Chapter Six

      Wedding fever swept through the household. Aunt Pargetter took Mary to a street where there was a whole parade of shops where you could buy clothing ready-made. And not all of it used. And by dint of sitting up well into the night, with as many lamps as they could gather, the four women, working together, had both her gown, and the coat they’d bought to wear over it, altered to fit as though it had been made for her, then trimmings added so that the whole ensemble looked as though it had been designed from the outset instead of bought piecemeal and cobbled together.

      She slept surprisingly well considering she was about to take a step she’d once vowed she would never take at all. Even though she’d only met Lord Havelock a matter of days before, the prospect of marrying him didn’t fill her with dread. Every time either Dotty or Lotty rolled over, kicking her in the shins in their sleep, it reminded her of their willingness to make room for her when they had so little of it themselves. And she got a warm glow of satisfaction, knowing that she would soon be in a position to help this family, the only ones who’d shown her any compassion when she’d been at her most desperate.

      And help Lord Havelock’s sister, too.

      How many men, she sighed, would make the supreme sacrifice of surrendering their bachelor freedom for the sake of a sister? Not her own brother, that was certain. He’d escaped their unhappy household as soon as he could and never looked back. Oh, he’d visited when on shore leave, but during those brief visits their father had been on his best behaviour and Kit had never once looked beneath the surface....

      Not that she had begrudged him his career. Not in the light of how it ended....

      She turned on to her side, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand. No point dwelling on the failings of a brother who was no more. Besides, she’d much rather dream about her husband-to-be. She smiled into the darkness as she recalled his insistence they get the business of providing an heir to his estates settled quickly, before they went off each other. Some women might have taken his attitude as an insult. She preferred to regard it as eminently practical. And a touch flattering that though he assumed his ardour would cool, he really felt some now. Quite a lot, if that last kiss in the parlour was anything to go by. And the difficulty he had in breaking it off.

      Which meant that very soon she would have a baby to hold. Possibly even a couple before he went back to his... Well, a man as energetic and healthy as he was bound to have some arrangement to satisfy that form of appetite. Though even when it got to that stage in their marriage, she was not afraid he would become a cruel, or even an indifferent, parent. The lengths to which he was prepared to go for his sister assured her of that.

      * * *

      The next morning, when she stood before the mirror, she couldn’t help exclaim in thanks for the Pargetters’ hard work and inventiveness. She’d never looked better dressed.

      Oh, if only her mother could see her now. Or her brother...though it wasn’t likely he would have been on leave to walk her down the aisle even if his ship hadn’t gone down with all hands.

      For a moment, stark loneliness had tears welling in her eyes. Resolutely she dashed them away. She didn’t want to appear in church with red eyes, as though she was going to the altar like some...sacrificial lamb. Besides, she was gaining a new family today, a husband who didn’t seem as though he had the slightest inclination to browbeat and control her, a sister who would need her and eventually children of her very own to love her.

      It was with a pale, but determined face that she left the room she’d shared with her cousins and made her way downstairs and to the carriage waiting to carry her, her aunt, uncle and cousins to church.

      Her uncle Pargetter had taken leave from his place of work so that he could walk her down the aisle. The gesture should have made her feel less alone, but somehow the fact that she knew him as little as the man who was waiting for her at the altar merely lent the proceedings an air of unreality.

      It had all happened so fast. And before she knew it, the vicar declared they were man and wife, and Lord Havelock was bundling her into a carriage, which whisked them off to the Clarendon, where Lord Havelock treated them all to a splendid breakfast.

      ‘You’ve landed on your feet and no mistake,’ her uncle commented as he shook her hand before leaving. ‘Very open-handed, this new husband of yours.’

      ‘Yes, and so handsome,’ added Aunt Pargetter, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She added a hug to the parting kiss, so that she could whisper into her ear.

      ‘But please, don’t think of this as a permanent parting. You must feel free to come and talk to me, or write, if you have any little problems. Getting used to the married state can be a touch tricky and I know you have no other female relative in whom you can confide.’

      She didn’t know how her aunt had guessed, but she did feel rather as though she was sailing into uncharted waters without a compass. And also now she’d boarded this ship called matrimony, it wouldn’t be possible to return to the shore from which she’d embarked. Her aunt’s willingness to give her the benefit of her advice, should she reach troubled waters, made her feel not quite so alone.

      She hugged her aunt back, fiercely.

      ‘Thank you’ was all Mary managed to say, with a voice thickened with emotion. She was going to miss them, all the Pargetters. They were good people. They didn’t have much, yet they’d been far more generous than closer relations who were far better off.

      ‘Our rooms are this way,’ said Lord Havelock, the moment the last of the Pargetters had exited the hotel and she’d dabbed her eyes dry with a darned handkerchief. He offered her his arm, and she laid her hand on his sleeve.

      They mounted the stairs in silence, in the wake of a smartly liveried hotel porter. The man opened a door with a flourish and bowed them into what looked like some wealthy person’s best parlour.

      ‘I took a suite of rooms,’ said Lord Havelock once he’d dismissed the porter. ‘I hope they meet with your approval.’

      ‘In all honesty,’ she said, hands clasped to her bosom, ‘I have never seen such a magnificent room in all my life.’ The thickness of the carpet alone made her yearn to take off her shoes and stockings so she could sink her toes into it. A fire blazed heartily from an ornate marble fireplace and all the furniture looked as though it had been specially selected to match not only every other piece in the room, but also the wallpaper and curtains.

      He had casually mentioned having both a country estate and a town house, as well as his more comfortable bachelor rooms, but it hadn’t really struck her, until this moment, what it meant. A man who could afford to buy a marriage licence and get a ceremony organised within a couple of days, splash out for a wedding breakfast in a hotel notorious for the expense of its meals and hire a whole suite of rooms like this, must be very, very wealthy indeed.

      In a daze, she let him lead her across the room.

      ‘This is your bedchamber,’ he said, throwing open the door to the right of the fireplace. ‘I did promise that you would always have your own room, a room that nobody could enter without your permission.’

      ‘You did,’ she said, hovering tensely on the threshold, looking in. The room was as tastefully opulent as the sitting room. But what caught her eye, and held her rooted to the spot, was the enormous four-poster bed it contained.

      He came to stand very close behind her.

      ‘I shall be knocking on this door later on,’ he said, his breath rushing over the back of her neck and giving her goosebumps in the most remarkable places. ‘I hope very much you will let me in, but if you really don’t want me...bothering you in that