“Neither do I. And you’re right. I may not be like the other noblemen. But I’m the only Earl of Elmwood there is. I’ll be the most unconventional earl in London if I must. I refuse to be anyone other than who I truly am. And if I bungle a title or use the wrong fork at dinner, so be it.”
“That’s the spirit, Lord Elmwood!” she said, clapping a hand on his knee.
David pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. “I cannot wait to take you to Brighton and show you the cottage where Marianne and I grew up. It’s the only thing I own that wasn’t my grandfather’s. It’s mine. It’s my home, and I want to share it with you.”
“It sounds like the perfect place for a honeymoon,” Annabelle replied with a laugh. “We can smoke cigars and do as we please.”
“I like how you think.” He kissed her deeply again.
A few moments later, a knock at the library door interrupted them. They broke off their kiss just before the door swung wide and Bell and Marianne, Worthington and Julianna, Kendall and Frances, and Lady Angelina all came traipsing into the room one after the other.
Worthington took in the sight of David and Annabelle smiling and holding hands and said, “So, does this mean there will be a fourth happy wedding here tomorrow morning?”
Annabelle nodded. “It does, indeed, Your Grace. I cannot wait to be Lady Elmwood.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t accept Lord Murdock’s suit,” said Julianna with a sigh. “I was quite worried for you.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Frances said. “I went poking around this morning before all the guests left, and you’ll never believe what I learned from one of my friends.”
“What?” Annabelle asked.
“It turns out Elspeth planned the entire episode. She wanted Lord Murdock for herself,” Frances replied.
“You must be jesting,” Marianne interjected.
“No. I have it on good authority that Lady Elspeth told anyone who would listen that she was behind the entire affair,” Frances replied. “She spied on Lord Elmwood last night and followed him to Annabelle’s bedchamber. Then she went to fetch her mother to have a witness when he left.”
“Good God,” Worthington said. “A young lady with a mission in the marriage mart is a formidable foe, indeed.”
“Apparently, she’d set her sights on Lord Murdock before the Season began, and she refused to be thwarted,” Frances added. “She was convinced that Lord Murdock was about to ask Annabelle to marry him.”
David shook his head and chuckled. “And here I thought Lady Elspeth was after me.”
“She was spending time with you, Elmwood, to make Annabelle jealous so she’d leave off with Murdock,” Frances explained.
“What? That’s madness,” Annabelle said, shaking her head. “Elspeth is a scheming liar. She told me at the Talbots’ ball that she meant to have David because she was the most sought-after debutante and he was the most sought-after bachelor. She was lying the entire time.”
“If she was after Lord Murdock all along, she can have him. If you ask me, those two deserve each other,” Marianne said, shaking her head.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Julianna replied, nodding.
“Yes, well. I suppose I could have been a marchioness, but I heard Lord Murdock is a dog kicker,” Annabelle said with a sigh, winking at David.
David squeezed her hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You’ll just have to make do with a husband who is a lowly earl, and become a lowly countess.”
“I take offense to that,” Lord Kendall said, his grin belying his words.
“As do I,” Frances said, also smiling.
“Well, we cannot all be dukes and duchesses like Worthington and Julianna here,” Bell replied with a grin.
“Or marquesses and marchionesses,” Marianne added with a laugh, before her face turned serious. “Oh, Annabelle. I just realized. When you marry David, you will be my sister twice over. I cannot wait.”
She leaned down and hugged Annabelle, who returned both her hug and her smile.
“I, for one, couldn’t be happier,” Lady Angelina declared. “You were about to turn the last of my hairs gray, Annabelle. Especially when we weren’t entirely certain our matchmaking efforts were working.”
Annabelle narrowed her eyes on her mother. “Matchmaking efforts?”
“Yes,” Lady Angelina replied. “The lot of us. We were all in on it, attempting to get you and Lord Elmwood together from the start. Why else do you think we suggested he take lessons from you?”
“Mama!” Annabelle’s mouth fell open and she braced both fists on her hips.
“And you’ve no idea how difficult it was coming up with excuses day after day to leave you two alone together,” Lady Angelina continued, waggling her eyebrows.
“Mama!” Annabelle repeated. “I cannot believe you.”
“Believe it,” Beau declared. “It was all of us. The earl lessons bit was Marianne’s idea.”
Marianne had a sly smile on her face. “Ingenious, if you ask me.”
“What?” David blinked incredulously at his sister. “I thought you were trying to pair me with Lady Elspeth this whole time.”
“Oh, David, that’s far too obvious. I was only trying to make you think I was trying to pair you with Elspeth so you wouldn’t know I was actually trying to pair you with Annabelle.”
“That’s what I get for spending time with spies, I suppose,” David replied, shaking his head at his sister, but his smile belied the content of his words.
“Oh, and the disgust I had to swallow to allow that hideous Lord Murdock near you, Annabelle. It certainly seemed to make David jealous, but it wasn’t my first choice,” Lady Angelina added.
“Yes, well, what none of you know is that Lord Murdock had blackmailed me.” Annabelle announced.
“What?” half of the room asked in unison.
Annabelle nodded, but directed her words to David, who looked as though he might sprint from the room immediately to find Murdock and beat him soundly. “At the Talbots’ ball, he found me on the balcony and threatened to tell everyone in the ballroom he’d seen me kissing you if I didn’t dance with him again and allow him to court me.”
“That piece of rubbish!” Julianna declared, scowling.
“I had a much worse word for him,” Annabelle replied, with a smile, “but I’ll keep that to myself.”
“I’ll kill him,” David intoned, a pulse ticking in his jaw.
“No, darling,” Annabelle said, rubbing David’s shoulder. “Let him go. He has a much worse fate ahead of him, marrying Lady Elspeth. And apparently, he’s about to lose a fortune on his bet.”
David relaxed and cracked a grin. “I suppose he does deserve to listen to her prattling the rest of his days. And he deserves to lose a fortune, too.” David turned to the room at large. “Now, if you’re all quite through with your confessions, I’d like to say that regardless of your reasons or your methods, I’m quite happy with the outcome, so I forgive you. And, now, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to have a few more moments alone with my future wife.”