Page 15 of Until I’m Safe in Your Arms

Crack!

The rope holding up the end of the swing Alex sat on broke, sliding him onto the ground and tumbling Emma down on top of him.

“Oof!” Alex’s breath went out with a whoosh.

“Oh, dear. I’m so sorry.” Emma scrambled to her feet, blinking at the sun as she crawled out from the bower, panting as her heart began to slow. The spell she’d been under had been broken, thank goodness. Not that she regretted any of her lessons. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” Alex got up slowly, his face flushed.

“Perhaps we should go back to the manor now. We must tell Lady Tilney and Augusta, and your aunt and uncle. And be sure to arrange for our extended stay.” Emma couldn’t help but smile. All her dreams had come true this morning—who knew what might be in store this afternoon? “Shall we?”

Slowly, Alex offered his arm, then winced when she took it enthusiastically.

“Is something wrong, my dear?” She hoped he hadn’t been hurt when the swing broke.

Alex shook his head and started stiffly down the pathway. “Nothing a cold bath won’t cure, my love.”

Chapter Six

“Repeat after me. I, Emma Elizabeth Washer, take thee, Alexander Percy Bancroft, to be my wedded husband.” Reverend Carstairs’s sonorous voice filled the small village church near Caxton Park, making Alex wince not for the first time during his marriage ceremony. The vicar’s voice was so loud it could rival the last trump and raise the dead.

Amazed that he had gotten his way about virtually everything to do with the wedding, Alex couldn’t take his gaze from his beautiful bride’s radiant face. Impossible to believe that he’d met her only one week ago today, and yet she’d agreed to marry him. He’d been ready for her to refuse to marry so quickly—and had been astonished when she’d agreed to forego the usual six-month engagement in favor of wedding him on Friday. In order to do so, she’d also eschewed the lavish wedding Lady Tilney had proposed and now stood up in her best day gown of frilly white muslin with accents of red, her sole bridesmaid her friend Augusta. Yet she was still a radiant bride.

“For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and obey, ’til death do us part.” Emma looked boldly into his eyes as she spoke her vows, melting his heart a little and arousing him quite a lot. They had been together almost constantly ever since he proposed, yet after that fiery interlude in the bower swing, they’d scarcely had a moment alone. That unfortunate period of celibacy would end this evening, thank God. Now he was merely counting the minutes until the wedding night.

For days he’d pondered why his attraction to her was mostly sexual. They didn’t know one another very well still, but he liked her quite a lot. She was an intelligent young woman and had revealed frank opinions about several topics that had surprised him. Vivacious when they talked, she possessed a secretive air when they fell silent. She was beautiful without question, and a genuinely kind person from everything he’d seen. Yet with all these sterling attributes, his primary thoughts at this most solemn moment were not about beginning a life together with Emma, but about them being tangled up in bedsheets. Would he ever come to have the affection for her other men had for their wives? And most importantly, was he doing her a grave disservice by using her to win his wager without telling her?

“I pronounce that they be man and wife together,” the reverend intoned, bringing Alex’s attention back where it should have been all along. “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

As Reverend Carstairs droned on, Alex continued to gaze into Emma’s eyes and she into his, her smile widening with each word that bound them irrevocably together. Such shining trust in him would not be misplaced. He would make it his most sacred duty to take care of Emma, to cherish her, and to never make her regret she’d married him.

“This way, Captain.” Carstairs motioned them toward a door on the right. Alex offered his arm to Emma and they entered the vestry to sign the registry. Emma went first, her hand steady as she signed her full maiden name for the very last time. His hand, however, shook more than a little as he scratched out his signature.

Then they were back in the chancel, turned toward the congregation of guests, almost all his relations. Grinning ear to ear, Uncle Jack, his best man, gave him a little push to start them down the aisle. Eyes forward, they’d been strictly instructed. Look neither right nor left. For some unknown reason, it was considered in bad taste to acknowledge the presence of the guests. Never mind that. All he wanted to do was look at Emma, his bride. They arrived at the entry hall and he turned toward her. “May I kiss the bride, Mrs. Bancroft?”

“Yes, you may, Captain Bancroft.” She grasped him around the neck and pulled him down to her. “I was hoping you would ask.”

*

“Here’s to the happy couple and to a wager well won.” Grandfather raised a glass of champagne and all of Alex’s cousins did the same, toasting him in a private corner of the drawing room. Such a gratifying moment. Alex raised his glass as well, savoring his victory.

The wedding breakfast, given by Aunt Lucinda, had turned out well, despite the rush to complete all the details in just three days. He and Emma had returned from the church and been placed in a corner of the drawing room surrounded by such huge bunches of flowers Alex wondered if the gardener had stripped every bloom from the garden. They’d greeted everyone in the receiving line, and he’d had the pleasure of introducing Emma to all his family. Once the line had ended, her bridesmaid and Aunt Lucinda had whisked her away for what purpose Alex didn’t know. He’d gravitated toward his male kinfolk, all of whom congratulated him soundly on winning the wager.

That was why he was keeping a lookout for his bride, determined to prevent her from knowing about the marriage wager, at least until her wedding day had ended. Not until he was standing in the receiving line, Emma smiling so happily beside him, did it occur to him she might be upset to know he’d married her on a bet. He hated to think she might be hurt to find out he’d had ulterior motives for their marriage, although he’d assure her they weren’t the only ones. When he looked at his beautiful bride, he swelled with pride. Somehow, he’d have to convince her he’d have married her even without the wager.

“Now that the first of you is married, who do you think will be the next one to get tie the knot?” Grinning like a lunatic, Grandfather gazed from one cousin to the next. “Yule? Want to take that up?”

Yule shook his head. “No, Grandfather. Alex may have found a wife out of hand, but I think I’ll take my time. I may be the last of us to take the plunge.”

“Huh.” The old man wheeled around and glared at Francis. “What about you, sir? Will you take the wager?”

“Not for every gold guinea in the Bank of England.” His cousin crossed his arms, calmly standing his ground.

“And why not, sir? You agreed to the larger wager. Why not get the matter done like Alex?” He had to give it to Grandfather. The man knew what he wanted. “I’ll sweeten the wager handsomely if you do, Hamerton.”

Francis looked as though he was caught between Scylla and Charybdis and seasick to boot. “How sweet, Grandfather?”

“There we go. There’s the Quartermain in you. Never turn down a wager.” He held out his glass. “Footman, pour.”