“Shall we raise a glass to the lovely brides?” Mr. Parfitt said as everyone gathered before dinner the night before the double ceremony was to take place.
“I wish to say something first,” Lottie said. Alec held his breath, waiting for a tearfully romantic speech from a dewy-eyed bride, though Lottie looked remarkably clear-eyed this evening, especially when she began struggling to remove the betrothal ring from her gloved hand.
“William, I have changed my mind.”
Sophie gasped in horror. Caroline stood silently, watching her niece. William Mears turned red from his chin to the tips of his ears.
Countess Charlotte frowned. “Don’t tell me you wish to wed in London or at Somerson Park after all, Lottie!”
“Actually, Mama, I don’t wish to marry at all. Well, at least I don’t wish to marry William.”
Charlotte’s scream, mixed with Somerson’s deeper bellow of rage, brought Muira, Jock, and Leith running from the kitchen, where they had apparently grabbed anything useful as a weapon on their way. Muira brandished a lethal toasting fork, Jock had a rolling pin, and wild-eyed Leith bore a pie, ready to throw it. He arrived just in time to soften the fall as Countess Charlotte fainted, and fell on him. The pie hit the floor and shatter, which made Muira screech.
“Here,” Lottie said. She handed her ring to William, who stood looking politely stunned, staring at it. Then she reached into her pocket and took out the smelling salts obviously ready for the countess’s reaction. “I thought we’d be needing these.” Lottie bent over Charlotte’s supine figure and waved the vial under the countess’s nose, then waved them under Leith’s, who was still trapped beneath her. William stood dumbly staring at the ring in the palm of his hand.
The first person Charlotte saw when she woke was Caroline, and she screamed again, and began to cry loud, noisy tears.
“I’m drowning,” Leith said from beneath her vast frame. Mr. Parfitt muttered prayers as he tugged on the countess’s arm, trying to raise her.
“This is all your fault! You encouraged her to do this!” Charlotte warbled, shooting hatred and blame at Caroline.
“No, Mama, it had nothing at all to do with Caroline. I just decided that marrying William was not what I wanted to do.”
“What do you want to do? Are you aware of the scandal this will cause? Mears is a perfectly decent man,” Somerson said. “Is there someone else?”
Lottie sucked her cheek. “Well, there’s George, as in my brother George. You see, I want an adventure. I intend to go with George when he leaves on his Grand Tour.”
Charlotte shrieked again, and Leith groaned, his legs thrashing beneath the countess as he struggled for escape. Alec took pity on him and helped Mr. Parfitt and Jock to lift the stricken countess and help her to a chair. “I won’t allow it!” the countess protested. “Nor will your father.”
Lottie hardly looked deterred. “Caroline is coming with me, and my maid, and George and his tutor and valet. It will be perfectly proper. Besides, if there’s to be a scandal over my broken betrothal, wouldn’t it be better if I went away for a while? I have no intention of retiring to lurk in the shadows at Somerson Park.”
Alec looked at Caroline in surprise. She met his eyes for only a moment before looking away, her cheeks flushing.
“Europe!” Megan said. “How wonderful. May I go along?”
“I won’t wait for you,” William said. He was sitting on the settee, with the ring still in his outstretched palm. Sophie was by his side, patting his arm supportively, glaring at Lottie balefully.
“I don’t expect you to,” Lottie said, and gave him a sad smile. “I do wish you every happiness William, I truly do—just not with me.”
Alec glanced again at Caroline, but she had slipped out of the room.
“When will you leave?” Sophie asked Lottie.
“Tomorrow,” Lottie replied. “An early start.”
“Right after the wedding then?” Sophie asked.
“Um, right before, rather.”
Alec felt his stomach turn to iron. Caroline was leaving first thing in the morning, walking away,runningaway. He wondered if she meant to say good-bye, or if he’d just wake up tomorrow to find her gone.
“Neville, we’re leaving too, since there is no point in staying a moment longer,” Charlotte said. “Order the horses harnessed and have everything packed at once.”
“What about supper?” Muira asked.
William shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”
“Then neither am I,” Sophie said.
