by Abby Ayles
* * *
He knew she meant whatever was going on between his aunt and her father.
* * *
“I am sure in time I will be better,” she added with an intake of breath and a slight upward tilt of her chin. “I just don’t have much strength for it at the moment.”
* * *
Now it was Raven’s turn to raise his hand. He so wanted to touch her. To brush his hand against her cheek and wash away all her worries. Suddenly he was very aware of all the people around them. Some had even started to stare at their close proximity and hushed tones.
* * *
Letting her hand fall from his arm, he grasped it with his own instead. Hand in hand, he tugged her out of the room without another word spoken between them. He knew they were making more of a scene than ever before, but Raven didn’t care. He was tired of all of this. He would take Alexandra somewhere where they could finally speak in private.
* * *
She didn’t pull against him, though he did have to remind himself to slow his large steps to allow her to keep up in her fine gown and slippers. They marched out of the main hall and into the foyer were straggling guest were still coming in and being greeted by the host, now more than ready to be seated for a meal.
* * *
Raven looked from side to side quickly summarizing the best place for a private conversation. He turned determined the opposite direction of the entering guest, none of whom paid them much attention. He could hear the clanking of dishes behind one door telling him it was the dining room filled with servants busy with the final tasks. The room next to it, however, was barely lit with the dying embers of a glowing fire and completely empty.
* * *
Raven pulled them both into the room and closed the doors tightly behind him. Turning around he didn’t wait for Lady Alexandra to speak. He merely released his grip on her hand.
* * *
Before she had a moments chance to take a step back from him, Raven cupped her delicate face within their giant grasp and tilted her head upward to face him.
* * *
Without hesitation, he dipped his head low and gently pressed his lips to hers. He felt the sensation rush through him like a bolt of lightning as his lips brushed against her soft mouth. She didn’t pull away, but he still felt her stiffen in her place. It took all his energy not to push the kiss to be more.
* * *
If she wouldn’t let his words convince her of his feelings, then his actions would. Slowly he felt her relax into his touch. Her hands slowly went up the length of his forearms, and ever so slightly she raised on her toes to encourage him to kiss her more.
* * *
It was the encouragement he needed. Releasing one of his hands, he wrapped it around Lady Alexandra’s waist pulling the whole of her body against him. He smiled in satisfaction against her lips. She loved him too, he knew for sure now.
* * *
Suddenly Lady Alexandra took a step back.
* * *
“Raven, why would you do that? We can’t! What if someone was to come upon us? What will Lady Charlotte say?”
* * *
She held her hand to her lips as if the union was still there.
* * *
Raven relaxed and took a step forward again wrapping his arm around her waist. He would hold her there forever if she let him.
* * *
“I have little care for Lady Charlotte’s opinion on the matter. I love you, Alexandra. How can you not see that?”
* * *
“But at the picnic?”
* * *
“Lady Charlotte saw you coming. She was standing on the bench and asked for my assistance. When you came into view, she tripped and fell against me. I am still not entirely sure if it was an accident or not,” he added half under his breath. “I wanted to tell you then. I have loved you for some time now.”
* * *
“But you are courting her?” Lady Alexandra continued still disbelieving.
* * *
“My aunt asked me to come to London because she thought us a good match. I acquainted myself with Derber’s family as a favor to my aunt. I never expected that I could actually find someone I actually wanted to spend my life with. But I did. From the moment I saw you square your shoulders and attempt to pull that carriage up the museum steps all on your own, I knew,” Raven said his black eyes twinkling with his mischievous words.
* * *
Lady Alexandra had relaxed in his touch. He knew he could tease her now. She believed him. Better than that, he knew she loved him too.
* * *
“You are a rotten man, Raven,” she said smacking him lightly on the chest. “It’s bad enough that you pulled me into this secluded room to ruin me. Now I must be subject to your cruel words as well?”
* * *
“My dear,” Raven said with a wicked gleam to his dark eyes. She felt his fingers splayed across his back. “I have much more in mind than just ruining you in this room.”
* * *
Raven leaned his forehead softly against hers, breathing in her beauty.
* * *
“I plan to marry you,” he added softly.
