The Problem with Seduction - By Emma Locke Page 0,116
her face. It was a look Elizabeth had never seen on her own face, and yet she knew it. Lady Montborne adored Constantine. Elizabeth’s dazed realization was tinged with childlike jealousy…and her own motherly ache. Jealousy, because her parents hated her with a violent passion. An aching, because she’d never feel as deeply for any other person as she did for her Oliver. She might love Constantine wholeheartedly, but that love would never be the same as her own breath or the pulse of her heart. A mother’s love for her child was simply…different.
If the roles had been reversed, and she’d been watching her son die instead of Constantine, would she have been as considerate of another woman’s claim to him? Could she have been generous enough to allow the woman—a virtual stranger—to stay at his side for days and nights while he suffered?
For all of her adult life, Elizabeth had thought only of herself. Without hesitation, she knew she wouldn’t have shared her son with another woman, let alone a woman of questionable motivations. Yet Con’s family knew a different way. The fact that they’d so quickly accepted and included her, despite all the reasons not to, both warmed her and left her feeling vulnerable. Without Con, she wouldn’t have to consider anyone else…and yet… she’d be entirely alone again.
Con’s bandages were changed and he was given a hair comb and a damp cloth to get himself in order. Once his hair was slicked into wet tufts and his teeth given a scrubbing with paste, he looked up at her and blinked as if really seeing her for the first time. “You look a mess, my love. My abject apologies. Please, see to your own toilette. I can wait.” He laughed. “I’m obviously not going anywhere.”
She pulled a face. “Are you frightened by what you might be getting yourself into? Every morning, with me looking just like this?”
His eyes glowed with so much emotion, she thought her heart would burst. “You look beautiful to me. More so because it would seem you never left my side. But it’s your wedding day. You should have the opportunity to wear your prettiest dress.”
Lord Bart came into the doorway. He ushered in Mrs. Dalton, who bore a ribbon-tied box and a basket. Elizabeth had never been so happy to see her toiletries in all her life.
“There’s a gown and other things, too, madam,” Mrs. Dalton said. “I brought several of your favorites.”
“The servants will have a bath ready for you in a trice,” Lady Montborne said, beaming at her dark-haired son. “Lord Bart has it all arranged.”
It was Con’s turn to pull a face. “It would seem my desires weren’t heeded at all. I must congratulate Elizabeth. She’s already won over all of you.”
Elizabeth was afraid to hope it was true. Flustered, she ducked from the room. Mrs. Dalton showed her to a room where her gowns and bandeau boxes were stacked, and a smaller dressing room where a tub steamed with hot water. A servant knocked and imparted the news that the clergyman and Lord and Lady Trestin were waiting, and Elizabeth hurried to bathe as quickly as she could. She’d had days to think of little else but becoming Con’s wife. Yet her motions felt mechanical, as if she were in someone else’s body. Someone else’s hand taking up the soap. Someone else’s body being patted dry with a towel. Someone else sitting for her hair to be brushed out, dried by the fire and arranged. Shimmying into her stockings, stays, petticoats and gown, she couldn’t shake the sensation that this couldn’t be happening to her. She didn’t deserve a man as kind and giving as Lord Constantine. How could he want to marry her?
She couldn’t shake her numbness. When she returned to Con’s room with Mrs. Dalton, his entire family was milling in the room. The guests of honor were brought in and suddenly, Elizabeth was married. Without so much as Con rising from his sickbed. It happened so quickly, it seemed that one minute they were repeating their vows and the next, huzzahs were chorusing through the room and Constantine was beaming at everyone. Elizabeth smiled, accepting hugs from Celeste and Lady Montborne, feeling her heart soar with happiness, yet not fully comprehending that it was done.
Con didn’t seem to experience any such daze. He joked with his brothers and let his mother weep over his shoulder. But Elizabeth, though she didn’t try to keep her happiness hidden,