The Earl and the Wedding Crasher (The Brides of Elderglen #3)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

" C an you see them?"

"Oh my dear I just caught a glimpse, is he not the most handsome fellow you ever did see?"

"Many a young lady has certainly thought so over the years, Madelaine, too their own damage and discredit I am sure."

"I know his reputation and the wedding, did you hear about the wedding?"

"Which one, darling? There were two after all!"

"I hear that she had never been seen out with him before, whatever they had, it was so very hush hush."

"I heard that she used to meet him in a summer house at his estate when she was in London for her season and that is why she missed so many social engagements."

"Charlotte, I never! She would have been barely 18, so young for such scandal!"

"And yet -"

"Oh I must get closer, do you think we can be introduced? How I would love to hear every detail from their own lips!"

Louisa moved closer to Cedric as they were announced to the party. She could already feel eyes on her, raking from the top of her carefully prepared hair down to her bead encrusted shoes. She had never spent so much time on her appearance before nor worn something so expensive! It was a light gold satin that brought out shimmering gold specks in her eyes and set off her dark hair, and there was embroidery with pearls and silver thread that made the whole dress move like it was liquid and jeweled.

She knew that it was more delicate and formal than any gown she had worn in her life or even any gown being worn at the party today. Eyes were following her as they moved past the guests towards the hosts to make their greetings.

For once it felt a little less like being suffocated by the gazes of so many strangers. She could see fans fluttering and hear the rustle of whispers like a sea but they were staring just as much at Cedric as at her and somehow that helped a great deal. He seemed not bothered at all, that absolutely infuriating half smile on his lips as he moved with the grace of a panther through the crowd.

"They're all looking at us," she murmured to him.

"We're the most interesting people in the room," he drawled. "Why wouldn't they?"

If they had been anywhere else she would have tried to kick him in the ankle for his enormous ego, but as it was, all she could do was huff under her breath. Still there was no denying that they were the talk of any and every part in London and that today's hosts were delighted to be the first event that they had attended since the wedding.

If it weren't for Evelina Louisa thought to herself with her heart beating twice as hard as when they had entered. If it weren't for Margaret and their husbands too, there would have been no invitations at all. There would be nothing but averted gazes in the street.

On some level she felt as though she had not really deserved it to end like this. Married and with rumors but no real condemnation was too fair an outcome for ruining a wedding and driving two people apart, even if one had always been a terrible person and the other hadn't known that said terrible person was pregnant.

"Ah, Lord St Vincent," Lord Allington bowed as they approached, his wife on his arm and smiling already with that slightly insincere too wide smile that was a little too intent for it to be friendly. "And Lady St Vincent, what a delight to see you out and about after your wedding. Have you been well?"

It was a loaded question, even Louisa could see that and she had never had the talent for the strange webs people wove in society, not like most of her sisters. Even Penelope could tell what people were doing, she just frequently refused to play along.

"We are quite well, thank you, Allington," Cedric drawled. "The party is lovely, your lady wife has as always outdone herself."

The viscountess flushed pink and smiled at him. "Your opinion means a great deal, my lord, we are happy to have impressed."

"As you always do, my lady," he bowed slightly to her and smiled and Louisa wanted to hit him so suddenly that she was quite surprised with herself. She had so rarely wanted to hit people before she had met Cedric Pembroke.

"My lady St Vincent," the Viscount said cheerfully. "How are you enjoying our little soiree?"

"It's quite lovely, thank you," Louisa said frankly. "The flowers are beautiful."

"On of my wife's passions," he confided, eyes sparkling. "She does love everything that is growing and green, don't you Angelica?"

"You are quite right, of course, my dear," the Viscountess said, looking a little flustered.

"Anyway, enough about us. What of you, Lord St Vincent? I would have sworn my right leg that you would have gone to your grave a merry bachelor not six months ago, sir, and yet here you are a happily married man."

"And what an - exciting ceremony it was too," the Viscountess added. "However did the two of you meet?"

Louisa felt her speech dry up in her throat. For a second she had been about to say that she had met him at his wedding day to another woman because that was the truth, but of course she couldn't say so. The whole game hinged on the idea that they had been madly in love in the past, in love enough to destroy a wedding with a woman as beautiful and well connected as Lady Bettie. Whatever would they say?

