Page 45 of A Duke to Undo her (The Husband Hunt #1)
Chapter One
“Ido wish you would not frown, dear. It will not do to look so morbid on a day such as this one.” Sitting beside Iris was her mother, who was sure to keep a hold of Iris’ hand and squeeze it gently as if trying to instill in her some semblance of joy.
“I am not frowning,” Lady Iris Hawkins said simply as she gazed out the window of the moving carriage, watching the meadows pass by, wondering what might happen if she was to leap from the carriage right now and make a break for it…
In this dress? In these shoes?! I would not get far. Even if I did, I doubt it would make a difference. Like it or not, this is happening and there will be no changing that.
“Pouting then,” her mother corrected. She was the Dowager Countess of Grayhill, resigned to the situation at hand, doing what she could to make the most of it. “What will people say when they see you looking as if you are attending a funeral? As if they don’t have enough to gossip about.”
“Leave her alone, Mother.” Sitting across from them was Iris’ older brother, Daniel Hawkins, the Earl of Grayhill and he watched his younger sister with deep concern etched across his face. “That she is doing this without complaint should be enough.”
“For which I am grateful.” Her mother squeezed her hand again. “And I am that, Iris. So grateful…” She bit her lower lip with worry. “I wish things didn’t have to be this way. Both of us do.”
“That’s right,” Daniel agreed.
“But as is so often the case, in this life, we don’t get what we want. Rather, we make the most of what we are given and pray that is enough.”
“We are both so proud of you, Iris,” Daniel was sure to add. “You have no idea how much.”
“So proud,” her mother was sure to parrot. “We know how little you think of…” She sighed and shook her head, for she too despised the man as much as Iris did. “And for that, we cannot blame you. But try and see the good that will come from this. Focus on that.”
Iris could not help but laugh. “The good? And what good is that, exactly?”
“That your name is not ruined for one thing,” her mother pointed out. “That he agreed to this for a second – that alone should be cause for celebration. From what we know of him…” She exhaled sharply. “That he was made to see reason is nothing short of a miracle.”
“His brother, the Duke of Crayford is the reason,” Daniel said, scoffing as he did. “Believe me when I tell you, he was no more impressed by his brother’s actions than we were. But he made him see reason, as only His Grace could do.”
“Yes, he is quite…” Her mother swallowed. “Convincing, isn’t he.”
“He does not take no for an answer,” Daniel laughed.
“Again, for the best.” Daniel then reached across the carriage and rested a hand on Iris’ knee, his voice softening, the look in his eyes grateful.
“We understand what this means for you, Iris. Just as we do the sacrifice. But I promise you that if you try and see the good in this match, that you commit yourself fully and go at it with an open mind, then it might not be nearly the tragedy you expect.”
“Oh, I am sure it won’t be as bad as I imagine,” Iris assured her brother. “It is bound to be much worse.”
Daniel’s face dropped.
“We’re almost there.” Her mother looked out the window, noted the landscape, and began to fuss with Iris’ hair. “A smile, dear. It does not have to be anything too bold, but we would like it to appear that you’re not being dragged down the aisle.”
“He will be there when we arrive,” Daniel added.
“I sent ahead as we left, so once this carriage stops, we are to walk into the church, and the ceremony will begin. Iris…” He fixed his sister with a most no-nonsense look.
The time for worry was over, the time for pragmatics had started. “Are you ready?”
“Do I have a choice not to be?” she said with a sigh.
Daniel grimaced. “Sadly, no. This is happening and, well…” He forced a smile and took her other hand. “It is as Mother says. Best to make the most of what we have and hope that is enough. Can you do that for me? For us?”
She wanted to say no. She wanted to scream and kick and tell her mother and brother that she would not go through with this.
It was unfair. It was wrong. It was the exact opposite of how she had always pictured her life unfolding, a complete denouncement of what she knew in her heart to be her future and how it might be lived.
Sadly, none of that mattered. There was nothing she could do and nothing she might consider doing to stop this because rebellion and troublemaking had never been Iris’ strength.
