Chapter One
With the note crushed in his hand, Nathan thrust the door to the bridal suite open and glared at the occupants. He was so enraged that the woman he was about to marry had fled just minutes before the wedding ceremony. She wouldn't get away with this, nor would her family. No one made him look like a fool and they most assuredly were going to pay for it.
"What is the meaning of this? Where is she? I paid off your debts and extra for a bride. I have half the town downstairs expecting me to wed. You sir have twenty minutes to supply me with a bride or you will find yourself in debtor's prison." He bellowed, threatening the occupants before spinning around, and storming back to his bedchamber where he started to pace.
He was furious, he needed a wife now before it was too late, time was running out. He had to have at least one child filling his nursery by next year or he would lose everything. Damn is grandfather and the stipulation in the old man's will. When his parents died he'd been in his teens and was the next in line to inherit the title and lands. Though he detested the thought of marrying, he would be damned if he was going to let his sniveling weasel of a cousin inherit what was rightly his. So there had better be a bride walking down the aisle in fifteen minutes or there would be hell to pay. He dragged his fingers through his hair in frustration as he glared unseeing out the window.
How had he managed to get it so wrong? He was positive the woman he chose to wed was ecstatic about marrying him. The few times he spent in her company she seemed happy enough. So what was all this nonsense about and why did she suddenly have a change of heart? He scowled darkly, his hands fisted in the pockets of his gray morning pants. He didn't want to think about or have the time to hunt down another woman who would be a suitable wife. And it would be damn humiliating if the ceremony didn't take place today.
If he ever saw the infernal woman again he would relish wringing her neck for this, be damned if he wouldn't. Well she better pray her father came up with the goods, because if the man didn't, they would all live to regret it. He had only twelve months to sire an offspring and he couldn't waste one more day. After his wife conceived and nine months later there was a baby in the nursery, she could do what she liked. Just as long as he fulfilled the terms of the will, nothing else mattered.
As long as they were both discreet, he had no problem with her living her own life because that's just what he planned to do himself. After all, it was only a marriage of convenience and all he asked from her was respect and obedience. He would bestow a decent allowance on her and when it was necessary, escort her to certain functions. It would be no different from every other marriage of the ton. Well it would have been if the silly twit hadn't run away. Damn her to hell.
An enraged growl rumbled in his chest when the clock struck the hour, jerking his hands free from his pants he spun around and left the room. Humiliated or not, he had to go downstairs and stand in front of the preacher. It was time to get this farce over and done with and if no bride was produced heads would roll. He would be damned if he was going to be used and made to look like an idiot.
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