She felt a grip of panic, but then Cedric pressed her hand where it was tucked in the crook of his arm and winked at her, his smile just getting wider.

"Too romantic for words," he said with a slow smile. "I was tumbled from my horse far from my party and my lodgings. It turned my ankle badly and I wasn't able to right myself to go for help without a struggle. I was barely making it a mile in hours when this lady rode from the mists and found me. She didn't know who I was and I didn't tell her of course, but she helped me to shelter just as the storm found us. I was terribly out of it, concussed I think, but she talked to me all night and we fell in love under the stars. I swore my heart to her and she to me."

Louisa stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. It was exactly the plot of the most recent novel she had been reading. He was copying her novel just to tease her. Just to tease her on purpose . Oh he was maddening .

He grinned, eyes sparkling as he could see her recognize what he was doing. "No stain can lie on her honor either, she was driven by the desire to help her fellow man. All she knew me by was my initial which she got off my handkerchief, I was too out of things to tell her more. And all I knew about her was my lovely angel who rescued me from a worse injury which I no doubt would have seen if I had continued to march about in that storm. No she saved me, of that I am certain. You had to return home the next morning, did you not, my dear? And of course by the time that you returned I was gone. I thought that you were a product of my delirium and you thought you should never see me again until we found each other in that church."

"I was quite worried," Louisa managed. "He did not look at all well and I thought perhaps he might be a lost soldier, though he was clearly well bred. Maybe he had lost all his fortunes and gone quite mad, otherwise why would he be walking about just before such a terrible storm?"

"But your human kindness," Cedric said and Louisa knew he was laughing at her. "Just couldn't let you leave me to die."

"I suppose it doesn't hurt that you have quite pleasant features," Louisa said calmly, seeing him bite his lip hard. "At least it has all ended well."

The Allingtons had their mouths open in astonishment.

"What a story," the Viscount said, amazed. "It is really quite romantic, isn't it my dear?"

"Terribly," the Viscountess agreed. "Oh the most romantic thing I have ever heard. What else could you have done, my lady, but stop the wedding, knowing what you knew?"

"Exactly," Louisa said, hoping that her tone was enigmatic and not hysterical. "There was simply no other course of action."

Cedric kissed her hand and drew her away, his eyes still dancing and Louisa promised herself as sincerely as she could that she would eventually kick him, even if it looked like an accident when they danced.

"I think you ought to bring your lady wife to visit," Lord Castlegate was saying as Cedric idly waited on a fresh glass of champagne for himself and for Louisa. "The ladies can talk about whatever it is that they talk about and you and I can do some good hunting out in the woods. Damned fine grouse this time of year, I have. Damned fine."

"Quite," Cedric said shortly. "I will check my engagements and see what I can do."

It was not that he wasn't listening to Lord Castlegate, but like so many elderly bores who wanted a piece of the Earl of St Vincent, his wealth and his power, Cedric had learned how to glean the important things from the conversation on automatic while filtering out the rest of it. Castlegate was not a bad contact to cultivate, yet the idea of spending a weekend hunting with him made his teeth ache.

Perhaps if it was absolutely necessary for his business dealings in York, but otherwise...

His eyes caught on the most glittering figure in the room and he couldn't help a small pleased smile. He had sworn that his wife would look better than any other lady present as befitted her new status and she certainly managed the part today. The dress was tasteful but eye catching and it set off her dazzling eyes and dark hair well.

Of course there was the matter that she was so unused to being the center of such attention that she had spent the first half of the party trailing after him like a terrified duckling. Perhaps they were finally past that seeing as she was now standing there speaking with Genevieve, wife of the Earl of Stapleton who was introducing her around several other figures including -

Was that Hector?

Cedric swiftly stopped listening to Castlegate on any level as he saw his younger friend bow slightly over Louisa's hand, saying something that made her smile in the way she did when she was trying very sincerely not to laugh.

He said something, he wasn't sure exactly what, to Castlegate before excusing himself as quickly as was polite, eyes fixed on his wife.

