Chapter Sixteen
The wedding took place at St. George’s Church in Hanover Square.
Immediately afterward, the guests arrived at the Countess of Wetherby’s home in Piccadilly. Ian had learned that Lady Wetherby had been a like second mother to Grace and had offered to host the wedding breakfast since Ian’s mother was still in mourning over her son’s death. The massive town house had been decorated with lilies, and their French chef had prepared a simple, but sumptuous buffet. Ian had hired Gunter’s to cater the sweets and a had ordered a three-tiered wedding cake that was even more stunning than the one they’d watched being decorated in the shop.
Their closest friends and relatives had turned out for the intimate event. Ian stood in the drawing room, a glass of champagne in hand, as he scanned the room. Brooks, who had been his best man at the ceremony, stood beside him.
Ian sipped his drink, not caring if it was expensive champagne or cheap tavern gin. His attention was solely on Grace. She looked strikingly beautiful in a white gown adorned with Brussel’s lace and seeded pearls. The costly Bond Street dressmaker had been worth every shilling. The dress was skillfully cut to show the creamy swell of her breasts above a heart-shaped bodice. Grace’s hair was parted in the Grecian style and held back with matching pearl combs to curl long and loose down her back in glossy dark waves.
Family and close friends approached her with well wishes, and she greeted each one with a gracious and welcoming smile. Their wedding day was the first time he’d seen her among Society, and he realized she was truly the epitome of a lady.
But he knew beneath the proper facade was a sensual creature with a simmering passion. He anticipated teaching her the delights of the marriage bed night after night. Just thinking about it caused a swift heat to run through his veins.
“Stop staring at Grace like a starved man.”
Ian frowned at Brooks at his side. His friend was dressed in a tailored coat, waistcoat, and snowy cravat. The fine tailoring could not disguise his massive height and breadth of his chest. Ian couldn’t help but chuckle when he’d first seen his friend in fine clothing. He’d grown accustomed to seeing Brooks shirtless in the boxing ring.
“She’s my wife,” Ian said.
“Your sisters like her.”
Ellie and Olivia had embraced Grace like a sister. “They are thrilled and have repeatedly told me so. I want them to live with me in my home. My mother wishes to stay with her sister in Bath.”
“Then you will have three women under your roof.”
“God help me.”
He continued to stare at Grace. She licked her lips, then reached for a flute of champagne from a passing servant’s tray. She was nervous. He knew her well enough now to recognize the signs. Was she thinking of their wedding night? Was she anticipating it like he was, or was she simply anxious at being the center of attention in a room full of their guests?
He watched as she sipped the champagne. He wasn’t worried she’d drink more than she should. Her previous experience of overindulging would not easily be forgotten.
Prudence approached and Grace gave her a genuine smile. Ian had met Prudence, Lady Wetherby’s daughter and Grace’s longtime friend, and found her to be a charming young lady.
“Ian Swift a married man. Who would have thought?” Brooks said.
Ian never took his eyes off Grace. “I told you why I agreed to wed.”
“To protect your sisters, I remember. I can’t help but think there is more to your motivation.”
“Such as?”
“The way you are looking at her suggests you have come to care for your bride, perhaps even grown to love her.”
Love? He didn’t believe in love. It was as reckless as placing a bet on the roulette wheel, and Ian never gambled. His heart was a cold, frozen organ, not capable of such foolish feelings. “Just because I anticipate my wedding night, doesn’t mean I feel something as foolish as love.”
“What do you think will happen when she discovers you still own the Raven?”
“I told her I would sell it. I never said when.”
Brooks stared at him. “She’s intelligent. She will eventually discover the truth. Then what?”
Ian’s lips thinned with irritation. “I’ll try to keep it from her. But if she learns of my involvement, it’s too late. We’re married. She will have to accept it.”
“Have you not learned anything about her at all? You think it will be that easy?” Brooks said.
Ian shoved aside his misgivings. “I think I’ll go fetch my bride now.”
Brooks merely shrugged. “Eager to start the wedding night.”
“Sod off.”
