Lest he drag her down into the grass, Jonathan resumed his place beside her. “We have a challenge before us in that regard.”
“A small wedding will do very nicely, Jonathan, and I’m sure the marchioness will keep an eye on Georgina if you want some sort of wedding journey.”
“You’ve been forming conspiracies again.” Though it warmed his heart that she’d been making such plans. “You and the marchioness will have to be patient. When the good gentlemen of the beau monde surrendered Nigel’s vowels to me, they placed conditions on the exchange.”
“What sort of conditions?”
“Nigel’s mother is due a public set down. We shall be married in St. George’s at Hanover Square. Lady Eve’s papa will give you away, and Nigel will escort your sisters. All of Polite Society shall be invited except Nigel’s mother. You are to have bridesmaids from several of the best families, and Deene and his lady will stand up with us. The wedding breakfast will be scandalously lavish, and also, I’m sure, very well attended.”
“Lady Eve’s papa…” Amy’s free hand cradled Jonathan’s jaw. “She’s the daughter of a duke, Jonathan. This is not about Nigel’s mama, not entirely.”
“Of course it is.”
“No, it is not, trust me on this. This has to do with Deene taking up for us, and with you, with who you are.”
She was looking at him with such intensity, Jonathan could not look away.
“I’m a stonemason’s son, Amy. Shrewd, as you put it, and desperately in love with you, but no more than that. That you will have me…”
He broke off, words being inadequate, but when he would have kissed her again, she drew back.
“They will have you. They will have us. This demand to attend the wedding, it’s a way of saying you’re one of them, Jonathan, a gentleman, a man of honor whose cause is more deserving of their loyalty than Nigel’s title or his mama’s consequence.”
“A gentleman.” He wanted to pretend it was merely a word, but the warmth spreading in his chest belied that notion. For Marie’s memory, and for Georgina, but mostly for Amy, he wanted to be a gentleman. “Perhaps I am a gentleman, if you say so.”
“I say so, and I am your lady.”
It was much, much later when the lady and the gentleman sneaked into the house, but Jonathan had been right: their wedding went down in history as one of the best attended ceremonies ever to grace Mayfair, and their union one of the happiest.
Don’t miss the first in Grace Burrowes’s NEW Captive Hearts Regency romance trilogy:
The Captive
Coming July 2014 from Sourcebooks Casablanca
Also by Grace Burrowes
The Windham series
The Heir
The Soldier
The Virtuoso
Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish
Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal
Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight
Lady Eve’s Indiscretion
Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait
The Courtship (novella)
The Duke and His Duchess (novella)
Morgan and Archer (novella)
The MacGregor series
The Bridegroom Wore Plaid
The MacGregor’s Lady
Mary Fran and Matthew (novella)
The Lonely Lords
Darius
Nicholas
Ethan
Beckman
Gabriel
Gareth
Andrew
Douglas
David
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes’s bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish, and Lady Eve’s Indiscretion. The Heir was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, The Soldier was a Publishers Weekly Best Spring Romance of 2011, Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish won Best Historical Romance of the Year in 2011 from RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, the first in her trilogy of Scotland-set Victorian romances, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and Grace is hard at work on a brand-new Regency trilogy.
Grace is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland. She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached through her website at graceburrowes.com.
For more information about Grace Burrowes’s romances, sign up for her newsletter at graceburrowes.com/newsletter.php
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