Pleasures of a Tempted Lady (40 page)

They’d asked more questions. Mr. Briggs’s answers centered around Jessica—around her desires and needs, and most of all, her happiness—impressing all of them.

Even Phoebe piped in. “How will you respond to her flighty moods and outrageous ideas, Mr. Briggs?”

He had to smile at that, making it clear to all of them that he had indeed been witness to Jessica’s flightiness as well as her outrageousness. “I daresay it’s impossible to control Miss Jessica. All I can say is that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her from danger.”

Will asked the final question. “Do you love her, David?”

Mr. Briggs, who was already pale from nerves, grew even whiter. Tiny beads of sweat had broken out over his forehead, which he didn’t seem to notice—because he didn’t bother wiping them away with the handkerchief he clutched in his hand.

He swallowed hard. Then he said, in a very gruff voice, “I do love her. More than… anything.”

Color had flooded his face. Her chest tight with compassion for him, Meg had been the first to speak. “I will gladly give you my permission to marry my sister, Mr. Briggs.”

The others had chimed in with their permission as well, then they’d gathered around and congratulated him, the ladies holding his hands and kissing his flushed cheek, and the men slapping him on the back.

They’d called for Jessica—which didn’t take long, since she was hovering outside the door and not in her room, where she’d been told to go—and they’d all hugged and kissed. They’d dined together, and at dinner, they’d agreed to have a double wedding in the autumn. Hopefully, by then, they’d be free and clear of the assassination conspiracy they’d uncovered, and they’d all be ready to begin again. What better way to begin than with a double wedding?

Smiling gently, Olivia worked on pinning Jessica’s veil. Her dress and veil were twins to Meg’s. Her jewelry was exactly the same, too, except for the stones—rubies rather than emeralds.

“Rubies suit you,” Meg said quietly. The sisters stood side by side, gazing at themselves in Serena’s large looking glass.

Jessica grinned. “And the emeralds suit you, Meg.”

From her position on the sofa behind them, Serena gave a soft snort. “I daresay emeralds and rubies suit any lady.”

Meg laughed. “You’re probably right.”

Ever since she’d returned to London with her family,
her relationships with her sisters had grown closer. It seemed that when she’d rid herself of the walls she’d built up to keep Will out, she’d allowed her family in as well. Now, her four sisters were what they’d once been to her—her friends, her confidantes, her
family
. Especially Serena.

Meg turned away from the looking glass to look at Serena, who was holding a dozing William in her arms. Meg had been present at William’s birth, and she and Will had agreed to serve as his godparents.

“He’s asleep?”

“For now.” Serena gave a low laugh. “It never lasts for as long as I’d like.”

“Well, that’s true of any baby, I think,” Phoebe said. “One would think they sleep all the time, but the truth is, they hardly do at all.”

“But Margie is almost a year and a half old,” Jessica said. “Surely she’s sleeping enough now.”

“Oh, hardly.” Phoebe hesitated, then grinned at them. “Well, since we’re all here, and since it’s such a special day, I should tell you my news—”

“You’re with child again!” Serena finished for her.

Phoebe’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

“Oh, I’ve watched you go through it once, Phoebe. You’ve a certain look about you, you know.”

“A rather green look, I daresay.”

Serena laughed. “No, not green at all. Glowing, more like.”

Meg and Olivia went to their sister and hugged her. “Such wonderful news,” Olivia said.

“I’m so glad you told us today, Phoebe,” Meg said. “It makes the day that much more special.”

Unable to get up without waking William, Serena blew her a kiss.

Jessica hugged her as well, but she said sagely, “If you’re complaining about lack of sleep, it’s only going to get worse.”

Phoebe gave her an all-knowing grin. “Perhaps. But it’s worth it, you know. Maybe you’ll discover that soon.”

“I certainly hope not!” Jessica exclaimed. “I wish to have many adventures, and plenty of sleep, before I’m tied down by toddlers scampering about.”

“Oh, I have no doubt you’ll have scamps as children, Jess,” Serena said dryly.

Meg laughed.

“Oh, do hurry with my hair, Olivia.”

“Why are you so impatient, Jess?” Phoebe asked. “You’re so restless and fidgety.”

“More so than usual, certainly,” Serena added.

