Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
" C ome along, Louisa," Penelope said, impatience stark in her voice. "You have been dallying all day! If we are not to be late for the wedding itself we really must hurry!"
Louisa brought herself back to reality with a start. The ride over to the fine old church where the Earl of St Vincent was to wed his fiancée had been entirely taken up with her practicing in her head what she would say to him when they met.
Your fiancée is pregnant? No, that's too blunt. And I am not meant to know the fact, it would be cruel to declare it in front of others.
Perhaps instead I could pretend to be terribly sick and that he was now infected and would have to put off the wedding, then I might try to get him alone and tell him in private?
Would an earl allow himself to be in private with an unmarried woman who had informed him that she had leprosy and he was now infected?
There was no easy way to say what she needed to say! Oh how she wished she had confided in one of her sisters before now. But how she could explain how she knew what she knew completely escaped her. It was so terrible a thing that when she tried her words ran out and she found herself stumbling or stammering until the person she was trying to speak to grew frustrated and left her to it.
She slid out of the carriage to follow Penelope, who had grown weary of waiting for her and headed towards the rest of their family alone. Penelope would be able to work this out if it had been her to hear the news. Or Alexandra, or Evelina or even Margaret. If they could not figure it out they would simply share with their husbands who would surely know the best way to approach their friend.
Instead she had heard it, mousy little Louisa who could barely speak to a stranger without blushing and forgetting all the wonderful words that she spent her life reading.
"Isn't it lovely?" Alexandra asked, her face aglow as she took Louisa's arm. The chapel seemed to have been drowned in white roses adorned with white ribbons and tiny little sprigs of apple blossom. It was a dreamily scented space and it took Louisa's breath away for a moment as they joined Evelina and Margaret who were standing with their husbands talking to a smartly dressed gentleman with his backs to them.
"Oh here they are now, dear fellow," Theodore said cheerfully. "Come sisters, let me introduce you to my dear friend and the man of the day, Cedric, Earl of St Vincent. Cedric, these are Louisa and Alexandra Balfour, my sisters in law."
The gentleman turned, the groom! It was the groom! Tall, so tall and with broad shoulders – he seemed to tower above her. She got a hazy impression of blue eyes and a coronet of fair hair in her panic as he bowed graciously, one hand on his heart. Louisa could feel Alexandra curtsy and followed suit almost mechanically for how was she meant to continue thinking when looking into those eyes?
"A pleasure to meet you, my lord," Alexandra said.
Louisa murmured something, hopefully something that made sense because she was no longer quite in control of herself. When she had heard the rumors that Cedric St Vincent was charming she had not guessed at how well he would look! She had only ever seen him in the distance while she had been trying to fade into the background of a ball or escape from yet another social engagement. She had never been able to see the tones of gold and brown in his hair or how clear his blue eyes were.
"The pleasure is certainly mine," Cedric said warmly, a faint smile on his lips. "I have heard a great deal about the Balfour ladies from my dear friends, and I have to say that neither of these gentlemen have done justice to the fairness of your faces."
Am I blushing? Louisa thought frantically, feeling an unusual heat rush through her face as Theodore and Gabriel immediately started to protest.
"I told you that every sister was a beauty!" Gabriel said, laughing. "It's not my fault, sir, that you do not take heed of my words."
"Nor mine," Theodore added dryly. "I would have thought that seeing the loveliness of my wife would have told you all you needed to know about the fairness of her sisters."
"He is simply trying to make us look bad so that he can be all the more charming by comparison, Dunmore, what shall we do about it?"
"We shall have to let him, Notley, it is his wedding day."
Cedric laughed and raised his hands placatingly but that simple statement had brought Louisa's focus back into sharp relief. It was the wedding day and she had still not done her duty and told this man what she needed to say to him.
"Lord St Vincent," she said softly. "May I speak with you?"
He turned that gaze on her and inclined his head. "Miss Balfour."
"I - I mean - that is - " Louisa felt a rush of horror curdle at her insides. "I - I just have to - I need you to un-understand…" Oh she would not be able to! She couldn't say the words!
Her sisters peered at her with concern, Alexandra squeezing her arm. "What is it, Louisa? Are you well? Have you taken the sun while in the carriage?"
"Do not concern yourself, Miss Alexandra," Cedric said, that smile a little broader on his lips, his gaze distracted. "It is not the first time that I have had this effect on a lady."
