Rebel Dreams by Patricia Rice

Author:Patricia Rice [Rice, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: historical, romance
ISBN: 9781611384604
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2015-02-03T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

The night before the wedding, the small Wellington front parlor was filled to overflowing with females garbed in their best petticoats and ribbons, giggling and gossiping and lending their words of wisdom to the bride-to-be. The men had migrated to the newly cleaned study to sip their port and argue over politics, with an occasional spicy jest for the groom. For this last gathering before the nuptials, only the bride’s closest friends had been invited, and there was a surprising lack of powdered hair and wigs, perfumes, and silk.

Alex leaned against the bookshelves and sipped his wine, but he kept his conversation to a minimum while listening to the ladies in the next room. This last week of tension had been pure hell. He was still uncertain that Evelyn meant to go through with the ceremony and not disappear in a puff of smoke or a rain of cannonballs.

The tinkling notes of a spinet from the front room gave Alex his reason to leave. Several of the younger men followed him out. Music was made for dancing and there was a room full of attractive ladies waiting to be chosen.

Alex found his lady escaping into the kitchen. He caught her elbow, and Evelyn glanced up in surprise, but she didn’t seem displeased.

She smiled and set aside her teacup. “I thought if I heard one more smirking reference to our wedding night, I would have to inform the company that I was already acquainted with my wifely duties and enjoyed them very well. I fear I have not been blushing properly.”

Relief swept through Alex that she really meant to go through with the wedding. With a smile, he steered her toward the back door. “Shall I restore your blushes for you? I rather enjoy them, you know.”

The late-October night was frosty, but they wore velvets and wools and carried the heat from the house with them. The spinet had been joined by a fiddle. Soon they would be missed, but not just yet. Alex swept Evelyn into his arms and carried her through the steps of a jig in sheer jubilation, swinging her until her laugh broke through the night air.

This was their last day of freedom. Tomorrow they would be wedded for eternity. Their exhilaration was needed to keep fears at bay.

She was soft and sweet in his arms, a swaying reed that filled Alex’s senses with seductive music. He gazed down into liquid violet eyes and drew his hand through the silkiness of disheveled chestnut tresses.

It seemed incredible to believe that he could find a woman as lovely and intelligent as this one and that she would agree to marry him, even knowing of his dubious past. He didn’t deserve this reward for bad behavior, and he greatly feared losing her, but for now he would enjoy the promise while he could.

When the reel ended, Alex pulled Evelyn into his arms to seek the kiss she had been avoiding all week. He knew Cranville’s aristocratic presence made her nervous, but he would no longer be denied.

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