Making his way quickly through the ball he could start to hear some of their conversation.

"Aye and I am enjoying the parties here mightily, Lady St Vincent," Hector said in his broad Scottish burr, eyes dancing. "The ladies are lovelier than the English rose, I think is the saying?"

"I don't know that I have ever heard such a saying, Your Grace," Louisa said, glancing to the lady next to her with a smile. "But if you have coined it, it is a very fair one."

"Fair words for fair ears is what I always say," Hector said. He was the new Duke of Murray, more used to running his business than a dukedom, but from what Cedric had noted he was picking things up quickly.

"Thank you, Your Grace, and thank you for the tip on the flowers, I will keep it in mind."

"Och, la - my lady, it was no trouble," he laughed, his head thrown back. Cedric noticed how the laughter seemed to make Louisa's eyes sparkle more and that was enough for him to move into the circle and place his hand on Hector's shoulder.

"Take it easy, old man," he said thinly. "This lady is spoken for."

Hector turned, an eyebrow rising but a pleasant smile on his face. "Pembroke, it's good to see you, aye it is indeed. And this is your lovely wife, isn't it?"

" My wife, yes," Cedric took Louisa by the hand. "Excuse us, I promised her this dance."

It was only good fortune that ensured that as they stepped away music was starting, Cedric had been paying no attention to anything but the blush on his wife's cheeks and the way she had been looking at the Duke of Murray with a smile that should by all respects be saved for him.

Fortune was on his side in this at least, and damn the conventions about dancing with one's own wife. He had never danced with her before now so he would dance with her however many times he chose and those who wanted to gossip about it would already have their chins wagging about him anyway.

She was warm and light in his arms as the music swept them along, the glittering gown she was dressed in just making her look more fairy-like under the lights. Cedric moved to the music smoothly, not noticing or perhaps telling himself that he would not notice how easily they moved together.

Damned Hector Lennox.

It was certainly novel to have this part of the party outdoors. Usually there would be some dance floor nearby but the Allenby garden had a wonderful raised platform surrounded by rose trellises and as the musicians played couples stood to make their way there to dance under the night sky.

She had been thinking how lovely it would be to dance here, and how she would hate to dance with a stranger now, especially with all the rumors going around about her when Cedric had arrived, been surprisingly and abruptly rude to his own friend the Duke of Murray and swept her off.

It was a little like how she always imagined flying to be.

Their steps moved in perfect time to the music, the glittering figures swirling around them and lanterns flickering on every side like a fairy tale. Her breath was caught in her chest in case she might break whatever spell this was, and it was a few moments before she could bring herself enough back to reality to look at her husband.

There was such a serious, stern expression on his face when she looked at him that she felt compelled to speak. "Why did you speak that way to your friend?"

"I beg your pardon?" he looked at her, caught out of his own thoughts.

"The Duke of Murray, you were rude to him. Why?"

"He should know better than to stare at another man's wife," Cedric said shortly, his brows drawing together so sharply that he looked quite cross.

It was so sudden and confusing a thought that for a moment Louisa didn't know what to say. Hector Lennox had certainly not been staring at her. He had seemed a kind man, if with rougher manners than she expected from a duke. He had been offering both her and the Lady Stapleton advice on getting rid of greenfly. It had been so charmingly normal a conversation that anything else had never crossed her mind and yet whatever Cedric had seen had sent him across the whole room to interrupt.

"He was simply making conversation, I assure you," she murmured, stuck in a sudden thought as daring as it was alien. Was Cedric jealous? Did it bother him that another man had been talking to her not because there had been anything inappropriate about it but because it was another man ?

She felt a flush rise up her cheeks at the thought.

"I have seen where such conversation can lead," Cedric said dryly, looking her in the eyes. As always she couldn't read him, his gaze heavy and searching at once. "I have no interest in seeing any man act such a way towards the Countess of Pembroke."

Surely this was it indeed. It was worry about appearances, their marriage already such a focus for gossip and attention. He couldn't be actually jealous because he couldn't have feelings for her. He and she were opposites, him a dashing rogue who could have any woman he wanted and her a shy wallflower. There was nothing between them but business and duty.

There couldn't be.