Page 22 of How to Court a Rake (Wed Within a Year #1)
C aine stood at the front of the little chapel at Sandmore and checked his pocket watch before discreetly tucking it into his waistcoat. In five minutes, he’d be a married man and he was as nervous as hell. Kieran stood beside him. ‘Counting down the last moments of bachelorhood?’ His brother joked.
‘No, counting the moments until I become the happiest man in England.’ Once she was here, he’d relax. Then he’d know it was really happening, that the divine Lady Mary Kimber was going to be his wife—the wild, reckless rake had fallen for the ton ’s most refined woman and she had fallen for him, against the odds. Love had settled him. Whatever the future held, they would face it together, and it promised to hold quite a bit.
They would establish their household at Longstead and begin the gradual process of running Grandfather’s diplomatic network from there. In the days since the debacle with Amesbury at the inn, he and Mary had talked about that future. There would be night visitors, there would be secret messages and things he simply couldn’t tell her. She could be a part of that world, but she’d also have to be apart from it as well. It would require trust and bravery. But they’d already had some practice with that.
Her family remained difficult. Embarrassed over the situation with Amesbury, the Earl had relinquished his holdings in the munitions company, and retreated from society in exchange for Grandfather’s promise that his role in the events at Wapping would not be publicised. He would be able to save face. The Earl had had no knowledge of how deep Amesbury’s treachery had run, but that did not erase the Earl’s callous disregard for his daughter, nor did it erase the Earl’s role, no matter how unintentional, in the accident that had befallen Caine’s brother, both of which made for tension between the two families at present.
The Earl and his wife were not here today, which was actually a relief for both Caine and Mary. They wanted today to be about joy. His family was on hand, however. His father and mother sat in the front pew. Behind them sat Luce, whom his father had managed to drag away from his new book collection, and his sister’s husband, the Duke of Creighton—ironically, a man once considered for Mary.
Caine was rather glad that hadn’t worked out for them. He felt the love of his family surround him on this day, one of the most important days of his life. Amid all that love, he also keenly felt the absence of Stepan. He was reminded of Mary’s words that every moment was precious.
The door to the chapel opened and Caine’s sister, who had agreed to serve as Mary’s bridesmaid despite being nearly six months gone with child, made a graceful walk down the short, flower-festooned aisle, stopping to kiss his cheek before taking up her post at the bride’s side of the altar.
Then it was Mary’s turn. She stood framed in the doorway for an ethereal moment, bathed in the sun’s light so that she appeared to be a dark-haired angel gowned in white. Caine felt his breath leave him. She was beautiful to him today, but he suspected that as time went on she would become even more beautiful and more precious to him as their lives grew together.
At the back of the church, his grandfather stepped forward to escort her down the aisle. When they reached him, his grandfather placed her hand in his and Caine felt that rarest of all things descend over him: peace. As long as she was beside him, there would be peace. He was still getting used to that.
He would not remember much of the ceremony. But he would remember that kiss, their first as husband and wife; how she’d leaned into him, how her mouth had opened to him, how her arms had wrapped about him and his arms had enveloped her until it had seemed impossible for him to tell where one began and the other ended. He’d have liked to have gone straight to the honeymoon after that, but there was still celebrating to do.
The wedding breakfast at Sandmore was a small, tasteful affair attended by members of the Prometheus Club and a few other close friends of the family. There was plenty of champagne and plenty of kisses. They had just cut the cake when Grandfather stepped outside. Caine tried to ignore the prickle of awareness rising on the nape of his neck.
Grandfather came back inside and made his way to him. Kieran, Luce came to join them. ‘There’s been word of the Ottoman sympathiser,’ Grandfather began in low tones. ‘Kieran, I need you to take a meeting with an informant who says they know who Roan dealt with. Luce, you should go with him in case all is not what it seems. You should leave as soon as we send the bride and groom off. This may have some urgency to it, I wouldn’t want to wait.’
‘Perhaps I should go? We could stop on the way to Longstead,’ Caine put in.
Grandfather clapped him on the shoulder. ‘You’ve done your time. You’re a married man now and soon to be the head of the network. Your field days are over, or at least temporarily suspended. You will co-ordinate from a desk, just as I have for years. Let your brothers handle it. You go enjoy your new bride and set up house.’ He lowered his voice. ‘And make that enjoyment obvious so the gossip columns have something to write about, distract them so that no one’s watching your brothers.’
Caine nodded. If anyone was watching from the shadows, the wedding, the honeymoon, the opening up of Longstead would suggest that the Horsemen had been satisfied with catching Amesbury and that they believed the riddle was solved.
Mary joined them, looping an arm through his. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘Yes.’ Caine smiled at his wife. ‘I was just getting my marching orders. It’s time for us to go.’ Time to take the final step into his new life, a life he’d believed he couldn’t have. Mary thought she’d come alive when she’d met him, but she might have that backwards. He was fairly certain she’d put the life back into him.