The True Love Wedding Dress Read Online Free Page B

why-nots. Maybe he should start now with his own son. The boy was ten, after all. Perhaps there was time to visit Crispin at his school before the deuced wedding.
    Now that she was not being exiled to the hinterlands, with her daughters’ come-outs to be at the local pub like her son’s wretched wedding breakfast, Agnes could be magnanimous. And she could eat again. Two biscuits—one for her and one for the dog—disappeared while Forde fumed. “No, I doubt Miss Cole is that foolish,” she finally said. “Not even an innocent boy like Gerald will purchase what he can have for free. Besides, he says they are never alone, not even on those dreadful rambles of his. What I believe, however, is that this mad dash to the altar, this helter-skelter scramble off to the Oaks, means Gerald is ashamed of the girl. He knows she will never be accepted in polite society, so he is hiding her away.”
    “But he says her manners are perfect, her learning impressive, and her face and figure like a goddess’s.”
    “Humph. What’s all that to decent breeding or money? We know there’s hardly a groat in the family. I suspect there is no Officer Cole, either. I asked Admiral Benson to look into the matter, and he could find no records of a Captain Cole or a Lieutenant Cole whatsoever. Not even an ensign. The man must have been a common seaman.”
    “Gerald’s bride’s father? The Navy chap who died a hero?”
    “Such a hero that no one at the Admiralty ever heard of him. Likely he was an impressed sailor, nothing more. And the mother is an orphan, they tell me. Heaven knows where her people came from. They live in a cottage, according to Gerald, and keep chickens.” She blew her nose again, this time to rid herself of the imagined stench of the henhouse. “They must be fortune hunters.”
    As opposed to Agnes trying to find wealthy, titled husbands for her two lambs. All women sought to better their prospects, and Forde could not fault Miss Cole for her attempts to secure a comfortable future. “Gerald’s fortune is not that great.”
    “To widows and orphans it is. She will be moving into the Oaks before the cat can lick her ear.”
    “Naturally. As Gerald’s wife—”
    “Not the gal, the mother. I might have to live with her there when you get married and throw us out!” Agnes wailed, setting the dog to yipping.
    Forde felt like tearing out his own hair. “I am not getting married. And I told you, you and the girls can stay at Wellforde House here in London as long as you wish. Or at Wellforde Grange if you want them to get used to local society before their come-outs. There is no reason for you or my nieces to live with Gerald at all, so he can invite his wife’s mother and her chickens, too, if he wishes.”
    The dish of pastries was nearly finished. So was Agnes, except for one final complaint. “Gerald says the chit has no wedding dress. What am I to do, spend my darlings’ clothing allowance on her? You’ll see I am right: The forward female is only interested in poor Gerald’s fortune if she is already hinting for favors and money.”
    Damn. This was more serious than Forde had thought. “I’ll have a talk with Gerald.”
    “You will not change his mind. I tried. He is adamant. Besides, no gentleman backs out of an engagement. Gerald will look no-account, and no decent female will accept him as a suitor. He’ll grow into a crusty old bachelor, set in his ways, like you.”
    Forde ignored the last bit. “Then I will have a talk with this Miss Cole and her grasping mother. If they turn out to be the parasites you think, then I will withdraw my blessings. I can hold on to Gerald’s inheritance until he reaches five and twenty. I doubt the Cole harpies will want to wait that long before sinking their talons into his coffers. I wager the betrothal will end as soon as I reveal my intentions.”
    “Gerald will not be happy.”
    Forde thought of his own marriage. “Trust me, he stands a better chance of being