“The four of you cannot understand what it’s like!” Jessica moaned.

“What what’s like?” Meg asked.

“David… he’s… Oh, he’s such a gentleman!” Jessica said the word “gentleman” as if it were a curse.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Olivia asked, her voice slightly slurred because she was holding a pin between her lips.

“No,” Jessica said miserably. “It’s wretched.”

“Are you mad?” Phoebe asked, thoroughly confused.

“But why?” Meg asked.

Jessica closed her eyes. “He has refused to bed me until we’re properly wed.”

“What?” Phoebe exclaimed.

“The anticipation is going to kill me,” Jessica said miserably.

Phoebe burst into laughter.

Meg fought her lips twitching into a smile. “Oh, Jess,” she said softly.

Olivia’s smile was broad. “He
is
a gentleman.”

Meg glanced at Serena. She was doubled over her infant son, her shoulders heaving with laughter. She looked up at them, her eyes bright. “Oh,” she gasped. “I’m so sorry, Jess. But I can’t”—she gasped for air—“help it. It’s too rich. That out of all of us,
you
should be the only one to wait until you were married to lose your virginity.”

“You have always been the wildest of us all,” Olivia said, “and the most beautiful.”

“My innocent baby sister,” Phoebe gasped through her laughter.

“It’s not funny,” Jessica groused. “And it’s not my fault, it’s
his
. Why does he have to be so blasted honorable?”

“Because,” Olivia said, “he loves you, dear Jess. He wants to do right by you.”

“He does indeed.” Meg finally allowed her smile to bloom on her face. “I think it’s lovely that he insisted you wait. This day will be so special for you, in the end, in so many different ways.”

“Everyone thought it would be you who’d still be a virgin on her wedding day, Meg,” Jess said, “because your character was so upright, so moral.”

Phoebe snorted. “You fooled us all.”

“You did, indeed,” Serena said.

Meg just smiled.

“Are you finished?” Jessica asked Olivia.

“I am.”

Jessica released a breath. “Good. Are we ready, then?”

Serena looked at the clock on the mantel. “It’s still too early, Jess. All the guests won’t have arrived yet.”

With a low growl of impatience, Jessica flopped down into one of Serena’s soft velvet armchairs.

“Don’t worry,” Phoebe said, “you’ll be bedded soon enough. I’m sure David is equally impatient.”

Jessica made an indecipherable noise.

“Oh, I imagine he is,” Olivia said in her quiet way. “Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

“Oh, yes,” Phoebe said. “I have. Rather like she’s a slab of tender meat he wishes to devour.”

“Phoebe!” the four sisters exclaimed.

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”

They looked at one another, all of them grinning like loons. “It is true,” Serena said with a chuckle.

There was a knock at the door, and a maid poked her head in. “She’s arrived, my lady. Shall I have her wait in the drawing room?”

“Uh…” Serena glanced around at the rest of them. “What do you think?”

Phoebe groaned. “I’d rather hoped she’d appear after the ceremony. I suppose the unfavorable winds didn’t slow her ship as much as we’d hoped.”

Meg glanced at Jessica, who looked into her eyes and nodded. “Have her come up,” she murmured.

Serena held Meg’s gaze for a long moment. Then she nodded to the maid. “Show her up, please, Flannery.”

The sisters stood still and unmoving as they waited. Moments later, the door burst open.

The sisters didn’t move as their mother came to an abrupt halt in the doorway, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Look at all my beautiful, lovely daughters!”

Then, her gaze latched on to Meg, and she burst into tears and rushed forward, holding her arms out. “Serena!” she cried. “My heavens. For so long I thought you were dead—drowned—and here you are, healthy and beautiful as ever, and still looking so very much like your sister.”

Meg met Serena’s eyes over her mother’s shoulder. So, that was how it was to be. Even their mother wouldn’t admit to what she’d done. Henceforth, the real Meg was to be Serena, and Serena was to be Meg.

Slowly, Meg smiled.

It didn’t matter. She had Will. She had Jake and Thomas. She had Serena, and Olivia, Phoebe, and Jessica. All of them loved her and knew her for herself.

She pulled back and kissed her mother’s cheek. “Mother.” And then her own eyes flooded with tears. “I never… never thought I’d see you again.”

