Free To Catch a Lady by Pamela Labud

all the young women present, and after careful consideration, I have chosen my bride.”
    A collective gasp went around the crowd.
    “Ashton, are you sure?” Amelia asked.
    “Good show,” the man named Michael said and snorted.
    Summerton winked, and Caro saw him shoot a knowing gaze toward Beatrice. “In my pocket I have a signed special license. All I need to do is to fill in the name of my intended and the wheels of matrimony will be set in motion. In the chapel down the hall a priest is waiting, and, with my aunt’s blessing, we shall be married by midnight.”
    “Your Grace—” Caro started. “Please, make your announcement after I have left the room at least,” she whispered. “Haven’t you humiliated me enough?”
    He turned to her, his blue eyes clear and wide, a mischievous grin sprouting on his face.
    “Oh, not nearly enough,” he whispered back. Then, standing, he reached into his pocket and produced a small, white calling card. “My choice of a bride is…”
    He glanced back down at Caro and winked.
    “Oh,” Caro muttered when she realized what he meant to do. “It can’t be.”
    “Miss Caroline Hawkins.”

Chapter 5
    “How much longer?” Ash demanded, pacing the length of the small chapel for the hundredth time in half an hour. “Surely they have her affairs in order by now.”
    “Changing your mind?” Michael asked. Wearing a smug grin, he lounged in one of the chairs that rested along the south wall of the chapel.
    Ash gave him a dark expression. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just want this over.”
    “So you can enjoy the delights of your new bride, no doubt.”
    “I want to set out for Slyddon. I’ve been away far too long as it is.”
    Michael laughed. “You’re taking your bride out into the wilderness? Aren’t you the least bit concerned about dragging this poor girl out of the city and to that broken-down pile of stone and mud you call a home?”
    “Pile of stone and mud?” Ashton scoffed. “If you weren’t my friend, I’d call you out.”
    “Take ease, old man. No one appreciates your lodge more than I do. But this is a marriage you’re embarking on, not a hunting expedition. Take the girl back to Mayfair. Let her get accustomed to being a duchess before you thrust her into your world.”
    Ash took a deep breath. Perhaps his friend was right. What harm would another month in London do, anyway?
    “I suppose I can tolerate being in town another few weeks.”
    Michael laughed. “See, that wasn’t so difficult. I knew the heart of a gentleman beat in your chest, no matter what others may say.”
    Before Ashton could ask exactly what it was that others did say, the doors to the chapel burst open and his new bride-to-be, her sister, and his aunt came bustling through.
    “Impossible, sir!” Caroline proclaimed as she marched up to face him. For a brief moment, he imagined them together in his large featherbed, covered only with warm quilts and spending the long hours of the night making love.
    Ash shook himself. It would do no good to give in to such flights of fancy, no matter how enticing the thought.
    “What’s impossible?” he asked, doing his level best to pull his gaze from the shimmering fabric of her gown. Cream lace edged along her bodice and a white ribbon fashioned above her waist pulled the fabric taut across her breasts. It was clear that the modiste had designed her gown solely for the purpose of driving a man mad.
    “Are you daft, sir? To marry in this fashion is muddle-brained.” She crossed her arms. “I demand that you release me from this ridiculous contract immediately!”
    What a bold little chit she was! She dared to enter a chapel—his chapel, in fact— voicing her opinions, flashing her lovely green eyes about, clenching her tiny fists, and shouting at him? Especially after he’d come to her rescue? Ash’s sympathy for the woman fled.
    “Madam, do you ever enter a room without demanding, screaming, or causing some other such