Despite his reflexive dismissal of Brooks’s words, they impacted Ian more than he’d let on. It was his wedding night. His gaze raked over his new bride boldly, hungrily, until a sense of urgency drove him. Brooks was right. They’d entertained their wedding guests long enough. Why wait?
Ian headed into the crowd with Grace in his sights.
…
Grace’s nerves were as tense as tightly wound clock springs. She took a deep breath and her lungs squeezed in her corset.
“I can’t believe you’re really married,” Prudence said.
The day had been a blur. Grace couldn’t believe it herself. Only hours ago, her father had walked her down the aisle, and she’d forced a smile, a show of high spirits for those in attendance. Then she’d spotted Ian waiting by the altar, and her smile had frozen on her face, and her heart had ceased to pump in her chest.
He stood tall and proud, his dark eyes watching her as she approached him. He looked resplendent in a navy swallow-tailed coat, striped waistcoat, and form-fitting trousers. His gaze was riveted on her face, then moved over her body slowly. An intense awareness passed between them, something deeply sensual and possessive. She felt a rush of pink stain her cheeks, and her heartbeat throbbed in her ears.
She remembered little of the rest of the ceremony. She vaguely recalled repeating her vows after the priest’s instructions. She did remember Ian’s hand on hers, the warmth of his body beside her as they kneeled at the altar, and the kiss after they’d been declared man and wife. His lips had brushed across hers once, then twice, then he’d deepened the kiss in a raw act of possession. Her pulse had pounded, but her head was light and she hadn’t the strength to push him away.
Now she glanced at Ian across the room.
Prudence leaned close to whisper in Grace’s ear. “I can see why you agreed to marry Lord Castleton. You were right. He is handsome as sin.”
She’d introduced Prudence to Ian earlier, and he’d been charming and polite. Prudence had stuttered and then smiled up at him like a lovesick schoolgirl.
“Are you nervous about the wedding night?” Prudence asked.
“A little.” Of course, she was nervous. Terribly so. She’d heard the servants talk and had even gossiped about it once with Prudence, but it was hardly enough. She realized she knew almost nothing at all about what really lay ahead. She caught Ian’s dark gaze. He looked like a wolf, hungry, intense, and she shivered partly in fear and partly in anticipation.
If he was such a skillful kisser, how would he be as a lover? Grace placed her empty glass on a passing servant’s tray.
“Do you think he’d hurt you?” Prudence looked at her in concern.
“No.” Her response was unhesitant. He’d never harmed her all the times she’d gone to his home.
But it’s different now, she thought. You will share his bed night after night.
Prudence glanced away. “He’s headed this way and has eyes only for you.”
He was. Grace held her breath as he wove through the crowd with purpose. Did everyone see him as she did? A confident self-made man who had no need of a title but looked like the most powerful man in the room?
She braced herself to speak with her husband, but Prudence distracted her, touching her arm. “My mother is waving. She wants me to meet the Marquess of Stanton’s son. No doubt now that you are married, she will increase her pressure for me to find a match. Wish me luck,” Prudence said as she hurried away.
Grace felt overheated as Ian approached. He stopped only to grasp two flutes of champagne from a liveried servant’s tray. Then he stood in front of her, and Grace forgot to breathe.
“One last glass before we leave.”
She raised a glass. They were to leave for his country estate in Kent for a week as newlyweds. The thought of being isolated with Ian for a week made her nervous and excited at the same time.
“Isn’t it too early to leave?” she asked.
“Nervous?”
“Perhaps.”
“I’m told it’s normal.”
“You don’t appear nervous.”
“I’m thinking of other things,” he said, his voice husky.
“Such as?”
“Our wedding night.” He lowered his head to whisper in her ear. “You look beautiful, Grace.”
“Thank you,” she breathed. The way he was looking at her made her senses spin. She was nervous. Bloody nervous.
But she was also curious.
She licked her lips. “You should know that you charmed Prudence.”
“That’s good. I like her, but I don’t want her coming with us.”
Grace chuckled, and her nerves eased a notch. He could do that, she realized, make her laugh and allay her fears.
“I’ll see to the carriage,” he said. “Then I’ll return to say our goodbyes.”
…
Grace finished the champagne and said her farewells to her family and friends. She searched the crowd for Lady Castleton. She’d never had the chance to speak with the dowager, and a concern gnawed at her. Did the woman dislike Grace?
