“I shall try to abide by your wishes,” he said, his expression solemn. “If I become an overbearing ass, I give you leave to whack me over the head with your reticule.”
Her eyes narrowed. “May I have that in writing?”
“Certainly.” He crossed the room to his writing table, opened a drawer, and whipped out a quill, a piece of paper, and a bottle of ink. Victoria stared at him openmouthed as he scribbled a sentence, then signed the bottom with a flourish. He walked back to her, handed her the paper, and said, “There you are.”
Victoria looked down and read, “If I become an overbearing ass, I give my beloved wife, Victoria Mary Lyndon Kemble—” She looked up. “Kemble?”
“It will be Kemble. Today, if I have any say.” He pointed to a scrawl at the top of the note. “I postdated the note, however, for next week. You'll be a Kemble by then.”
Victoria forebore to comment on his amazing confidence and continued reading. “Let's see…Victoria Mary Lyndon, ahem, Kemble…leave to whack me over the head with whatever object she chooses.” She glanced up questioningly. “Any object?”
Robert shrugged. “If I become a really overbearing ass, you might want to hit me with something sturdier than your reticule.”
Her shoulders shook as she turned back to the note. “Signed, Robert Phillip Arthur Kemble, Earl of Macclesfield.”
“I'm not a scholar of the law, but I think it is legal.”
Victoria's face broke into a watery smile. With an impatient hand she brushed her tears away. “This is why I'm going to marry you,” she said, holding the slip of paper in the air.
“Because I have told you that you may hit me at your discretion?”
“No,” she said, sniffling loudly, “because I don't know what will happen to me if I don't have you to tease me. I've grown too serious, Robert. I wasn't always this way.”
“I know,” he said gently.
“For seven years I wasn't allowed to laugh. I forgot how.”
“I'll remind you.”
She nodded. “I think I need you, Robert. I think I do.”
He sat on the end of the bed and gathered her into a tender embrace. “I know I need you, darling Torie. I know I do.”
After several moments of enjoying the warmth of his arms, Victoria pulled just far enough away to ask, “Were you serious about getting married today?”
“Absolutely.”
“But that's impossible. We have to post banns.”
He smiled wickedly. “I procured a special license.”
“You did?” She gaped at him. “When?”
“Over a week ago.”
“A bit prematurely certain of yourself, don't you think?”
“It all worked out in the end, didn't it?”
Victoria tried to adopt a suspicious expression, but she couldn't do anything about the laughter in her eyes. “I think, my lord, that some might deem you an overbearing ass for this type of behavior.”
“An overbearing ass, or a really overbearing ass? I should like to know, as the welfare of my skull depends upon it.”
Victoria melted into a pool of giggles. “Do you know, Robert, but I think that I might actually like being married to you.”
“Does that mean you forgive me for abducting you?”
“Not just yet.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I shall have to withhold forgiveness until I have milked the situation for all it is worth.”
This time it was Robert's turn to explode with laughter. While he was catching his breath, Victoria poked him in the shoulder and said, “We cannot marry today in any case.”
“And why is that?”
“It is well past noon. A proper marriage must take place in the morning.”
“A silly rule.”
“My father always abided by it,” she said. “I know, for I was always forced to pound away at the organ at every wedding at which he officiated.”
“I didn't know we had an organ at our village vicarage.”
“We didn't. This was in Leeds. And I believe you're changing the subject.”
“No,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Merely a temporary digression. As for morning weddings, I believe that the early hour is required only for conventional marriages. With a special license we can do whatever we please.”
“I suppose I should be thankful that I am cleaving unto a man who is so supremely organized.”
Robert let out a happy sigh. “I shall take my compliments in any form you wish.”
“Do you really want to get married this evening?”
“I can think of nothing else as appealing. We've no playing cards, and I have already read most of the books in the library.”
She swatted him with a pillow. “I am serious.”
It took only a second for him to pin her down onto her back, his weight flattening her bare breasts, his eyes gleaming into hers. “So am I,” he said.
She caught her breath, then smiled. “I believe you.”
“Besides, if I do not marry you tonight, I shall have to ravish you again.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed. But you are a good churchgoing woman, daughter of a vicar no less, so I know that you will want to keep your premarriage ravishments to a minimum.” His expression turned suddenly serious. “I always swore that when I made love to you, it would be as man and wife.”
She grinned and touched his cheek. “Well, we ruined that vow.”
“Once, I suppose, is not so very great a sin,” he said, turning his attention to her earlobe. “But I should like to get my ring on your finger before I am overcome with lust again.”