Page 33 of Entertaining the Earl (Vows in Vauxhall Gardens #2)

I t was on a sunny Wednesday, only a week after Lord Bourne’s arrival, that Susannah and Colin were wed. He had insisted on procuring a special license, and Susannah had no reason to argue.

She didn’t think she would believe it was all real until they exchanged vows, and she was officially his wife.

Wife. Countess. It was hard to imagine herself when she thought of those labels. For her entire life she had been Miss Susannah Lyttleton, the plain, bookish daughter of a merchant.

And now she was to become Lady Bourne.

If she’d read it in a novel, she would have laughed it off as unbelievable. And yet here she was, on the day of her wedding, the rest of her life before her.

“Thank you, Louise,” Susannah said, as her maid finished pinning her mousy brown hair into a chignon, leaving a few loose curls to frame her face.

“It’s time to put your dress on, Miss Lyttleton,” her maid said. “There’s not long before we need to leave.”

Susannah nodded. She had been waiting until the last possible moment to put on her dress, because she was so worried about ruining it.

She would have been happy to wear her Sunday best, but Colin had insisted that she have a new gown, and that it be white, since Princess Charlotte’s wedding dress had been.

Susannah did not think she ought to be even suggesting a comparison between herself and the princess, but Colin had ordered the dress and paid for it, and she had to admit it was a thing of beauty.

Far too beautiful for her to wear, which was why she had waited to put it on until she could wait no longer.

It was trimmed with lace, and when she slipped it on, she felt like she was someone else. Like… a princess. Louise held out the white gloves for her to slip on, and then she turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy, and a smile played upon her lips.

This was her wedding day.

It was a day she had thought might never come, and yet here it was. And the man who would be waiting at the church for her was Colin, an earl, and a man she had lost her heart to.

She did not think it was possible to be happier than she was in that moment.

“You look beautiful, Miss Lyttleton,” Louise said, and for once, Susannah felt it. Oh, she knew her features were not perfectly symmetrical, and her brown hair and brown eyes would always be rather ordinary. But for a brief moment she saw what Colin said he saw, and it filled her with joy.

There was a knock on the door and, without waiting for a response, her mother entered the room. In the mirror, Susannah saw her stop at the sight of her daughter. She turned to face her, feeling rather self-conscious.

“Is it time to go?” she asked.

Her mother nodded. “Yes. The carriage is waiting outside. You look… Goodness, Susannah. I have never seen you looking quite so radiant.”

“Thank you, Mama.”

“This is an excellent match, of course—but I think it is a love match, too. ”

Susannah had not yet told Colin she loved him. She knew in her heart it was true, but she had not been alone with him since that evening in the library, when he had declared himself. And it hadn’t been something she was comfortable saying when her mother or her maid was chaperoning.

She would tell him that evening, she had decided. On their wedding night…a night which filled her with anticipation and nerves.

“It is, Mama,” she said softly. “And I couldn’t be happier.”

“Well, your father and I are thrilled for you both, my dear,” she said, reaching out to squeeze Susannah’s gloved hand. “And now we must leave, before your groom thinks you have changed your mind!”

Susannah was more concerned that he might change his mind. He had declared his love for her in the strongest terms, and yet she still could not quite believe it to be true. She kept waiting for the catch, and yet here they were, on their wedding day, without any sign of the other shoe dropping.

As she walked down the staircase, she remembered seeing Colin waiting there, the first time they had attended a ball together. She wished he was there now, for his presence often settled her nerves, just as much as it riled her emotions.

In a few short hours, she would be his wife, and they would leave this house together. She did not know where they were to go, but he’d said he had a plan, and she found she trusted him implicitly.

And tonight…tonight she would discover what could have happened in the library, if he had not been worried about becoming a man like his father.

She knew it was probably sinful, but she could not wait to feel his hands on her body once more, to chase that fiery pleasure and find out where it led.

“You look very flushed, Susannah,” her mother said as they stepped into the carriage. “Do you feel well?”

“Yes, Mama,” Susannah said, feeling her cheeks redden even further. If she was to make it through the wedding ceremony and breakfast without looking like a fool, she needed to control her thoughts a little better.

But it was so difficult, when she had thought of him for months, and believed that her dreams could never become a reality…

*

The only guest Colin had invited was his aunt, who had opposed the match, but did not seem inclined to make a fuss. When he had announced the betrothal, she had reiterated that Susannah was a nice young lady—but that she had her concerns about her ability to be a countess.

And Colin had told her that he was in love with Miss Susannah Lyttleton, and that he did not care whether or not she was born to be a countess. She was the woman he wanted as his wife, and therefore she would be the next Lady Bourne.

He stood at the front of the small church and waited for his bride and her parents to arrive. He was slightly worried that she wouldn’t show up. He was fairly confident that she wanted to marry him. But he still wasn’t sure that she believed he loved her.

He would have wed her sooner, but he had wanted her to have something special to be married in, and a week was the quickest the modiste could have it ready. Thankfully, her parents had not argued when he had said he wished to procure a special license, rather than waiting for the banns to be read.

Considering the kiss Mr. Lyttleton had walked in on, he wondered if they realized that it was prudent for the two to be wed sooner rather than later.

Colin was resolute in not lying with Susannah until they were wed, but he did not feel the need to put temptation in his way by making them wait a month or more to marry.

It had seemed silly to open up his London house for a week, so instead he had stayed with his aunt on the outskirts of London, in order to avoid any late night library moments with Susannah.

But tonight…tonight everything would change.

And he wasn’t apprehensive at all. He worried that she might not turn up, but he was not worried about their marriage. He was confident he would remain faithful to her until his dying day, and that she would be the woman to fill his heart and his home with happiness.

When the church doors opened, Colin had almost persuaded himself that she wasn’t going to come. His mouth was dry and his pulse racing, and when he set eyes on her, his heart felt like it might burst.

She was beautiful. Resplendent in white lace, the sun behind her made her look like some kind of angel. The joy in her face could not be denied, and as she walked towards him, she seemed to walk taller and straighter, as though she was just as sure about this as he was.