Chapter Twenty-Seven
Emily, closeted anxiously in the drawing room with Sarah and Annis, couldn’t sit still, jumping up repeatedly to pace the room.
“My dear, you will wear a hole in my carpet!” said Sarah with a smile. “There is one of Bidenden and a dozen of our men. There is really no need to be so anxious.”
“But what if Bidenden should have a gun?” fretted Emily.
“Robert has his pistol, and let me assure you he is an excellent shot,” said Sarah placidly.
“That is fortunate,” said Annis, “for Emrys, by his own admission, is not. Although he is handy with his fists.”
Emily turned and smiled wanly. “I suppose I should have more faith in Deo. After all, he is big enough. He must outweigh Bidenden by several stone. But the thought of him being hurt brings me undone!” she confessed.
Just then, sounds from outside the room sent her scurrying to the door and out into the entrance hall, closely followed by the two ladies.
Deo was there with a dirty sack clutched in his hand and with him were the duke, Emrys, Kenrick, and, surprisingly, Bidenden. There was no sign of the magistrate.
“Deo!” She hurried toward him, and he received her into the arm not holding the sack. “Are you all right?” She examined his face anxiously and detected a slight swelling on his jaw. “You’ve been hit!”
“It’s nothing, Em,” he said with a grim smile and held the sack up. “And we have the items.”
Behind him, the duke was in conversation with Creighton, and she noticed that Bidenden was standing rather slump shouldered, with his arm gripped firmly by Kenrick. He looked pale and weary beyond measure and his face was starting to show signs of a bruise. Was Deo responsible for that?
“What happened?” she murmured to Deo. “Where is the magistrate?”
Just then, two footmen appeared and, taking an arm each, they escorted Bidenden toward the rear of the house, disappearing through the door that led, Emily thought, to the kitchens.
“What—?” she began, and Deo encircled her waist and drew her back toward the drawing room where everyone else was also headed.
With the door shut, the duke said, “I’m sure you’re all agog to know what happened.
I can see you are surprised to see Bidenden returned with us.
He is going to spend some time in our cellar while I write to his father, the marquess.
I decided that it serves our purposes better not to press charges against him and instead to let his father deal with the matter.
There will be less scandal this way.” He turned to Sarah.
“I’ll address the household tomorrow. I believe we can trust to their discretion, my dear. ”
Sarah slipped her hand in his and kissed his cheek. “An excellent outcome, Robert. I am proud of you.”
Emily turned back to Deo and touched the red mark on his jaw. “Someone hit you!”
Deo rubbed his jaw absently. “Oh yes, Bidenden’s fist caught me as I tackled him to the ground.” Emily, emboldened by the duchess’s display of affection, reached up to touch his jaw gently and then kissed the spot.
“You’ll be pleased to know, Em, I knocked him senseless for his trouble,” he added, flushing faintly with pleasure under her kiss and confirming her guess.
“I demand a full recounting of events. Tell us what happened!” commanded Annis, plumping down on the couch. Emrys joined her and they all sat. Each man offered a bit of the tale from his perspective, and it didn’t take long to impart.
Emily nestled into Deo’s arm and sighed contentedly.
“Well, that has all turned out for the best, then,” said Sarah. “We had best retire to bed, for we have a wedding to plan tomorrow.” She threw a smile in Emily’s direction.
Emily flushed and glanced shyly up at Deo, whose expression softened as his eyes connected with hers. He took her hand and kissed it, saying, “Yes, Emrys and I will fetch the license tomorrow. The duchess, I believe, is going to organize your dress.”
“That I am,” said Sarah, rising. “The blue room has been made up for you, Deo, and your man has moved your things there temporarily.”
“Thank you, Sarah,” he said, rising like the other men.
Annis rose too, and both couples said goodnight and left Deo and Emily alone.
The clock on the mantle struck three as Deo took her in his arms. “It’s been a long day, Em,” he said, folding her close and kissing her hair.
She wrapped her arms round him. “It has, and, oh Deo, I had the most extraordinary conversation with my father. Mama had several miscarriages before me, including a boy. After me, she couldn’t have any more.
” She blinked. “I’m not sure I can forgive them exactly for the way they treated me, but I understand it better now.
