Page 3 of The One With the Scoundrel of a Duke (Wicked Widows’ League #31)

Present Day

AUDRA WAS MARCHING DOWN the aisle. Not in the way she expected to.

The original plan, as with all weddings, was for her to glide gracefully down the aisle in joy, preparing the way for nuptial bliss; instead, her feet were stomping down the aisle (though she tried to do it somewhat gracefully) in an altogether too-determined, too-nonjoyful manner.

It was rather a please-don’t-exit-the-church-while-I-distract-you-as-my-sister-flees-her-own-wedding march.

Not that she knew exactly what that looked like.

Come to think of it though, she really would like to know how that kind of march appeared to all the onlookers. All their friends and family.

She would have to ask her cousin, Paulina, later. The only bridesmaid to make it down the aisle in the originally planned graceful glide. With so much on her mind, Audra could barely make eye contact with Paulina as she made her way to the front of the church.

When it was clear (from Freya’s panicked eyes and puffs for breaths) that the original wedding plan was being put to the side, a new scheme had come into effect.

Her sisters had instructed her to sing a song.

It sounded so simple. All she had to do was open her mouth and sing.

She did it all the time, rather to some people’s annoyance she was sure.

Always singing or humming a tune. What difference did it make to sing now?

Well, of course there was this thing that some people referred to as an audience. That was daunting enough. Especially, seeing as how she almost never sang without some prompting. Then there was the added element of surprise. That surprise belonging of course to the audience.

They hadn’t come here to listen to her sing, and now she was about to force her voice upon every last one of them.

No one would be able to leave if they thought it was awful.

Well, she was pretty sure no one would think it was awful.

Though she didn’t have the narcissism to think her voice was anything particularly good, she was in touch with reality enough to know it wasn’t anything especially bad.

Or so enough people had said over the years.

But still…they hadn’t come for this and now she was just going to subject them to it.

Her arms shook under the discomfort as her feet reached the end of the aisle.

Still unsure of what she was going to sing, she heard the hint of a refrain in her head.

Unfortunately it was the only song that came to mind.

She should have been able to conjure up another song in her mind.

How many did she know? Hundreds? Thousands?

But no. Only one tune with one set of lyrics popped up in her head, and it wouldn’t pop back down.

It was about to be the most ironic, or cringe-inducing song to be sung at a wedding; or rather, a non-wedding.

That was the cringe-worthy part. There was about to be no wedding in the church where everyone had gathered to witness a joining of lives, and she was going to sing them a love about the great heights and depths of love… only to leave them disappointed.

Yes, her nerves had officially been shot by several arrows of doubt now, but there was no turning back. Her sisters needed her.

So she opened up her mouth and sang the song from the performer she had witnessed over a fortnight ago. The song had not left her mind and she had found herself humming it repeatedly over the last few weeks. Her practice ensured that all the words came to the tip of her tongue just in time.

So ironically, for better or worse, she sang about honoring love.

***

Lucas was spellbound. If he had thought the street performer was captivating, this woman was magical. For all his years that he didn’t believe in magic, he thought that if anyone could, she could make him a believer.

She was the beautiful blonde woman from the street. The same one that had caught his eye was now catching his ear.

And so many other parts of his body. He was in a church for God’s sake, but tell that to his swelling cock. He wanted to discreetly cover himself with something, but the only paper he had available was the special license Tobias had handed to him before he entered the church.

Speaking of which. Where was the ol’ boy? He had probably decided to forego the ceremony, but Lucas couldn’t blame him. He was in no place to judge anyone. What with the hard on he had going between his legs. Forcing himself to ignore every body part save his ears, Lucas broke into a small sweat.

Her voice was angelic. That sounded cliche, but cliches prevailed for a reason. He felt like his body had been suspended and was floating upward. The irony was that his body wanted to do such carnal, devilish things to her.

He could envision her on his bed, splayed out, blonde hair running down her shoulders, over her breasts.

She wouldn’t lay there for long because he had plans to flip her on her stomach, prop those curvaceous hips up to his and thrust into her.

As divine as her singing was (and he could listen to it for hours), there were other sounds he wanted to hear her produce.

He wanted to know what spontaneous gasps and moans might emerge from her that he was sure only he could elicit.

His cock twitched at the thought whereas his conscience felt nothing.

But she looked older—not old, just experienced. There was something about her that told him she wasn’t an innocent. He vaguely recalled some gossip about the bride having a widowed sister, and the singing woman could be her.

When the song was over, she started to address the crowd.

Only it was going to be less of an address and more of a dismissal.

What? No wedding? No bride? It was patently clear now that the singer had been a decoy.

Her singing, and only after hearing it did he understand why, had been the perfect distraction to give time to the bride time to flee.

Though he had no idea why there had been a need for a decoy in the first place, the singer had certainly been the perfect heroine.

Where had the bride gone? He could only speculate and hope she had an escape plan in place.

He looked to his side, checking if the empty space beside him had filled while he listened to the song.

Alas, it was still vacant. Where was Tobias?

With fervor, he hoped his friend wasn’t around to witness the bride-fleeing debacle.

If Tobias hadn’t been able to enter the church for the ceremony, Lord only knows how he was going to manage watching the bride flee her wedding.

With those warnings sounding like a bell in his head, his mind had lost track of what was going on right before his eyes.

What he thought was going to be a dismissal was now his friend Broderick proposing to one of the bridesmaids, Paulina, who turned out to be the cousin of the bride.

Though the chaos was unfolding gradually, it was no less bewildering.

Lucas watched his smitten friend’s gaze at the woman he was proposing to, when they suddenly realized they couldn’t marry without a special license.

Perhaps all things did happen for a reason.

The blank special license in his hand held a new purpose.

It was intended for a friend, but now it would go to another man who needed it more immediately.

Lucas slapped the envelope on his knee and stood up to rescue the new groom.

He could match the singing heroine and be the providing hero.