His By Christmas (Hamilton Sisters) (36 page)

Unfortunately Lord Shelley had not been able to escape Rathmore’s ball before the announcement. He did not applaud with the others but watched the proceedings with a heavy heart. Seeing Yvette up in the gallery, standing beside Eddington with a smile on her pretty face, he shook his head in disbelief. His long desired plans for the evening had gone terribly awry. It was quite unbelievable to think that he, the future Duke of Lansdowne, had been thrown over for an illegitmate son. Eddington might be the bastard of a duke, but he was still just a bastard! William longed to get the hell out of there, but if he left now, it would look bad and people would talk. He couldn’t abide the idea of anyone pitying him or laughing at him behind his back.

Standing beside him, Wilhelmina Weatherly, dressed in dark gray silk, gave her son a questioning look. “Whatever happened, William? I thought that you and she—”

“I’ve changed my mind, Mother,” he answered brusquely, not quite meeting her eyes. He was simply not in the mood to discuss the end of his courtship of Yvette Hamilton with his mother. He didn’t even want to think about it himself. It was then William saw Jane Fairmont making her way toward him through the buzzing crowd.

“Good evening, Lord Shelley.” She smiled warmly up at him, her sultry green eyes looking a bit worried. She looked to his mother with a deferential nod. “Lady Lansdowne.”

“Oh, Miss Fairmont!” William’s mother said. “It’s so nice to see you again!”

William was pleasantly surprised by how pretty Jane looked this evening. Had she done something different to her chestnut hair? Dressed in a gown of rich red, she was far more beautiful than he remembered her being. He favored her with a smile.

“It is a great pleasure to see you again, Miss Fairmont,” he said.

“What do you think of the Duke of Rathmore’s news?” she asked them. “Isn’t it exciting?”

“I’m not sure,” the duchess began with a little frown. “It’s quite scandalous of the duke to marry his former mistress. But that man has always done exactly what he wanted.”

“I, for one, couldn’t be happier for him. For him
and
his son.” William stressed that point. It was always better to keep face. Besides, if he acted happy for Yvette Hamilton, no one would think she had thrown him over. He paused, looking toward Jane. “I believe the orchestra has begun playing again. Would you care to dance with me, Miss Fairmont?”

Her sweet smile deepened. “I would love to, my lord.”

“Please excuse us, Mother.” Feeling better than he had all evening, William Weatherly took Miss Fairmont’s arm and led her to the ballroom with his head held high.

“I simply don’t believe it,” Cecilia Hamilton cried in despair to her husband. “Yvette was so close to marrying a duke! He was about to propose to her, for heaven’s sake! And she ends up with that rogue, Eddington!”

Randall Hamilton, his bushy brows furrowed in disgust, shook his head. “My brother’s daughters never had a bit of sense or ambition in such matters. They all take after him. And Thomas never aspired to be anything more than a two-bit bookseller.”

Cecilia wiped away a disconsolate tear with her lace-trimmed handkerchief. “They are just like their silly mother too! But I thought, out of all of them, that Yvette had more sense than that. Oh, to throw over a duke for a rake! It isn’t to be believed! After all the care I’ve taken with the girl!”

Randall sighed heavily. “There’s nothing for it. Yvette has made her choice, Cecilia. And quite publicly too, I may add.”

Cecilia sniffed. “Oh, I don’t know how I shall face my friends now.”

“The same as you always have. Come now, Cecilia, we need to drag Nigel from the gaming table before he loses even more of our money. It is time to take our leave.”

“Oh, but, Randall, I don’t know how I shall bear the disappointment! We almost had a duke in the family!” she wailed. Cecilia always focused on the negative, losing sight of the fact that one of her nieces had married a marquis and one an earl.

“Well, I suppose having the illegitimate son of a duke is the closest we’re going to get!” Randall Hamilton took his dissatisfied wife’s arm and marched from the hall.

