Twin of Fire (Montgomery/Taggert 7)

Chapter 17

Anne Seabury helped Blair into the elaborate wedding dress that Houston had designed. It was an elegantly simple dress of ivory satin, high necked, big sleeved, and as tight as the steel-ribbed corset could make it. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of tiny seed pearls were sewn about the waist and at the cuffs. And the veil was of handmade lace such as Blair had never seen before.

As she glanced in the mirror, she wished that she was donning this dress under happier circumstances, that she was going to go down that aisle with a smile on her face.

But she knew that was impossible, since she’d already done what she knew she had to do. As soon as she’d seen that monster Taggert kissing another woman, she had returned to the house and sent the man a note. She had told him that she’d be wearing red roses in her hair, and she instructed the maid to tell him that he was to be sure and stand on the left, not the right as was originally planned.

Blair wasn’t sure of the legality of what she was doing, since the licenses gave the proper names of which twin was to marry which man, but perhaps she could buy her sister a little time if the minister pronounced Leander and Houston man and wife instead of marrying her to that lecherous man Taggert. She didn’t like to think of the consequences if the marriage was legal and she found herself married to Taggert.

She sent pink roses to her sister and asked her to please wear them.

At the head of the stairs, Blair grabbed her sister to her. “I love you more than you know,” she whispered before starting the descent, then, with a sigh, said, “Let’s get this spectacle over.” With every step, Blair felt that she was moving closer to her execution. What if the marriage was legal and she found herself married to that dreadful man and had to live in this mausoleum of a house?

Inside the enormous room that was supposed to be a library, but could have been an indoor baseball field, she saw Taggert next to Leander on a platform that was draped, hung, and piled with roses and greenery.

Blair kept her head high and her eyes straight. She knew that, by now, Houston must have seen what was going on, that she was, after all, going to get to marry the man she loved.

Blair looked ahead at Kane Taggert, and as she walked down the aisle toward him, she saw his brows draw together in a straight line. He knows! she thought. He knows that I’m not Houston.

For a moment, Blair was amazed at this. Right now, she doubted if even her own mother could tell which twin was which, but somehow, this man knew. She glanced at Leander and saw that he was giving Houston a slight smile, a smile of welcome. Of course, Leander was trusting, she thought; he had no reason to suspect anyone of any bad deed since he was incapable of doing anything bad himself. But Taggert, on the other hand, was reputed to have done many bad things to get his money, so he’d be looking for treachery and could therefore tell the twins apart, Blair reasoned.

Blair didn’t look at her sister as they took their places on the platform. Leander took Houston’s hand in his, while Taggert turned away from both twins and the minister.

“Dearly beloved, we—,” the minister began, but Houston cut him off.

“Excuse me, I’m Houston.”

Blair looked at her sister in astonishment. Why was Houston ruining what had been so carefully arranged?

Leander gave Blair a hard look. “Shall we exchange places?” he said to Taggert.

Taggert merely shrugged his big shoulders. “Don’t matter much to me.”

“It matters to me,” Leander said and moved to trade places with Taggert.

Lee took Blair’s hand in his and nearly squeezed it off—but she felt little pain. Taggert had publicly admitted that Houston didn’t matter to him, that he didn’t care whether he married her or someone else. Blair had never asked herself why Taggert wanted to marry Houston, and now she wondered if it was because she was the only one who’d have him.

Leander pinched her and she looked up in time to say, “I do.”

Before she was aware of what was happening, the ceremony was over, Leander was grabbing her in his arms and preparing to kiss her. To the audience, it must have looked like a kiss of great enthusiasm, but in truth, Lee whispered in her ear with a great deal of vehemence. “I want to see you outside. Now!”

Tripping over the twelve-foot train of her heavy satin dress, Blair tried to keep up with him as he half dragged her down the aisle. People descended on them as soon as they were in the hall, but Leander didn’t let go of her hand as he pulled her into a large, panelled room at the end of the corridor.

“Just what was that all about?” Leander began, but didn’t let her answer. “Do you hate the idea of living with me so badly that you’d go to such lengths to get out of it? Would you rather have a man you don’t even know than me? Anyone but me, is that it?”

“No,” she began, “I didn’t even think about you. I just thought about Houston. I didn’t want her to feel that she had to marry that awful man.”

Leander looked at her for a long moment, and when he spoke, his voice was quiet. “Do you mean that you were willing to marry a man you dislike just so your sister could have the man you think she wants?”

“Of course.” Blair was a bit bewildered by his question. “What other reason would I have for making the switch?”

“Only that you thought that marriage to anyone would be preferable to marriage to me.” He grabbed her arm. “Blair, you’re going to settle this right now. You and Houston are going to talk to one another, and I want you to ask her why she wanted to marry Taggert—and I want you to listen to her answer. You understand me? I want you to really listen to her answer.”

Ignoring the hundreds of people around them, all of whom were whispering and laughing about the mix-up at the altar, Leand

er pulled Blair through the crowd as he asked where Houston was. She wasn’t difficult to find, as she sat alone in a small room that was Uttered with papers.

“I think you two have a few things that need to be said to one another,” Leander said through his teeth to Blair as he half pushed her into the room and closed the door behind her.