How to Seduce a Bride

secretly desired? That last was cause for alarm. But she couldn’t feel even that now.

Still, she did shiver. It wasn’t because of the thin material of her gown, or the fact that the ancient stones around her never let go of the cold, even in summer. It was because he’d been right. Her very skin was reacting to him, telling her he was beside her.

Leland Grant, Viscount Haye, stood at her elbow, correct and sober. He was so tall and stood so straight, she couldn’t see his expression without craning her neck. And here she was, parroting words that would soon make him her master. But she couldn’t summon up a twinge of fear. For all that he was, and that included his reputation, she never for a moment thought he’d ever hurt her in any way. She was so stunned by this revelation that she almost missed her turn at making vows.

He turned his head and looked at her, and she saw a hint of alarm in his cobalt eyes. So she flashed a smile of apology and said yes, she would, and knew in that instant that she would and maybe could make something of this marriage. In time, of course. She’d every reason to hope he’d give her that time.

He bent his head and touched her lips with his when the vicar announced they were man and wife. Then he smiled at her. “Well, there we are,” he said. “Good morning, my lady Haye, and well done. Welcome to my life.”

“Congratulations!” the earl said, shaking Leland’s hand.

Geoff took Daisy’s hand in both of his. Though his smile was tinged with sadness, it wasn’t forced. “Yes, and very well done,” he told her.

“Congratulations, my lord,” Helena told Leland. “I’m so happy for you,” she told Daisy, though her smile was wobbly, and she’d tears in her eyes.

They took the congratulations of an elderly couple Leland called his neighbors, the vicar’s wife, and a handful of other well-dressed local people he’d summoned to see his wedding.

“I’m sorry my boys couldn’t be here,” Geoff said. “But none of them could come so far on such short notice. I’ve sent word, and I’ll wager they’ll be here as soon as they may, though. You are staying on here for a while? Or are you taking a honeymoon trip?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Leland said. “What would you like, my dear?” he asked Daisy.

She flushed at the new, intimate way his “my dear” sounded to her now. She shook her head. “I’m not really anxious to travel,” she admitted. “My last voyage was so long, I don’t know if I could face another boat yet.”

“So we’ll stay on here a while, then see what you would like,” Leland said.

She nodded, gratefully.

“And of course, I’ll give a party for you when you come back to town. I’ll invite the immediate world,” the earl said. “It will be the event of the Season.”

“So it will, and thank you,” Leland said. “It will be good for Daisy to be introduced to polite Society, and I emphasize the ‘polite.’ I fear I don’t have enough respectable friends to fill a teacup, but everyone in London will thunder to your door if you invite them, my lord.”

“As if you don’t know everyone in Society,” the earl scoffed.

“Alas, I do. But you know the worthy ones, who may not yearn to be premiere members of ‘Society,’ ” Leland said. “It’s easy to find people to drink, gamble, and carouse with. It’s harder to find any to socialize with and enjoy it. There must be some decent folk who would spend time with us, although I allow that I, at least, will have to win them over. I’m confident that in time my commendable behavior will lull them, and my lady will enchant them, but you must introduce us to them. You can be our guide in that. I want Daisy to know the best people. Those are the ones who doubtless know of me, but I doubt they know me.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” The earl laughed.

Then he and the other guests stood and smiled at one another, and shuffled their feet. It was an uncomfortable moment. For the first time this glorious May morning, Daisy had the time to take in her surroundings. There was a basket of flowers at the altar, and sunlight streamed in the high windows. But the old church, small as it was, was almost empty. Their little wedding party looked pathetic, the scrambled haste of the affair now seemed obvious.

It seemed to occur to the bridegroom, too.

“I suggest we all repair to the inn,” Leland told them. “It’s just down the road. They’ll serve a lovely breakfast, the landlord promised his finest victuals, and you all are to be my guests. I’d invite you back to my home, but my staff is still preparing it for us.”

A peculiar strained silence met his words, and those few assembled tried to avoid his eye. Daisy wondered why.

Leland’s smile was wry. “An awkward moment, to be sure,” he told her. “The problem is that my home here has long been known as an oasis to those of my friends or acquaintances who found themselves at loose ends…”

He looked at Geoff, and his smile grew wider. “Unfortunate choice of words, even if it is also most unfortunately apt. Let us not mention their ends, shall we? Though that’s all they seem to think about when they’re here. You see,” he told Daisy, “my home has been an open house to those on the rackety fringe of the ton, those who seek privacy and comfort while they escape their creditors, or in some cases, their husbands or wives. That’s all going to be changed now, along with the sheets. Doubtless my staff is even now airing the beds, after turfing out those who were in them. This may take some time. I don’t know who might still be there, if anyone, but I won’t take you home with me until I’m assured they’re not.”

“What a thing to tell your new wife!” the earl exclaimed.

Daisy was only thinking how odd it was to go to a place called home that she didn’t know, with a man she hardly knew. Then she remembered that she’d done it before, in far worse fashion. She repressed an involuntary shudder at the memory, and waited for her new husband to speak again.

“Worse if I didn’t tell her, I think,” Leland said. “Now, who’s for a wedding breakfast, and a toast to the future?”

They piled out of the church and into the sunshine, and Daisy let out a long breath. She felt relieved, almost merry, until she stepped down through the churchyard and saw the sunlight glinting on her wedding dress. She felt, for the first time, a little foolish.

“What’s the matter?” Leland asked.

“My gown seemed so magnificent in the box and in madame’s shop,” she explained, holding out a pleat of her golden skirt, “but here, in the daylight, it looks less so. The truth is that it looks almost tawdry.”

“It is magnificent; you look magnificent in it,” he said. “Although I’ll grant it’s not the thing if you were going berry picking. So of course it looks a bit out of place in a country churchyard. Don’t fret; we’ll soon be at the inn, where it will resume its grandeur.”

He took her hand and led her to the waiting carriage that would carry them into the small village they’d passed on the way.

The local inn was as crowded as the church hadn’t been. Since it was smaller, it seemed even more so. But all the villagers seemed to have heard about the wedding and that the bride and groom were going to breakfast there, and had come to look for themselves. The couple were showered with greetings and congratulations the moment they stepped in the door.

“I wish I’d known they cared,” Leland whispered to Daisy, “I’d have invited them all to the church.”

She wondered if it was the marriage they were applauding, or the free drinks for all that Leland immediately called for. He bent his head to her ear again. “It’s not just the free pints and idle curiosity. They rejoice because they feel proprietary about me. I see now that they were less than pleased when my home was a playground for the rich and unscrupulous, because our marriage seems to have honestly thrilled them. As they don’t know you, or me, I suppose it’s because it can’t have been pleasant for them before, having their village known as the town at the foot of the sinful lord’s pleasure palace. I wish I’d known. Believe it or not, I feel guilty about it now.”

She wouldn’t have guessed from his manner. He wasn’t apologetic. But he was courteous and charming. Not a sly or salacious comment passed his lips. The tall, elegant gentleman didn’t seem to be the toast of the ton or a wicked gossip, not here in his home village.

She didn’t feel odd about her extravagant gown anymore, either. It was so dim in the inn that the gown glowed, rather than shouted, and there wasn’t room for the long tulle train to trail after her. The women in the inn seemed to genuinely admire it, and she turned for their inspection so many times that she got dizzy, which made