The Wedding of the Century & Other Stories Read Free

reminiscent of violets…
    He took a deep, slow breath. “I assume you are related to Admiral Vangelder?”
    â€œYou’ve heard of my grandfather?”
    â€œIt would be surprising if I hadn’t.” He held a branch aside so that she could pass without endangering her deliciously frivolous hat. “He was one of the great American success stories.”
    â€œYes, and something of a robber baron, as well, though he was always a darling to me. I miss him.” She chuckled. “He liked people to think that he was called Admiral because of his magnificent yachts, but actually, he got the nickname because his first job was tending mules on the Erie Canal.”
    â€œReally?” Justin said, amused by her artlessness.
    â€œReally. In fact, there are grave suspicions that his papa was not married to his mama.” She bit her lip guiltily. “You’re dangerously easy to talk to, Lord Justin. I shouldn’t have said so much—my mother would be horrified if the Admiral’s dubious parentage became common knowledge.” She grinned again. “Her own family has been respectable for at least a generation longer.”
    â€œYour secret is safe, Miss Vangelder,” he assured her.
    She gave him another entrancing smile that struck right to the heart. For a mad instant, he felt as if he was the only person who existed in her world. She had charm, this gilded girl, a quality as unmistakable as it was hard to define. He drew a shaken breath and returned his gaze to the winding path.
    Though she had said he was easy to talk to, in fact he found himself talking more than usual as they strolledthrough the park. He told her about the history of the estate, answered questions about the crops and tenants. Together they stood in the gazebo that was designed like a miniature Greek temple, and when they visited the picturesque ruins of an old monastery he described what the community would have been like in its heyday.
    She was a wonderful audience, listening with a grave air of concentration that was occasionally punctuated by an incisive question. After she asked about the effects of the agricultural depression on the farm laborers, he remarked, “You have a wide range of interests, Miss Vangelder.”
    â€œEducation is something of an American passion, so my father insisted that I have a whole regiment of tutors. Shortly before he died, he had me take the entrance exams to Oxford and Cambridge. He was quite pleased when I passed with flying colors.” She sighed. “Of course there was never any question of me actually going to a university. That would have been shockingly bluestocking.”
    At least she had been well taught. Like most English girls, his own sisters had received the sketchiest of educations. Only Alexandra, who loved to read, had a well-informed mind. The man who married Sunny Vangelder would be lucky in more ways than one.
    Justin had chosen a path that brought them out of the park’s wilderness area right beside the water garden. It was an elaborate series of pools and channels that descended across three levels of terraces before flowing into the ornamental lake.
    Sunny stopped in her tracks with a soft exhalation of pleasure. “Exquisite. The proportions—the way the statues are reflected in the pools—the way the eye is led gradually down to the lake. It’s masterful. And the grass surrounding it! Like green velvet. How do the English grow such perfect grass?”
    â€œIt’s quite simple, really. Just get a stone roller and use it on the lawn regularly for two or three hundred years.”
    She laughed and gave him a glance that made him feel as if he was the wittiest, handsomest man alive.
    His heart twisted, and he knew that he must get away from her before he started to act like an utter idiot. “I really must take you back now.”
    â€œI suppose so.” She took a last look at the water garden. “Thank