Never Fall for Your Fiancee
- Автор: Heath Virginia
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: St. Martin's Publishing Group
- Жанр: Исторические любовные романы
Электронная книга - «Never Fall for Your Fiancee». Краткое содержание книги:
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Virginia Heath's fun characters and situations will have you laughing out loud! Don't miss this wonderful read! - Sabrina Jeffries, *New York Times* bestselling author**
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The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.**
He smiled weakly.
“Minerva … Diana … meet Mrs. Edgerton.” They bobbed a polite curtsey. “And as Minerva has already had the pleasure of meeting Sarah and her husband, Captain Peters, it is only you who needs to be introduced, Diana. And Vee, of course.” He looked to his intended. “Is Miss Vee on her way?”
“She was finishing the chapter in her book but will doubtless join us shortly. In fact, I shall check on her now.”
She spun on her heel and disappeared back through the door. Hugh left it all of twenty seconds before he could think of a lackluster excuse to follow while the others took their seats.
“I think I will just chase the tea tray. Riding is such thirsty work…”
Thankfully, Minerva was waiting for him, appearing from behind a suit of armor as he was about to dash up the stairs. She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the closest room. “Lucretia is intoxicated! What possessed you to allow her to ride home alone?”
“She said she felt ill and needed to go back to bed.”
Although, she hadn’t looked particularly ill. Hugh had let her go because it seemed like the ideal opportunity to speak to his mother and inform her of the truth. Get it over with and return home unburdened of all the lies and ready to start a new chapter with the angel who had stolen his heart and didn’t deserve to share the blame for all his stupidity.
Except he hadn’t. He’d procrastinated like a coward, couldn’t find the right words, and felt thoroughly wretched as a result, convinced he was doomed to be a disappointment forevermore if he had fallen at the first furlong. Then the appearance of Sarah and her mother had plunged him into a considerably worse mood.
“Well, she managed to avoid her bedchamber and wandered to yours, where she found brandy and drank the lot. We couldn’t budge her from the drawing room and left her to sleep it off.”
“How long ago?”
“Two hours—or thereabouts. Not long enough for her to be entirely sober! That’s for sure. She demolished an entire decanter of brandy in a very short space of time.”
“Oh dear.”
“And Vee has locked herself in her room and refuses to come out.”
“She didn’t take the news well, then?”
“Neither of them did. Vee is in a state because she’s convinced we’re all out to unjustly sully our father’s name and has declared her intention to leave with him as soon as he comes to fetch her. She hates me for betraying him and Diana for backing me. But while my dear sister has never had any illusions concerning our father, I’ve had the devil of a job convincing Diana that you are not the vile seducer she has always suspected you of being. It has been a very trying morning and clearly, the ordeal isn’t over.”
He took in the taut, pinched expression and pulled her into his arms, unable to resist kissing the top of the dark head he adored so much. “Alas, it isn’t. My mother apparently invited them over for tea without telling anyone after she discovered I haven’t kept in touch with Sarah—and decided to remedy that. I am livid at her and I tried to get us out of it—but you know my mother.”
“I suppose it’s nice she wants to encourage your relationship with your sister. It cannot be easy on her knowing her husband had a family with another.”
“It seems easier on her than on me. I’ll never understand why she tolerates them.”
“Have you ever asked her?”
“Not exactly…”
He hadn’t.
In the past she had tried repeatedly to talk about the betrayal, and he had refused to hear it, let alone condone it. But Minerva raised a good point. Why did his mother tolerate his father’s mistress? Why didn’t the existence of Sarah—a woman the exact same age as Hugh—hurt her like it hurt him?
“Then perhaps you should?” Her head burrowed against his chest, and he liked the feel of it there. “Ask her when we tell her the truth. It strikes me as the most fitting time. We might as well get it over with in one totally hideous, unswallowable lump.”
“I tried to tell her this morning…” He sighed and held her tighter. “But not very hard. I was in too fine a mood and I selfishly didn’t want to spoil it.”
“I wonder why?” Just from the tone of her voice, he could tell she was smiling. He tipped up her chin so his eyes could confirm it. He loved her smile. It had the power to turn every dire situation, like the one currently awaiting them in the drawing room, into something not quite so dire.
“I wonder?” Because he no longer had to restrain the urge to kiss her, he did, and just like her smile, it miraculously made the drawing room and the buzzing hornet’s nest within it disappear from the face of the earth.
“Hugh, what are you … Oh!… Oh…” They guiltily broke apart only to see his mother grin from ear to ear. “Never mind. I thought you two were merely avoiding the Peterses. Silly me! I should have known you two lovebirds would need to say a proper good afternoon after I deprived you of each other all morning.” She pulled the door back. “Don’t be long.”
Minerva’s vibrant blush was charming, so he kissed her quickly again. “Look on the bright side, at least she now knows our affection is genuine, if nothing else.” He took her hand and laced her fingers in his. It felt utterly perfect. “Once more into the breach?”
“I’m not sure my nerves can take much more. I wish it was over.”
“It will be very soon—but now is not the right time.”
They returned to the drawing room hand in hand, where Hugh was greeted by the full force of Diana’s scowl. He supposed he couldn’t blame her, it came out of deep love and loyalty for her sister. Anyone who loved Minerva was all right by him, and he resolved in that moment to make a concerted effort to win the crotchetiest Merriwell over.
“Where do you all hail from?” The dreaded Mrs. Edgerton, who almost everyone in the room knew had never been a “Mrs.” at all, smiled at Lucretia, who still seemed coherent despite listing slightly on the wingback.
“Oxfordshire. It’s such a beautiful county. I’d argue its beauty rivals Hampshire.”
“It does indeed.” Captain Peters smiled as he sipped his tea. “Rivals it and exceeds it.”
“But he is horribly biased,” added his wife, looking exactly like their father used to when he was amused by something. “Teddy hails from Oxfordshire, too. His family still resides there.”
“Really?” His mother helped herself to the plate of biscuits Payne was holding out. “Isn’t the world a small place? I wonder if you ever collided before today?”
Despite Minerva’s hand in his, Hugh began to feel uneasy at the turn the conversation was taking. “How are you finding life at Aldershot?” Sarah turned to him amazed, as if such a chatty question had never come from his lips before. Which he conceded it probably hadn’t.
“It’s a lovely town. One well used to and tolerant of the militia.”
“I suppose it is highly likely we have collided.” Clearly Captain Peters was still eager to reminisce. “Which part of Oxfordshire do you hail from?”
“Chipping Norton.” Lucretia’s tea sloshed over the rim of her cup as she spoke.
Captain Peters beamed from ear to ear. “By Jove, it really is a small world! Whereabouts in Chipping Norton? My father has his practice in Goddards Lane just off the market square. He’s the local physician.”
A huge gust of wind suddenly wafted much too close to Hugh’s suddenly flimsy house of cards. “And how are you liking having your grandchildren so close, Mrs. Edgerton?” In his experience, older ladies were obsessed with their grandchild—or their need for grandchildren, so perhaps she wouldn’t notice his voice was suddenly wobbly.