Authors: Danelle Harmon
Perry only eyed him narrowly. Plucking his
surtout from the pew, Gareth left him to reclaim his bride before
his friend could delve deeper.
Hell, maybe I'll even come to love the girl
in time.
Indeed.
The thing is, will she come to love me?
~~~~
They signed the register, thanked the vicar,
and as a group emerged from the church, talking, laughing and
blinking in the mid-morning sunlight. It was a beautiful day, with
fluffy clouds of dove gray and mauve scudding briskly across a
hard, cobalt blue sky. The breeze drove bits of loose straw and
debris across the cobbles, and horses, carriages, and pedestrians
hurried past in both directions. They stood there on the pavement,
buffeted by the wind, as Chilcot and Audlett went to get the
horses.
Nobody mentioned that horrible moment when
Gareth had tried to slip his ring on Juliet's finger, though Juliet
knew it was on all of their minds.
"You made a right beautiful bride, if I do
say so myself, Lady Gareth!"
She smiled, gamely.
Lady Gareth.
How
strange it sounded. "Thank you, Sir Hugh. Though I'm sure the gloom
of that church hid all my flaws."
"What?" piped up Chilcot. "Listen to her!
Flaws!" He yanked out a quizzing glass, pretending to scrutinize
her from top to toe until she smiled and turned pink with
embarrassment. "I see no flaws. Do you see any flaws, Perry?"
"Not a one."
"Really," Juliet said, embarrassed.
"Leave her alone," grumbled her husband,
shading his eyes from the sun. "You're overwhelming her, all of
you."
He moved close to her, his arm slipping
possessively around her waist. Instinctively, Juliet moved closer
to him, but there was a polite formality to his gesture, nothing
more, and she knew then that things could never be the same as
they'd been in these last two weeks at Blackheath — when he had
been her easy-going, carefree friend.
To top everything off, Charlotte was
starting to cry again.
"Here, I'll take her," her husband said. He
scooped the baby from Juliet's arms and cradled her to his chest.
Immediately the whimpering stopped. Charlotte stared at him in
wide-eyed fascination.
Juliet watched a passing carriage, too
ashamed of herself, and her conflicting feelings, to meet Gareth's
blue, blue eyes. "She's wet," she warned.
"Ah, well, we've got more important things
to worry about than that, don't we, Charlotte?" he said lightly,
adjusting the baby's frilly bonnet around her tiny face. Juliet
caught the double meaning and the tension in his words, knowing
well what he meant. She threw him a quick, guilty glance, but
Gareth didn't see it. He was too busy ignoring her, playing with
the baby, swinging her high over his head and laughing as she broke
out in a smile as bright as the sunshine blazing down from above.
Juliet looked on a little wistfully. What she wouldn't give to be
so happy, so carefree; what she wouldn't give to be able to take
back that terrible moment in the church when he'd discovered
Charles's ring still on her finger. Why hadn't she removed it once
and for all this morning?
She had hurt him — deeply. And she felt sick
about it.
"Like that, do you?"
Charlotte chortled in glee.
"Here, let's do it again," he said
cheerfully, and out of the corner of her eye, Juliet saw that Perry
was watching him with those cool gray eyes of his that didn't miss
a trick. Perry knew that all was not right here, and Juliet
suspected he knew Lord Gareth's sudden silliness with the baby was
just a cover for the pain he had to be feeling. And now her husband
was swinging Charlotte up and over his head once more, making
foolish faces and even more foolish noises at her until he had her
shrieking in delight.
"Watch this —
wheeeeeee!
"
Perry, observing, just shook his head.
"If anyone knows how to act like a juvenile,
it's you, Gareth."
"Yes, and the day one forgets how to be
young is the day one gets old. Let's do it again, Charlie-girl.
Ready, now? Here ... we ... go!"
Again he swung the infant — high, high,
higher. Once more, Charlotte shrieked with glee, and even Juliet
felt a reluctant smile creep over her face. Forced or not, her
husband's good humor was infectious. The Den members were also
grinning, elbowing each other and eyeing him as though he had lost
his mind along with his bachelorhood.
"I don't believe I'm seeing this," murmured
Chilcot.
"Yes, what
would
they say down at
White's, Gareth?"
