Page 37 of I Never Forget a Duke (The Night Fire Club #1)

A dele was still not in her gown when there was a rap at the door.

“Daisy, will you see to that?” she asked her maid.

Adele was beginning to feel anxious because everything was taking a long time to accomplish, but all she wanted to do was get to the church and Hugh so that they could have this wedding over with.

Standing in front of a church with a hundred eyes on her sounded like her idea of hell, and although she very much wanted to be married to Hugh, she now regretted asking for this big wedding.

Not to mention, the mere process of getting into her wedding gown was being done in the slowest, most painstaking way possible.

Daisy opened the door, and when she saw who it was, said, “You may not come in, Your Grace. Lady Adele is dressing for the wedding. It is bad luck to see her now.”

So it was Hugh. Adele wanted to see him but looked down at her half-dressed body and thought better of it. She slid a little deeper into the room so that she would not be in Hugh’s line of sight through the half-open door.

She heard him sigh. “Very well. This is a gift for her. I leave it up to her if she wants to wear it or not, but please give it to her now.”

“Of course, Your Grace. She will see you at the church shortly.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

She heard his footsteps retreating down the hall and Daisy close the door. Daisy brought Adele a large jewelry box, which Adele opened immediately.

She gasped. Inside was the most beautiful emerald necklace she had ever seen. “This must have cost him a fortune,” Adele said. Daisy was the only one in the room, but Adele had said it to herself as much as anyone. “I cannot possibly wear this.”

“It will look lovely with the yellow gown, my lady.”

“Do you think I should wear it?”

“I think it was a valuable gift from the man about to be your husband. Wearing it would honor him.”

“It is so much. I’ve never worn anything like this.”

Daisy took the necklace from Adele, removed it from its box, and then draped it around Adele’s neck. “This will look lovely.”

“But—”

“You are about to be a duchess, my lady. You should look like a duchess.”

“So people keep saying.”

Daisy told Adele to sit in front of the vanity and carefully combed her hair.

After she pinned Adele’s hair up with soft tendrils to frame her face, she picked the necklace back up and fastened it around Adele’s neck.

Adele gazed at her reflection in the mirror and admired it, thinking she did look quite like a duchess.

There was another knock at the door. “What now?” asked Adele with a sigh.

Daisy went to the door, and this time it was the dowager, whom Daisy let in. Adele and the dowager had made some sort of peace in the last few days, although Adele did not much trust her. Helena seemed more resigned to Adele’s presence than accepting.

“I want to give you something,” said Helena, holding up a small box. “My, that is a breathtaking emerald.”

“A gift from your son,” Adele said.

Helena nodded. “Indeed. He has always had good taste. Anyway, I wanted you to have something. This has been passed down through a few generations of Duchesses of Swynford. I last wore it to Princess Charlotte’s wedding.”

Adele took the box and took a deep breath. Inside was a tiara affixed with diamonds. “This is lovely,” Adele said. “But I could not possibly—”

“You shall. It is tradition. Daisy, let us help Lady Adele into her gown so that she might see the complete picture.”

And so Adele stood in the center of the room in only her many layers of undergarments as Helena Baxter, the Dowager Duchess of Swynford, and Daisy, the lady’s maid Adele had hired two weeks before, lifted the gown Madame Auguste had made for her and slid it over head.

Then they both insisted Adele sit carefully back down so as not to wrinkle her dress, because Adele was so tall.

They carefully worked together to place the tiara on Adele’s head and pin it in place.

Daisy handed Adele a pair of white lace gloves, so Adele pulled those on, too.

She almost did not recognize herself in the mirror. In her mind, she was Adele Paulson, a spinster and paid companion, a plain girl with few expectations, but the woman looking back was the future Duchess of Swynford.

Daisy helped Adele stand back up. Helena gave Adele a long appraising look. “Yes. You look lovely, my dear. Appropriate.”

“Like a duchess?” Adele asked.

“Yes. I thought your appearance would be vastly improved once we got you out of those dull muslin dresses and gave your hair a less severe style. Daisy shall style your hair every morning from now on. Oh, one more thing.” Helena walked over to the table and picked up the diamond earbobs Adele had left there.

She helped Adele put those on, too. “Perfect.”

Adele sighed. “Your Grace, I do hope we can grow to respect and even be fond of each other. It was never my intention—”

“Yes, I realize.” The duchess gave Adele a furtive smile.

“You are not one of the money-grubbing society chits who has had her eyes on my son. I have seen your reluctance in these last two weeks. I do believe that you and Hugh are marrying because you are fond of each other. And I know I have not been terribly supportive. I’m sure you understand why. ”

“Yes,” said Adele, because she did.

“I only want what is best for my son. You will understand one day when you have children of your own. But Hugh is determined to see this marriage through, so I will see it through, and I will accept you as a member of our family.”

“But?”

Helena sighed. “I would like to get to know you. You seem to be a good woman, and Hugh keeps reminding me that you are not your father, whom I have made no secret of not caring for. This is the way of things, I suppose. My friends keep telling me the youth of today have different notions of propriety than we did in our day.”

“If it makes you feel better,” said Adele, glancing at her reflection again, “I am dreading the wedding itself. I think I will feel much happier when it is over and I do not have to be paraded in front of society like… like a pet peacock.”

