To Tame a Dangerous Lord (Courtship Wars 5)

She snatched her hand from his grasp. “How little you know. But the humiliation I face is only a fraction of the reason I am so dismayed. When I met your Miss Ellis this afternoon, she was even worse that I imagined.”

“You called at Riverwood?”

“Certainly I called there. I had to see her for myself. She was unforgivably rude and impertinent.”

Rayne hid an amused grimace. That was one battle he would have enjoyed seeing. Although wishing he’d been there to spare Madeline the confrontation, he imagined she had held her own well enough, even against his indomitable grandmother. Yet it was precisely why he hadn’t told his family about his plans to wed beforehand, fearing they would subject Madeline to their censure.

“Why did you choose her, of all people?” Lady Haviland demanded.

He had a ready answer. “Because I realized that any of the simpering misses I’ve interviewed to date would drive me mad within a week of marriage.”

“You have clearly made a wretched mistake, Rayne. How well do you even know that woman?”

“Well enough. Her father was a good friend of mine.”

He wouldn’t reveal his obligations to David Ellis to his grandmother. He would prefer she think he’d chosen Madeline for her own sake rather than give his relative more ammunition to use against her.

“Madeline is a good match for me, Grandmother. I am proud to call her my wife, and I expect that one day you will be also. But even if not, I trust you will welcome her into the family.”

In response, Lady Haviland raised her hand to her forehead and pressed on the cloth adorning her brow, as if to remind him of her frail condition. “I simply cannot welcome her, Rayne. I doubt I can ever forgive you, either. The only thing I ever asked of you was to marry well, and now you have ruined everything.”

“I agreed to wed a genteel young lady so I could sire an heir, which is exactly what I have done. I have fulfilled my pledge to you, love.”

“You have done nothing of the kind!”

Rayne kept his gaze steady in the face of the dowager’s savage glare. “Have you forgotten why you wanted me to wed in the first place? Your concern was that the Haviland title and fortune not go to my Uncle Clarence.”

“Certainly that concerned me. Clarence is a gamester and a scapegrace, undeserving of the title. But that is not the sole reason I wished you to marry. I was worried for your future, Rayne. And now I worry for your children’s future. You may care little for the nobility of our family bloodline, but I don’t wish my great-grandchildren to be tainted by French blood.”

Rayne felt a muscle tighten in his jaw. “Your objection is duly noted, Grandmother, but I expect this to be the last I hear of it.”

“You do not care at all what I think?”

“Yes, I care. But we have had this discussion before. I agreed to follow your wishes up to a point, but you will not run my life, or dictate whom I will or will not marry.”

Her expression hardened even further. “I suppose I should have expected a disaster of this sort. You always were a stubborn rebel. To think that I was so elated when you promised to give up your wild adventures and settle down.”

Rayne didn’t intend to tell her that he was still pursuing some of the wild adventures she found so objectionable. Nor would he press her to accept Madeline just now. His grandmother needed a little time to adjust to her dashed expectations, and he would give it to her.

Lady Haviland, however, was not ready to abandon her aims, it seemed. Struggling to sit up in bed, she tossed the cloth aside and placed an imploring hand on his arm. “It is not too late for an annulment, Rayne. We can say that you belatedly came to your senses and realized your mistake.”

He eyed her narrowly, wondering if she meant to declare warfare on his new bride. If so, she would quickly have to revise her perspective.

“There will be no annulment, Grandmother,” he replied, his tone final. “You will just have to be satisfied with my choice.”

The flash of fury in her eyes was unmistakable. “I will never be satisfied,” she insisted.

“Then we will forever be at odds.”

Lady Haviland continued to regard him with extreme displeasure before removing her hand from his arm with a derisive sniff. “Until just this moment I never realized how heartless you are, Rayne. The gossips are already sharpening their spiteful tongues, but I will bear the brunt of their venom, not you.”

“You should pay the gossips no mind.”

Her look held scorn. “As if I could. The least you can do is refrain from formally proclaiming your marriage in the Morning Post and Chronicle. I have no desire to become an object of ridicule in stark black and white.”

He could agree to that, Rayne decided, since he didn’t want Madeline subjected to the savagery of intense public scrutiny. The quieter he kept his marriage, the easier it would be for her to find her bearings as his countess. “Very well, I won’t submit any announcements to the newspapers.”

His grandmother breathed a pained sigh. “Undoubtedly, word of your union has already spread. One cannot keep a scandal of this magnitude quiet for long.”