She could easily believe Grace had trapped her son into marriage. Ian was a handsome, wealthy earl, and she was the daughter of an impoverished baron. The notion did not sit well with Grace. She needed to speak with the woman and explain that such an entrapment had never been her intention, and that she would try to make her son happy.
Grace scanned the crowd for the dowager and spotted her leaving the hall. Grace picked up her skirts to follow. A private conversation with her new mother-in-law was more desirable than one in a crowded room.
She headed out into the abandoned hall just as she heard angry voices. Impulsively, Grace ducked behind an open parlor door.
“I’ve heard some disturbing gossip, Ian. Lady Cordele has complained that her husband was at a gaming establishment last night. Have you taken care of that business we discussed?” the dowager asked.
“You mean the Raven Club?” Ian said.
Grace hadn’t known Ian’s mother was aware of his club, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. Prudence had overhead her own mother speaking of it in hushed whispers with her friends.
“You speak about disposing of the Raven Club as if it’s as simple as dismissing a servant who was caught pilfering the family silver. Your demands are unreasonable. The club has been my livelihood since father had all but thrown me out,” Ian said.
Not only did Ian’s mother know of the club, but she had insisted Ian sell it.
“Lady Cordele was right, wasn’t she?” the countess asked.
Ian shrugged a big shoulder. “She was. Her husband lost heavily at the faro tables last night.”
The woman’s lips thinned in disapproval. “You haven’t sold the establishment yet?”
“I will not.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the Raven Club will stay a thriving business. I will have Brooks oversee the place for the next few days, as I just married, but I plan to resume its management thereafter.”
The dowager gasped. “You cannot be serious!”
“Oh, but I am.”
“You are now a married man.”
“I never wanted to be shackled with a wife and resent being forced to do so. You of all people are fully aware of how I felt about marrying against my will.”
“If you are referring to the past, you should know that your father sought the best match for you as a younger son,” she said.
“Bullocks! He sought to saddle me with a child in a woman’s body. He’d hated me on sight and never cared for my happiness.”
The woman’s face paled. “That was long ago and—”
“The past is not easily forgotten,” Ian said, his voice tense. “I agreed to your ridiculous plans only because the impending scandal combined with the black cloud hovering over my head regarding Matthew’s death would have irrevocably harmed Ellie and Olivia. Now that my duty is done, I have no intention of changing my life or my ways.”
“What of your wife’s opinions of your club?”
Ian laughed, a cold hard sound. “She is a minor inconvenience. The Raven Club remains open. If Grace doesn’t see it that way, then I will send her away to Castleton house in the country.”
Grace was shocked at the hardness in Ian’s tone just as much as his cold-hearted words. A sickening despair settled in her stomach. He’d lied. He had no intention of closing the Raven Club.
He’d lied.
He knew she’d never consent to marry him otherwise. He knew she despised gambling and everything the Raven Club stood for. Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard. She wouldn’t be sick.
Not here. Not now.
She’d suspected all along that he didn’t want to marry. Now she fully understood his motivations. The scandal of being caught in each other’s embrace, combined with the rumors swirling around the circumstances of his brother’s riding accident, would have been sufficient to blacken the entire Castleton name.
He planned to use her, then send her away to the country. How could he be so callous? Did she mean so little to him?
Yes, she did.
What a fool she’d been. She’d believed his lies that what they shared was more than what most couples had and that he wanted to marry her. It hurt, like salt in an open wound.
Lies. All lies.
“I feel sorry for your bride, Ian,” the dowager said.
“She’ll do as she’s told,” Ian said, his voice firm with resolve.
“For someone who hated his father, you are turning out to be just like him.” With a swirl of skirts, the dowager left the hall.
For a heart-pounding moment, Grace considered returning to the dining room and pretending she hadn’t heard a thing. But she was not a coward. Her hurt veered into anger.
She stepped from behind the parlor door and into the hall. “This marriage was a farce from the beginning, wasn’t it?”
He turned around, his gaze homing on her features. “Grace. I take it you overheard.”
“Everything.”
“I apologize. I regret that you were witness to that conversation.”