Perry was shaking his head. "Well, all
I
can say is that I'm exceedingly grateful I don't know
anyone on this side of town," he drawled. "I daresay you are making
a complete arse of yourself, Gareth."
"Yes, and enjoying it immensely. I tell you,
dear fellow, someday you, too, shall make an arse of yourself over
a little one, if not a woman, and then we shall all have the last
laugh!"
A chorus of guffaws went through the group,
and Perry, scowling, waved them off to indicate his contempt for
such a preposterous idea. Juliet, however, stood quietly, watching
the carefree man she had just married, who was laughing and
swinging her daughter up to the sky, and wishing he was someone
else. Wishing he could act more ... mature.
Like Charles.
Sudden, wretched guilt clenched her gut, and
she drove her fingernails into her palms, welcoming the pain.
Whether she wanted him or not, Lord Gareth de Montforte deserved
better than this. He deserved better than
her
. He had given
them his name and sacrificed his own future just so she'd have a
husband and Charlotte, a father. It wasn't his fault that he was
not Charles. Maybe he wasn't happy about having to marry her,
either. Maybe he, too, was in love with someone else. Had she ever
stopped to think of
that
?
God help them. What would become of them
tonight, when they had to share the marital bed for the first
time?
Her maudlin thoughts were interrupted by the
sound of hoofbeats coming up the street. Tom Audlett and Neil
Chilcot, leading the horses, were just returning from the mews. As
they approached, Gareth's hunter pricked up his ears, his dark,
liquid eyes wide as he saw his master playing with the baby. He
gave an inquisitive whinny.
Chilcot came to a stop, pulling the curious
horse back with him. "Right. Now what?"
"Time to go, I think," Gareth said breezily.
"But first, let's see if Charlotte's inherited the de Montforte
horsiness."
"The what?" asked Chilcot.
"You know. Horsiness. I want to see what
Crusader thinks of her." Still carrying Charlotte, he walked to his
horse and held the baby up to the animal's soft, velvet nose. The
big hunter arched his neck and blew softly, his ears and eyes on
the baby. Charlotte shrieked at each tickling breath, kicking her
feet in excitement. Grinning, Gareth lifted the child high and
placed her in the saddle, where she sat smiling down at them like a
tiny princess, safe within the cradle of his sure, strong grip.
"No!" Juliet cried, alarmed. She ran
forward.
"Don't worry, I've got her," her husband
said easily, his big hands firmly around Charlotte's waist.
"Take her down now! She's too little!"
"She's a de Montforte, Juliet. All de
Montfortes are horse-mad; it's in the blood."
But Juliet pushed him aside and pulled the
baby down even as everyone stared at her in dismay. Immediately,
Charlotte screwed up her face and started crying.
Not just crying.
Screaming — fit to blow the glass out of the
surrounding buildings.
Cokeham winced. "Well, I'm off to bed," he
all but shouted as Juliet tried frantically to calm the howling
baby. "I'll catch up to you all later!"
Audlett was moving toward his own horse, his
face wearing a look of pain as Charlotte's screams grew louder.
"Yes, me, too. Damned long night it was, I'm afraid! Catches up to
a fellow, it does..."
"I'd best be off, too, then." Chilcot said,
throwing Gareth a look of false sympathy a he all but ran to his
horse and hurled himself up into the saddle. "Good day, Lord and
Lady Gareth!"
"Wait!" Gareth called as Charlotte's screams
began turning the heads of those passing on the street.
But his three friends were already making a
hasty exit, their horses' hooves ringing on cobbles as they fled.
Even Hugh made his excuses and left, until only Perry, politely
pretending not to hear Charlotte's shrill screams, remained with
them.
"What a fine lot of friends!" Gareth
exploded angrily. "Leaving just when you need them most!"
"Well it
is
your wedding night,"
Perry drawled. He pulled out his snuff box and took a casual pinch,
acting for all the world as though he didn't hear Charlotte's
frantic wailing five feet from his right ear. "Surely you don't
think they're going to hang around and share a bedroom with you,
now, do you?"
"Very funny. I suppose you're going to
desert me, as well."
"On the contrary, my dear fellow." Perry
tossed the reins over his horse's head. "You have a wife and baby
to carry up there with you. If I desert you now, then who, I ask,
shall take her trunk?"