Papa actually said he loved me. I don’t know that I believe him, but it felt so good to hear the words.
I think he does in his way, but he was too weak to stand up to Mama. It will be hard to forgive that.”
“Em!” Deo hugged her tight, and she buried her face in his chest. Whether her parents loved her or not, Deo did. Her heart was full. She could choose to forgive them in time, she hoped.
“I wish they had told me. It made so much sense of—well, everything!” She sighed, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “They don’t hate me, they just wished for a boy and couldn’t have one.”
“No one could hate you, Em,” he said roughly, squeezing her. “You’re a ray of sunshine!”
She smiled up at him. “My darling grump!”
He kissed her then, and it was some time before either of them said anything.
“It’s only two days, but it’s going to feel like forever until our wedding night,” he said, husky voiced. “It will be different this time, Em. The words will mean something.”
“Yes, they will,” she said, snuggling in closer.
“Come on, we had best put these treasures away. I do hope they haven’t been damaged with all this mishandling. Then I’ll escort you to your room, which will be ours again very shortly.”
*
The tiny chapel was decorated with flowers and candles, and the scent of incense filled the air. The sun threw a multicolored streak across the stone floor through the stained-glass window above the altar.
Deo was right. It was different this time.
And the words did mean so much more. When Emily had uttered those words the first time, she had been preoccupied with worry over the details of her name and age.
She had also been thinking that it wasn’t a real marriage.
They would part company at the end of the project, and she could get on with her life as an independent scholar out from under her mother’s thumb.
This time, she spoke the words with all her heart as she stood before the altar in the lovely dress the duchess had lent her.
With her small hands in Deo’s big, blunt-fingered, freckled ones, she looked up into his dear face.
His deep blue eyes blazed with the fire of love and set her heart fluttering.
Mama cried and her father hugged her and wrung Deo’s hand.
She received the congratulations of her friends with a warm heart, for she truly felt that they were friends now after the events of the past few weeks, and she was charmed to receive the bouquets of flowers bestowed upon her shyly by the Ashfords’ youngest daughter and boldly by the eldest.
After the wedding supper and many toasts to their health and happiness, they were finally able to escape to their suite and shut the door on the world.
“You look so delicious, Em, I’m afraid to touch your gown for fear of ruining it,” confessed Deo.
“Well, I am not. Help me with the laces,” said Emily, turning her back to him.
His fingers pulled at the lacing of her gown and loosened it so that she could pull the bodice free and lift it over her head.
Laying the gown down on a chair, she turned back to him in her corset, petticoats, and chemise.
“There, now you may touch me to your heart’s content, for I certainly plan to touch you,” she said, walking into his arms and plastering herself to his front.
His arms enveloped her in a tight hug, and he murmured, “Em, I love you so much.”
“I know, I feel the same about you!” She looked up at him adoringly. “Now please, Deo, make me your wife fully before I expire of frustration!”
He grinned and kissed her. “With the greatest pleasure on earth, Lady Pendrell,” he said, scooping her up and carrying her into their bedroom.
*
Setting Em down on the bed, Deo knelt to remove her shoes and stockings, reflecting that the one advantage of the “practice” they had been having, was that he was remarkably free of nerves at the prospect of consummating his marriage—at last!
He helped her stand and turned her so that he could loosen her stays.
They fell away to reveal her slender form beneath.
He looked at her, his wife, filled with anticipation and love.
Two emotions that would have been foreign to him mere weeks ago.
His big hands caressed her body with possessive delight before undoing her petticoats and letting them fall at her feet.
She stood clad only in her semi-transparent chemise, and he took a moment to appreciate her.
Em had changed his life and him for the better, and he would never go back to the person he had been before, he could not.
The old Deo was a stranger to him now. How he had lived his life in such a barren wasteland he didn’t know.
It was like a life recalled without color, whereas now everything was as brightly painted as a sunrise. Illuminated by the sun that was Emily.
He gathered her close and kissed her. He could laugh at the man who had been afraid of kisses if it weren’t so pathetic.
Yet he knew Em didn’t think he was pathetic.
She loved him. It shone in her eyes when she looked at him and filled his heart to bursting.
For the little boy whose parents never showed him any affection, Em’s love was a precious gift beyond price.