A Governess for the faithless Duke (Regency Romance) (Regency Tales Book 3) by Regina Darcy

advance.
    As the wedding day approached, the house began to fill with the wedding guests. Her parents, her sister, her aunt Anne and best friend Emma arrived first. The girls were to be her bridesmaids. Next came Edmund’s Aunt Jane and her companion, and his friend Tom, along with his father, Sir Algernon. Last to arrive were his cousin James and his wife. Eliza and Mary Anne were excused from classes for the week prior to the wedding, much to their delight, so that they could be fitted with new dresses and shoes. Edmund obtained a special license, which he had safely tucked away in his study. Neither he nor Charlotte were ever allowed to be alone together, his Aunt Agnes as vigilant as a Major-General.
    On the morning of the wedding, the guests left for the chapel first, followed by Edmund, with Tom as his witness, and Charlotte was last to leave. She wore a cream-colored silk and taffeta dress with pink blush lace trim and embroidered flowers around the neckline and hem. She wore the earrings and necklace to match the ring Edmund had given her, and a sweet cap of lace and flowers. As she walked down the aisle on her father’s arm, Charlotte smiled as she recalled how certain she had been that this would never come to pass. To flout the expectations of society in this way was rare, and she knew her soon-to-be husband was making a great sacrifice for her, which only made her love him more.
    The vicar read the service, they said their vows, signed the register along with their witnesses, and the ceremony was over. Edmund’s vows still rang in Charlotte’s ears: “With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”  It gave her a sweet thrill because those words had been said to her. She blushed at the thought of how he would worship her with his body, and prayed it would be better than it was rumoured to be.
    By noon they were back at Marbleton House, and an extravagant lunch was served. Charlotte and Edmund sat next to each other at the table, both wishing for the same thing…to be alone together for the first time in almost two months. They bore the lengthy meal with equanimity, though, knowing that soon, they could begin to enjoy the life together they thought they could never have.

EPILOGUE
     
    The sun had long since set and the moon was on the rise. Stars twinkled in a clear sky, and a soft breeze brushed Charlotte’s skin. She sat cross-legged in the big armchair that Edmund had pulled up to the window when they had first arrived in their honeymoon cottage by the lake. She shivered slightly...the breeze carried the remnants of the cooling, refreshing rain that had fallen all evening. A sound behind her made her turn her head, and she saw her husband of less than a day smiling at her.
    “Come back to bed, my darling,” he implored her. “I’m not done celebrating our wedding.”
    She chuckled. “I thought you were asleep,” she said, though she didn’t move.
    “Who can sleep with the world’s most beautiful and desirable woman curled up in his arms?  I am merely a man, my love, not a god!”
    She laughed outright at his silliness, but rose and went back to his waiting arms. She had found that she loved being in his arms. She felt safe there, loved, adored. Edmund pulled her down to his face for a kiss, and when he had her trembling in a quite satisfying way, he asked,
    “Are you happy, my love?”
    He stroked her hair as he spoke, and when she nodded, he smiled. “I will do everything in my power to keep you happy. I promise,” he said, “for as long as we live.”
    Charlotte leaned up to see his face, and smiled back at him. She believed him. It was that simple.
    She looked forward to her happy-ever-after life with great anticipation.
     
    The End

BONUS CHAPTER 1:
    CAPTIVATED BY THE EARL

     
     

ONE
     
    The young woman who was briskly walking to her destination did not