For a moment Louisa could not speak at all, but instead of the feelings of anxiety that she had been fighting with, a little flame of irritation flickered alight in her chest. She fought past it and doggedly tried again. "Excuse me, my lord, I really have to talk to you about something very important…"
The Earl smiled again at her, charming and dismissive. "Thank you indeed for the compliment of your admiration and for your attendance today. You must excuse me, I am wanted elsewhere."
Without having any control over it, Louisa let out a sound that was suspiciously like a scoff.
In fact it was a scoff.
In public. To an earl.
His eyes snapped to focus on her properly, narrowing a little as though he were at last paying attention to her.
"I can imagine, my lord, that you have had plenty of reason to believe that every lady you meet must be charmed by you, however I must assure you that I am not one of those ladies."
He raised an eyebrow in response. "Indeed? The redness of your cheeks speaks otherwise, my lady."
"If my cheeks are red, it is through embarrassment that you have so thoroughly misunderstood me, sir," Louisa said, keeping her smile as polite as she could in the circumstances. "Not because of secret girlish passions."
"Well I do know quite a deal about girlish passions, I must say," Lord St Vincent said, his voice low and amused. "Perhaps you are simply unaware of what you are truly feeling."
This was getting out of hand and fast! Louisa swallowed her pride hard and took a breath. "My lord," Louisa said as calmly as she could, though her knees were trembling and her heart pounding hard in her chest. "I am not trying to compliment you, I have a piece of news that it would do you well to hear -"
A swell of music filled the chapel and people started moving past them towards the seats. Murmurs of admiration filled the air and Theodore and Gabriel clapped Cedric on the shoulders.
"You'll be wanted, old man," Theodore said and Cedric shook both their hands hastily and bowed to the ladies.
"Excuse me, my bride is coming."
Then he was gone. Louisa had not told him. She had not stopped this thing from happening. It was going ahead anyway. She had failed.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God…"
Would this ceremony never end? Cedric had attended a few in the last year and they were always the same, the same words, the same droning on by the priest in front of a congregation that were only there so that they could get to the wedding breakfast and toast the couple. If he had been able to he would have demanded that all that was said were the important vows, but Father Samson had assured him that there was nothing in the text that could be missed.
Oh that it would be over soon and they could be done with this fuss and head back to his home. "...duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained…"
How long could the old man draw out his words for, it felt that he must surely be doing it on purpose at this point. He flexed his hands in his gloves and focused on the priest. Once this was over there would be peace back in his life. All the stress and concern would melt away, he would be able to -
"Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined…"
Get back to the work of managing his estate and -
"..let him speak now or hereafter forever hold his peace."
Cedric was thinking about the peace of his study and the mountain of paperwork that he had waiting for him as he glanced lazily out over the crowd. There was no one here who had reason to stop the wedding so the priest would wait a moment or two and then this affair would be closer to being over and leaving him finally married.
"I object!" a woman cried out, a young lady shooting to her feet and then going red in the face as every eye in the church turned to stare at her. "Um - I object," she repeated quietly.
It was the sister of Theodore's and Gabriel's wives, the one who had stammered something to him before the wedding. Cedric found himself staring at her in shock that quickly bled into rage as the congregation started to their feet in shock, voices raising in shouts for an explanation. What reason on the planet could she have for this display? They would have to re-read the banns and rearrange the whole wedding! Did she think this was a joke?
"Why do you object, Miss?" the priest asked gently. "What is your reason for stopping this holy union?"
She stumbled a little for a moment and Cedric felt his fury build. If this was some girlish idea of a prank, he would be having strong words with her father. Then she seemed to draw on her strength and she spoke, every word sending Cedric into a deeper sense of sheer enraged confusion.
"I love the Earl," she said in a clear voice. "And he has told me that he loves me, he swore it on his soul. I object. He told me he loves me first. He is breaking my heart. I shall die if he marries her."
As voices rose further in surprise and confusion, as Betty stepped backwards from him, an expression of fury blooming across her face, Cedric found himself staring into the green eyes of Louisa Balfour and wondering what she was trying to do.
Has she completely lost her mind?
As guests and family filed out of the chapel, staring at her, Louisa sat pinned to her seat, clinging to Alexandra's arm and staring at the ground. She could feel the rage and judgment rolling off the congregation and all she could think about was how she hadn't meant to say anything of the sort.
It had been her last chance to save a man from a false union with a woman who was using him to save herself. She had stood there, the priest's eyes on her and her own eyes on Lady Bettie and for a moment she had seen some sort of horror in the woman's face, a fear so intense that it had destroyed every intention she had of revealing a secret she should not have been in possession of.
