The Bad Luck Wedding Night, Bad Luck Wedding series #5 (Bad Luck Abroad trilogy) (13 page)

"I was the nice one," Gillian said, sweeping into the room along with Nick's youngest Scottish sister, fourteen-year-old Robyn.

Nick choked on his coffee. Robyn said, "That's a lie. Flora always has been the good twin. I, of course, take after her."

As Nick started coughing, the young girl added, "You haven't told them who Sarah is yet, have you, Nick? I was afraid I'd miss it. Jake said to go ahead without him. He's taking Scooter for a walk."

Nick grimaced, knowing what would come next. Leave it to the baby of the family to spill the beans.

"What about Sarah?" demanded Melanie. "Do you know who she is? How do you know about her?"

Aurora threw him a green-eyed glare. "You told your Scots sisters but not your English ones?"

"Girls, please," Nick said, wishing he had a splash of whisky to add to his coffee. He should have anticipated that Robyn would know about his wife. Robyn would have learned the detail from Jake or Gillian, and while they could keep their lips fastened, Robyn was another kettle of fish.

Charlotte set down her cup abruptly. "You know, I don't appreciate your speaking poorly about Lady Pratt She is to be my mother-in-law soon, and that makes her my family. One shouldn't speak so about family."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Charlotte, keep up. We're talking about Nicholas's mystery woman now."

"I'm not I'm talking about my fiancé's mother. I want you to stop being mean about Rodney's mother," she continued, her voice growing a bit shrill. "I'll be happy at Breadsall Manor. Lady Pratt will learn to accept my place in the household. Rodney has promised."

The other sisters all shared a look, then Robyn reached over and patted her knee. "Of course he will, Char. I like Rodney. He tells funny jokes."

Melanie muttered, "Living with the Dragon Lady, he needs a good sense of humor."

Gillian shot the others a chastising look. "Rodney is a good man. We all think so. He'll do right by Charlotte. Otherwise, he'll answer to Nicholas. Won't he, Nicholas?"

Nick simply sighed. Not for the first time, he wondered if he wanted children of his own, after all.
Maybe if I just have boys it'll be all right Quieter, certainly.

"Your sister isn't marrying Dragon Lady Pratt, she's marrying the Dragon Lady's son," he said. "Lord Pratt is a good man. Young, true. But he'll learn. He and Charlotte will learn together—if they give themselves the time to adjust. That's the only interfering I plan to do—to make certain they have a nice, long honeymoon. Just the two of them, with no interruptions. Every marriage deserves that."

"I quite agree," Aurora declared, shooting her brother a blistering glare. "No one should have their honeymoon interrupted. I know how horrible that is."

"You weren't on your honeymoon, Aurora," Gillian pointed out. "Nicholas caught up with you and Willie Hart before you married."

Aurora gave a dismissive wave. "A minor detail."

"Not in the least," Nick inserted. Anxious to change the subject, he said, "So, do you wish to hear about Sarah?"

Breathing a sigh of relief at the sudden quiet, he drained his coffee, then set down his cup. Five feminine faces gazed at him with varying degrees of expectancy. Warmth filled his chest. This was his family: Charlotte, Melanie, and Aurora. Gillian and Robyn. Only Flora and her bairns were missing.

And Sarah. Despite everything, he'd always thought of her as family.

"Yes we do, brother," Melanie said. "Who is she, and why is she here ?"

Gillian gave him an encouraging smile. Robyn giggled softly. The pretty speech Nick had spent half the night composing flew right out of his mind. So he spoke the only sentence he had left. "Sarah is my wife."

For a long moment, silence reigned like a queen. Then Aurora asked, "You are referring to the woman who punched you? The muddy one?"

Robyn piped up. "She was supposed to meet Nicholas at Rowanclere before Christmas, but she was late."

"That's why you went to Rowanclere in December?" Melanie asked, her eyes flashing. "To bring home a wife? And it slipped your mind to tell us about it?"

