He tightened his grip on her and she sagged into his embrace. “You’re safe now.” He guided her to the chair before her dressing table.
“Yes, with you I am.” She gazed up at him. There was a new warmth in her eyes. “I’ve been thinking some more about your proposal.”
Francis swallowed.That’s a good thing?“I believe our marriage is the only way to make you permanently safe from scandal and from Travener.” He used his most assured voice.
“I agree.” Clarissa glanced away but encountered his gaze in the dressing-table mirror. And would make you safe from Miss Hodges’s machinations.
His heartbeat leaped into a gallop. “Do you?”
Clarissa took a deep breath. “Yes, I believe you’re right. I wouldn’t marry any man but you. Only you would I trust to keep your promise about ours being a marriage of convenience.”
A marriage of convenience.Of course.His heart shriveled at her words.
***
Francis bundled Clarissa into a hackney and hurried to the Bishop’s Chambers in London House next to the Bishop’s Chapel in Aldersgate Street. By some luck or grace, he was admitted to see the bishop, because his last appointment of the day had not shown up. Francis left Clarissa in the waiting room, preferring to meet the bishop alone to explain the situation and stop him questioning Clarissa directly, unless he insisted upon doing so. For now, he would prefer it was not known that she was an actress.
William Howley, Bishop of London since 1813, was a learned man of advancing years, who had held a professorship at Oxford University. Tall and lean, he turned from the window looking out at the grim day. His wig of office was discarded on his desk, to reveal brown hair swept back in waves from his broad forehead.
The bishop sent Francis a brief smile. “Reverend Brody, how may I assist you?”
Francis bowed his head respectfully. “My lord. You may regard this as sudden and unexpected, but I wish to marry by common license. The lady in question is without family who will support her and under threat of imminent homelessness. We have formed an attachment. She is of age and there is no legal impediment to our marriage. We see no reason to delay our plans to marry when her situation is so dire and I can assist her.”
“This is very sudden, Francis. Marriage is a serious business. I had heard talk in the past of you and Miss Hodges considering marrying.”
“There was no formal engagement and Miss Hodges believes we are no longer suited. I agree.”
“If the situation is as serious as you claim, could the lady in distress not abide with your family while banns are read?”
“Yes, that could be done, were my sisters in London, but they are in Hampshire for some weeks more.”
“Could she not travel to them?”
“I think you would agree that she shouldn’t travel such a distance alone?”
“Ah.” Bishop Howley fiddled with the pens on the desk in front of him. “And this lady is a woman of good character?”
“Of the best,” he averred. He honestly believed that, even if all the world did not.
“You have sworn statements?”
“I do.” He handed the two statements, devised by his solicitor and signed by himself and Clarissa already.
The bishop read them before he rang a small brass bell on his desk. “In that case, I agree. There is a fee.”
“Certainly.” Francis pulled a one-pound bank note from his pocketbook.
The bishop’s clerk entered. “An ordinary marriage license for my signature please,” he requested of him.
With the license safe in his pocket, Francis strode outside to collect Clarissa from the antechamber. Now he just had to keep her safe from Travener and her aunt until they could marry in seven days’ time. And then keep her at arm’s length for a lifetime after that.
Lord, help me. To preserve this woman’s reputation, I have just condemned myself to a life of torment.
Chapter Ten
One long, worry-filled week later, Clarissa accompanied Francis to the Covent Garden parish church. His employer, Reverend Randolph, an austere-looking elderly man, waited to marry them. The simple service, witnessed by the minister’s wife and the church warden, took little time.
Before Clarissa could comprehend, she was a married woman, she was outside the church again and on her way to Guy’s Inn for the most casual of wedding breakfasts.