Sometimes, the worst simply happened and all that one could do was accept it and move on because complaining changed nothing.
“Then yes.” Iris sat herself up, removing the pout from her lips and doing what she could to not look as if the world was ending. “For you, I am ready.”
Both her mother and brother breathed a sigh of relief which just so happened to occur at the exact moment that the carriage came to a stop.
“Oh!” her mother cried. “We’re here. We’re here.”
“Yes, yes,” Daniel said with a click of his tongue. He shifted across the seat and looked out the window. “Everything appears to be ready. Iris…” Daniel popped open the door and looked back at Iris. “Shall we?”
“No point in delaying, I suppose,” she sighed, taking her brother’s hand.
“Good girl.” He gave it a squeeze and then opened the door.
Daniel was the first out of the carriage, followed by Iris, and then her mother.
Before them stood the family parish, a building which Iris had visited hundreds of times.
Often, it brought with it hope and the feeling that inside, no matter how awful things were, salvation would be found.
Today, however… nothing could be further from such a feeling as that.
Nonetheless, with her mother holding her right hand and her brother holding her left, Iris held her head high and the three started across the grounds and toward the entrance.
Today was Iris’ wedding day and with nothing to be done that might stop it, she would make her family proud and commit fully to this union that had been forced upon her shoulders. Even if she knew, as everyone else did, that the circumstances which brought it about were not her fault.
And yet, as is typical, I am the one being punished for them.
It was a month ago now when her life was changed forever. A perfectly innocent circumstance it had seemed at first, and Iris being as ignorant and blissfully unaware as she was hadn’t considered the grander implications and where they might lead. But why would she?
At twenty-one years of age, Iris was now in the throes of womanhood and with the Season being in full swing she was expected to attend social events and put her mind toward meeting a suitor who might one day ask for her hand in marriage.
And in truth, the prospect excited her. Unlike some of her friends and even her older sisters, Iris had always dreamed of falling in love.
She was a romantic at heart and she truly believed that when the right man came along she would know it, he would see her as nobody else had, and they would fall for on another as so often happened in all the stories.
Alas, the man who caught her eye on that most wicked day was Lord Robert Lawrence, a rogue and a rake and a scoundrel of the highest order—not that Iris knew such things!
She was at a garden party when she spied him, he was handsome and wore a charming smile, and when he approached her, her heart skipped a beat, and she dared to dream…
Lord Robert was indeed charming and with this charm on full display he managed to convince Iris to go for a walk with him.
She did so, not considering the implications as she should have.
And no sooner were they alone did Lord Robert transform into the man she would soon come to know him as, that which the ton already did.
He tried to kiss her. She pushed him away.
He tried a second time, only for others to stumble upon them and see with their eyes not what was happening but what they believed to be.
That Lady Iris Hawkins was involved in a most scandalous affair which should it be found out by the ton would smear her name for all time and ruin her family’s reputation.
So it was that her brother took charge. Although he knew the truth of it, he also knew that it made no difference. Iris had no choice but to marry Lord Robert lest she become a social pariah and be doomed to spend the rest of her life as a spinster, shunned from society and never to return.
In the month which followed, Iris had spoken little with Lord Robert.
The wedding was organized by her brother, she was left to simmer as she learned more and more about her future husband’s reputation, and by the time the day arrived she knew beyond a doubt that he was indeed that which everyone said, and nothing would change this perception.
“Iris…” From beside her, Iris’ mother squeezed her hand. “Smile, dear. Please do.” She indicated ahead, the doors of the church approaching.
Iris resisted the urge to sneer, forcing a smile instead because at this point what did it even matter? Better to get this marriage off on the right foot, she supposed.
“Here we go,” Daniel said as they breeched the church. “And again, Iris, I am so proud of you. So proud…”
Iris did not blame her brother for what happened, nor did she blame her mother.
They were doing what was best for the family, and Iris would never begrudge it of them.
At the end of the day, this mess was her own and she would suffer its consequences.
Even if those consequences were a roguish lord who she was just as likely to slap come the end of the wedding as she was to kiss.
Only then, once they entered the church, did Iris see that something was wrong.