The Pursuit Of Marriage (35 page)

“Is she talking about us?” Christian said under his breath.

“Hush,” his mother said.

Lucy leaned toward Mr. Drummond, her eyes wide with delight. “It’s like a tent. I like it. It’s so adventurous and romantic.”

“—would allow herself to be caught in a situation like this. Indeed she would not be in a situation like this in the first place.” Lady Bellingham drew herself up and glared. “Caught practically in the act. Why, when word gets out—”

“No one will hear anything of this, Mother,” Miss Bellingham said firmly. “As I just said, it’s a game. Besides, he’s going to marry her. That’s why we’re here, remember? She’s won and I’ve lost and I shan’t have you making more of this than it is. Now that,” she cast Cassie a brilliant smile, “would indeed be wrong.”

Cassie shook her head. “Regardless, your actions were wrong.”

“That’s very narrow-minded of you, and I suppose some people might consider them wrong, but do take a moment to consider the stakes. Lord Berkley has a good title, a fine fortune, and is most attractive. He has everything a woman could possibly want. Beyond that, he has a look about him that makes you want to ruffle his hair and then kiss him quite thoroughly.”

“Dear God, take me now,” Lady Bellingham moaned. “She’s a tart.”

“There, there, Frances.” Cassie’s mother patted the other lady’s hand. “She may well be a tart, but I daresay, as long as you watch her closely, she should still make an excellent match.”

“Do I really?” Reggie said with obvious pleasure.

“Indeed you do.” Miss Bellingham nodded. “And I do so love a man with a dangerous reputation.”

“Felicity Bellingham!” Lady Bellingham’s eyes widened.

“Oh come now, Mother, I daresay you felt the same way in your youth.”

“Never.” Lady Bellingham’s staunch denial, however, belied the distinct blush on her cheeks. Cassie stared in disbelief. Apparently Miss Bellingham had as great a penchant for speaking her mind as Cassie did.

Young Lord Bellingham’s longing gaze fixed on Lucy. “If you like this room, then I like it too.”

“Nice camel,” St. Stephens said wryly to his wife.

Delia grinned. “That was my idea.”

“I have a rather dangerous reputation,” Leo said casually.

“Do you think she’s going to leave it this way?” Lady Berkley’s worried gaze traveled the room.

“Yes, I know.” Miss Bellingham tilted her head and considered Leo. “And you have paid me a great deal of attention as of late. I assume it was to distract me from my pursuit of Lord Berkley?”

“Miss Bellingham, might I point out nearly every gentleman who has had the good fortune to cross your path has paid you a great deal of attention.” Leo flashed her his infamous smile. “I am, after all, only a mere mortal.”

“I daresay there is nothing mere about you,” Miss Bellingham murmured. “You may call on me if you wish. You may well be precisely what I’m looking for.”

Lady Bellingham moaned. “A brazen tart.”

“With the exception of his finances,” Reggie muttered.

Lord Pennington groaned.

At once, all eyes fixed on Reggie. He cleared his throat and turned to address Cassie’s father. “Lord William, as I am to be a member of your family, I want you to know I stand ready to assist you financially in any way necessary.”

“That’s very generous of you, my boy.” William Effington studied Reggie curiously. “But I can assure you my finances are quite sound.”

Reggie’s brows drew together in confusion. “But I was under the impression…” He stared at Christian.

“I was given to believe your family was experiencing financial difficulties.”

Christian gazed innocently at the ceiling.

Leo snorted. “That’s absurd.”

“My children are each the beneficiary of a substantial trust. For my daughters, it’s in the form of a dowry. My sons receive it at the age of seven and twenty.” Father’s gaze shifted to Christian. “If, of course, they demonstrate they can handle it responsibly.”

“I still have a few years left,” Christian said under his breath. Lucy grinned wickedly. “As do I.”

“But Cassie is, well, in business.” Reggie shook his head. “As she charges a great deal, I assumed it was because—”

“It’s because I am worth a great deal.” Cassie shrugged in a most immodest manner. “Besides, it’s not as if I’m keeping the money.”

“She’s giving it to me,” Gwen said with a smug smile.

Lord Pennington’s brow rose. “You don’t need money.”

“No, but women like Gwen do.” Cassie and Gwen traded smiles. “Or rather women who find themselves in the situation Gwen did. Women raised with certain expectations who, because of the laws of inheritance or nasty twists of fates, are suddenly left with few options in life save to live off of the generosity of their relations.”

“We’re going to fund, oh, an academy of sorts, to help such women.” Excitement rang in Gwen’s voice.

“We haven’t decided on all the details. It could be that the academy helps them develop skills to earn their own way.”

