Page 61 of Her Runaway Duke
Lady Willoughby’s eyes lit with glee, confusing Siena.
“Canterbury?” Siena repeated. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Lord Fitzroy pushed himself off the wall. “Canterbury, my dear, is the home of theArchbishopof Canterbury. The one man in England who could grant you a special license to marry whenever and wherever you wish.”
Levi’s eyes met Lord Fitzroy’s. “Could you go in my stead? I wouldn’t like to leave Siena.”
“Say no more,” Lord Fitzroy said with a bow. “On my way out, I will ask Thornbury to send a footman for the vicar.”
“What is happening?” Siena said, turning around in Levi’s arms, looking up at him in bewilderment.
“We are getting married,” he said, although he did not look at all like a man who was in the throes of love, about to take his bride. “Fitz will go seek a special license from the Archbishop, and in the meantime we will prepare so that we can marry as soon as he returns. Then your father will no longer be able to take you away. I suspect he has returned to London to gather forces to come and ensure that you have no choice but to go with him. We must be faster.”
Siena froze at his words, captured both by a sense of how unfair it was that she had to endure this and buoyed by hope that there was an escape from her predicament – but at what cost?
“Are you sure, Levi?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper. “I know you wanted nothing to do with this and here I am?—”
“I would not have offered if I didn’t mean it,” he said, more gently now. “Why don’t you and Lady Eliza go prepare for the wedding? I know it is likely not the wedding day that you envisioned, but perhaps you can make it bearable.”
She nodded woodenly as Eliza threaded her arm through hers and led her out of the room. They were already upstairs and walking down the corridor when the severity of all that was happening hit her.
“Eliza,” she said, stopping and staring at her friend. “I do not know if I can do this. It is all so sudden, and I am not sure if Levi actually has any wish to marry me or if he is doing it out of some strange sense of honor. He never wanted to be married, never even wanted anyone at his estate. What if we marry and then he grows to resent me and his life if this was just an act of duty, a lesser evil of the two choices? He had made a vow to protect me, but is ensuring that I do not return to Lord Mulberry worth sacrificing his wishes? Oh goodness, this has been one pre-wedding panic too many.”
She finally stopped when Eliza wrapped her hands around her upper arms and stared at her intently.
“Siena, take a breath,” she ordered. “You are overthinking this.”
“Overthinking?”
“Yes. You are looking for faults when they are not there. The entire situation is not ideal, true, but I do believe the duke loves you – or, at the very least, cares for you deeply. He may say that he does not want this life, but maybe he is wrong. Maybe you have toshowhim what he wants and help him to understand that he is worthy of it.”
“But—”
“He does not strike me as the kind of man who would do something he had no wish to do,” Eliza said, and Siena nodded slowly, thinking back to the many times he had declined her suggestions. “In the very worst outcome, if you both truly decide that you have no desire to live together, then you can return to London — hopefully with the children you have always longed for —and live the life you choose while he remains here orwherever he will be. But at least your father will no longer have authority over you.”
Siena swallowed hard. “I think that would be even sadder than not being married to him at all,” she said hoarsely. “To know that he truly didn’t want me, despite me being his wife.”
Eliza smiled sympathetically. “I know, Siena. I do. Those are all valid concerns, and I know that you will solve them in time. But right now, in this moment, it is most important that you prevent being forced to return to Lord Mulberry.”
“I love him,” she said, her voice wavering now. “Levi, that is, although he has never said the same.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t know how he feels,” Eliza said. “There is a good chance that he just hasn’t yet realized that he needs you just as much – if not more – than you need him.”
Siena brightened somewhat at the thought as Eliza continued.
“Perhaps it is up to you to show him that he is worthy of love, that there is more to him than what he looks like or the sum of his experiences. Has he changed since you arrived?”
“Most incredibly,” Siena whispered. “But it is not that he is a different person. He has found who he truly is.”
“With a bit more time together, you might be surprised at the life the two of you are able to create for yourselves.”
“That could be,” Siena said with a watery smile. She wanted to believe Eliza, truly she did, but it seemed as if the entire world was against them at the moment.
“He is fighting for you,” Eliza said, giving her arms one last squeeze before standing and walking over to the wardrobe, opening it and placing her hands on her hips. “Now. What are you going to wear for your wedding day?”
CHAPTER 23
Fitz, thankfully, arrived back from Canterbury before Lord Sterling returned. He rode up the drive with a huge grin on his face, and even though his friend had successfully completed a great favor for him, Levi couldn’t help grunting, “Took you long enough.”