Helena laughed. “Well, we still live in England, my dear. There may yet be some parading. That is the nature of marrying into a family like Hugh’s. I was not completely comfortable with it at first, either, but I adjusted.”

Adele glanced back at the mirror. She felt so unlike herself. Oh, she felt beautiful and she imagined Hugh would agree, but the trappings of being a duchess were not at all familiar to her. She could only hope that she was not making a grave error.

*

Hugh supposed every groom knew a moment of doubt as he stood at the front of the church, wondering when, or if, his bride would appear.

Even knowing she’d been dressing for this very event when he passed her the emerald had not assuaged the fear that had plagued him the whole carriage ride to the church.

It was his mother’s off-hand comment as he’d been leaving. She’d mentioned she’d had a talk with Adele, which had brought a startling cold fear to Hugh. “What did you tell her?”

“I gave her the Waterdown Tiara and told her that since she is about to be duchess she should look the part. She is uneasy with the role, I think.”

Hugh had suspected as much. It hadn’t seemed to sink in until the last few days that Adele would be not just any wife, but a duchess, one married to a powerful, wealthy man.

And although she kept telling him not to spend money on her, he had anyway, and he saw how it made her uncomfortable.

He appreciated that. But now he wondered if she might be so uncomfortable that she’d decide they should not be married after all.

But then she appeared at the back of the church like an angelic vision.

Her gown was such a pale yellow that it looked almost white underneath the lights of the church.

It made her skin look pink and creamy. And there was the emerald at her throat, and it brought out the color of her eyes.

And there was his mother’s most precious Waterdown Tiara, an object that had belonged to Duchesses of Swynford for more than a hundred years.

It all looked like it belonged to Adele, that she would be the most stunning of all the duchesses past and present, and she was about to marry Hugh.

When she arrived at the front of the church, she smiled at him and Hugh’s heart stopped.

He hardly heard the words of the priest. He spoke when prompted to do so, but otherwise, he concentrated on his lovely bride.

Her eyes were blue like the sea and her hair was bright like sunshine and poets should really be writing sonnets about her attributes because there had never been a more beautiful woman.

And she was clever and kind and all that Hugh had wanted.

It was then that he had his moment. It hit him quite suddenly, somewhere in the middle of the recitation of vows, that he loved this woman.

He loved her.

He felt giddy with this knowledge, happy beyond anything he could have anticipated, and he could not wait to tell her, although bursting out with it right at this moment seemed inappropriate.

When prompted to do so, Hugh kissed Adele, probably a little more forcefully than was appropriate in church, but he didn’t care.

The priest declared them man and wife. Hugh wanted to jump with glee.

He held out his arm to escort Adele back down the aisle.

She smiled as she took it. It was only now that Hugh allowed himself to see who had attended.

His mother, of course, and Lord Canbury.

A few women Hugh did not recognize, likely friends of Adele’s.

Lark, Owen, and Fletcher sat together. All of the Baxter cousins who lived within half a day’s ride of London, including Collingswood.

As he made these observations, Adele seemed to be yanking him down the aisle.

“There is no rush now, my love,” he said. “We are married.”

“I know, but I wish to leave before—oh.”

The church doors opened and a massive crowd had gathered outside. Hugh knew immediately that they were here to see the new Duchess of Swynford, and he also knew that this was the last thing Adele would have wanted. The way between the door and his coach was blocked by a great number of people.

Hugh looked around. Ventnor, Hugh’s valet, and a number of footmen in Swynford livery were standing behind him. He leaned over and told Ventnor to ask the footmen to create a path.

Thus it took several minutes to get Adele from the door of the church to the coach. And it was only once they were inside that Adele seemed to breathe.

“We’ve done it now, Adele. We just promised to love, honor, and obey each other for the rest of our days in front of God and our friends and families.”

She laughed softly. “I hope the worst part is over.”

“You know, normal brides call this the happiest day of their lives. They love the gowns and the jewels and being the center of attention.”

“I am clearly not a normal bride.”

“No. You are far better.” Hugh leaned over and kissed her.

She smiled at him when he pulled back away.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

“No, Your Grace, we have hardly spoken today. Thank you for the emerald, by the way.”

“Seeing you wear it is all the thanks I need.”

“It was far too generous a gift.”

“You know, for a moment before you walked down the aisle, I worried you might have been spooked by my mother and would not come today.”

“Well, I was a bit spooked, but I wanted to marry you more.”

Hugh smiled at that. He opened his mouth to tell her he loved her, but he heard a noise outside. He looked out the window and saw that the street outside was lined with well-wishers. “So many people,” he murmured.

“I quite regret rejecting your suggestion that we elope.”

Hugh laughed. “You do understand that these well-wishers have good intentions. They want to celebrate the new Duchess of Swynford. Since so few of the king’s daughters seem inclined to marry, this is the closest to a royal wedding these people may ever witness.

And I am related to the king, you know. My mother has reminded me of this several times this week. So we are practically royalty.”

Adele looked a little green.

Hugh took her hand. “It will be all right. We will remain in London only as long as necessary and then leave for Swynford House, hopefully without my mother in tow, and we shall have quiet and privacy there. I think I should greatly enjoy quiet and privacy with you.”

Adele sighed. “Yes. I think so, too.”