The Earl's Wallflower Bride (12 page)

Iris smiled her thanks then left the room. If
only Warren felt the same way.

Chapter Ten

W
arren tapped the edge of the chair in the Duke of Hartwell’s
drawing room. After making small talk with the duke, who insisted
he refer to him as Harrison, he was left alone to wait for Iris.
Harrison had assured him she would be back within the hour, and
that had been a half hour ago.

He would have taken Harrison’s offer up to
visit with him while he was waiting for her, but he was afraid if
he did, then Iris would assume he’d been there to see her father
instead of her. And he wasn’t. Not today. Today his sole intent was
to see her. If that took longer than another half hour, then he’d
continue to wait. After all he’d done to upset her, it was the
least he could do.

His mind unwittingly went back to the time he
came to take Iris to his townhouse for one of his dinner parties.
Back then, he’d come here in order to talk to her father in hopes
of getting into his good graces. The ploy had worked. Even now,
despite the way he’d erred with Iris, her father was quite
welcoming. In fact, Harrison had told him he was looking forward to
having him for a son-in-law.

He could only hope that, in time, Iris would
come around to being happy with him. Maybe today would be a start
in the right direction. He had come here with what he hoped was
going to be good news.

The front door opened, and he rose to his
feet.

“Lady Iris, you have a visitor in the drawing
room,” he heard the footman say.

Warren hurried to the doorway of the drawing
room, making sure she couldn’t see him. No doubt, she wouldn’t be
happy about this once she knew the visitor was him. He’d
specifically asked the footman not to tell her who her visitor was
for that reason.

As he hoped, it worked. She came into the
drawing room. The moment their eyes met, she gasped and turned to
leave. He, however, had anticipated this, so he darted in front of
her and prevented her from leaving.

“I only ask you give me ten minutes of your
time,” he said.

“And if I don’t want to talk to you?” she
asked.

“You don’t have to say anything. I’d like a
chance to talk to you, that’s all.”

He held his breath and waited to see if she
would allow him the time he asked for.

After a long, anxious moment, she said, “Five
minutes.” Then she went to a chair and sat down, crossing her arms
and staring at nothing in particular.

He thought he’d been limited with only ten
minutes, but five was a lot harder to condense everything in. Well,
beggars couldn’t be choosers. He had five minutes, and he’d make do
with it. He quickly thought through his carefully rehearsed speech
and threw out the unnecessary parts.

“First, I want to apologize again for the way
I’ve treated you in the past,” he said as he sat across from
her.

Not that he thought sitting in front of her
would compel her to look at him. Indeed, she only shifted so she
was looking away from him. But he still thought it’d make it harder
for her to disregard what he told her if he was close by.

“I know there’s no excusing the way I ignored
you,” he continued. “My behavior was abhorrent, and you have every
right to hate me. I should have taken more care to listen to you
when you participated in the conversation during the dinners. I
don’t expect you to believe me, at least not right away. It’s going
to take time to earn your trust. But, I promise you that I fully
intend to make things right.”

She still didn’t look at him, but he noticed
her gaze going to the clock. Three minutes left.

Clearing his throat, he said, “I believe you
about last night. Today I talked to Lord Worsley and Lord Durrant,
and I told them we won’t be going to any more dinner parties if
Lord Worsley’s sister and her friend are there. I won’t put you in
another situation where you feel uncomfortable again.”

To his surprise, she looked at him then, and
instead of seeming relieved, she narrowed her eyes at him. “This
might impress my father, but it doesn’t impress me.”

He managed to avoid wincing.
He’d been afraid she had assumed his interest in her stemmed from
the fact that her father was the Duke of Hartwell. And he’d be
lying if he told her that never had anything to do with it. It
was
why
he had
invited her to his dinner parties.

So instead of denying this, he figured
honesty was the best policy. If he didn’t step up and admit things
now, he wasn’t going to have any chance of building credibility
with her.

“I will admit that in the beginning I showed
an interest in you because I liked your father,” he finally said,
weighing each word before he spoke. “He’s a likable gentleman, and
there’s no denying his intelligence. However, since learning of our
engagement and becoming aware of the way I treated you, I am making
an effort to get to know you.”

“How pleasant,” she replied, not hiding the
sarcasm in her voice. “Now you’re going to make an effort to get to
know me.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. In the past I
made it a habit of ignoring you. Unrightfully so. I never took the
time to get to know you. I want to change that.”

“This must pain someone like you to put on
the pretense of liking me. Well, I won’t tolerate you being nice to
me just because you idolize my father.” She stood up and looked
down at him. “There’s no sense in putting yourself through all this
effort. It’s not necessary. I’m bound to marry you whether I like
it or not. If I don’t want to attend a dinner party, I won’t. You
can tell people I’m ill if you want, but I won’t put myself in
another situation like the one I endured last night. Allow me this
one favor without grief, and perhaps we might be able to tolerate
each other.”

His eyebrows furrowed. Just how should he
respond to that? If he tried to explain what he meant by making an
effort to get to know her, she’d probably take it the wrong way.
Well, there was no “probably” about it. She would take it the wrong
way. And that being the case, he was better off avoiding the
topic.

So in the end, he settled for saying, “I
won’t force you to go anywhere that makes you uncomfortable.”

At this, she seemed to relent, albeit
slightly. With another glance at the clock, she said, “Your five
minutes are up. I believe you know the way out.”

