Free His Wicked Wish by Olivia Drake Page B

title and wealth, will you be the trollop who causes an uproar in my father’s household?”
    â€œIt’s more likely you and I will be at each other’s throats.”
    â€œSo much the better.” Taking her hand in his, he brought it to his lips for a smooth kiss. “This is your chance to play the greatest role of your career. Only think of all the ingenious ways you can irritate my father. It shall be great fun, I promise you.”
    He gave her that heart-stopping smile, complete with dimples and a flash of white teeth. It was absurd for one man to be so gorgeous—and to cause her blood to heat at his slightest touch. She must be a fool even to consider participating in his despicable plot of vengeance.
    Yet who was she to stand in judgment of him? She had long dreamed of taking her own revenge—though he must never know it.
    Unlike the other bidders, Lord Rowley was offering her the chance to enter society. The chance to mingle with the nobility. The chance to seek out her grandfather, the Duke of Houghton, and to punish him for disowning her mother.
    â€œAll right,” Maddy said. “I accept.”

 
    Chapter 7
    While the ancient cleric droned his way through the marriage service, Nate cast a sideways glance at his bride. Madelyn Swann stood beside him at the altar, her sapphire-blue eyes fixed on the minister. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through one of the chapel windows and illuminated her fine profile, the pert nose, the rosy lips, the long lashes. A cherry-red bonnet covered her hair, though a few blond strands had escaped to frame her face.
    Good God, she was beautiful. A most delectable bit of muslin. Her disguise at the auction two nights ago had kept him from fully comprehending that fact until today.
    His gaze flicked downward. Oh, yes. He’d selected that tawdry crimson dress from her trunk of costumes. The gown hugged the curves of her waist and hips while her breasts pushed in creamy abundance against the low-cut bodice. No wonder men had flocked to the auction for the chance to bid on her as their mistress.
    She looked ravishing. And he could scarcely wait to ravish her.
    The minister’s voice echoed in the chapel. “‘If any man can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.’”
    The balding clergyman looked up from his black book. A long pause ensued while he squinted through his round spectacles at the chapel door, as if expecting someone to come dashing down the aisle with a long list of Nate’s sins.
    Nate didn’t need to glance back over his shoulder to know that the near-empty pews held only the two requisite witnesses: Gertie, the dour maidservant, and Elias Josephson, a grizzled ship’s mate whom Nate had commandeered to act as his valet. No other guests had been invited, for no gossip must reach the ears of the ton. Not yet, anyway. Not until he had presented his scandalous wife to his family and savored the horrified shock on the Earl of Gilmore’s face.
    Impatience gnawed at him, and Nate controlled the urge to snap at the minister. He wanted this church service to be over with and done. He wanted to take Madelyn Swann to Gilmore House and witness the unfolding of his revenge.
    The minister resumed in a thundering tone, “‘I charge ye both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of ye know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it.’”
    This time, instead of looking at the church door, he stared back and forth between Nate and his bride. No doubt the cleric was suspicious at the speed and secrecy of the nuptials. Under normal circumstances, the church required the posting of banns for three successive Sundays. But Nate had acquired a special license the previous day, thanks to a note