Part 23 (1/2)
”Because you're an upstart, my dear. You're not playing by their rules and that makes them spiteful.” Willing to put this bright, uncompromising woman in jail.
She harrumped and leaned back against the bench. ”Which is the very reason I've also been charged with disturbing the queen's peace.”
”Indeed.”
”Because I'm a woman. And I've dared to inform the emperor that he has no clothes. That his laws have no place in the natural order of life.” She stood and paced away from him to the opposite wall, bringing him to his feet, making him want to follow after her. ”That charge against me is completely unfair. Our march down Whitehall was peaceful. And that ballyhoo in Parliament the other day wasn't our fault.”
”I'm aware of that, Elizabeth.” And newly aware of the injustice she was battling against, of his own growing sense of outrage on her behalf. ”However, the worst of the charges against you are undeniable.”
”By that you mean my printing and distributing salacious material.”
”That's how the warrant reads.”
”It's wrong.” She crossed her arms beneath her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, plumping them above her bodice, causing havoc in his groin and blowing up a fire in his chest. ” Unbridled Embraces is not salacious, nor is it meant to be, as you well know!”
”In fact, my dear, should I ever be asked the question in a court of law, I would have to state that I highly approved of Miss Dunaway's unbridled embraces.”
”There, you see!”
But she obviously didn't. Couldn't see the effect she was having on him, on her freedom.
”However, Elizabeth, according to the solicitor I consulted on your behalf, the law deems that the publication of your little booklet const.i.tutes a threat to public safety.”
”Suggesting that a wife make herself attractive to her husband is a threat to public safety? That's absurd.”
b.l.o.o.d.y shortsighted. ”But it's the letter of the law. And that's all the courts know.”
”But you know differently, Blakestone. You know my intentions. You can testify in my defense. They'll believe you; you're a man.”
To the marrow. He could feel the pulse of her spirit thrumming through his veins. A new brightness in his soul.
”And I've learned to play by their rules when it suits me to do so.”
”Like breaking me out of jail.”
He was finished listening to her debate, more sure than ever that he had made the right decision. For the both of them.
”I told you, my dear, I've had the charges against you dropped.”
”Then why are we here?”
Braced for the mother of all battles, Ross put himself between Elizabeth and the door. ”Because, madam, there is one condition to your release.”
She narrowed her brow up at him. ”That we attend a midnight wedding?”
Indeed. ”A simple accord that I reached with the Lord Mayor.”
”What kind of accord?” She fisted her hands against her hips and scowled up at him. A scowl that he was sure would turn to horror in the next instant. But he was ready for that.
He hoped.
”I intimated to him, madam, that since you and I were planning to be married anywa y -”
”Married!” Her eyes had grown to saucers. But for the moment he had her full attention.
”That I would advance that date, my dear, marry you tonight by special license in exchange for dropping the charges, thereby taking you off the streets and out of the court docket for good.”
”Now you've lied to the Lord Mayor.” She was shaking her head at him in horror. ”I'll be swinging from Tyburn for the noonday rush.”
”I didn't lie to the Lord Mayor, Elizabeth. We are getting married tonight.”
He didn't like the stark stillness of her silence. Didn't like that her fine mouth was set firmly in a frown. Or that she was blinking at him from under a thunderous scowl.
”Is that why you brought me here to the Lord Mayor's? So that you could take charge of me like a wayward lunatic? ”
She looked that way at the moment, with her gold-tipped hair gone slightly wild, her cheeks pinkening to crimson, her kitchen maid ap.r.o.n stained every which way. But at least she wasn't pitching a tantrum.
”The choice is yours, my dear,” he said, trying to keep his own breathing steady, his temper in check, because this was not the way he would have chosen a wife and a wedding day. ”Marriage to me, or a lengthy trial by a jury of men. A lifetime as my wife, or twelve years in prison.”
She raised a very wry brow and focused her glare into the deepest part of him. ”The rock or the hard place? The fire or the frying pan? Is that the choice you're offering, my lord?”
A slap in the face that he felt all the way to his heart. ”Have I been such a rogue?”
”No, d.a.m.n you.” She paced to the wall and back to him, scrubbing her fingers through her hair. ”But you're still a man. And the law is on your side. My fortune becomes yours. My every decision. My children. My bookstore. My friends. The Abigail Adams.”
And here he was, as good as forcing her to marrying him. No wonder she couldn't trust him.
”If I tell you that I'm not like tha 't -”
”What's that old saying, my lord? That absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
”That's unfair, Elizabeth.”
”But it's the truth: that as my husband, you'd wield absolute power over me. You could so easily shut down the Adams, forbid my friends, grow tired of me...”
He couldn't imagine ever growing tired of her enterprising spirit, or the challenge in her eyes, or the goodness of her heart.
But how to convince her that he would do his best by her to the end of their days?
”Elizabeth, I can't force you to sign the registrar's book. The choice to marry me has to be yours alone.”
”How can you do this to in e?” Her face fell to a flood of tears. ”Offer me my freedom as long as I surrender my independence to you?”
”That's not my intention, love.” But he was beginning to understand her terror, could see it in the trembling of her chin. ”But you've f inally pushed them too hard. And they've got the power to remove you from the sunlight. And I wouldn't like that a bit.”
”But I -” Her chin wobbled. Her hands were quaking, her knees knocking against his. Panic welled in her eyes as she shoved herself away from him with a cry. ”No, no, no, no, no! I can't do this.”