She left, giving him no time to respond. Not
that he was surprised. She’d been watching the clock the entire
time. But maybe, just maybe, he’d been able to say something that
helped put her mind at ease about the upcoming marriage. If that
was the case, then the five minutes would have been productive
ones. He had, after all, secured business dealings within that
time. And wasn’t marriage a business arrangement in its own
right?

He released his breath. Well, there was
nothing else he could do at the moment. He’d have more time to talk
to her after they married. Until then, he figured the best thing he
could do was leave her alone. Maybe some time away from him would
help her adjust better to the marriage.

At least, he hoped so. He rose to his feet
and went to thank her father for letting him talk to Iris before he
left the townhouse.

***

The day of the wedding came, and Iris was no
more prepared for it than she’d been when she learned she was to
marry Warren. Despite her protests, her mother and father insisted
she look as beautiful as possible for the morning ceremony in their
townhouse. And worse, after all the ladies who had prettied her up
left, her mother sorted through all the jewelry she’d set out on
Iris’ vanity to complete Iris’ new look.

“I know this isn’t the kind of wedding you
were hoping for,” her mother said. “But your father seems certain
Warren will prove himself to be a worthy husband.”

Iris rolled her eyes, not the least bit shy
about letting Melissa, who was with them, know exactly what she
thought about this arrangement. Yes, Helena, Melissa, and Chloe had
arranged this marriage, so Melissa assumed this was going to lead
to good things further down the road. But they didn’t know Warren
the way Iris did. He’d say and do anything to please her
father.

And that little trick he pulled when she’d
allowed him five minutes to talk to her had definitely pleased her
father. “This is a good sign,” her father had told her. “He’s
taking an interest in you.”

No, Warren wasn’t. She’d wanted to argue with
her father, but what was the point? He was far too excited about
the marriage to listen to reason.

Her mother came over to her with a necklace
with a citrine gemstone on it. “This will match the golden color in
your dress.”

She grimaced.

“Oh come now,” her mother soothed. “Your
father has good judgment. If he thinks Warren will make a suitable
match, then he will.”

Iris let out a heavy sigh and took it. “I’ll
put it on, but it won’t influence what kind of marriage I’ll
have.”

Her mother opened her mouth as if to protest,
hesitated, then offered a reassuring smile. “I know. Necklaces
don’t have magical properties. It won’t make Warren fall in love
with you.”

“I don’t care if Warren falls in love with me
or not,” Iris snapped. She stiffened, surprised she should use that
kind of tone with her mother when her mother hadn’t been trying to
hurt her. Clearing her throat, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
for it to come out like that.”

“I understand. Gentlemen have no idea how
difficult it is for ladies when they marry. They get to decide so
much of our futures for us. All we can do is watch while it
happens.”

“May I intervene?” Melissa spoke up.

Iris and her mother glanced her way, and
noting the caring expression in Melissa’s eyes, Iris indicated
Melissa could intervene.

“I know how you feel,” Melissa told Iris. “I
didn’t want to marry Lord Toplyn on my wedding day. In fact, I was
in tears most of the time. I even wore black to protest the
union.”

Iris’ mother gasped. “I heard about a lady
who did that. Are you telling me that was you?”

Melissa let out a chuckle.
“I haven’t heard of anyone else who’s done it, so yes, I think it
was me. I believe the
Tittletattle
had it on the front page.”

“It did,” her mother said. “Don’t tell
anyone, but I like to read the scandalsheets from time to time. It
relaxes me.” She directed her gaze to Iris. “Don’t tell your father
I said that.”

Iris felt a smile tug at her lips at her
mother’s joke. But only a small one. She didn’t have enough
enthusiasm to muster up any more than that.

“I think we’ve all read
the
Tittletattle
at one time or another,” Melissa replied. “Though I don’t
expect most will admit it.”

Iris didn’t care much for it herself, but
that was probably one of the reasons why she was never as close to
her mother as she was with her father.

“It’s also easier to read
about scandal than to be the object of one,” Melissa added. “I
think sometimes people read the
Tittletattle
to see if their names
are in it. If not, they breathe a huge sigh of relief and go about
their business.”

“Well, for what it’s worth,” Iris’ mother
began, “I felt sorry for you when you had to marry Lord Toplyn.
Just as I sympathize with Iris.”

“I sympathize with her, too.” Then Melissa
turned her attention to Iris and continued, “When Warren came to
see me, Helena, and Chloe, he didn’t give us much to go on as to
what type of lady he was looking for. All he wanted was someone to
give him an heir.”

“Something most titled gentlemen are
concerned with,” Iris’ mother added.

“Yes, that’s true. And Warren was no
different. However, after further questioning him, it became
apparent he would like a lady who can hold her own. I don’t think
he’s the type of gentleman who could be happy in a marriage with a
lady who is blatantly feminine.”

Iris’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t see how
that is a compliment.”

“It is,” Melissa assured her. “Oftentimes
when people come to see us, they don’t know what they want. They
have a vague idea of what kind of person might make them happy, but
what they need is for someone to ask the right questions to help
pull out the truth for them. I don’t think you’ll be happy with a
gentleman who only wants you on his arm in public. I think you’d
like someone you can have heartfelt conversations with. Likewise, I
think Warren will do better with a lady who has substance. He
wouldn’t be happy with someone if she can’t manage a decent
conversation with him, and I think you two share so many interests,
you’re bound to find common ground, even if it’ll take a
while.”