Page 46 of The Duke's Inconvenient Bride
“It is no trouble.” The man’s face lit with a smile. “You’re family now. Speaking of which, we’d better join them in the dining hall before Lady Carlisle comes looking for us.”
With a sense of impending doom, Vaughan accompanied Lord Carlisle to the dining hall, where a long rectangular table was laid with silverware and at least a dozen covered serving platters.
“Your Grace!”
He looked up and noticed Lady Carlisle calling for him from midway along the table, where there was an empty seat clearly reserved for him, since Emma sat on the adjacent chair.
A dozen faces turned toward him, and his throat constricted. He struggled to draw in a good breath and surreptitiously dried his sweaty palms on his pants. Fortunately, someone had seated Longley and his mother—the dowager countess—opposite him, so at least he would have a pair of friendly faces amid this group of distant acquaintances.
He marched over to Lady Carlisle.
“Welcome to the family,” she said. “We are most pleased to call you a son-in-law.”
He tipped his head toward her and then dropped onto the seat. Lord and Lady Carlisle sat to Emma’s right, but her younger sister didn’t seem to be at the table. He was just relieved nobody had invited Violet—or that she had realized it would be best if she did not attend the nuptials.
He glanced around the table. All of the seats were full, so he assumed mealtime wouldn’t be far off. He snuck a look at his wife out of the corner of his eye. Her cheeks were pale, but at least she didn’t look as vacant as she had earlier. Perhaps having a little time to herself had restored her.
Unlike her sister, Emma did not strike him as a social butterfly.
“Your Grace,” the lady to his left said—the one who’d greeted them upon their arrival. “It’s been far too long since I saw you in London.”
Across the table, Longley laughed. “Ashford prefers the country to the city.”
“Is that so?” The lady crinkled her nose. “I’ve always preferred the bustle of London myself. It gets too quiet in the middle of nowhere. My husband adores the country, but I get quite bored.”
Something nudged his shoulder, and he realized that Emma had leaned closer to him.
“My aunt, Lady Tabitha,” she murmured. “My father’s younger sister.”
He gave her the slightest nod, grateful for the information. He hated not knowing with whom he was speaking.
Servants emerged from the kitchen and raised the covers from the food, revealing roasted birds and a variety of bread rolls and accompaniments. A cake occupied the center of the table. Three tiers high, with white icing and a rose placed carefully on top.
“Do you like pheasant, Your Grace?” Lady Tabitha asked.
“I like most foods,” Vaughan replied. Except for mushrooms. There was something about them that made him gag. Perhaps it was how slimy they were. Nasty little things.
“A good way to be,” she said.
Vaughan caught Longley’s gaze across the table, silently pleading for rescue. Thankfully, his friend got the message.
“I hear your daughters are learning the violin,” he said, and Lady Tabitha launched into a long story about how gifted her progeny were and how, if they weren’t to be ladies of leisure, they would have made fine musicians.
The meal lasted five painstaking courses.
For the duration, Vaughan and Emma made stilted conversation while others around them tried to gain Vaughan’s attention. When it was finally over, afternoon was beginning to turn into evening, and Vaughan was stuffed so full, he couldn’t eat another bite.
Most of the guests had departed. Longley and his mother had waited until only the earl’s direct family remained before excusing himself—a fact for which Vaughan was grateful.
The family gathered to see him and Lady Emma off. They converged on the roadside outside Carlisle House and Emma hugged each of them, lingering on the embrace with her youngest sister. He wondered whether they were particularly close.
When she’d finished her farewells, they got into the carriage, and Vaughan relaxed, feeling a weight slip off his shoulders. Finally, he’d have some space to quiet his mind.
They rolled away from Carlisle House, and Vaughan looked straight ahead while Emma practically hung out the window to wave until her family was out of sight. He felt a pang of sympathy for her. While having a wife would change his life to a degree, it had completely altered hers.
He extended his legs, thankful that their belongings had been sent ahead of them along with Emma’s maid.
Emma settled onto the seat and, blessedly, didn’t seem in the mood to talk. However, as they reached the edge of the city, she tensed beside him.