James Granger Eddington stared up at the gallery in utter astonishment. Had he heard his uncle’s words incorrectly? But no! There were his cousin, Jeffrey, and Yvette Hamilton standing together for all to see. Engaged. About to be married. It was impossible. He had had it on the highest authority that Lord Shelley was set to propose to Yvette this evening! Nigel Hamilton had sworn to him that the future Duke of Lansdowne was going to marry his cousin Yvette Hamilton. It would be the last time that James trusted that inveterate gambler.

How on earth had the tables turned so drastically? James shook his head, thinking perhaps he was seeing things. He had consumed quite a lot of liquor this evening, more than he usually did. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. There they were still, the handsomest couple at the ball, waving happily at the crowd.

Not only had he lost the largest wager he’d ever made, but his damnably handsome cousin had won the girl James had been fantasizing about for months. It seemed that Jeffrey always got what he wanted when it came to beautiful women.

Well, his cousin may have inherited good looks and charm, but he wouldn’t inherit Rathmore’s estate!

“James! I’ve been looking for you!” Lady Amelia Wells, his fiancée, hurried over to him. “Can you believe what your uncle has done?”

“Nothing Uncle Maxwell does surprises me anymore.”

“Oh, but to marry that horrid woman after all these years! A ballet dancer! It’s just giving rise to that ghastly scandal all over again. How shall we face it?” she cried to him, her big brown eyes full of worry.

“Be glad it’s old Rutherford he married and not some young thing who can give him a brood of children to be his legal heirs, Amelia.” James shrugged, not particularly worried about his uncle’s antics. He was more concerned about losing the bet to Jeffrey.

“Yes, I understand that, but still, people are talking about us,” she said.

“There’s nothing for it. When Uncle Maxwell dies, I become the Duke of Rathmore and everyone will forget about this debacle.”

Amelia didn’t look at all pleased by his answer.

James sighed heavily. “Act happy about it, Amelia. You’re still going to be duchess one day. Grin and bear it and act as if nothing is amiss and we are pleased as punch by Uncle Maxwell’s marriage. That will squelch scandal more than if we show we are appalled by him.”

James would pay Jeffrey what he owed him, but still, in the end, he’d won the big game over his cousin. Safe in the knowledge that the duke’s old mistress/new wife was no longer of an age to bear children and there would be no new heirs on the horizon to take his place, James, not Jeffrey, was destined to be the next Duke of Rathmore!

Plastering a brittle smile on his face, James lifted his glass in congratulations to the happy couple. Both of them.

The four Hamilton sisters stared up at their youngest sister on the gallery with Jeffrey Eddington, both of them looking quite happy and in love.

Paulette whispered low to Lisette, “Well, I suspect they managed to sort things out between them.”

Lisette grinned in delight. “Of course they did! I couldn’t imagine Jeffrey doing anything to deliberately hurt her.”

“Well, neither could I, but you must admit it was a shocking story.”

“What was a shocking story?” Juliette asked, overhearing them.

Lisette shook her head. “Nothing. Yvette may tell you later, but it’s nothing to worry about now.”

Captain Harrison Fleming looked smugly at his wife. “I told you so.”

Juliette stuck her tongue out at him.

Colette beamed with happiness that her little sister had found love with Jeffrey Eddington. She glanced around the crowded hall, taking in the reaction of the others. Then she turned to her husband. “Everyone seems to be accepting the news of the duke’s marriage fairly well, don’t you think?”

“As well as can be expected,” Lucien agreed. He gave Colette a wry glance. “After what my own parents went through together, nothing about marriages can surprise me anymore.”

“Oh, Lucien,” she said, placing a light kiss on his cheek.

“Congratulations on your sister’s engagement!” Lady Katherine Spencer hurried to Colette’s side, squealing in delight with the news. “I’m so very happy for Yvette and Lord Eddington. I’ve always thought they would be perfect together!”

