Page 46 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
“Of course, she will!”
“And you’re sure she doesn’t get back until tomorrow?”
“I’m sure.Why do you ask?”
Gwen recognized the last voice as that of Mariah.There was the metallic scrape of a key being inserted into the lock.She watched, petrified in horror, as the latch began to turn.
Another voice, one she now recognized as Miss Mercy Charbonnel, answered Mariah’s question.“On account of the smoke coming from the… chimney.”
Miss Mercy trailed off as the door opened and she spied Gwen standing in the middle of the front room gaping senselessly.Gwen saw that in addition to Mariah and Miss Mercy, the magistrate’s wife, Mrs.Smithers, her solicitor’s wife, Mrs.Reynolds, the choirmaster’s wife, Mrs.Hervey, and the vicar’s wife, Mrs.Pritchard, were all peering through the door at her.They bore a variety of Christmas greenery, a few wrapped packages, and what appeared to be a Christmas pudding.
Gwen’s heart was flying.The door to her bedroom was open, but if Tom heard her friends come in, he would know he needed to stay hidden.
Gwen shook herself.She ought to say something, loudly, to alert him to the fact that they were no longer alone.
She was just parting her lips when disaster struck, in the form of a shirtless Tom swaggering out of her bedroom.He raised an arm overhead, leaning his elbow against the doorframe.
Behind her, someone breathed a dreamy sigh.Gwen was fairly certain it was Miss Mercy.
Tom, who was standing at a right angle to the front door and did not seem to notice that they had company, gave her a lurid look.“What’s taking so long, Gwen?”Just when she thought things could not possibly get worse, he smacked the front of his hip, drawing attention to the telltale bulge tenting the falls of his trousers.“I’ve been waiting for you.Eagerly, as you can…”
Gwen cleared her throat loudly.It wasn’t difficult to mark the moment he caught sight of the small crowd that had gathered in her front room.His eyes bulged out comically, and he froze perfectly still.After a moment of fraught silence, he slowly backed into her bedroom.
Gwen’s cheeks were aflame.“It isn’t what you think,” she began, even though it wasexactlywhat they thought.“That is, um…”
Gwen trailed off, struggling to formulate a plausible excuse and failing utterly.
Mariah stepped forward.“Ladies, that was Tom Talbot.”Mariah had never met Tom before, but she was one of the few people who knew how Gwen had really divested herself of her virginity, and it probably wasn’t difficult to parse the identity of the six-and-a-half foot, extremely muscular man with whom Gwen was sharing a bed.
Shooting her mistress a significant look, Mariah added, “He’s Miss Gwendolyn’s betrothed.”
Suddenly, Gwen couldn’t breathe.“My?—”
“Ladies, a thousand apologies,” Tom said, striding back into the room, this time wearing a shirt.He nodded to each of them.“Tom Talbot.A pleasure to meet you.”
Mariah fixed Tom with another one of her looks.“I was just telling everyone that you and Miss Gwendolyn are to marry.”
Oh, God.How Gwen wished a great hole would open in the floor and swallow her whole.Tom didn’t want to marry the likes of her!Just look at him!He could have his pick of the most beautiful women in England.
Gwen, on the other hand, found that the notion of marrying a man she’d known for a total of four days was not nearly as alarming as it should have been.Then again, Tom was slightly wonderful.He had even cooked for her this morning.Cooked!And insisted on helping with the washing up.And cheerfully started repairing her crumbling bee boles, without being asked.
He was just so nice to have around, both in the bedchamber and out of it.She knew she was a fool, but she was halfway in love with him already.
She gazed at Tom, heart in her throat, waiting for him to deny it.
Instead, his eyes blazed.“That’s right.”He cleared his throat, his voice slightly hoarse.“Gwen and I are to be married, just as soon as it can be arranged.”
Gwen almost swooned.What was going on?Obviously, he couldn’t mean it!
He was probably thinking that pretending an engagement would help tamp down the scandal, and they could have Gwen cry off in a few weeks.Given the extreme impropriety of the situation in which they’d been caught, Gwen doubted it would make any difference, but she couldn’t think of another reason Tom might have agreed to Mariah’s ruse.
Mrs.Pritchard was peering at Gwen, her expression more of concern than censure.“Gwendolyn?Is it true?”
Gwen had no idea what was going on, but contradicting Tom didn’t seem like a clever thing to do.She crossed the room and looped her arm through his.“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.I know it must have been a terrible shock.”
“I wasn’t planning on being here today,” Tom said.“But you see, Gwen’s brother tried to kidnap her yesterday.”
“He what?”Mrs.Reynolds cried as Mrs.Pritchard exclaimed, “Oh, Miss Gwendolyn!Are you all right?”
