Page 37 of Hot and Bothered in July
However, when he didn’t immediately speak, she pointed out her favorite Gainsborough painting. “If we are comparing artists, I would have to say I have long admiredThe Blue Boy.It is understood that he did the piece as a direct contradiction to Sir Joshua Reynolds’ advice regarding his use of color.” She shrugged. “But that may merely be idle gossip.”
“Indeed,” he murmured. “It can be very difficult to distinguish between what is fiction and what is reality, can it not?”
She felt they were finally getting to the heart of the matter. Lifting a brow, she said, “I am not so confident about that. I think if one has the facts sorted out correctly, it is rather easy to discern the truth.”
He smiled slightly. “A well-founded point, Miss Kent.”
It was back to the formality. She wanted to scream. Through gritted teeth, she replied, “It appears that way, Mr. Carrington.” Refusing to stay here and make polite conversation when her heart was wounded anew just by being in the same vicinity, shelifted her chin. “If you will excuse me, I regret that my friends are waiting on me and I must go?—”
She didn’t have the chance to turn around before he spoke again. “I love you, Sariah.”
Her breath caught, her heart ceasing to beat. She couldn’t speak, but she did not need to do so.
“I have been trying to figure out the best way to tell you how I feel—how Ireallyfeel—for so long, but I always had some sort of excuse for not doing so. I told myself it was not the right moment whenever the urge would strike, that we had not known each other long enough for such feelings to be genuine. However, that was all a lie I had spun myself into believing.” He took a deep breath. “For years, I had convinced myself that the aristocracy was a source of evil and wicked machinations, that everyone who had blue blood considered themselves above me.” He glanced at the Gainsborough portrait. “The young man portrayed here is not so different than me, and yet so very opposite. It is obvious that his costume is one of wealth and privilege, whereas his blue attire is so similar to what I had to don everyday as a blue boy. Because of our association, and my ability to see things a bit more clearly from the standpoint of the upper echelon, I realize that all this time, I was the problem. I could not get past my prejudices of the social classes. I was no better than the Duke of Ganoway that day in the park.”
His focus returned to Sariah. “The morning I left the Harville estate, I was convinced that you had betrayed me, that you had proven yourself invaluable, unloyal, because it was what I had been expecting all along. But what it took me too long to understand is that you are completely without fault, that because of my insecurities, I allowed myself to believe the worst of you, when it was a mirror image of what I saw in myself.”
He started to move closer to her in even, measured strides. “I was wrong, so very wrong. I said terrible, malicious things to youthat no one should have to endure, especially someone that I was convinced I cared about. I know I hurt you. I know I upset you. I know I acted as a righteous bastard, and I take the full blame and responsibility for my actions.” He stopped a short distance from her. “Since that morning, I have nearly worked myself into a frenzy wondering what I could say, or do, to repair the damage I have caused and I can think of no solution that would ever wipe away those words. All I can do is hope that you will forgive me someday and offer you something I had never before imagined I would share with anyone else—my life.”
He reached into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out a small, hinged box in blue velvet. He did not bend down on one knee, but opened the case to reveal a sparkling sapphire. “Sariah Kent, I offer you not just my hand, or my body, but my life. If you will have me, I vow that I shall spend the rest of the days I have remaining on this earth doing everything I can to atone for my sins and make you happy. I cannot offer you a family heirloom passed down from generations. All I can offer as a symbol of my honest affection is this ring, which I purchased because it reminded me of the blue water from the Pond. That day was nearly a tragedy, but I am of the utmost hope that our story does not end that way.”
Sariah could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes. They stung her vision and she had to blink several times to clear the moisture wanting to gather there.
Closing the final distance between her and Reed, she gathered his handsome face in her hands. Looking him in those remarkable green eyes, she whispered, “I agree, you have been a comprehensive idiot, who was too blind to see the truth when it was staring him in the face.” She smiled. “But you are also a man whom I love to distraction. All I really needed to hear was the same.”
She saw a momentary flash of hope in his eyes. “Does that mean?—?”
“Hush now and kiss me.”
She lifted on her tiptoes as he readily complied.
Epilogue
July 31,1822
Reed took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time. His bride was late. Although her family had been anticipating a large event for their daughter’s marriage, Reed and Sariah had pleaded with her parents until they had finally relented with a special license and a private ceremony in the front parlor. At least, that was what it was supposed to be, but after her mother had insisted upon a proper wedding breakfast, it had turned into a rather sizeable gathering of guests, including Reed’s business partners, as well as Sariah’s best friends and their parents.
He decided that he had no choice but to give in to the demands of his future in-laws because they had been more than generous with other aspects of their engagement. The fact that the baron was allowing the union at all was certainly a reason to endure whatever was necessary, because at the end of the day, Sariah was his prize.
A hush abruptly went about the room and Reed looked at the doorway to see her standing there in a yellow silk gown adornedwith lace and embroidered daisies. She wore a sheer veil that clearly allowed her striking amber eyes to penetrate the fabric. That was what he focused on as she drew forward, a slight smile on her face.
As she stopped beside him, he whispered for her ears alone. “You are enchanting. I cannot wait until I can remove that garment and show you just how much I appreciate your efforts.”
Her cheeks turned an adoring shade of pink and he hoped that she never lost that seductive innocence. It was intoxicating, but nothing more than the lady herself.
As they held hands and stood before the vicar, promising to love and honor and cherish each other until death parted them, he turned to her and lifted her veil once they were announced as man and wife. “Mrs. Carrington,” he murmured, and then dared to kiss her properly in front of all of their guests.
But he wasn’t done there.
When they parted, he lifted her into his arms. Ignoring her gasp of shock, he carried her right out of the room.
“What about the breakfast!” Lady Foxworth called from behind them.
Sariah’s laughter couldn’t be contained as Reed did not break stride. “Start without us. We might make it back by dessert!” she cried over his shoulder.
As he took her upstairs to her previous chamber and laid her down on the coverlet, he began to untie his cravat. He could tell by Sariah’s eager gaze that she was pleased with her choice of a husband. When he was fully disrobed, he looked at her with hunger pulsing through his veins and began to remove her gown. He had no doubt his gaze promised every wicked thought roaming in his head.
“You know,” he said, kissing the side of her neck. “You really should not make promises that you cannot keep, my dear. Besides, you areallthe dessert I need.”
Author’s Note
Pierre François Hugues, Baron d'Hancarville, was the author of the French title that I mention Sariah finding in her father’s library. It was published around 1771 and had illicit engravings, similar to that of the Kama Sutra. I was overjoyed when I discovered it!
Of course, having the month of July and being American by birth, I discovered that the state I’m from, Missouri, was actually made a state on that very day in history! I had to laugh at the irony since I didn’t know that before I was doing my research.
The other things I mention—the Peerless or “Perilous” Pond and the Blewcoat School were both actual locations during the time. While the pond is long gone, the former school is still in Westminster, but has not been a school since the early 1900s.
I have long wanted to write a story where I could incorporate the Pinkie and Blue Boy paintings and I finally got the chance! While not related in any manner,Pinkiewas painted by Thomas Lawrence in 1794, whileThe Blue Boywas by Thomas Gainsborough about twenty-five years previously. They had been in private British collections over the years, althoughPinkiewas featured at the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art shortly after it was completed. Over the years, they were eventually sold off at auctions and have now found a home together in San Marino, California at The Huntington Library and Art Gallery since the early 1900s, when they eventually became associated with one another and why you see them paired together to this day.