But she couldn't leave Lord St Vincent to suffer. So she had blurted it out like it was a line from a romance book and now everything was ruined and horrible.
I am careful, she had told Alexandra, darling Alexandra. I won't ruin you.
How much was that worth now?
The chapel was mostly empty at last, her family sitting around her in protective if shocked silence at Cedric Pembroke finally strode towards them. His face was dark with anger and his eyes flashing so fiercely that Louisa was not sure she could stand up to face him.
"Miss Balfour," he said in a voice colder than ice. "As far as my memory recalls I have met you for this first time this morning. What possessed you to tell an entire congregation of the ton that we have an understanding?"
Louisa swallowed hard and slowly stood up, barely managing to meet his gaze with her own. Her face was hot with shame and embarrassment. "I wanted to tell you earlier, my lord. Lady Bettie is pregnant. I believe she has not disclosed this to you and I felt that I was honor-bound to stop the wedding."
A small gasp rippled through those waiting with her. Her brothers-in-law had stood, and with them Evelina, an expression of such concern and disappointment on her face that Louisa felt certain her heart would break and Margaret, who looked confused and scared. Alexandra was still sitting and Penelope looked as though she wanted to shout and cry at once.
"Why did you not speak to me of this earlier?" Lord St Vincent demanded, his tone rough with fury. "Why do this in the most dramatic and harmful way possible?"
"I attempted to!" Louisa said, cut by the implication that she had not done everything that she could have. "You were not listening to me, you would not hear me!"
"Perhaps that is so, but how long have you had this news about my life and my fiancée? Did you not think you might write me a letter?"
"Perhaps, my lord, you are more used to being in this situation than I am," Louisa said, her hands clenching at her sides. Was it not enough that she had ruined herself to save him? Must he pick at her like this? "I did not want the information, and I did nothing to avail myself of it. I overheard quite by accident some friends of your fiancée speaking of the matter barely a few days ago and I have been unable to think of a way of fixing the matter since."
He loomed over her, eyes glinting and it felt a little as though she were struggling to breathe when she looked at him. "I do believe that any solution would have been better than the one that you have chosen." He did not shout at her, but his tone was worse than a shout, it was dark with rage as he spun to glare at his friends. "And you, did you know this would happen? Did you know she was planning to interrupt my wedding and not tell me of it?"
"St Vincent," Gabriel said seriously. "'I can assure you that this was as much a surprise to us as it was to you." He stepped up to Lord St Vincent quickly, Theodore beside him, his face clouded with concern.
"As do I. We would not betray you in such a manner."
Louisa found herself with a sister on either side of her lacing their arms through her own. She could feel Alexandra trembling on one side, and Evelina's steady calm on her other. Her own heart was racing, and she felt certain that she might faint any moment.
She had never fainted before, but everything was swimming, and her vision grew a little dark before Evelina noticed with a cry and pulled her towards a chair.
"Fan her face," she said firmly to Alexandra. "Penelope, go get a little sweet wine, this minute please. Margaret, raise her feet, yes, that's it. Good."
Louisa let it happen to her, listening as Theodore and Gabriel appealed to the Earl on her behalf as though she were a foolish child who needed saving. And wasn't she? She had done this to herself because she couldn't think of a way to tell a strange man that she needed to tell him something private.
"She has been ruined now for certain," Theodore was saying. "And it was to save you from raising another man's child as your heir, St Vincent."
"Please help her," Margaret said, her musical voice soft and desperate. "She will never recover from such a scandal. She is known as a shy girl in society, the rumors will be all the more vicious for it because she has no particular friends to speak out on her behalf."
Louisa raised her eyes, a little startled and a little hurt at this assessment, this reduction of her life into bare fact and saw Theodore with a hand on the Earl's shoulder. The two men exchanged a long look and the Earl sighed heavily before turning back to her with a dark look on his face as though he could barely stand to look at her.
"Very well. I will go to the Bishop and arrange a dispensation. We will not need to wait three weeks for the banns to be read and that should ensure that there is little enough time for the usual nastiness to spread before the wedding. I am certain I can arrange to have much of the decorations reused and use the same priest so Miss Balfour," he turned and looked at Louisa at last. "Procure a suitable dress as swiftly as you can. We will return here in three days' time and be wed."
That intense focus of his gaze was once again reading every paragraph of her soul. Louisa felt herself shiver a little. She had always assumed that she would die an old maid, and yet might it not be even more dangerous to be married to this strange, handsome, intense man that she knew so little of?