"Much obliged," Gareth muttered. But Juliet,
patting Charlotte's back and trying desperately to calm her,
noticed that her bridegroom was looking increasingly uncomfortable.
He shifted his weight, ran a nervous hand through his hair, cleared
his throat.
"What is it?" Perry asked, preparing to
mount his horse.
Gareth fidgeted some more. He grinned, but
Juliet saw a trapped look in his eyes that belied his easy manner.
"Oh, well, it's nothing, really. Does your mother still loathe the
sight of me, Perry?"
"Must you even
ask
?" Perry narrowed
his eyes. "Why, Gareth?"
Charlotte was still screaming. In vain,
Juliet tried to hush her, offering a rattle to play with. Charlotte
merely screamed louder and batted it away.
"Oh, well, I'm just wondering if we could
stay at your townhouse." At Perry's hesitation, he quickly added,
"Just for tonight, of course. Wouldn't want to upset your mother
any more than I already have, what with her thinking me such a bad
influence on you and all...."
Perry was clearly at a loss, and Juliet,
watching this tense exchange and desperately trying to calm her
shrieking daughter, felt her spirits sink like a leaf downed by a
storm. It was glaringly obvious that Gareth's plan to "rescue" them
stopped here at the steps of this church. She could tell by the
confusion on his face, the sudden, fleeting panic in his eyes, that
he had no idea what to do next, where to go — nothing.
God help them.
"What's wrong with de Montforte House?"
Perry asked, raising his voice to be heard over Charlotte's
ear-splitting wails. "Doesn't the duke keep his London residence
staffed when he's not in town?"
"Of course he does. But we're
not
staying there, Perry."
"Why not? It's your home."
"No it isn't, it's
Lucien's
home and
I'll be damned if I'll take myself or my family to live under any
of his roofs ever again."
"Oh, for
God's
sake."
Charlotte's screams grew deafening. Tears
streamed from her eyes, and her face was tomato-red from the force
of her tantrum. Juliet glanced desperately at her husband, knowing
that he alone could probably calm her, but he was angry now, no
longer the carefree man he had been a few moments past. Perry tried
to reason with him. Gareth's blue eyes blazed with fury. "Don't try
to argue me into it, Perry. I said no, and by God I mean it."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"And don't
you
be so damned
insensitive! You think I'd take advantage of my brother's so-called
hospitality after he not only refused to make his own niece his
ward, but allowed a young woman and a baby to leave Blackheath with
no escort, no protection, nothing? By God, I'm ashamed to admit I
even share the same damned blood as that monster! Forget it, Perry!
Forget I even bloody asked!"
"You know what they say, Gareth. Pride goeth
before a fall."
"Oh, just sod off, will you? 'Sdeath, you're
no better than the rest of them. Come on, Juliet. You can ride
Crusader, and I'll carry your trunk."
"Gareth —" Perry said, reaching for his
friend, but Gareth threw him off.
Charlotte was still screaming, beating the
air with her fists, kicking out and howling at the top of her
lungs. Carriages were slowing, people leaning out of their windows
and shouting for peace and quiet. Juliet glanced from the baby to
the two angry men and knew she had to do something.
She touched her husband's arm. "Really,
Gareth, His Grace was not unkind to me. He gave me a huge amount of
money —"
"I don't care what he gave you, you traveled
three thousand miles to get here, and what does he damn well do?
Pays you off like some — some
creditor
or something! You,
who ought to be treated as a member of our family, not a piece of
unwanted baggage! I cannot forgive him, Juliet. Do not ask it of
me!"
"I'm not asking it of you, but surely you
can swallow your pride just for one night, if only for the sake of
your niece."
He stared at her, furious.
"Er ... daughter," she corrected,
lamely.
Through his teeth he gritted, "We are
not
staying at de Montforte House or Blackheath Castle or
any of Lucien's other estates, and I'll hear no more about it!" He
made a fist and pressed it to his forehead, trying to keep his
temper under control even as Perry made a noise of impatient
disgust and Charlotte's endless screaming threatened to drown out
all thought, all sanity.
Perry chose the wrong moment to be
sarcastic. "Well done, my friend. You have just succeeded in
showing your unsuspecting bride that there is indeed another side
to you. Were you beginning to think your new lord was all syrupy
sweetness, Lady Gareth?"