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Demon's Bride
The Hellraisers - 2
by
Zoe Archer
To Zack, through the fire and the forge
Chapter 1
London, England, 1763
The Honorable A
The thought drummed in her head all day, through the morning ceremony at Saint George’s and the recitation of vows.
I, A
He had slipped a ring upon her finger, of rubies and diamonds that had been purchased the day before—it was no family heirloom, no treasure passed from one generation to the next, but pristine from the jeweler’s workbench. It was beautiful, yet as Leopold Bailey had given her the ring, its red stones on the golden band reminded A
With this Ring I thee wed, with my Body I thee worship, and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
They were married. She was no longer her father’s responsibility, but everything of her keeping now relied upon her husband. The food she ate, the clothing covering her body. The bed in which she slept, which she would sometimes share with her husband when he so chose to exercise his rights and make use of her body.
The thought made her stomach pitch to her feet. This night would see her enter into the state of married women everywhere, leaving behind the solitude of virginity. She belonged to him now, his possession.
Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.
She watched him now, this stranger who was now her husband for the rest of her living days. Leopold Bailey. He stood with a group of guests, and though the breakfast at his Bloomsbury home was well attended, finding him in the glittering crowd proved itself an easy task.
“Admiring your new prize?” Lady Byton followed A
Heat spread through A
“Then we share an opinion,” A
She rather hoped not.
“In my youth,” said Lady Byton, “we would have called such a man a ‘strapper,’ and so he is. Mark me, child, you’ll have the devil’s own time in the bedchamber, but I warrant it will put more roses in your cheeks.”
Lady Byton lived in the country.
Her cheeks already red, A
He was not much taller than any of the other men, yet the eye sought him out with unerring frequency. Normally, he eschewed a wig and wore his sandy hair back in a simple queue—rather like a laborer—but today he marked the occasion by having his hair dressed and powdered.
Even in his wedding finery of gold velvet and cream satin, his lean, muscular build could not be disguised, nor the breadth of his shoulders or length of his legs. A few of the wedding breakfast guests were sportsmen, just as A
Easy to imagine that Leopold was, in fact, the son of a saddler. Not a gentleman.
“Is his father here?” Lady Byton sca
“The elder Mr. Bailey died two years ago.”
Lady Byton clicked her tongue. “Such a disappointment.”
“I imagine the greater disappointment belonged to Mr. Bailey.”
“And the elder Mr. Bailey’s wife?”
“She was likely disappointed by her husband’s death, as well.”
Lady Byton pursed her lips. “As a woman happily widowed, I beg you to reconsider that notion.”
A
A cloud of gillyflower perfume a
“My thanks, Aunt.” A
Aunt Louise and Lady Byton hailed from opposite sides of the family and, after curtsying, eyed each other warily like two strutting hens.
“Lud, Clarissa,” Louise chirped to Lady Byton. “Is it really you? You are so altered from last we saw each other. Ah, well, I suppose all that country air has a rather ripening effect.”
“You are much the same as when last we met,” answered Lady Byton. She peered closer at Aunt Louise. “The paint is unchanged.”
A
“She sounds very delicate,” said Aunt Louise, “for a woman from the lower orders.”
A
Lady Byton’s brows rose. “It is passing strange that you have not met your husband’s mother. But,” she added, “the whole courtship seemed to take place with extreme haste. No ba
The very idea nearly made A
“A hard truth, child,” agreed Aunt Louise. “A baron’s daughter you might be, but the estate loses capital like a cup made of lace.”
Lady Byton clearly felt the need to defend her side of the family. “But A
“Yes, however,” smiled Aunt Louise with all the warmth of an adder, “I am obliged to note that the two younger boys must truly earn their bread through the military and the Church.”
Leaving A
“If you are not enceinte,” said Lady Byton, pointedly turning from Aunt Louise, “then why the rapidity of the marriage?”