And that was the truth. At least her mother was here, and Meg was no longer on the run from Caversham, afraid to involve her loved ones. She was free. Free to be with them again. Free to love Will.

Her mother clasped her face in her palms and kissed her lips, her own eyes streaming tears. “To see you… alive, my dear, darling daughter.”

And then, Meg’s sisters were surrounding them, even Serena, who had, for once, successfully transferred William to his cradle. And they were all hugging and crying.

“Meg,” their mother said, turning to Serena. “You’ve done so very well for yourself. You’re a countess.”

“Yes, Mother, I am,” Serena said, smiling.

“And Olivia, a duchess.” She kissed Olivia on the lips.
“My dear, dear child. I knew there was a duke out there for you.”

They all laughed at that. Olivia’s health had been so poor when they were girls that their mother had despaired of her finding a husband at all—or living long enough to find one.

“And I shan’t forget you, darling Phoebe. I knew you’d find a proper, honest gentleman to marry.”

“That I did, Mother,” Phoebe said. Then she added under her breath, “Even if you’re the only person in the world who will ever call him a gentleman.”

But their mother had turned again to Meg, and she took Meg’s and Jessica’s hands in her own. “I came just in time, didn’t I? I told Geraldine’s coachman that he must hurry, that he must rush all the way to Sussex so that I could reach my darling daughters’ wedding in time.”

“You’re just in time, Mother,” Jessica said. “We’re just about to go downstairs and to the chapel.”

“Oh, Jessica, my love, you’re marrying a prosperous business owner. Well done, darling!”

Jessica widened her eyes at Meg. “Prosperous business owner? Where did you hear that, Mother?”

“Geraldine, of course.”

“Of course,” Serena said dryly. Aunt Geraldine was their mother’s sister, who was just about as intent on having her nieces marry well as their mother was. Nothing was more important to the older women than their family’s image in society.

“And Serena, at last,” their mother said, turning back to Meg. “Marrying our dear Captain Langley after Meg jilted him for the earl. How gallant of you, Serena.”

“Goodness gracious, Mother,” Meg said, “Serena didn’t jilt—”

Their mother released their hands and raised her own into the air as if praying in gratitude. “All of my dreams as a mother have come true at last. By the end of today, all five of my daughters will have married well.”

They all stared at her for a second. And then Serena smiled broadly. “We
have
married well, Mother. We have all married for love.”

The ceremony took place in the small chapel on the edge of Jonathan’s property. The entire household had crammed into the narrow seats. The Donovans and their friends filled most of the pews, but David’s six brothers and their wives had come, too, and took the pews at the back of the chapel. It was a solid first step in reconciliation between David and his family.

Beatrice served as a bridesmaid while Jake and Thomas and the three married Donovan sisters sat in the front row with their mother, wearing the utmost in fashion and her face glowing with happiness, as the couples made their vows: first Jessica and David, then Meg and Will.

“With this ring I thee wed,” Will said softly, looking down at Meg, his eyes solemn and dark. The people around them seemed to blur, dim, and then disappear altogether. There was only the two of them here, joining together in this very special way that only would happen to her once in Meg’s lifetime. “With my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”

There. He’d done it. He’d just made her another promise, and she knew, deep in her heart, that he’d keep it, just
as he’d kept his last promise to her. “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.”

He took her hand and cradled it for a moment in his larger, callused palm, and then he slid the ring on her finger. They had bought it in Brighton just last week, when Will had remembered that they would need a ring.

It was a simple gold band. It was a symbol of the endless nature of their love for each other.

It was perfect.

She smiled up at him. Her husband.

The vicar told both couples to kneel, and they all prayed together, then the priest sang a psalm and prayed again. Then he gave a sermon, and the congregation took communion.

Finally, the two couples rose and faced the people sitting in the pews. The vicar introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. David Briggs and Captain and Mrs. William Langley.

Organ music played joyously through the recessional. Meg went with Will first, her arm entwined with his. They walked slowly, smiling back at all the happy faces around them. Jake, the limits of his patience reached, rushed up to them as they passed where he was sitting with Phoebe and Sebastian. Thomas, not to be outdone, joined him.

Jessica and David followed, also arm in arm, then their sisters and brothers-in-law and their mother, and finally the rest of the congregation.