Jo Beverley by Forbidden Magic

have these nervous doubts.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIf you’d marched in here and said your vows without a flutter, Miss Gillingham, I would have been concerned. After all, I am somewhat nervous. But it won’t be hard for two reasonable people to rub along together, especially when cushioned by wealth. And, of course, I will take care of your siblings.”
    It was a trump card and he played it without flourish, but she knew he had played it deliberately.
    â€œWon’t you introduce them to me?”
    There was no way to refuse, and so Meg gestured them over.
    The twins were wary, but in a few moments of casual conversation became adoring.
    Laura was awkward, but he soon had her blushing.
    Meg watched these easy conquests with misgiving, and was pleased that Jeremy remained stiff. “My lord,” he said, “Meg doesn’t have to marry you if she doesn’t wish to. We can make do.”
    â€œI’m sure you can. You all look like capable, hardworking people. But all our lives will be made more comfortable by this arrangement, and I will be eternally grateful.”
    He then began to converse with them, asking about their schooling and interests. Under this skillful handling, soon even Jeremy had relaxed, seduced by casual references to the earl’s own time at King’s College, Cambridge.
    Meg should have been glad that her family was shedding their anxieties, and in most ways she was, but she also felt threatened. The Earl of Saxonhurst had the confidence of a man who’d never been crossed since the day he was born. He was wickedly charming, and he knew it. Knew how to use it. She’d felt the effects when he’d talked with her so briefly—almost a warmth melting her fears and doubts.
    It was unreasonable to object and yet she did. She felt as if she were being spellbound.
    So! She almost gasped aloud.
    That certainly served her right. He was spellbound by the sheelagh, and she was in danger of being spellbound by him.
    Watching him, she could almost see his charm like ahalo . . .
    Then she shook her head at the fancy. It was just a shaft of sun through one of the church’s colored windows. But no. That was not all it was. She couldn’t deny his effect, or the panic it stirred in her.
    He was too much, too much man for mousy Meg Gillingham.
    But she had no choice.

Chapter 5
    He turned to her at last, assessing her. Clearly he decided she’d had time to settle her nerves, for he raised her to her feet. He believed that she wouldn’t resist anymore, and he was right. It was simply a matter of need, however, not inclination. Her family desperately needed his help.
    She truly did wish he’d turned out to be an ugly eccentric. She’d be much happier with her fate.
    In moments, they were standing in front of the vicar.
    Thin, white-haired Reverend Bilston looked at her with concern. He had known her most of her life and buried her parents only three months before. “Are you quite recovered, Meg? There is no need to rush, you know. The license will be valid tomorrow or next week. If you are at all uncertain . . .”
    She glanced at the earl again and saw that he would not pressure her anymore. He had rolled the dice and now merely watched to see how they would lie.
    Laura, Laura, Laura.
    Having fortified herself with that incantation, Meg smiled at the vicar. “It was just an attack of nerves, Reverend. I am quite ready now.”
    After a slight, concerned pause, Reverend Bilston began to recite the service. For Meg, the time for questions was over, and she made all the appropriate responses, letting herself be carried along the course she had decided on. Nothing had changed, after all, except that the earl was not an object of pity, and it would be strange indeed to regret that. . . .
    Then he was turning her toward him.
    They were man and wife!
    â€œNow, now,” he said calmly, clearly seeing her flareof