“Or, for those who prefer, sponsors them for a season or two, perhaps even provides them with a small dowry so they can marry well,” Cassie added. “After all, they were raised to do exactly that.”

“Something of a…a school then.” Delia grinned. “For the pursuit of marriage.”

“Exactly.” Gwen grinned. “It was Cassie’s idea, and I think it’s brilliant.”

“As do I.” Cassie’s mother beamed. “I am quite proud of you, Cassandra.”

“I agree, and I think it’s an admirable cause.” Drummond nodded. “I should be happy to donate to such an enterprise.”

“My, you are perfect.” Delia gazed in admiration.

“Not at all.” Drummond smiled in a humble manner that was, of course, perfect. He turned to Miss Bellingham. “Miss Bellingham, I too would like permission to call on you.”

“You may, of course. However,” Miss Bellingham studied him for a moment, “I am not especially interested in perfection. And I fear you have no reputation at all.”

Drummond smiled in a decidedly wicked and not at all perfect manner. “The day is young yet, Miss Bellingham.”

“Still, while I have heard you are heir to a significant fortune, you have no title.” Miss Bellingham shook her head regretfully. “Mr. Effington at least is a member of a most prestigious and noble family.”

“She’s extremely mercenary.” Leo grinned. “But I like her.”

“Would it help you to know that while my father was the second son of an earl, his brother recently died without issue.” Drummond shrugged modestly. “It therefore appears I will indeed have a title one day.”

“Perfect,” Reggie muttered.

“An earl would be nice,” Lady Bellingham murmured.

“However, should none of this prove fruitful”—Cassie’s mother exchanged glances with Reggie’s mother, who nodded her encouragement—“we have a group of ladies, a society, if you will, who may be helpful—”

“I hate to interrupt, as this has all been most entertaining.” A gentleman Cassie hadn’t noticed stood by the door and raised a hand. “But I believe I was asked to perform a wedding ceremony?”

Reggie glanced at Lord Pennington, who mouthed the word, “Vicar.”

“Well?” Reggie took Cassie’s hands and grinned down at her. “Will you indeed marry me this very moment, Miss Effington?”

Her heart caught, and she stared up at him. “You do promise to reform, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

Stared into his wonderful gray eyes and knew she could gaze into them for the rest of her days.

“No more infamous Lord Berkley?”

“The infamous Lord Berkley is most definitely retired.”

“You will give up all your wicked ways?”

“For you.” He nodded firmly. “Every one.”

“Although there’s no need to be hasty.” She cast him a wicked smile of her own. “Perhaps you could retain one or two.”

He leaned toward her and lowered his voice for her ears alone. “I shall confine all my wicked ways and infamous pursuits to you and you alone.”

“Then I will indeed marry you.” She swallowed hard and wondered at the feeling of absolute happiness that threatened to overwhelm her. “This very moment.”

The ceremony was mercifully brief—not that it mattered, for Cassie scarcely heard the words. It had the feel of a dream. A delightful, unimagined dream that she hoped—no, indeed she knew—would last forever.

Her path down the road to scandal had taken her straight to marriage and the future she had always wanted. And the man she had been convinced would not suit her at all was indeed the perfect man for her. He was not who she’d thought he was, and she would be eternally grateful that fate had thrust them together and forced her to see the man behind the reputation. The man who was, and would always be, her love. Her life. Her Lord Perfect.

The moment they were declared man and wife, Higgins and several footmen circled the room with trays of champagne.

“This is an auspicious occasion, you know.” Reggie gazed down at her with a private smile that promised they would finish later what they had begun on the pillows. A thrill of anticipation raced through her.

“How can it be otherwise? It’s our wedding.” She stared up at him with unabashed longing and desire. “And our wedding night.”

He bent to brush a kiss across her lips. “Indeed it is. Beyond that,” he grinned and nodded in Higgins’s direction, “Higgins is smiling.”

Cassie laughed. The butler did indeed have something that closely resembled a smile on his face. And a rather satisfied one at that.

“If I could have your attention, I should like to propose a toast.” Lord Pennington raised his glass. “To the eccentric Miss Effington and the infamous Lord Berkley, now Lord and Lady Berkley.” He grinned at his old friend. “May they fly forever and may their feet never touch the ground.”

Reggie took her hand and raised it to his lips. Her gaze met his, and Cassie knew they had tumbled forward, hand in hand, over the precipice and would fly together for the rest of their days.

“And,” Leo raised his glass, “to the game Miss Bellingham so gracefully detailed, which, whether or not we admit it, we are all players in.” He leveled a grin at his sister and her husband. “To the pursuit of love, and the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of marriage.

“And God help us all.”