Page 54 of A Scottish Bride for the Duke
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
His warm fingers found her chin, tilting her head up. “Are you well?” he asked, the iciness that had been in his voice thawing slightly. “Will you be all right?”
“Thanks to ye, I… I think so.”
“Good.” He dropped his hand. “Prepare yourself. Our lives are going to change a great deal.”
Then he was gone, striding off down the corridor and leaving her to go to bed alone, wondering what on earth she was going to do now.
A duchess. And her groom a man who would rather be anything other than her husband.
She touched the spot on her chin that his hand had touched. Even now, angry and frustrated, he had been kind.
She wished she could understand him.
Chapter Fifteen
“Thought I’d see this coming,” Joseph said grimly as the two men prepared for the wedding. “You said you didn’t want to marry, but you’d already invited her to live in your home. And—forgive me, old friend—but I have never seen you take such an interest in a young lady before.”
Adrian went to see the archbishop, and he came home later that day with a special license. His mother had made inquiries, and it was discovered they could marry in St. George’s in just two days’ time.
Married to a lady he did not trust, whose secrets were written all over her face. And who would now, inevitably, bring him into whatever her business was. And, as her husband, he would have to protect her. Yet someone else he had responsibility for.
Still, as always, since the moment he had dragged his undeserving father from the flames, he accepted his duty with grim stoicism.
Adrian stared in the speckled mirror. Though he tried to forget about it, he could not quite dismiss the expression of fear and devastation in her eyes when he’d found her. That wave of possessiveness flooded him again, and he bit back on the metallic sensation.
Foolish. He was a fool.
“I wanted to investigate her because I didn’t trust her,” he said coldly.
“And now you’re marrying her. A perfectly predictable turn of events.”
Adrian clenched his teeth. “I hadn’t intended to marry anyone.”
“And yet here you are. And may I say, your bride is one of the most captivating ladies I’ve had the pleasure of seeing on my tours through London’s ballrooms. There will be many a jealous young gentleman who’d intended on asking her when he felt the moment was right.”
Adrian felt a brief flare of anger at the thought. “If someone else had wanted to marry her, he ought to have done so.”
“He ought to have done.” Joseph picked up the rings. “Now, are you ready? It wouldn’t do for you to be late to your appointment with your bride.”
Adrian just grunted again, casting another glance at his reflection in the mirror.
In recognition of the event, he wore his best clothes, buttons polished to a gleam, his waistcoat elegant without being flamboyant. He was expected to make the best of the situation and to accept his fate with grace.
He wondered if Isobel would do the same.
To be sure, she had intended to marrysomeone, and he flattered himself that, as a duke—and with the history of their meetings behind them, he was not an entirely unwelcome choice. Yet when he had announced their engagement, she had looked at him with horror and dismay in her eyes.
If he had been feeling any ardor in the moment—which, of course, he had not—that would have put paid to it quickly enough.
Still, as his wife, she would have to behave in a certain way. Conform, at least a little.
He was not looking forward tothatconversation.
They arrived at the small church with time to spare, as was typical of Adrian’s timeliness. He engaged the vicar in idle conversation as guests took their places in the pews. His mother, Eliza and her mother and Joseph amongst the most notable.
Isobel had no family attending.