“I highly doubt you regret a word of what you said, only that I’d heard it. You lied about selling the club. I realize we did not marry under normal circumstances, but I had no idea you resent being shackled to a wife.”
“I don’t.”
“You took us to Gunter’s. You led me to believe you weren’t opposed to the match…that…that there could be a future between us.”
“I meant what I said.”
“Don’t lie to me. The scandal. The hushed whispers that you caused your brother’s riding accident. That’s what this is all about. You need me to help ready your sisters for Society.”
“It was only part of my reasoning.”
“Part! It was all. I will happily help Ellie and Olivia, but not because of you, rather because I genuinely like them.”
“Thank you.”
She held up a hand. “You know how I feel about gambling. You knew!”
“Grace, you must understand. The Raven Club means more to me than a business. Even after inheriting an earldom, it’s not something I can easily part with.”
“You’re right. I don’t understand. I would never have agreed to marry you had I known of your deception. But now that we are wed, my opinions do not matter, do they? I’ll simply rusticate in the country,” she said.
His jaw clenched and he remained silent.
Her anger simmered. She foolishly had hoped he was different. A rake would have walked away and let her suffer the consequences. Instead, he’d offered marriage. He’d taken Adam for ice cream…had charmed his way into her good graces and had led her to believe there would be a future for them. She’d actually begun to admire him, to care for him. But his motives were like shady specters, not easy discerned.
Even though he wanted to care for his sisters, he’d resented having to marry her, having to change his life, having to close his precious club. There was no room in his heart for a wife, for love, for anything other than his business.
He was no different from other men who disappointed. His actions reaffirmed everything she’d known since her own father had failed her so badly.
Men were inherently selfish and untrustworthy.
She tossed back her hair and glared up at him. “You will get what you want, but you should know I have demands as well.”
“Such as?”
“I want a marriage in name only.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer. “You think to keep me from your bed?”
She held her ground. “Yes. In exchange, I shall act the perfect wife at every ball and garden party. I’ll ease your sisters’ paths and encourage proper suitors.”
A muscle ticked at his jaw. “What about my continued instruction? We no longer need to attend Lady Crowley’s ball, but there will surely be others in the future. Are you going to renege on my tutelage as well? Or will you uphold your part of our initial arrangement?”
She refused to be intimidated. “I will. Nothing needs to change. You will be prepared for future balls, garden parties, and soirees.”
“And if I reject your terms?”
“Why would you? You made it clear you don’t intend to change how you live. You are free to seek other women.”
The muscle increased its ticking. “And you?”
She swallowed hard beneath his cold gaze, but she refused to back down. “If the inclination arises, then yes, I would be free to do the same.”
He took another step forward until they were nearly touching. “No.”
“No?”
“If you insist on a marriage of convenience, I’ll not be a cuckold. I’ll agree to stay away from your bed, wife. Only if you ask will I touch you.”
She struggled to comprehend his offer. “You think I’ll ask for your affections?”
He leaned close…so close his breath brushed her cheek. “I do.”
Despite everything, her heart hammered foolishly at his closeness. Damn him! He spoke with arrogance, like she would succumb to him, like he could lure her to his bed. But then he also believed she would run to another for comfort.
She took a step back. Everything she’d overheard reinforced her belief that she was doing the right thing.
Her mind spun with her predicament. There were benefits to being a married woman. Marriage offered her more freedom than she’d ever had before. She could pay social calls without a chaperone, attend whatever functions she desired without arousing gossip. She could even afford to leave London, go to the continent, and travel to her heart’s content. She no longer had financial worries. Her brother would soon go off to school and all would be well.
Her father would need to be looked after, and her stomach tightened when she thought of his troubles, but she would have to deal with those as best as she could. There was no other choice when it came to the baron.
There were innumerable pastimes and pleasures with which she could fill her hours, along with keeping a wary eye on her father. Concerning herself with a husband who would rather not be married was wholly unnecessary. She could easily resist her husband, couldn’t she?
She raised her chin and tossed her hair across her shoulder. “I agree, but do not think I will ever willingly come to your bed.”
The corner of his full lips tilted in a half grin. “Challenge accepted, my lady.”