All She Wants for Christmas by Amy Rose Bennett

Author:Amy Rose Bennett
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2016-05-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

18th December 1816, Arlington Abbey, Little Arlington, Surrey

This must be a dream.

The strange feeling of unreality wrapped around Tessa like a cloying mist as she stood beside Jasper at the altar in Arlington Abbey’s private chapel, and agreed before the vicar, the small congregation of close family and friends, and God, to have this man as her wedded husband. Dressed in a gown of white satin with an overskirt of gold net, she shivered through much of the service, despite the fact braziers were positioned about the interior of the chapel to help combat the biting cold of the wintry December day. Not even Jasper’s appreciative hazel gaze could warm her, or the feel of his large hands upon her gloveless left hand as he slid a plain gold wedding band onto her ring finger, or even when he assisted her to kneel upon a red velvet cushion that had been warmed by heated bricks for the sermon and blessing.

She was grateful, however, that he had not shown any outward sign of revulsion when he’d had to take her satin-gloved right hand during the exchange of vows. But then, he’d had almost two weeks to get used to the idea that his bride was crippled. Not that they’d spoken about it in the preceding fortnight. She’d been too nervous to broach the subject, and Jasper hadn’t brought it up. Either he was too much of a gentleman to speak of such things, or he was reluctant to discuss a matter he might very well find unpalatable, perhaps even abhorrent. She suspected it might be the latter—since their meeting in the drawing room of Penrose House, he had not attempted to kiss her again. He’d been the perfect gentleman—charming and attentive in conversation, considerate and polite. Too polite perhaps; in a way, he seemed distant, and not at all like the Jasper she had first encountered at Emma’s ball.

She should have been pleased by his change in demeanor, but for some reason she was reluctant to examine, she was not.

Indeed, the odd feeling that she was in a dream persisted throughout the entire ceremony and into the late afternoon as she pretended a delight she didn’t feel, smiling and laughing throughout the long, lavish wedding breakfast, not dissimilar to a Christmas feast. As Tessa’s gaze wandered over the enormous wedding cake, the centerpiece of the table, to the platters of roasted duck, goose, and vegetables, the glazed ham, aspic jellies, and the silver sauce boats that the footmen were now clearing away, she appreciated all the trouble Jasper had taken. He was generous to a fault.

Despite the fact it was a small wedding with no more than twenty guests—Christopher, Emma and Aunt Beatrice had naturally attended, along with various close friends and a few relatives of Jasper’s—the wedding feast had been laid out upon a massive mahogany dining table that could seat at least thirty, in the abbey’s Great Hall. A roaring fire helped keep the chill of the afternoon at bay, to some extent, as did the braziers positioned strategically about the stone-walled chamber.

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