* * *
“Perhaps I will refuse you,” Lady Alexandra teased him in return.
* * *
He could already fell her raising on her toes, tipping her head back, anticipating his kiss. He let his lips hesitate just over her own.
* * *
“Well, then I will pick you up, throw you over my shoulder, and carry you all the way to the church. You may be stubborn, Alexandra Woodley, but I can assure you even you are no match for me. If I want something, I will have my way, and I want you.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“It was all so beautiful,” Lady Josephine said to her sister as they sat at the Duke of Raven’s fine dining table.
* * *
Lady Alexandra had eaten very little the whole day through. Now that she was sitting at the large table, with some of the most exquisite food she had ever seen, she was having a difficult time not to eat it all frantically.
* * *
She didn’t want to ruin her beautiful new dress, however. It was an elegant cream color cotton gown with delicate lace overlaying from top to bottom. The top of her dress had simple cap sleeves that left her shoulders bare, with the see-through lace covering along her collarbone for modesty’s sake.
* * *
More than the beautiful feel of the fabric against her skin, was the warm touch of her new husband’s hand gently resting on her lap.
* * *
Since the moment that Raven whisked Alexandra away and declared his love for her, there had been very few moments they were together without some sort of physical contact. In fact, she had rather felt like her youngest sister, Sophia, the last few weeks and she had giggled and swooned over her future husband.
* * *
They had planned the ceremony as quickly as possible having a quiet chapel service the first week of August. Only their closest friends and family were invited to attend. The service had been simple, private, and absolutely perfect in Alexandra’s mind.
* * *
She had never in her life expected to marry, let alone find a match to a man she loved and who loved her in return.
* * *
“It was beautiful, wasn’t it. I just wish Mother could have been here to see it,” she said with a soft smile, rubbing the pendant around her neck.
* * *
It was the second time she had worn the gem in her life. As soon as the day was over, however, she would make sure it was promptly returned back to her sister’s jewelry box. It had brought her so much luck in life and love, she wanted to make sure her sisters also got the same opportunity.
* * *
“She was. I am sure she is watching down on all of us from heaven and smiling with joy,” Lady Josephine said in her ever-constant positive manner.
* * *
Both gi
rls took a moment to look around the table. Lord and Lady Eagleton were talking animatedly between each other. Next to them was Lord Jocasta who looked rather bored pushing around the food on his plate. His wife across from him was very obviously sneaking morsels of fish to the cat that sat in the basket next to her feet. Next to her was Lady Rebecca who was purposefully placed by Alexandra’s father.
* * *
It was easy to see that something was blossoming between the two of them. Unlike Raven and Alexandra, who couldn’t wait another moment to make their love known before the ton and eyes of God, her father was going at a much slower, cautious pace.
* * *
Alexandra knew it was a good choice for him. The chance at a second love was going to be a very delicate and slow process for Lord Grebs.
* * *
Along the row of seats next to her father was Lady Alexandra’s three youngest sisters with Josephine directly next to her. She had feared to leave the three of them. Even with her father more active in his household role, there was still much that only a woman could do for them.
* * *
Lady Josephine had assured her sister, countless times in fact, that they would be just fine without her. For certainly whatever they couldn’t manage on their own, Lady Rebecca had already taken a liking to helping them.
* * *
In fact, her new role as board member on the Society for Orphaned Children had given her the inspiration to adopt the three younger Woodley girls under her well-trained mentorship.
* * *
“How long until you leave?” Alexandra’s sister asked with only a hint of sadness of her departure.
* * *
Lady Alexandra had never been more than across town from her siblings. Now she would be crossing a whole ocean.
* * *
“We leave two days from now for Liverpool. Raven says we will be spending a few days, maybe a week there. Then the ship will set sail for Virginia.”
* * *
“Are you so excited? Or perhaps nervous?”
* * *
“A little of both I suppose. I don’t know what to expect. This is all happening so fast, to be honest. I have never experienced anything outside of London. Raven says Virginia is so different than here in the winter.”
* * *
“But you will come back home? I mean sometime, not right away of course.”
* * *
Alexandra looked lovingly at her sister. She knew this separation would be just as hard on Josephine as it would be on her.
