Page 23 of Bad Luck Bride

Her heart gave a jolt of alarm, and she wondered wildly if Wilson could have known of Devlin’s arrival, the flower shop, or her rage-fueled venture to Devlin’s room. But there was no way Wilson could know about any of that, surely.

He studied her for a long moment, tapping his top hat thoughtfully against his thigh, and she had to resist the urge to squirm beneath this perusal. But at last, he nodded as if satisfied. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. How are the wedding plans coming along?”

Kay was both relieved by the change of subject and reminded of the current problem. “Don’t ask,” she said with a sigh.

“Still no place for the big shindig?”

“No. Speaking of the wedding,” she said, “now that you’re back, I suppose we should formally announce the event. That way we can send the invitations out. After all,” she added, pride forcing her to keep her voice indifferent when so much was at stake, “it’s less than three months away.”

“By all means, announce it. But stop fretting about the wedding. Hell, I don’t care if we get married at the registry office and eat our first meal together in the Savoy restaurant. Would be far less fuss, that’s for sure. I know—” He paused, leaning intimately closer, as if they were suddenly the only two people in the Savoy lobby. “I know why you want a big affair,” he said, his voice softening a fraction. “But it doesn’t matter to me.”

“I know. And I adore you for that. But, you see, it matters to me.”

“Well, since I don’t much care either way, I’ll let you have this big society wedding, though I don’t really see the point of it.” Wilsongestured to the door with his hat. “I have a carriage waiting. Shall we go?”

The four of them started for the exit doors, Kay and Wilson falling in step behind her mother and sister.

“How was New York?” she asked. “And how is Charlene?” she added, referring to his fifteen-year-old daughter.

“Willful. She resents like hell being treated like a child, but treat her like she’s grown-up and she resents that, too.”

She noted the baffled impatience in his voice and hastened to reassure him. “At her age, that’s perfectly normal. She’ll grow out of it.”

“Hmm… so her governess tells me. But it’s hard to know what to say to her. She rebels at everything, so much so that I’ve got the governess watching her like a hawk, day and night.”

Kay knew, better than most, how obsessively watching over one’s daughter might only increase her desire to rebel, but she didn’t say so. “What about your merger?” she asked instead. “Did you get it all arranged the way you wanted it?”

“Of course.” Wilson turned his head to give her a smile, a hard smile that made her wonder if she’d imagined the tenderness in his face a few moments earlier. “I always get what I want in the end.”

“Always?” she countered lightly. “Goodness. How impressive.”

He laughed. “Is it really a surprise to you?” he asked, as they passed through the exit doors and into the courtyard. “After we met at those yacht races last summer, I did manage to swing invitations to three of the house parties you attended in the autumn.”

Startled, she stopped in the courtyard, staring at him. “You got yourself invited because of me?”

“Of course,” he said, stopping beside her. “I see something I want, I go after it, and I get it. It’s that simple. Did you really think it was just a coincidence I was in all the same places you happened to be?”

“Well, no, not exactly. I just…” She paused, running a finger around the inside of the Roman pearl choker at her throat, feeling oddly uncomfortable all of a sudden. “I suppose,” she said at last, forcing a little laugh, “I just assumed we knew all the same people.”

“So we did, once I made their acquaintance. I told you, Kay,” he added when she didn’t reply, “when I see something I want, I go after it, and I always get it in the end.”

With those words, she felt a sudden, smothering tension, the reason for which she couldn’t quite account, and she didn’t know what to say. Fortunately, her mother spoke up at that moment, saving her from a reply.

“Come along, you two. Stop dawdling or we’ll be late.”

Kay turned, following her mother and sister into the luxuriously appointed carriage, and though the short journey from the Savoy to Covent Garden gave her little time to think about what Wilson had told her, once they were in the opera box, the lights had dimmed, and the performance had begun, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from returning to it.

What he’d done sounded romantic, she supposed, but strangely, it didn’t feel that way. Perhaps that was because through most of her life, she’d been watched over so closely by her parents, particularly her father. Or perhaps it was because ever since her great mistake, her mother had continued to obsessively hover over her to make sure something like that never happened again. Or perhaps it was because she knew Wilson was not a romantic sort of man.Even his marriage proposal had been one of practicalities—how he had what she needed (security—he hadn’t been sordid enough to say money), what he needed that she had (blue blood, even if it was a little tainted), how they could build a transatlantic dynasty, how highly he regarded her, how much his young daughter needed a stepmother.

He was fond of her, he thought very highly of her, and admired her pluck—whatever that was—but there had been no mention of love. She hadn’t minded that, of course, for love had gotten her no end of trouble and anguish, and she was quite happy to leave it far behind her. For the second time since Devlin Sharpe had smashed her life to bits, she had been presented with a way forward. Like her cousin Giles once had, Wilson offered her a position and a place in the world, one that allowed her to wipe the slate clean of the stupid mistake she’d once made for love. Thankfully, Wilson hadn’t cared about her past or whether she was damaged goods. That could be considered romantic.

Couldn’t it?

Wilson wanted her despite her past, wanted her enough that he’d followed her all over Yorkshire like a besotted schoolboy.

Or like a hunter stalking prey.

Kay shifted in her chair, telling herself not to be absurd. So what if he’d scraped acquaintance with people she knew just to get closer to her? Just as he’d said earlier tonight, he’d wanted her, and Kay knew that was a good thing, especially since she wanted him, too.

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