Charlotte nibbled worriedly at her lower lip. "Rodney's mother was quite upset last night. She asked why a harpy came to call at Glencoltran Castle."

"Harpy?" Gillian snorted." 'Tis the pot calling the kettle black, that is. Lady Pratt canna see past the nose on her face. The girl is Quality through and through. Tell them, Nicholas."

"Quality?" Melanie repeated. "She wasn't dressed properly, and she didn't act mannerly. I guess she might be pretty enough beneath the muss and mud, but I cannot picture her at one of the queen's drawing rooms."

Aurora spoke up. "She does have courage, though. She punched Nicholas right in the mouth in front of people who were strangers to her. I always admire courage. For me, personally, that's a sign of Quality."

Charlotte asked, "Who is she, Nicholas? When did you marry? Why haven't you mentioned her? How soon do we get to meet her?"

Nick made a show of clearing his voice. "If you ladies will button your lips for a few minutes, I'll answer your questions. Most of them, anyway."

Like a teacher signaling the class to quiet, he folded his arms and waited. When finally he had their complete attention, he began. "I know that you know pieces of this story from others, but you've never heard it from me."

He spoke briefly of learning of his true parentage and the subsequent visit to Hunterbourne. "I saw you playing in the garden that day, Charlotte, but he refused to let me meet any of his other children."

The girls shared a look of pain but remained quiet. Nick continued with the marquess's offer to pay Nick a regular remittance if he'd leave the country and stay away. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was angry at the Rosses for hiding the truth from me and had nowhere else to go."

He told them how he'd made his way to Texas, and about the note that arrived from their father telling him that the entire Ross family had been killed.

"Why did Father lie about that, Nicholas?" Aurora asked, tears glistening in her eyes.

He had no answer for her, and he refused to state his own bitter conclusions. The third marquess had shown a different side of himself to his daughters, and Nick didn't want to destroy their illusions. He wouldn't he to them, but he wouldn't tell them everything, either. So he answered that he didn't know and continued his story with how he happened to meet Miss Sarah Simpson at a Literary Society meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I was lonely and grieving for my family," he told them. "Sarah made me laugh. She was pretty and fun and good-hearted. She made me feel that I belonged. I needed that. I liked it."

He'd also liked the way she made him feel randy, but that wasn't something he'd tell his sisters. "Fort Worth seemed like a good place to live, and I asked Sarah to settle down with me."

"That sounds very dry," said Melanie with a sniff. "I hope your actual proposal was more romantic?"

Actually, to be technical about it, Sarah had proposed to him, the reason being something about an unusually large number of upcoming weddings and the need to book the church in advance. Nick grinned at the memory. She'd been so seductively coy about the entire thing. He'd agreed without a second thought.

"Our wedding was the very picture of romance," he replied, sidestepping his sister's question. "You'd have approved. In fact, you'd have been envious. Sarah has a talent for planning such events and has made a successful business of it. It's one of the reasons I invited her here. I'm hoping she'll help with your arrangements, Charlotte."

Charlotte's brows arched. "Oh?"

"I like that," Melanie said, nodding. "That Wilhoit woman who helped with the last one was adequate enough, but she has no imagination. And remember Viscount Hollis's daughter's wedding? Why, the flowers were wilted and the—"

"Melanie, please," Aurora protested. "We want to hear more about Nicholas's wife. What happened after the wedding? Did
her
brother come and steal
her
away before the honeymoon, too?"

He scowled at his rebellious younger sister, the one for whom his heart had a soft spot because she was so very much like him. "Sarah and I did not attempt elopement. We had a beautiful church wedding. Her uncle walked her down the aisle, and her mother cried into her handkerchief in the front pew."

As for what happened after that, he'd take up voluntary residence in a Khan's rat pit before he'd give them too many details. Nor did he wish to dampen the mood of the day by speaking of the riding accident that killed their other brothers, so he chose his words carefully. "A message from your father arrived. He offered me a place in the family, and I wanted to accept. Sarah understandably didn't wish to leave her home and widowed mother, so we parted ways."

