“Ninety-two quid is all,” Marcus argued.
David’s eyes rounded. “How many card games have you played?” he asked in alarm. “I was told to bring my pennies.”
“And pennies will do you fine,” Richard assured him.
“Pennies?” Marcus complained. “You told me we’d be playing for serious blunt,” he claimed, directing an expression of annoyance on the earl.
“For when the two ofuswere playing, yes,” Richard replied. “But not when the four of us are,” he added, as if that should have alleviated any misunderstanding. The earl lifted his chin and said, “Now, where was I?”
“You said, ‘yes, yes, that would do nicely,except’,” Marian stated, imitating her uncle’s delivery. “What’s the exception?”
“Ah, yes. That would be thetimingof a ceremony. Your father insisted a wedding be quick.”
“How quick?” she asked, worry evident in her eyes.
“Within a week of accepting a proposal,” Richard replied. “He thought it especially important you benefit from marrying with a special license.”
Marian’s eyes once again rounded. “But why?” she asked in dismay.
“It’s fine, my sweet,” David whispered, fairly sure he had more than enough money on his person to pay the fee. He pulled his chronometer from his waistcoat pocket. “How late is the ecclesiastical court at Doctors’ Commons open? I believe I need to apply for a license at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office.”
Richard’s brows rose, as if he was impressed. “If you left in the next half-hour or so, you would make it,” he replied.
About to rise, David paused when the earl waved his hand to indicate he should remain seated. He settled back in his chair but motioned for a footman. The servant hurried to his side and bent down. “Sir?”
“I am in need of my coach. Could you inform my driver? He was going to pull into the mews around back,” David explained.
“Right away, sir,” the footman replied before he headed for the door.
Marian’s bright eyes narrowed before she turned her gaze on her uncle. “I wasn’t aware my father wished for a quick wedding,” she commented.
“Sounds rather fishy to me,” Marcus murmured, his scowl still in place.
“He was just looking out for you, darling,” Richard commented. “Now... about the dowry?—”
“Youdohave one for me,” Marian said, her eyes still watery. “The solicitor assured me there was a dowry when he read my father’s will.”
Richard nodded. “There is a dowry, of course. Your father funded it long before he died,” he assured her. “It’s not much, though,” he added with a grimace.
Up until that moment, David had completely forgotten that only the week before, he had thought of a dowry as a means to get by until the weather improved.
Had he subconsciously agreed to marry Miss Copper knowing he needed her dowry?
He gave his head a shake. Of course not. He hadn’t given a thought to a dowry when he agreed to be Marian’s betrothed. But what had the earl been trying to say before the subject of a dowry had been raised? “Whatever it is will be fine,” he stated. “But what did you mean when you said there might be...conditions?”
Richard’s attention was on Marian when he said, “I must insist Miss Copper live in London. At least until she reaches her majority.”
Although David was about to put voice to a protest, it was Marian who piped up and said, “But why?”
“Your father insisted,” Richard stated, lifting a lanky shoulder. “He didn’t want you relegated to the country estate whilst your husband was free to galavant in the capital during the Season.”
Well aware Marian had turned to stare at him, David kept his glare on Richard when he said, “As you are well aware, sir, I don’t ‘galavant’ during the Season. Nor would I do so after I am wed.”
“Well,Iknow that, but her father didn’t know who she would be marrying,” Richard reasoned.
“What did he consider her majority?” David asked, fearing the worst. Most young ladies were said to reach their majorities when they were five-and-twenty while others had only to wait until they were one-and-twenty to collect their inheritances.
“As I recall, five-and-twenty.”
