Page 1 of The Marquess’s Forbidden Bride

Chapter One

London, May 1816

‘A pleasure to meet you, Miss Wellingford. That’s the loveliest smile I’ve seen in London,’ Lieutenant Charles Marsden said, gazing down at the young lady to whom he’d just been presented in Stanhope House’s elegant drawing room.

Charles’s colonel looked over from where he’d been chatting with the Marquess of Englemere, their host and the colonel’s good friend. ‘Be on your guard, Miss Emma!’ Colonel Wexford said. ‘This one can charm the birds from the trees.’

‘Or ladies from their virtue?’ Miss Wellingford murmured, her voice pitched so low that Charles only just caught the comment.

Not quite so unworldly an innocent, despite having been introduced as a maiden in her first Season, Charles thought. ‘Colonel, you wrong me!’ he protested. ‘You’ll give Miss Wellingford an entirely inaccurate picture of my character.’

‘I’m sure you are quite charming, Lieutenant,’ the lady replied, a certain…wariness in her tone.

The lady appeared suspicious of compliments, Charles thought, but the unexpected reserve only added to her attractive appearance and piqued his interest.

‘He is charming,’ Colonel Wexford confirmed. ‘But the lieutenant’s right. I shouldn’t give you an erroneous impression of his character,’ he continued. ‘He might have cut a swath through the ladies in Lisbon, but Marsden is a true gentleman and like us, Englemere, a fellow Oxford man. He’s been an exceptional officer that I count myself privileged to have under my command, else I wouldn’t have presumed to recommend him to you or introduce him to your wife and her lovely sister.’

‘We are pleased you did,’ Lady Englemere said, smiling at Charles. ‘What a relief, after the shock of having Napoleon escape from Elba, bringing us to the brink of all-out war again, to have that finally settled at last. We can only be grateful to the soldiers who fought so valiantly to make that happen.’

‘Lieutenant Marsden is certainly one of them,’ the colonel said. ‘He’s been in the thick of the action from the grim days of the retreat from Corunna in ’09 all the way through Waterloo and the occupation afterwards. His unit of Dunbar’s Dragoons has only just returned from Paris.’

‘Now that they have, and God willing, the army is through with battles at last, Wexford tells me you are looking for some other occupation,’ Lord Englemere said.

‘All England must be grateful for your service,’ Lady Englemere said. ‘We’d like to do whatever we can to assist you.’

‘Being an active sort, Marsden isn’t interested in remaining in a peacetime army,’ Colonel Wexford explained. ‘Which is why I thought of you, Englemere. I’ve been away from England so long, I don’t know who might need an enterprising young man of wide experience to act as a secretary or assistant. With your contacts in Parliament and Society, you might have a better idea.’

‘You’d be interested in such a post?’ the marquess asked Charles.

‘In the short term,’ Charles confirmed. ‘My adoptive father owns a prosperous estate in Norfolk, but he’s in robust health and the property isn’t large enough to need two managers. With me away, first at university and then with the army, he’s accustomed to handling things on his own. Since I doubt I’ll be needed to take over anytime soon, in the interim, I’d like to do something…useful. As the colonel says, after having been occupied in a vital endeavour for so many years, the idea of simply…drifting about London doesn’t appeal.’

Miss Wellingford, who’d been silently following the conversation, nodded approvingly. ‘No one would think the worse of you, after all your years at war, were you to simply enjoy the peace you helped win.’

‘True, battles were fierce and conditions on campaign could be difficult and uncomfortable…’ he began, his smile fading as memories of the horrors of Badajoz and Waterloo flashed through his brain. But ladies don’t need to hear about that.

Retrieving a smile, he continued, ‘Much as I’d like such a charming lady to envision me a hero, I must confess that life in the army wasn’t all toil and sacrifice, Miss Wellingford. Battle campaigns involved long periods of inaction where one was able to enjoy life. Even for mere lieutenants, winter cantonment in Lisbon offered dinners, balls, the theatre and a variety of entertainments. When in the field, we enjoyed hunting, fishing, card parties, even amateur theatricals.’

‘A rich and varied life, then?’ Lady Englemere said.

‘It was,’ Charles confirmed. ‘Which is not to say that war isn’t a grim business, but there is much about the army I will miss. Knowing one was doing something important. The satisfaction of leading valiant men and seeing to their welfare. Measuring up to demanding tasks. And of course, the camaraderie one develops with fellow soldiers.’

‘Indeed,’ Colonel Wexford confirmed. ‘Nothing like fighting for one’s life in a pitched battle to form friendships that last a lifetime! Save for my bond with Englemere, which goes back to our days at Eton, my best and closest friends were made in the army.’

At that moment, the butler appeared at the door. ‘Dinner is ready, Lady Englemere.’

‘Shall we go in?’ the marchioness said, rising. ‘Colonel, you’ll give me your arm? And Lieutenant Marsden, would you escort my sister?’

Wondering how the wary lady would take that instruction, Charles said, ‘I’d be delighted.’

Smiling, he offered her his arm—and was startled to feel a little zing of attraction when, with a slight smile, she placed her hand on his sleeve.

Not that he was surprised by his response to her. Though not a Beauty, she was quite appealing in an understated way. Her slender figure and heart-shaped, gamin face with its large hazel eyes framed by honey-brown curls made her appear very much the young lady in her first Season. Yet her manner, unassuming yet quietly confident—and that cynical undertone of a remark he’d overheard—implied a maturity beyond her years. No shy naiveté here.

Certainly she displayed none of the uncertainty or timidity one might expect of a girl just emerging from the schoolroom. Not that Charles had much experience of innocent English maids, having gone from university straight into the army. Most of the ladies of his acquaintance in the Peninsula had been wives of army personnel or officials, English and Portuguese, or ladies of easy virtue. Innocent maidens, if they appeared at social events at all, were strictly chaperoned.

He’d be pleased to get to know this one better over dinner, he thought as they entered the dining room, a room as lavishly appointed as the entryway and grand salon. He’d been a bit surprised to learn his colonel, an only modestly well-off viscount’s second son, was a close friend of this wealthy, high-ranking man. He could only be grateful that both the colonel and the marquess appeared willing to help him find a post.

Turning his attention back to Miss Wellingford, he speculated that, given her sceptical reaction to his quite innocuous remark about her smile, he’d need to curb his normal inclination to teasing flattery if he wished to draw her out.