Sweet Temptation (6 page)

“I’m too excited to sleep,” the Countess answered. “I’ve prayed for years he would find some nice girl who would love him in spite of his bitterness, but Sara is so innocent, she can have no idea of the things that sometimes drive him to act with great unkindness.”

“Then let’s hope she never finds out,” observed Olivia, settling in with her needle and thread. “Now you go to sleep. I’m going to work here while I still have the sunlight. It’s not half so good in my room.” Rose took out some tatting that was to be her wedding gift.

For a while the Countess talked of Gavin’s childhood, of her life in Scotland before she became too ill to leave her room, and of how much she looked forward to seeing Sara settled at Estameer and the mother of half a dozen strong sons. But she soon grew tired; her eyes closed and she fell into a light sleep. Rose and Olivia rose noiselessly.

“She’ll never go back to Scotland, much less see any grandchild,” Olivia said to Rose, after the bedroom door was closed behind them.

“She knows that,” Rose said sadly. “The day we left Estameer, she said she wouldna see its walls again.”

Chapter 5

“Stand still,” Miss Adelaide commanded in her sternest voice. “How can anyone set your dress to rights with you bouncing about like a hoyden?”

Sara’s limbs froze, but too much had happened to her in the last week for her to stand still very long. She could hardly believe she was really about to be married, yet here she was surrounded by seamstresses making last-minute adjustments to her wedding dress. Outside, the Earl’s town coach waited to carry her to St. George’s Church. A second coach—piled high with the boxes that had filled the parlor until an hour ago and which contained dresses, gowns, hats, shoes, and every other possible item of clothing a new bride could want—had already preceded her to Parkhaven House.

“The Earl will meet you at the chapel,” Miss Adelaide was saying. “It’s only natural that he should give you away, since none of your family has taken an interest in you all these years.” Sara suspected that Miss Adelaide defined
interest
as willingness to defray her school fees. “It should be quite touching to see him hand you over to his own son,” said the schoolmistress, revealing a streak of romanticism Sara had never suspected. “I wish I might see it.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Sara asked, surprise making her stand still at last.

“The Earl decided a private ceremony would be best,” replied Miss Adelaide, recovering her austere demeanor. Sara was not really fond of Miss Adelaide, but she was genuinely disappointed that no one was going to be present to support her.

“You must come,” she insisted. “You’re as much my family as anyone else.”

“I think it’s best that I remain here,” Miss Adelaide replied rather stiffly, in a vain effort to keep from showing how much Sara’s invitation gratified her.

“Please,” Sara begged. “I know the Earl wouldn’t mind.”

“But I’m not dressed,” protested Miss Adelaide, thrown out of her habitual cool control by the obvious genuineness of Sara’s invitation. But Sara noticed the older woman was wearing a gown of rich cobalt blue silk, a dress she normally reserved for special occasions.

“It won’t matter. There’ll be no one there to see you. Please, won’t you come? I don’t have anyone else.”

Miss Adelaide’s heart had remained steadfast against the importuning of young girls for more than thirty years, but it was not proof against the entreaty in Sara’s light blue eyes. “Ail right, but you must explain to the Earl that I’m only coming at your insistence.”

So the three of them climbed into the waiting coach, and Miss Adelaide passed the time in giving Sara good advice. Sara tried to listen, but found her concentration straying from Miss Adelaide’s instructive homily to wondering what her future husband would look like. Betty’s thoughts were also elsewhere, and from the nervous movement of her hands as she held the wedding veil, Sara could tell they were far from tranquil.

“And until you feel more comfortable, I would suggest that you depend heavily on the Earl’s housekeeper. I don’t know much about households of the nobility, my family being of merchant stock, but I imagine everyone will expect the Countess’s arrangements to be maintained.”

“Are you certain we are going to live with the Earl?” Sara had been dismayed to learn that her clothes were being sent to the Earl’s town house.

‘That was my impression, though naturally the Earl has not favored me with his confidence on that point. However, I expect that as long as the Countess is so very ill, Lord Carlisle shall wish to remain close by.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sara replied, but somehow her daydream lost a little bit of its luster.

“And, of course, you will take your lead from your husband in all social matters. I would not ordinarily presume to mention this to you,” added Miss Adelaide, “except that you have no mother, and the Countess is far too ill to take your education in hand. There will be a great deal to be learned in the next several months, and it is extremely important that you learn it quickly. I may not belong to the aristocracy, but I’ve seen enough of them to know they rarely forgive mistakes. With you, an outsider, capturing the biggest matrimonial prize of the last ten years, there will be many only too happy to see you fail.”

Sara’s eyes hardened with determination. She vowed she would never embarrass Gavin or give him reason to be ashamed of her. Her eyes searched eagerly for him when they arrived at the church, but it was the Earl who met her.

“You will see Gavin at the altar. It’s considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride on her wedding day.” His bleak smile did little to bolster her confidence. Betty followed Sara out of the carriage, doggedly clutching the veil to her bosom. “I’m glad you came,” the Earl said, turning to Miss Adelaide.

“Sara insisted,” the lady explained.

“And well she should. Your unflagging attention to her well-being is something that cannot be repaid.” The Earl’s words were so devoid of warmth or feeling and his eyes so expressionless, that Sara wondered if he might not have opposed his son’s marriage. Her uneasiness grew when the Earl showed Miss Rachel into the chapel, directed Betty to wait in an anteroom, and guided Sara into the priest’s cubicle.

“I must apologize for not visiting you during the last few days, but the Countess had been quite ill.”

“Will she be able to attend the wedding?” Sara asked anxiously.

“She cannot leave her bed,” the Earl replied. “We still have hopes that the doctors will find a cure, but she suffers from constant pain.”

