Beautiful Tempest(5)

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The plan was to adjourn immediately back to Haverston for the wedding party since it would get uncomfortably tight in the church if everyone tried to wish the happy couple well there. Sometimes the size of a family had to be taken into account, and there were so many Malorys now that it was a wonder they'd all fit into the church. In fact, it had been quite a few years since the entire family had gathered at Haverston. Jason, the eldest of the family and third Marquis of Haverston, used to insist they all come for Christmas, but that was before there were so many Malorys that he no longer had room for them all despite the huge size of the ancestral mansion.

Judy's mother, Roslynn, had solved that problem last year when her immediate family had arrived late for the annual gathering and ended up staying in the hotel in Havers Town. So she'd found a young solicitor who didn't know her family and had him handle the details of buying the property next to Haverston, which she completely refurbished and added many more bedrooms to, then secretly deeded it over to Jason with the stipulation that he not tell his brother Anthony about it. It was her bane that Tony only allowed her to spend her enormous fortune on frivolous things. She knew he wouldn't consider a big house frivolous and would have been quite put out about it if he'd found out.

Everyone who had arrived for the wedding yesterday had rooms at Haverston. Those who had arrived this morning had been directed next door. The children shared rooms, the nursery had a few babies in it, including Jacqueline's new nephew, who was not quite a year old yet. But Jack had already been made an aunt when her oldest brother Jeremy's wife, Danny, had had twin girls seven years ago, the third set of twins in the family!

As Jack left the church with her parents, Amy caught up to whisper in her ear, "I can guess who will be next to the altar."

Jack started to bristle until Amy actually pointed at their cousin Jaime, Judy's sixteen-year-old sister, who they both knew flirted with every young man who wasn't family.

Jacqueline chuckled. "She'll never make up her mind about who to marry. I can't keep up with how many times Jaime thought she was in love."

Just ahead of them, Katey was trying to cheer up her father, Anthony, and her husband, Boyd, tried to console him by pointing out, "At least Judy didn't marry a Yank!"-which only got him a dark look from his father-in-law.

"Jack, wait up!" Brandon Malory called as he ran up behind her and steered her toward his coach. "Ride back to the house with me? I'd like a chance to talk."

Jacqueline didn't object. She hadn't seen her cousin Brandon since she and Judy had visited his ducal estate just prior to departing for their American debut. The last night of their stay in Hampshire, Judy went ghost hunting one last time-and was successful. She'd not only caught a ghost, who turned out to be Nathan Tremayne, hiding his smuggled goods in the ruined old manor house his grandmother had left him, but a husband! 

Brandon's sister, Cheryl, caught up with them and exclaimed to Jack, "I can't believe Judy married her ghost!"

Cheryl started to get into the ducal coach to ride with them, but Brandon told her, "It's bad luck for girls to ride with their brothers after a wedding; it raises their chances of becoming old maids."

She looked aghast and ran off to find her mother. Jacqueline chuckled. "Did she just believe that nonsense?"

Brandon grinned as he helped Jacqueline into the coach. "She's still gullible at her age."

"She's only two years younger than you!"

"Every year makes a difference. I shudder to think what she'll be like next year when she's Jaime's age." But as soon as they were seated, he said, "Everyone keeps telling me, ‘Don't ask,' it will make you lose your temper. But you won't with me, will you?"

She didn't need to ask what he was referring to. The family had been tiptoeing around the subject of her kidnapping because she got angry every single time her ordeal was mentioned. She rarely stopped thinking about it-and him. Only the Seasonal parties had been a distraction. But she didn't feel angry now. Maybe the memories were finally going to stop plaguing her.

"I'm fine," she assured her cousin.

"Tell me about the pirates."

"There's not much to tell when I never saw any of them other than the captain and his paramour, Catherine. You have heard about her, right? The damned liar who plotted her way aboard The Maiden George?"

"Yes, and her supposed brother they tried to convince the family was a relative of ours."