Page 49 of Weave me a Rope
Her new husband, of course, had no idea, but he followed her lead. His trust filled her heart to overflowing. March and Miss Faversham signed as witnesses. It was nearly done!
And Marsh proved to be right again. The marquess and the earl moved up beside them to check the record was correct. “Very good,” said the earl. “I shall want a copy.”
“One for me, as well,” the marquess agreed.
Let them have one, Cordelia thought.And much good may it do them.
“Time for a drink, I think,” said Lord Deerhaven after that. “Coming, Spenhurst?”
“Go ahead, my lord,” Spen answered. “I will see to the comfort of my countess, first. This has been an exciting day for her. I have asked for tea and cake to be sent to her rooms.”
“Oh,” Cordelia said with a giggle. “I like cakes.” The lords turned away to avoid looking at her. She might have discovered a formula for turning invisible.
The minister and Mr. Morris assured the two lords they would be along as soon as they had collected the paperwork, and in moments, it was safe to sign the real register, with Marsh taking charge of the false page to destroy it.
Once again, Spen followed her lead. “My uncle arrived at the village in time, with a license in our names,” she told her new husband. “He sent Fielder with it, and also some money to bribe the minister. He is waiting over the border in Pool, and we are to go to him there as soon as it is safe. John is with him, and so is Lady Daphne.” She smiled at Mr. Morris. “And Mr. Morris has been an absolute dear. When Miss Faversham and I told him what was going on, he jumped at the chance to help us.”
Spen’s heart leapt. “We did it!” he said and pulled her to him for a triumphant and celebratory kiss.
*
Once he joinedhis father and Lord Yarverton, Spen was hard put to hide his jubilation. They had won! Of course, they were not out of the woods yet, as the cautious Marsh pointed out while escorting Spen to the parlor after they had taken Cordelia and Miss Faversham to Lady Daphne’s suite.
Spen kept that advice in mind as he accepted a glass of brandy from the marquess.
“You’ll bed the girl tonight, of course,” Lord Yarverton said, as Spen took his first sip, and Spen nearly spattered it out again. The earl glared at him. “I want the marriage consummatedbefore I leave here, and I want a grandchild on the way as soon as possible,” he insisted. “I might not have been able to have a son, but by God, I will have a grandson!”
Spen managed to hold on to his temper sufficiently to say, “Will blood on the sheets be sufficient, or do you require witnesses in the room?”
“I don’t appreciate your tone, boy,” the earl growled. “I have paid out a great deal of money to buy a marquess’s heir for my daughter, and I expect value in return.”
“You trust the bitch you have playing herd on your daughter, don’t you?” the marquess asked.
“Faversham? She has been with Daphne since the girl was a child,” the earl replied. “Yes, I can trust her. Treats the girl like her only chick. Which I suppose is true.” He smiled at his own joke.
“Very well,” said Spen. “Miss Faversham can speak to Lady Spenhurst in the morning and confirm I have carried out my side of the bargain.”
“We’ve been talking, Spenhurst,” his father said. “Once we have the reassurance we both need, we’ll be off to make the arrangements for your estates and your income. I have it in mind to give you the Herefordshire estate. Easy access to London from that one. And Yarverton here is thinking of this estate for his daughter. What do you say?”
Spen bowed. Having looked at Milton’s records, he knew that his father had mortgaged the Herefordshire estate without Spen’s knowledge, and the one Yarverton proposed had shown falling incomes for the last decade. “I would like to see the financial records, my lords. And the estates would need to be free of encumbrances, of course.” He took another sip of his brandy while the pair of them did their best to look innocent.
“The agreement you signed had no such conditions,” Lord Yarverton argued, and the marquess nodded.
“Mr. Morris, will the courts consider that a property with a mortgage meets the terms of the agreement?” he asked.
“The terms say ‘free and clear possession’, Lord Spenhurst,” said the excellent solicitor. He shrugged. “The income of the estate in question was not a condition of the agreement, however.”
The marquess glared, but the earl puffed out his chest. “There, Spenhurst. You see? I will make this property over to my daughter.”
“I was hoping for the Oxfordshire property,” Spen commented. It was half the size of the one offered, and the income was lower, but Lady Daphne had lived there all her life except for the few months of her unsuccessful Season, and the last few weeks here in Shropshire. “My lady has an affection for the place.”
“A piddling property,” Lord Yarverton scoffed, and then a look of cunning crossed his face. “But if you would prefer it, boy, it can be arranged.”
“I believe my wife would prefer it,” Spen assured him.
The earl looked surprised and almost approving. “It is good of you to consider her feelings, Spenhurst,” he said, some of that surprise leaking into his voice. Spen forbore to saysomebody needed to, since it seemed to him nobody apart from Miss Faversham ever had bothered to care a whit for Lady Daphne or her feelings.
“I thought she and I could stay here for a few days while I make the arrangements for the tour of my father’s estates,” Spen said, next. He looked at his father. “Sir, may I keep Marsh and the others to be our outriders on the journey? My wife is accustomed to them, and Marsh is very good with her.”
