Prologue
Susan Wilton satat her dressing table with her mother, Betsy, hovering behind her left shoulder, hands aflutter, while her very best friend and bridesmaid, Katherine Howe, was fussing with Susan’s hair at her right side. Louisa, Susan’s fifteen-year-0ld sister, knelt beside her and helped her slide into her satinshoes.
Mother heard the carriages pulling up in front of the house. She turned to the clock on the mantel. “Oh, my… It’s time to go. Katherine, is her hairdone?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Katherine said, as she adjusted one last curl with the tip of her comb. “Now, don’t you look like the perfect bride,” she added, stepping back to admire herwork.
“Hold still,” Louisa complained, as she tried to fasten the button on the shoe of Susan’s leftfoot.
Mother rushed to the bedroom door and opening it, called out, “Thomas… Jacob… are youready?”
“Yes, Mamma,” Jacob shouted up from the entry hall. “We’ve been waiting for twenty minutes. Father has had the carriages brought aroundalready.”
“I know. I know.” Mother called back, but became flustered again and turned to Susan. “Come. Come. Stand. Let me look atyou.”
Susan stood up from her dressing table. “Mamma, there’s plenty of time. Simon always runs late,anyway.”
“But it’s his wedding day. Surely, today, of all days, he’ll be on time.” Mother took a long look at Susan and began to cry. “Oh, my baby. Look at you. All grown up and about to be married. I’ve always dreamed of this day, and now it’s here. Oh my, don’t you looklovely.”
Susan was, indeed, a lovely bride. The eldest daughter of Squire Thomas and his wife, Betsy—Susan was twenty-years-old, with a pleasing oval face, dark curly hair, a delicate mouth, and large, expressive eyes that seemed to laugh when she wasamused.
“Enough. Come. The carriages are waiting. Your Papa iswaiting.”
They left the room and headed down the stairs to the entry hall where Father and Jacob, Susan’s older brother, and his wife, Amy, werewaiting.
“Are you nervous?” the plump and rosy Katherine whispered to Susan as they descended thestairs.
Susan was surprised by the question. “Not at all. Why, should Ibe?”
Katherine took her arm. “Well, big changes are ahead. A new home and husband. You’ll be leaving your teaching position no doubt, and you must say good-bye to your family. And what about me? I’ll miss you so very much, my dearfriend.”
“Oh, Katherine, I’m not going that far away. It’s only twelve miles or so to HaverfordHouse.”
“Is that where you’re to live? I thought that was the Duke’s home now. Surely, Simon will have his own residence now that he’s married, will henot?”
Susan had not given that any thought and Simon had said nothing about where they would reside. London,perhaps?
“Come along—come you two. Stop dawdling,” Motherinsisted.
The party was suddenly swept up with the task of getting into the carriages. Mother, father, the bride, and Jacob and his wife were in the first carriage and Katherine, Louisa, and two attendants were in thesecond.
It was several miles to the parish church where the ceremony was to take place atnoon.
It was a lovely May morning and not too hot. Susan turned to look out the carriage window as they passed along the country road leading to Ash, a modest country village in Kent. The whole morning had been such a whirl of activity and this was the first time Susan had had a moment to reflect upon the changes soon to sweep her up into her new life. But first and foremost in her heart and mind was her groom, Simon, the younger brother of the Duke of Lennox of Haverford House outside the community of Preston, also ofKent.
Simon had met Susan at the school where she taught when he came to represent the Duke during a school awards day. The Duke had promised to come, but the House of Lords had called an extraordinary session, and he had been unable to attend, sending Simon along in hisplace.
Simon couldn’t keep his eyes off Susan from his seat with the teachers on the presenter’s podium, and after the ceremony was over, he introduced himself, and wooed her aggressively for several months before asking her to marryhim.
Katherine had been advised caution when he proposed but, despite the short engagement, Susan’s parents had urged her to accept the proposal from an aristocrat—even if he was only the second son with no title orinheritance.
Simon was, without a doubt, a handsome young man, and Susan found it easy to be enchanted by his blond good-looks, his boyish charm, and his breezy ways—despite his often unexplained absences and broken appointments. Afterwards, there were always the most convincing and heartfelt excuses and expressions of deepdevotion.
But today was the culmination of all that effort. She was to be married in less than an hour. She wished that Katherine was sitting with her in this coach instead of Jacob and Amy, but as her bridesmaid, she would be beside her soonenough.
The carriages pulled up in front of the church. The wedding carriage that would be used to whisk the bride and groom away was parked nearby festooned with ribbons and flowers. However, as Susan descended from the carriage, she saw no sign of the Duke’s carriage which had his royal crest painted on thedoor.
Katherine came, breathlessly, running up and took Susan’sarm.
