Read Wedding Night Revenge for Free Online Page A

tossed away. 'He said...well, not much actually. He just mentioned he thought me little changed...'
    The cadence of his Irish drawl had been imprinted on her mind ever since:
    You're little changed, Miss Meredith, and that's fortunate for me and pretty disastrous for you...
    A sense of deep foreboding had assailed her thereafter as she'd watched him stroll so casually away. His words had been carefully chosen for effect, she knew, and should not be too carefully attended, yet she had constantly picked them over for hidden meaning. During their carriage ride home, Lucinda had said that she'd certainly detected sarcasm in his comment, but nothing more sinister. In fact, she'd admitted to finding his humour rather droll and appealing, which had earned her a scowl from Rachel.
    But Rachel had felt reassured by Lucinda's objective opinion, and by the time she reached Beaulieu Gardens had decided that Lord Devane's remarks were intended to be crushing rather than threatening. He had been ironically giving thanks for having escaped marriage to a woman who was still, as he saw it, sadly lacking in the basic graces. Had she given a fig how he took to her after six years, she might have felt mortified...but she didn't, so she wasn't...
    As her reflection subsided, Rachel became conscious of her mother's steady gaze. Casually, she resumed recounting the details of this afternoon's events.
    'Then Lord Devane departed in his phaeton with a female companion.
    Lucinda believes the woman is an Italian opera singer who is allegedly all the rage and very popular with the gentlemen. I imagine they are...are in a liaison: she seemed keen for him to rejoin her, and to witness her flirting with a few macaronis who were dawdling about. Anyway,' Rachel concluded on a smile, 'I am quite glad now that we did happen upon each other. After six years, the dreaded meeting has come and gone...and good riddance. And I'm sure his lordship feels the same way. Whatever Papa says, I am glad the Earl of Devane had the good sense and manners to reject the wedding invitation and stay well away. He obviously deems it best not to socialise with us and I, for one, do not feel we shall be deprived of his company. Quite the reverse.'
    'It sounds as though his lady friend might have been Maria Laviola...'
    'Yes, I think that's the name that Lucinda mentioned.'
    Gloria Meredith seemed about to add something, but a winsome smile closed her dropped jaw, not further conversation. The news that Signora Laviola was to be guest of honour at the Pembertons' musicale planned for later in the week might, on reflection, be best kept to herself.
    She patted affectionately at her eldest daughter's aim- while pondering that if the feted diva was Devane's mistress, then he would probably deign to attend that evening. If Rachel knew, she might possibly make excuses to stay away. Gloria didn't want that. Her eldest daughter's unusual absence from their family party might stir more spiteful speculation than would her appearance at the same venue as the man she had once callously jilted.
    Rachel was right: the dreaded reunion was over with. It was now time for all concerned to treat the affair as old news and render the gossips disappointed.

    With another little pat at Rachel's arm she approached June and William, determined to try and prise out of her prospective son-in-law a few details about his mother's chosen outfit for the nuptials.

Chapter Three
    He was glad he still had that effect on her, Connor thought as he watched Rachel Meredith blush. Even when they'd been engaged, she would colour prettily at the sight of him. In his youthful arrogance, he'd liked to imagine it was in pleasure. His cynical smile strengthened, causing her to sharply turn her head. Now he knew differently. She'd blushed then, as she did now, because his presence disconcerted her and she wanted one or other of them to be elsewhere. A mean achievement, to be sure; nevertheless, a part of him was satisfied