“Yes, my dearest Gard, I will,” she said with a sigh, tugging on his hand.
He stayed on the ground, when she wished him up for another embrace. “Tomorrow?”
She pretended to consider. “That depends on one condition, my lord. Can we have our wedding night tonight?”
He laughed and pulled on her hand until she was in his arms, on the floor. “My endless delight, you can have whatever your heart desires, as long as it’s me.” He loosened his hold on her only long enough to unwrap the neckcloth borrowed from Nutley, which left a rash under his chin.
*
Annalise was very near to having her conditions met when a banshee’s wail split the air. Even before turning to the doorway, Lord Gardiner cried out, “Lord have mercy, am I never going to get la-”
“Aunt Rosalind!” Annalise scrambled up and into the embrace of a tall, blond-haired woman in sable and rubies. “Oh, Aunt Ros, I am so glad you’ve come home, but everything is all right now. However did you find us? Oh, there’s Rob, and Henny!” Annalise was so in alt over seeing her aunt again, she forgot the civilities for a moment, which gave Lord Gardiner time to button his shirt and run his fingers through his hair while Tuthill looked on, grinning.
“Aunt Ros, may I present my fiancé, Lord Gardiner? Gard, Lady Rosalind Avery.”
“Not anymore, dear,” her aunt informed them all, dragging forth a small, bespectacled man from behind her. “Elphy’s wife finally expired—in her lover’s arms, I might add, lest you think I’m being disrespectful of the dead—so it’s Lady Elphinstone now.”
After exclamations and congratulations and more embraces and handshakes, the new Lady Elphinstone went on: “Now that we’re married, Papa has decided to forgive me, the old curmudgeon. He wrote me in Vienna, telling me to come home and bring Elphy for his blessing. He also charged me to see what Sir Vernon was nattering on about.”
“He was dreadful! I am sorry about your house, Aunt Ros.”
Lady Elphinstone waved one beringed hand in careless disregard. “Oh, Elphy has a grand place right in Mayfair. As soon as we all get back from visiting Papa, we’ll hold your presentation ball there.”
Gard spoke up for the first time. “We are returning to London tomorrow, after the wedding. My Lady Gardiner shall be presented from Grosvenor Square.”
“What, after some hole-in-corner ceremony nobody will believe happened? Not on your life.” Lady Elphinstone crossed her arms over her bosom and raised a familiar pointy chin in the air. “You haven’t asked her grandfather’s permission, either, I’ll wager. Pray, do you want to complete the chit’s ruin? We got here just in time as it is, I swear. No, you’ll come along to Northumberland, meet Arvenell, and get his blessings. Then we’ll call the banns and have a lovely wedding in the Arvenell chapel with half the shire present. That should do the trick.”
“That should take months!” Annalise and the earl chorused.
Lady Ros patted her niece on the cheek. “Don’t be so impatient, dearest. I waited all these years for my darling Elphy.”
“Like hell you did,” Lord Gardiner said with a growl before turning to his betrothed. “We can be remarried in Northumberland in a chapel or in a turnip patch, however many times you wish, Annie, but we are first getting married right here. By special license. Tomorrow morning,” he firmly declared. Then he added, “Aren’t we, Annie, please?” She looked at
him
and smiled. “Whatever your heart desires, my lord, as long as it’s me.”