‘Lady Charlotte.’ I fell on one knee to embrace her where she sat. ‘I’m so glad you could come.’ I wish I could have said she looked well, but her soul-mind was growing tired of being restricted by an ageing vessel.
‘Mr Devere’s memory proved accurate after all.’ She smiled, pleased for me, and suppressed a cough.
I had forgotten that I consulted her about Mr Devere, but I now suspected that she’d known our marriage was destined all along. ‘As a prophet you are second to none,’ I whispered, to her amusement, although she shook her head to disagree.
‘Your career will far outshine my own,’ she said in all seriousness. ‘You have made a good match.’ She glanced over to Mr Devere. ‘He is very much in love with you,’ she said. ‘Never doubt that he is on your side.’
‘I don’t doubt that any more,’ I told her, as I stood once more and looked for my father. I spotted him in a quiet corner of the room, chatting with two gentlemen. Two gentlemen that I recognised, for they were the ones who were trying to warn off Lord Hamilton. ‘Who are those two gentlemen?’ I pointed them out to Lady Charlotte, my heart beating in my chest. What were they doing here? Why were they talking to my father? What was their interest in me and my marriage to Devere?
‘I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.’ Lady Charlotte strained her eyes, but chances were she couldn’t see them properly. ‘Perhaps they are guests of the Devere family?’ she suggested.
I looked around for Mr Devere and waved my husband over when I spotted him. ‘Did you invite those gentlemen?’ I pointed to where my father stood talking with the men in question.
‘I don’t believe so,’ he replied. ‘As far as I know the wedding guest list was complete before we decided to join the festivities.’
This was quite true. I wanted to tune into my father’s thoughts and find out what he was thinking right now, but with so much noise and so many people in the room I doubted I’d have any success. I was too excited also, and my emotions were all over the place. ‘I’m going over there.’
The fire and fear underlying my words caused Mr Devere to pull me up. ‘Why don’t I find out who they are?’
‘Where are you going?’ Susan distracted both of us. ‘It’s time for the cake.’
She motioned to the huge three-stepped pyramid covered in white icing and flowers as it was wheeled into the room on a giant trolley. Three pairs of miniature newlyweds sat on the highest layer of the cake.
We were so taken with the sight that our mission was forgotten, which proved long enough for the men and my father to depart.
‘Where are they?’ I searched with Devere’s aid to no avail, and was eventually persuaded by my closest company to rejoin the festivities, as our guests were waiting.
LESSON 6
SEDUCTION
At the end of the morning’s festivities, Mr Devere and I were deposited in a carriage piled high with our luggage, and sent on our merry way to our honeymoon in France.
‘And that’s all there is to it.’ Devere turned to me in pleasant spirits. ‘Now you are stuck with me for worse or better.’ He grinned, nearing to kiss me, longer and deeper than he ever had before.
I was enjoying the experience immensely when I was suddenly swept back to Hartsford Park, where I saw myself knee deep in water as I grabbed to save my bonnet from being swept away by the wind.
The pleasure I felt in my own body urged me to withdraw from his thoughts. His hand had come to rest upon my left breast and it tingled in anticipation of a closer acquaintance with him. I was surprised when Mr Devere retreated first.
‘Whoa.’ He held his head and laughed. ‘Your kiss evokes euphoria.’ I thought him joking until he closed his eyes to regain his equilibrium. Still, he didn’t seem discomfited, but, rather, in high spirits.
It occurred to me that perhaps probing someone’s mind at such close range might be draining. I didn’t know, as I’d never been that close to someone before. Or perhaps it was just the high psychic energy of my being sending his being into overload? And then again, perhaps he’d just had too much to drink? ‘Are you all right?’
‘I shall live,’ he assured me with a beaming grin. ‘But if that’s what a kiss will do to me, well…heaven help me.’ He chuckled, as did I when I caught his meaning.
To distract me from the heat of the blush rising in my face, I decided I’d best voice something that was haunting me. ‘I need to see my father.’
‘What…before we leave London?’ Mr Devere seemed surprised by my request.
‘I have to know who those men were,’ I told him honestly.
‘Why?’ he inquired, genuinely interested.
‘Because I believe they had something to do with Lord Hereford’s murder.’ My reason confused him.
‘But Lord Hereford died of natural causes,’ Devere said, stating the official truth of the matter.
‘No he didn’t.’ I was adamant. ‘And if my father had something to do—’
‘Wait one moment.’ Devere tried to calm me down. ‘How do you know those men had something to do with Lord Hereford’s death?’
‘Because they threatened him with death if he persisted with his plan of marriage…they wanted me to marry you.’ My eyes came to settle on his face, which was absorbed in thought.
‘As did your father.’ Mr Devere followed my line of thought. ‘You seriously think Lord Suffolk hired men to threaten Lord Hereford?’