“That is so kind of you to say, Kate,” Colette said to Yvette’s dear friend. “We’re very pleased with the arrangement.”

Kate’s voice dropped to a furtive whisper. “I was quite afraid Yvette would end up terribly unhappy if she married Lord Shelley. I am relieved to discover that she has changed her mind on that score.”

Colette held up her fan and whispered back, “So are we!”

34

The Night Before Christmas

“You take my breath away, Mrs. Eddington.”

Yvette paused in the doorway of the bedroom, hesitant. “Say it again.”

Jeffrey smiled in amusement. “I like your hair all loose like that. You look beautiful.”

“No.” She shook her head. “The other part.”

“Mrs. Eddington?”

She nodded happily. “Yes.”

The loving look he gave her, made her heart flip over.

He held out his hand to her. “Come to me, Mrs. Eddington.”

Yvette practically flew across the room to him, her delicate white silk nightgown fluttering around her as he scooped her up into his arms.

They had married quietly that morning in a small London chapel with only their families there to witness the event. Wearing a simple gown of the palest pink and carrying a bouquet of white roses, Yvette had walked down the aisle with her two pretty little nieces, Sara Fleming and Mara Reeves, as her flower girls and said the vows that made her Jeffrey Eddington’s wife. No, it hadn’t been quite the grand society wedding she had once envisioned for herself, but it had been perfect in every way, in spite of its hasty and impromptu preparations. She and Jeffrey had decided on the night of the Christmas ball that they didn’t want to wait any longer to be married.

After a wedding celebration at Devon House with her sisters and brothers-in-law, her mother, and the Duke and Duchess of Rathmore, Jeffrey had brought her to his townhouse for the evening. They would have a proper honeymoon after Christmas and were planning a trip to the south of France, Spain, and Italy.

But for tonight, on Christmas Eve, they were finally alone together in Jeffrey’s London townhouse as husband and wife. Well, Yvette supposed it was her home now too. And here she was in Jeffrey’s bedroom, or rather her husband’s bedroom! She had given the room a nod of approval for its surprisingly simple and masculine look, decorated in hues of rich brown and deep blue. The logs glowed with the warmth of the fire to banish the December chill, and candles flickered around the room, casting the room in golden shadows.

Yvette planned to add her own touches at some point, but for now it was perfect.

Jeffrey carried her to the bed, and her heart raced at what she knew was to come. He placed her carefully on the soft, midnight-blue counterpane and lay down beside her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, breathing deeply of his now-familiar and comforting spicy scent.

“No regrets?” she asked.

“None at all. I’m happier than I’ve been in my entire life.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

Never had she felt such peace and contentment. Yvette had always been looking for something grand to make her feel important, thinking that would make her happy. Not satisfied with what she had, she longed for admiration and the acquisition of pretty objects to give her a sense of fulfillment.

But now with Jeffrey, those other things no longer mattered. Everything else paled in comparison to being in love with this man.

“Thank you for forgiving me for the ridiculous wager with James. As I said, I only made it as a reason to be near you, to stop you from marrying Lord Shelley because I knew you wouldn’t be happy with him. I think I loved you even then, but was too stupid to realize it.”

“I’ll agree to that.” She kissed his cheek playfully.

“I’ll have you know that I dissolved the wager with my cousin and refused to accept his payment.” He smiled wickedly at her. “Even though I won.”

She laughed at him. “Yes, you won. You married me by Christmas.”

His expression grew serious. “Yes, I won. By the luck of the heavens, I won the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most loving woman in the world to be my wife, when I don’t deserve her.”

“Jeffrey,” she whispered, overwhelmed by his sweet words. “Please don’t say that you don’t deserve me, because it’s not true. And I’m very sorry that I doubted you.”

“No . . . I was the idiot. And that you still chose to marry me when you could have been a grand duchess leaves me speechless.”

“I chose you because I love you.”

“I love you.”

“And your kisses make me mad with desire for you.”