“And he went after Lord Harry for you!” Martha said. “That shows that he wanted to resolve things once and for all. Either by getting Lord Harry to marry you or getting him out of the way!”
Charlotte laughed. “You make it sound like he challenged him to a duel or something. I am sure it was not so dramatic as all that.” She paused and looked at herself in the mirror for a moment. Her hair, arranged in an intricate style on top of her head, did look rather fine, she thought to herself. Her dress was also very fine, much finer than anything she had ever worn before. The Duke had insisted that she have something sent from London – it had been a great hurry – and she did not feel entirely comfortable in it, but she knew that as a duchess-to-be, she had to look the part, regardless of her own preferences.
“So, are you ready to become a duchess?” Martha asked, almost as if she had read her sister’s thoughts.
Charlotte frowned. “I am not sure, in all honesty. I think I shall be useful in managing the estate and all those practical things, and perhaps we can use our position to help people. But all of the grand parties and being out in society so much? I am not so sure. I hope Luke will guide me through it. And I hope that you will come to live with us in due course and help me to host parties and dinners. I cannot do without you for long, my dear Martha.”
Martha smiled warmly at her sister. “As if I would refuse the offer to live at Seton Hall when I could stay here with our stepmother and stepsister and enjoy such congenial company!”
“I will not be sorry to leave them, I must confess,” Charlotte said. “But I shall miss our father. It is a mystery to me why he chose her when our own mother was so different.”
Martha nodded. “I know what you mean. I have often wondered about it too. But who are we to know the mysteries of another’s heart?”
“Indeed.” Charlotte smiled at her sister’s wisdom. She hoped Martha would be able to spend some little time with Lord Miller during the course of the wedding party. His attention towards her sister had not escaped her notice, and she suspected Martha welcomed it too, although she had never spoken openly of it. Charlotte assumed that her sister preferred to conceal her feelings for the time being, and she would not push her to take her into her confidence.
There was a knock at the door, then, and Sally entered and dropped a curtsy. “The carriage is here, miss, to take you to the church.”
Charlotte felt a flutter of nerves in her chest as she took one final look in the mirror.
“Are you ready, sister?” Martha asked, standing up and reaching for her hand.
“I am ready,” Charlotte said. She left the chamber of her girlhood and walked through her father’s house and out of the door, out into the bright winter sunshine, and towards her future as Luke’s wife, the Duchess of Seton.
* * *
“Stand still, man!”
Lord Miller stood next to Luke at the altar, and chided him as Luke bounced on the balls of his feet, his stomach twisting with anxiety. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Of course, she would come. She believed him, at long last. She believed that he truly loved her and wanted to be with him. His heart swelled as he remembered kissing her in the garden, the way her body had leaned towards him. He had been unsure of her feelings until that moment, but he knew now that she loved him too.
“Why are you in such a state of disarray?” Mark hissed. “You do not think she will jilt you?”
Luke glanced anxiously at the church doors at the other end of the aisle. “I do not think she will, but I fear it, even so.” He paused and looked at his friend, dressed in his smart morning suit and occupying the role of his best man. “It has not been easily won, this wedding, my friend.”
Mark nodded. “I know, and I am sorry for the troubles that you have had and for my part in them. I should not have said the things I did about the lady or her family. I will never listen to gossip again,” he vowed.
“Quite right, too,” Luke said. He cast his eye across the small congregation already seated in the chapel. Only close family were present, and his gaze fell on Lady Haddington, whose expression was as sour as a lemon. He smiled broadly at her and watched with pleasure as her face twisted into a grimace. It gave him enormous pleasure to know that he was rescuing Charlotte from having to live even one more day with her and her awful stepsister. And he was delighted with the plan that Martha should join them at Seton Hall, too. Although glancing at his friend a little slyly, he wondered how long she would reside there.
The organist began to play, and chords filled the space. Luke’s heart leaped in his chest as the doors of the chapel opened, and Charlotte entered, arm-in-arm with her father and with Martha following behind them. She looked beautiful in the dress that he had implored her to order from London, but he could see the nerves on her face even through her veil.
It was not long, though, before she was standing next to him at the altar. The priest began to read out the introductory passages of the wedding ceremony.
She gave him a half smile as their eyes met, and he was certain, at that moment, that he was making the right decision. They would be happy together, regardless of what anyone else thought. He was glad that he had followed his heart, for once in his life, rather than giving in to the pressures of society.
The priest’s voice was deep and sonorous as he outlined the reasons for which marriage was ordained by God. For the procreation of children and as a remedy against sin. “Thirdly, it was ordained for mutual society, help and comfort,” the priest continued. “That the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined.”
The priest looked at them both gravely and cleared his throat, then addressed the congregation. “Therefore, if any man can show any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”
The words echoed throughout the silence of the church, and just as the priest took a breath to continue with the ceremony, a voice rang out.
“I object!”
Luke whirled around. He heard Charlotte gasp next to him. Lady Haddington had risen to her feet, a gleeful look on her face, and in her hands was a bundle of letters tied with a ribbon. “I most strongly object!”
EPILOGUE
Charlotte wanted to run then and there, but she felt the Duke’s hand on her arm, preventing her from fleeing.
“What is the meaning of this, Lady Haddington?” His commanding voice boomed across the chapel. He turned to the priest. “Continue. She does not know what she is talking about.”
