Chapter Fifteen
Lady Amelia Brimley
My parents were sitting in their customary spots, Father with his puzzle and Mother at her needlepoint. She looked up and frowned at my hand on Oliver’s arm. She’d wanted me to convince Noah to marry me. Once she learned the truth, I had a sense she’d not be happy.
“Mother, Father, I have good news,” I said, my voice breathy.
Both parents stared at me, expectation on Father’s face, dread on Mother’s.
Oliver cleared his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his nervousness.
“Lady Amelia has accepted my proposal of marriage,” he said.
The uncertainty he’d carried since I’d come to call on him had continued to cast a shade on my happiness.
I loved him and wished to see him happy.
The last thing I wanted to do was make him feel horrible.
“Excellent news, your grace, excellent news,” My father said. He stood and, hand outstretched, shook Oliver’s. The two men couldn’t be more contrasting. My father was a little below average height, while Oliver stood a good head taller than him.
“I suppose you’ve told your grandmother,” Mother said, her mouth pinched, resignation in her gaze.
With her hair pulled back in a severe bun, she looked very formidable.
Before Sally’s death, she’d taken great pains with her appearance and favored white.
Although she’d been officially out of mourning, she still wore stark black.
After learning what I had, I could understand her melancholy.
“Yes, my lady, I have.” Oliver’s smile dropped, and he swallowed again, tension stiffening his shoulders.
She wasn’t going to make this easy on either of us.
My resentment toward her increased, and I straightened my back, determined to ignore her ill humor.
This was my engagement announcement, and by rights, she should be enthusiastic about the news of her daughter marrying a duke.
“Let us sit down,” my father said, indicating two chairs by the fire. Noah and I often sat in them while discussing the events of the day. I wish he’d stayed with us, but this was something we needed to do on our own. “Would you like a brandy, young man?”
“Yes, please.” Oliver kept his regard on my father, a smart move on his part. After his father had died, he’d sought my father’s counsel. While my father’s title was prestigious, as a duke, Oliver outranked him.
“I’ll have a sherry,” I said, unsure if it were wise. The last time I’d overindulged, I’d seduced Noah. Yet I needed fortification.
The footman on duty poured the drinks while Father resumed his seat at the puzzle table.
He’d sat at that very table while telling Mother to forget about Sally’s cause of death.
I hadn’t been successful at finding the diary in any of my sister’s usual hiding places.
Either she destroyed it, or Noah had done something with it.
“I am very pleased you two are engaged at last.” Father accepted the brandy glass from the servant.
Come Sunday, my entire world would be different. I would be moving into my own home and sleeping close to Oliver, able to kiss him and do more delightful things. I waited until the footman handed me my glass before I exhaled a long, pent-up breath.
“I’m afraid the circumstances surrounding our engagement aren’t the best.” Without glancing at Oliver, I tried to keep myself composed.
After sipping the wine, I clutched the stem of the glass.
“Lady Gwendolyn isn’t well, and she has asked us to expedite the wedding so that she can see us wed before, um, before it’s too late. ”
“Too late?” Father’s smile faltered, and he palmed the glass in his palms. “I wasn’t aware she was that ill.”
“None of us were.” Oliver drank deeply from his glass, upset pinching his lips. I linked my fingers through his and squeezed, offering him support.
“She has asked us to procure a special license and wed as soon as possible,” I said.
“How soon?” Mother asked.
Trying not to cringe at what her reaction would be, I uttered, “On Sunday.”
Father shot a look at Mother. “This Sunday?”
“Yes, this Sunday,” Oliver said in a more forceful tone. His initial nervousness was evaporating, and he was more himself. “Grandmama said a month, but Amelia and I decided it might be better if we married as soon as possible.”
“Of course, of course. Your grandmother would wish to see her grandson wed.” Father nodded at his own statement. He was a devoted son to my own grandmother, who lived in Yorkshire.
“Do you have any objections?” Oliver asked.
Mother snorted, and I glared at her, sending her a silent rebuke before I chanced a glance at Oliver. By the slight flexing of his jaw, he’d noticed her rude gesture.
“No, we have no objections, do we, Ellen?” Father asked with a pointed stare. His defense of me warmed my heart.
The conversation I’d overheard still burned my ears. Mother wanted me to be with Noah so she could be assured he wouldn’t marry another woman. He’d assured me he had no designs on any lady, including myself. However, the heat in his gaze while we spoke by the door still sent tingles along my spine.
“No. No objections.” Mouth pressed in a grim line, she was lying to placate my father. I didn’t care.
“Excellent. Most excellent,” Father said, repeating himself in his joy. His enthusiasm warmed my heart, and I offered him a pleased grin.
“Since Grandmama wishes to return to the country, I suggest we marry at Hayesford Chapel. Every duke of Hayesford has married there.”
“We wouldn’t want to break tradition,” I said.
Since I was a little girl, I’d dreamed of marrying Oliver in the quaint chapel.
Soon, my wish would come true. Instead of making me happy, it felt rather anticlimactic.
The circumstances surrounding his offer still didn’t sit well with me.
His grandmother’s condition was one thing, but underlying it all, I couldn’t shake my feelings for Noah.
Oliver was as familiar to me as my own appearance in the mirror.
We rarely ran out of conversation, and I found his kisses alluring.
Yet Noah’s had sparked the flame of passion inside me.
Together both men fulfilled my every need, both intellectually and physically.
Heat rushed up my neck, and a throbbing sensation settled between my thighs.
If I could just combine the two, I would be a satisfied woman indeed.
I stifled a giggle at the scandalous thought.
I was still a virgin. Bedding one man was my destiny, and that man was Oliver.
Except I couldn’t help imagining otherwise.
“Amelia? Your mother asked you a question,” Oliver said, breaking into my trance.
“I’m sorry, Mother. What was it you asked me?” I asked, glad she couldn’t read my mind.
“Five days won’t allow for much shopping for your trousseau, let alone purchase a dress suitable for the occasion.” She worried her bottom lip, sadness in her gaze, along with panic. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I will hire a team of seamstresses to work around the clock if that’s what it takes to fulfill our timeline.” Oliver nodded and squeezed my hand, oblivious to what she was trying to convey.
“Thank you, Oliver, but I don’t need a new dress. I can wear my mother’s like Sally did.” Mother had insisted on my sister wearing it. Luckily for Sally and me, it was a lovely gown made of delicate silk and lace.
“No, you can’t,” Mother snapped and shook her head. “No, I mean, you need a new gown, not some old dress that’s sadly out of date.”
Funny how it wasn’t too out of date for Sally. I struggled to keep the words from forming. In five days, I would be free of this house and her censure.
Except I’d be leaving the children. My chest tightened at the thought, and a rush of panic raced through me. Was I making the right decision in choosing Oliver? Except Noah had turned me down; thus even if I called off the engagement, I would be right back to where I started.
“Then I insist we get a seamstress.” Oliver had no idea of the undercurrents in her words. Once again, I was reminded of the truth about my mother. She loved me in her own way, but she loved Sally more.