Page 34 of Entertaining the Earl (Vows in Vauxhall Gardens #2)

S usannah repeated the words as she was instructed, but she could not focus on them for long enough to remember them. This handsome earl was to be her husband, and her thoughts were as jumbled by the sight of him as they had been on the first day she had met him.

When he placed the wedding band on her finger, and she knew she truly belonged to him, she almost wept with joy.

“How do you feel, Lady Bourne?” Colin asked, and Susannah giggled. She could not believe that title could possibly belong to her. They sat beside each other in the coach, close but not touching, and although Susannah rather wished to reach out to him for reassurance, she didn’t yet feel able.

Thankfully, he did. He took her hand and held it within his as the carriage rattled back to the Lyttletons’ London home.

“I feel…elated, and excited, and nervous, and like I can’t really believe any of this is happening.”

He took her gloved hand and pressed it to his lips, and a shiver went through her body even though he had not made contact with her skin. It felt like a promise of so much more to come.

“I feel exactly the same. And I hope you will be pleased with the plans I have made for after the wedding breakfast.”

“I do not believe I could feel anything other than joy today, Colin,” Susannah said, her heart near to bursting with joy.

“I do not wish to return to my house in Kent just yet. It is not a place that holds such happy memories for me, and although I am sure we will make our own, it is not where I wish to begin our married life.”

“I will happily live wherever makes you happy,” she said, knowing in her heart it was true. As long as he was happy, she would be too.

“We can decide where to live permanently together. But first of all… I thought we might travel a little.”

Susannah could not help but smile. “You know how I have longed to see more of the world,” she said, trying not to make her excitement at the prospect too obvious, though she needed him to think carefully on it.

“But I thought you needed to stay in England a while? You had returned after so long abroad because your estate needed you…”

“I fear my aunt may have exaggerated the urgency of my return. I believe she thought I was living a ruinous life, as I am afraid my father did, and she was concerned that the title and the estates might pass to some distant relation if I did not do my duty.”

“So she lied to you?”

“Not so much lied,” Colin began, more than willing to be generous on this happy day, “but she certainly embellished a little. And in the time I have been back in England, I have managed to iron out some of the difficulties with the estates, as well as ensure the new estate manager is competent. I do not think the properties, nor the title of Bourne, will suffer overly if I take a few months to journey around Europe with my countess.”

*

He could see the excitement in her eyes at the prospect, and it filled him with joy. He loved to travel, and he had always assumed that once he was wed, such activity would have to come to an end .

But it seemed likely that Susannah would enjoy accompanying him if he wished to visit the Continent, or even further afield.

He would not leave the country for years, as he had done as a lad of eighteen, but he certainly did not need to feel tied to England, weighed down by the estates, which held such mixed memories for him.

And if he had to endure some sea-sickness in order to show her the world… well he would do so without complaint.

Susannah beamed. “Well, in that case, I would be delighted for us to travel.”

“And while we are away, I thought you might gain inspiration for a full-length novel—like the ones you enjoy so much. Perhaps even something you could attempt to get published.”

“Oh, I could never—” Susannah began, but Colin put a finger to her lips. The contact between his bare skin and the delicate skin of her lips made her gasp and silenced her.

“You can do anything you want, Susannah. You are an incredible woman, and I mean to show you everything that life has to offer.”

No one seemed quite accustomed to Susannah’s sudden change in title and status.

She was called Miss Lyttleton several times by the staff until they were corrected by her mother.

And Susannah herself did not immediately respond when Colin’s aunt addressed her as “Lady Bourne”, and she was rather taken aback when a friend of her mother’s, who had joined them for the festivities, curtsied to her.

Being a countess would certainly take some getting used to.

“I should like to propose a toast,” her father said, raising his glass. “To Lord and Lady Bourne. Wishing them a life full of happiness, through every season of their lives.”

Susannah met Colin’s eye and smiled as glasses were raised to them.

She could not imagine not being happy with Colin.

She loved him, and he loved her. It was a far better start to marriage than she could have possibly dreamed of.

And he wanted to take her traveling…to broaden her horizons and allow her to see something of the world.

He even believed she could write a novel. Something people would want to read.

She wasn’t sure she could ever believe in herself the way he seemed to, but she wanted to try.