had not had to deal with an emotional, tearful virgin. Miss Charlotte would have been like that, he mused. Thinking of Charlotte brought a small twinge of guilt once more to him. He knew his abandoning Miss Kendall for Miss Graham’s riches was wrong, but it could not be helped. Fortunately, his future wife proved a happy distraction from such thoughts.
The next morning, they had continued the journey to Gretna Green, Robert ordering his driver to push as hard as possible. Four days up and back meant he would be cutting it extremely close to transfer her dowry money into his own accounts and pay his creditors before they showed up at Brentwood with wagons to haul away anything of value.
When they had finally arrived in Gretna Green, they went straight to the blacksmith’s shop to be wed. Phoebe declared that being able to wear her elegant dress from the night of the ball was “simply perfect,” and she had no need of another.
Following their anvil wedding, the two had proceeded immediately back to London. Phoebe pouted a bit over that, saying she wished to visit the shops, but Robert easily convinced her that a quick return wasa good idea so that she might show off her wedding ring (his mother’s, back from the jeweler, all cleaned and brought with him from Brentwood). He had said they also must apologize to her aunt for any upset their elopement might have caused.
Once back in London, they had stayed two nights with the elder Miss Graham, and Robert did his best to charm and convince her that he loved her niece above all creatures and would make her happy. Miss Graham confessed to them that after she discovered the elopement note, she had stayed at home for the next week, declining any callers and telling everyone who inquired that her niece was ailing with a small cold and was therefore unable to attend any social events. That way, should the girl return from Gretna Green unmarried still, a ruinous scandal might be avoided.
“Once I realized you were no longer at the ball, dear niece, I nearly had to sneak away to avoid anyone noticing we were not departing together. Such gossip that would have caused,” she had said sternly.
But, seeing that Phoebe was indeed married and fairly bubbling over with happiness, the aunt had been mollified and accepted their apology for eloping. After all, it was not as though Robert were some reprobate fortune hunter—he was a wealthy gentleman with his own fine estate. Miss Graham said she would see to placing a small notice in the papers of the marriage and word would quickly spread of Phoebe’s happy new status. With luck, the scandal over the hastiness of the marriage would soon be forgotten and all would be well.
Their first full day back in town, Robert took his bride to the bank for the necessary transaction of taking charge of the dowry funds. It was just shy of five-thousand pounds; she had been spending rather profligately, he noted, but vowed to now put an end to that and to place her on a strict allowance. Once the money was in his own account, Robert immediately visited Mr. Marshall to confer over the payment of all his father’s debts. That finished, Robert was a touch saddened to see most of Phoebe’s money leave his bank account aftersuch a brief visit there, but the knowledge that Brentwood was once again solvent and no longer under threat of being sold was compensation enough. He would still have to be careful with his spending but the next harvest looked promising and that would bring all the finances around right, Mr. Marshall assured him. He might even be able to retake full possession of his London town home and join the men’s club again. The prospect made him realize how long the gloomy financial cloud had hung over him—his relief was palpable.
Now as they approached Brentwood, Robert smiled to himself, reflecting how he had once considered using his town home to entertain young women more to his taste should he end up with a wife who overly annoyed him or who did not enjoy her marital duties. But, he had learned Phoebe was all enthusiasm for the act. It made up greatly for the other thing about his new bride he had learned, which was that rarely a thought came into her pretty little head that did not also immediately proceed directly from her mouth. It seemed she chattered on nearly non-stop—something he had not noticed earlier in their acquaintance. Robert found it very tiresome, which was one more reason he was eager to get to Brentwood where he could secure some privacy in the sanctuary of his study. He had already learned to ignore much of her prattling speech and only truly listen when a certain tone came into her voice—one he was hearing just now. He turned to her, smiling.
“Yes, my dear? You were saying?”
Phoebe pouted prettily. “Honestly, Robert, sometimes I think you are off in another world of your own. Did you not hear a word I said? I was asking whether we are now on Brentwood estate proper.”
