Any Other Name (The Split Worlds) - By Emma Newman Page 0,28
pale all of a sudden. “You’ll want me to impress people if you try for the Dukedom. I can’t do that. I’m no good at that kind of thing.”
He reached across to cover her hand with his. “I’ll do everything I can to help. We’ll bring in tutors, we’ll practice our dancing, I’ll coach you on how to deal with these soirées.”
She looked at him. “It won’t do any good. Look, we need to figure out a way to make your family accept that this is a poor match and… I don’t know, nullify the marriage or something.”
“Are you mad?”
“No, I’m serious, it’s the best solution for both of us. You can marry someone more suited to you and I can go and do what I want to do.”
“And what exactly is that?”
She stared at him and he could see she was weighing whether to tell him or not. “It’s not playing political games and pretending to be someone I’m not.”
Evidently she needed to trust him more than she did. He pulled his hand away. “You need to stop thinking like that. You don’t believe I can help you because you’ve never been helped.”
“I don’t want to be.”
He gritted his teeth. How was he supposed to take the Londinium throne with a petulant child of a wife? The way Lucy had talked about her made him think she’d actually been referring to another Catherine. He had to make the marriage work. If it failed it would cause a rift between their families in Aquae Sulis and make his chances of taking the throne even more remote. The residents of Londinium would never respect a man who couldn’t keep his wife.
“We just need to find a way to make life in the Nether more bearable for you,” he said, trying to sound as light as he could. “It doesn’t have to be as bad as it was with your family. In fact, I’ll make a promise to you now that it won’t be.”
She just stared at the food.
“And I’d like you to promise me that if there’s something about our life in the Nether that you find unbearable, you must tell me. Then we can improve it instead of letting it fester.”
“What if it’s everything about life in the Nether?”
“Well… then we’ll address each concern one at a time until you’re happy. We have time, after all. Which reminds me…”
He plucked out the pocket watch. Two minutes to go. He stood up and gently pulled her to her feet. “I arranged a surprise for you.”
He guided her to the balcony. There was a blast of cold air as he opened the French doors. The Thames was a black ribbon glimpsed between buildings, the night-time city ablaze with electric lights and the thrum of urban life. He took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, then closed the doors behind them so it would be warm inside afterwards.
“It’s an amazing view,” she said.
“That’s not what I arranged,” he said, as the first rocket shot up into the sky and exploded into a ball of blue light.
“Fireworks!” Enraptured, Catherine was quite transformed and he realised how tense and defensive she usually was. Her thrilled exuberance actually made her quite attractive. Then he was caught up in the display, having only seen a handful on his Grand Tour.
“That was so brilliant!” she cheered at the end of the grand finale.
“Wasn’t it?” He turned her face towards him and kissed her.
She moved away so fast she banged the back of her head on the glass of the French doors. “What did you do that for?”
“I can kiss my own wife, can’t I?”
“Don’t do that again.” She scrabbled for the door handle and then dived back inside the flat.
Will’s euphoric mood collapsed. Catherine pulled at the clips holding the veil in place as she stamped away from the doors, his jacket falling from her shoulders.
When he stepped back inside, the air felt oppressively warm. “Catherine,” he called as she headed for the door. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you like the fireworks?”
She was scrunching the veil in her hands nervously. “They were wonderful. Why did you have to spoil it?”
“How can kissing you be called spoiling it? I wanted to because you looked beautiful and the moment was perfect. Do I have to explain?”
“Did you think I’d be so dazzled by the fireworks that I’d just melt in your arms?”
“I didn’t–”
“Because I’m not going to do that. I may as well tell you now I’m not