* * *
“I am sure we will be home very soon,” Alexandra said reassuringly. “And perhaps in the future, you will be able to come visit us in the country for the colder months. Raven hasn’t been to his country seat in some time, but he has told me about it, and it does sound quite wonderful.”
* * *
“That would be nice,” Lady Josephine said with a smile. “But I am sure you two will enjoy your time just the two of you for a while,” she added with reddening to her cheeks. It sent both girls into fits of giggles.
* * *
As the meal began to wind down, Raven stood to stand. Removing his hand from Lady Alexandra’s for the first time since they were seated, he used it to clink his glass softly.
* * *
“I just wanted to take a moment,” Raven said once the rest of the conversations died down. “To say how grateful I am, and my beautiful wife as well,” he added looking down at Alexandra.
* * *
It was the first time he called her his wife and Alexandra could see that he was enjoying it just as much as she was.
* * *
“We are both just so happy that we got to share this special day with the people who matter most to us. As you all know we will be leaving shortly for our plantation in Virginia. Though I know we may be far apart for a time,” he said looking between Alexandra and Josephine, “no distance can ever truly separate us.”
* * *
“You know,” he said holding up his glass preparing to toast. “I have been far from my family for a great portion of my life,” he motioned to his aunt. “In truth, I don’t think I truly fit in with society here. My poor aunt can attest to the fact that I often chose mischief over propriety.”
* * *
“I thought if I went away, I would find the place I belong,” he said now turning serious. “I chased the sun till it set and then back again. I’ve seen amazing things, but still, I never found that place where I truly belong, that place I would consider my home.”
* * *
“Aunt Rebecca convinced me to come home to London this year, a bit mischievously if you ask me. It was in my return to London that I found that my home had been here all along,” Raven said looking down at Alexandra.
* * *
“You see, I learned that home is not a place at all. It is a person. A person whom once you have met, you soon learn that life will never again be the same without them. I have found my home now.”
* * *
He reached down taking his wife’s hand and kissed it softly.
* * *
“I would like to invite you all in raising a toast to my beautiful bride, my true home.”
* * *
All glasses were raised, and the sound of cheers and clinking of drinks resounded around the room.
* * *
Alexandra looked up lovingly into the face of her husband, the Duke of Raven.
Epilogue
“Raven! Raven, are you in here,” the Duchess of Raven called out for her husband.
* * *
She had thought the plantation house in Virginia was large, but the country estate in the lake district seemed to be double in size. She had spent the last twenty minutes walking from room to room in search of her husband.
* * *
“Alexandra, I’m in here,” she finally heard him respond back.
* * *
Raven stepped out of the library where he had been working at his desk to make his presence more known to his wife.
* * *
“I thought you were resting?”
* * *
“I don’t need to sleep all day,” Alexandra said with a little giggle as she waddled over to her husband.
* * *
“You need your rest,” he insisted rubbing her swollen belly as she grew nearer. “It was bad enough that you insisted coming home once we found out you were with child. Travel is so dangerous for someone in your condition.”
* * *
“Well, I wasn’t quite in this condition when we started,” Alexandra tried to clarify motioning to her overly round belly.
* * *
“But we knew you were with child,” Raven corrected his wife.
* * *
“And here I am, completely fine. We both are,” Alexandra assured Raven again.
* * *
Ever since she told him the happy news, Raven had been especially protective over her. The once adventurous man who had allowed her to accompany him anywhere she wished despite its suitability for womenfolk, had now resigned to treating her like a delicate flower.
* * *
“I would like you to show me around the house. I have only met Mrs. Wilson. What about the rest of the staff? Our family will be arriving soon. I must get the house ready.”
* * *
“You will do nothing of the sort. Mrs. Wilson is the housekeeper. You tell her what you want, and she will see that it gets done. Your only job,” he said brushing a hair that had fallen while she rested, “is to sit down and prepare yourself for motherhood.”
* * *
“What is there to prepare for, I’ve done it already,” Alexandra said though she followed her husband’s coaxing down the hall.
* * *
“Here is the morning room. In the right annex is a drawing room that you may use for your own private uses. And then next to the library I came out of is a much larger one for after dinner and entertaining,” Raven expla
ined.
