watch ‘—in half an hour will ratify the contract, bring it into force.’
The vicar, Mr Parmenter, was hovering in the background. ‘Perhaps, Miss Kirkby, you might like to come back to the vicarage for a few moments. A time for solemn reflection and prayer?’
Ash spoke. ‘I should like to speak to Miss Kirkby for a moment.’ His voice was as hard as the gaze that held hers.
She swallowed. What had happened? They had signed the settlements. Surely he wasn’t having doubts now?
She hesitated. ‘Thank you, Mr Parmenter, but I should like to speak to Lord Ashton privately, please.’
The vicar frowned. Clearly leaving the bride and groom alone before the wedding, whatever had to happen afterwards, was not at all usual. Especially not in his vestry. Bad enough that the wedding was so hasty, and there had been this mad scramble to sign the contracts within half an hour of the wedding. He opened his mouth, probably to object.
‘Of course, of course,’ said the duke cheerfully. ‘The duchess and I will accept your offer, Parmenter. Very kind. A cup of tea would be just the thing—wouldn’t it, my lady?’
The duchess rose to the occasion. ‘Indeed it would.’ She shepherded the vicar out with a question about the stone carving around the font. ‘Most interesting. Quite unusual. Is it Saxon?’
The door clicked shut behind the duke and they were alone.
‘Why the changes to the settlements, Maddy?’ His voice was clipped and hard.
Maddy frowned. Was that all that was bothering him? ‘They weren’t fair. Essentially they gave Haydon back to me in its entirety. Now it will belong to us jointly.’
Ash muttered something under his breath. ‘Damn it, Maddy!’ he went on. ‘The settlements were supposed to protect you!’
‘They still do,’ she said. ‘Now they protect you, as well. And if I die without heirs, Haydon is yours.’
Most marriage settlements ensured that any property brought by the bride ended up firmly in her husband’s hands, unless her relatives or trustees insisted otherwise. Under the circumstances, having practically begged Ash to marry her, she had not made any stipulations to the contrary.
‘What the devil were you thinking?’ he demanded. ‘Haydon should be yours, Maddy! And I don’t need protecting!’
‘No, but—’
‘So, why? Why did you do it?’
‘Because I wanted Haydon to be ours,’ she said simply. ‘It’s more mine that way.’
His jaw dropped. ‘Then perhaps my birthday gift is not as foolish as I feared,’ he said, very softly. ‘Here.’
He reached into his pocket and drew out something small. ‘We found it together,’ he said, handing it to her.
It rested in her hand. Small, solid and warm. The little bronze horse that had endured hidden for so long. Maddy’s throat tightened as she saw again the bright summer’s day he’d found it, the sky a wild arc of windswept blue above them, and Ash, his fingers and eyes reverent as he brushed centuries of dirt from the little figure. In a queer way it was not just a gift from Ash but from Haydon itself, to both of them.
A gift from the past to their future.
Her fingers closed over the little horse as tears pricked the backs of her eyes. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered, and stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him.
She was aiming for his jaw, but somehow, with a slight movement of his head, she missed. The kiss landed full on his mouth—his very willing, ready mouth— and she was in his arms. The world rocked, tilted wildly for a single mad moment, as his mouth possessed hers and his arms tightened. Every nerve, every fibre of her body sang, blazed with need. Then, with what sounded remarkably like a curse, he released her and stepped back.
‘We had better,’ he said carefully, ‘join Gerald and Helen with the vicar.’
* * *
Ash barely noticed the church filling up behind him as he waited by the chancel steps for Maddy. She had blindsided him. And not just by the alterations to the marriage settlements. Although that was shocking enough. He’d instructed Blakiston to draw up the settlements so that Maddy was completely protected. Even from himself.
No, that wasn’t what had really shocked him. What had done that was the fact that, despite all the lectures he had read himself over the past two weeks, the moment she had drawn close and he had breathed that sweet lavender and Maddy fragrance he’d been hard and aching. And when she’d touched him, reached up to kiss him, he’d been close, God help him, to making the vicar’s worst fears fact.
He shoved those thoughts aside. He’d given her the little horse, a talisman he’d carried with him for years as a reminder of home. Every time he had looked at it he had been back on the fells with Maddy, the summer sun bright above them in a wide sky. He’d never thought to part with it, but this felt strangely right—she’d given him herself and a home; he’d given her the reminder. Somehow, in giving it away, he’d kept what had always been most important about the little horse.
The stir at the back of the church, murmurs and shuffling, had him turning to look. There, bright in the dim interior of the old church, was Maddy, glowing in amber velvet, on Mr Blakiston’s arm. He had not understood quite how bereft Maddy was of family until he’d realised that Blakiston would be giving her away.
Watching her now, walking towards him, her head high, he vowed to make sure she was never lonely again. That she knew she had a family. His family, and the family he hoped they would make together.
But perhaps she wasn’t quite alone.... The people of Haydon filled the bride’s side of the church—men, women, children and even a couple of infants in their mothers’ arms. Smiles and blessings followed in her wake as she came to him at the chancel steps.
* * *
‘Dearly beloved—’
The vicar began the marriage service, and the familiar words washed over Maddy. So many times she had stood in this church for the wedding of one of her people. Now it was her turn. Soon she would be married. Haydon would be safe.
She glanced sideways at Ash and felt the shattering leap of her heart at the sight of him, tall and strong beside her.
‘...is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly or wantonly, to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly...’
Heat stole across her cheeks. Reverent and sober were about the last words applicable to the way Ash had kissed her. Hopefully the warning meant that marriage was not to be entered into only to satisfy carnal lusts....
‘Therefore if any man can show any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.’
The vicar paused and glanced around the church. He drew breath and continued, ‘I require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment—’
The west door crashed open.
‘Stop!’
Shock slammed into her, along with the blast of cold air. Stunned, she turned. Edward was striding down the nave, flanked by two of his men.
The vicar drew himself up. ‘Lord Montfort—’
‘The marriage cannot go ahead,’ announced Edward. ‘I forbid it.’
Maddy’s temper flashed. ‘You cannot forbid it. I am of age, and—’
She found herself set gently aside. Ash had stepped forward, placing himself between her