“I remember her kindness whenever I visited Estameer. I hope I will be able to see her.”

“She has commanded me to bring you to her straight way from the church, so she may give you her blessing. Now let me say a few words before we go to the chapel. When your father spoke to me of becoming your guardian, it was in the hopes that someday you would wed Gavin. As each of us had only one child, it was a natural aspiration. Your father did not foresee his tragic early death, and I did not foresee that my wife’s illness would make it impossible for you to visit Estameer during these last years.” Sara tried to interrupt, to protest that she had never expected to be taken into the Earl’s home, but he continued without pause.

“I had expected that you and Gavin would grow to know each other in a natural way. As you are a gently bred young woman with no experience of the world, you may be shocked by some of his behavior. It will be your duty as his wife to pass no judgement. He will not expose you to his dissipation.”

Sara’s ignorance provided few clues as to the kind of dissipation the Earl might mean, and she could only stare tongue-tied as he continued.

“You must always bend your will to his. He is your husband and the only reason for your elevation. You must know you have been blessed beyond your just expectations. Few daughters, even of the nobility, are privileged to marry a peer.” Sara stiffened. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help it. After all the years of being looked down on by the daughters of impoverished nobility, was her father’s own partner going to do the same thing to her? She wasn’t sure she could stand much more of it.

“You are young and inexperienced and will fall into many needless errors, if you go your own way without proper guidance. You must allow your husband to guide you in all things, but strive not to become a trial upon his good nature. Obey him in everything, great and small, and you may someday be a worthy addition to the Carlisle family.”

Sara tried to listen humbly to the Earl’s words, but his every utterance set her teeth on edge. She intended to work hard to become worthy of her position and to pay heed to Gavin’s slightest wish, but to be
told
that she was fortunate to be marrying a peer made her angry. Her father might not have had a title and he might have made his money in trade, but her birth was just as good as any Carlisle, and she was a considerable heiress as well. Gavin ought to be grateful that
she
was marrying
him!
After all, she had led an exemplary life, was quite well educated, had perfect manners, and was a notable player on the harpsichord. She could also sing and draw quite well, and she did not regularly indulge in dissipation, whatever that might be. It was quite possible
he
should come to
her
for guidance.

“My wife has commanded me to tell you that she is delighted you are to become a member of our family. She has long known of your partiality for Gavin. For my part, I have guarded you in the hope that Gavin might find with you the kind of happiness your father found with your mother. You greatly resemble her.”

“But I’m not as beautiful,” said Sara, unsure of how to respond to the Earl’s kindness. “I have all the same parts, but they don’t go together in the same way. And I have freckles.” A ghost of a smile flitted across the Earl’s face. This whole business of Gavin’s marriage had tried his patience severely, but he was too much a connoisseur of women not to have some appreciation of Sara’s beauty, her obvious intelligence, and this slender bit of female vanity.

“Will it make you feel better if I tell you Gavin has a mole on his cheek?”

Sara smiled. “Yes, it does. I remember him as being perfect.”

“That was some years ago. Much has changed since then.” A wintry coldness returned to the Earl’s voice. “Now it is time I call your maid to put on your veil. If we don’t appear soon. Miss Rachel may think I have abducted you.”

“Nobody would ever think that,” Sara said, brightening considerably. “I’m not pretty enough.”

“I don’t know who has been filling your head with such nonsense, but you are pretty enough to cause men to do foolish things.”

“Will Gavin think me pretty?”

“If he doesn’t, he’s a bigger fool than I thought,” said his father roughly. “Now let me summon your maid. Is that extraordinarily tall person
really
your servant?”

“Yes,” Sara laughed nervously.

“I would have thought such a female would have been more likely to give you palpitations than inspire confidence.”

Sara got butterflies in the pit of her stomach when Betty opened the door and the Earl led her out of the room. She closed her eyes, unable to stand the suspense, then opened them again, when the heavy doors to the chapel were thrown open. She heard the organ playing softly.

They entered a rather large and dark chapel, one of several built around St. James’s Church. The thick stone walls were pierced by seven ornate stained glass windows, which would probably have admitted insufficent light even on a bright day, but the sun was not shining on this late November morning, and Sara felt as if she were entering a dark, gloomy tunnel. Seeing Miss Rachel seated primly in the disconcerting emptiness of the chapel helped to calm her nerves, and she was able to lift her gaze as she began her journey down the short aisle.

Two men waited at the altar. Ignoring the priest that was to marry them, Sara’s eyes strained to see the man who would soon be her husband.

Ramrod straight and scowling heavily, Gavin towered over the priest. Yet in spite of the frown and the gathering gloom, Sara easily recognized him as an adult version of the boy she had last seen seven years before. His features had lost some of their youthful beauty, but they had matured in definition and gained in sheer masculine strength. His tight-fitting coat and breeches did nothing to conceal his powerful shoulders and muscled thighs, and Sara felt her knees grow weak with excitement.

Sara was not aware of walking down the aisle, only that she was drawing nearer to Gavin. How was it possible that this magnificent man was about to become her husband? He was even more handsome than she remembered! She ignored the brooding eyes and heavy scowl and saw only the heroic proportions of his body, his staggering good looks, and the powerful physical atttraction that communicated itself to her immediately. She didn’t know why just looking at him should set her pulses racing, but her body seemed to understand all too well.

At last they reached the altar, and the priest began to speak. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

The priest’s voice droned on, but Sara didn’t hear his words. The moment she had thought about continually for the last week was here, and she was incapable of doing anything more than holding on to the Earl’s arm for fear she would swoon. For one dreadful moment the contents of the room did begin to swim before her eyes, but she resolutely forced herself to be calm. She had made a solemn vow that she would never do anything to embarrass Gavin or cause him shame. To faint at her own wedding would undoubtedly do both.