Melanie and Aurora shared a considering look. Charlotte studied him like a bug beneath a microscope. "So all this time you've been married to this Sarah, but you haven't lived together? What kind of a marriage is that?"

"Not much of one, I will admit."

Aurora wrinkled her nose. "Do you mean she's spent all these years waiting for you? No wonder she hit you the first time she saw you again."

"I think she used great restraint limiting her weapon to only a fist," Gillian added.

All five females nodded at that. Nick glared at them, while Charlotte asked, "Why is she here now? You said helping with my wedding was only one reason."

"Oh, Nicholas," Melanie breathed. "Does Lady Steele know this tidbit of truth?"

Aurora piped up. "Does your wife know about Lady Steele?"

Avoiding a direct response, Nick sought Gillian's eyes for support. "I sent for Sarah so we could legally dissolve the marriage."

Charlotte gasped, then rose to her feet. "No, Nick. You don't mean... divorce!"

"Divorce!" his sisters exclaimed as one. Gillian grimaced, Robyn frowned, Aurora gasped, and Melanie groaned.

Charlotte looked as though she might lose her breakfast. "The scandal. Lady Pratt. Oh, my."

He closed his eyes. He couldn't worry them this way. It wasn't fair. Sharply, he said, "No divorce. It won't require a divorce."

As his sisters shared looks of confusion, Nick felt heat steal up his neck. Ach, this had become entirely too personal. What man wanted to admit he hadn't managed to make love to his bride on their wedding night—to his sisters, no less? Grimly he said, "We will have the marriage annulled and avoid a huge scandal, and that's all I'm going to say on the topic."

He set down his coffee cup, propped his elbows on his knees, and leaned forward earnestly. "However, to ensure it works out that way, I need your help, girls. Sarah doesn't know why I asked her to come here. In fact, she believes she is here mainly to help Charlotte plan her nuptials. I am asking you not to mention anything about what I've said to you here this morning."

"Why?" Aurora, ever the troublemaker, asked. "Do you want to keep her?"

Nick ground his teeth together. Be damned if he'd answer that question. Be damned if he
had
an answer to that question. He rose to his feet, scowling. "My reasons are my own, and I'll thank you to remember that. I'm asking for the support of my family. Do I have it? Can you keep your tattie-traps shut for just a few days while I set things aright? Will you all give me your word on it?"

The women shared a look and, in the way of females, carried on an entire conversation without voicing a word. Then Charlotte turned to Gillian. "You've met her?"

"Aye."

"What do you think?"

Gillian lifted her shoulders. "She's nae icy like the other."

Now the sisters' gazes turned speculative, and Nick could almost hear the wheels turning in their heads. Aurora finally folded her arms and voiced the thought so obviously on all of their minds. "So, brother, what of Lady Steele?"

"I beg your pardon? When were you ordained as inquisition priests?"

" 'Tis a fair question, Nick," Gillian observed.

He sent her a glare that shouted,
Traitor.
"Leave Helen out of this."

Charlotte licked her lips. "But isn't Lady Steele central to the question? She
is
the reason why you are addressing this issue now, isn't she? You want to annul your marriage to the American and marry Lady Steele?"

"The Ice Queen," Robyn observed.

Nick's temper flared. He braced his hands on his hips and snapped, "Lady Steele is no ice queen. Believe me, I know. I have personal experience with the queen of the ice queens. The woman gave me frostbite on my tossel. So what if I want to marry Lady Steele? She will enjoy sharing a bed with me. She wants to give me children!"

As the echo of his voice died away, even before his sisters' eyes shifted past his shoulders and rounded with horror, even before the sound of the teacup shattering against the marble floor reached his ears, Nick knew. Turning around only confirmed it. "Sarah."

She'd gone pale as a snowcapped mountain. "Excuse me. One of the servants directed me this way. I apologize for the intrusion."

As his wife turned and fled, Nick muttered a string of Afghan curses blue enough to make his sisters faint had they been able to understand them.