“You have an hour,” Exeter said. “There is another wedding going on now.”

“Aside from that,” Turley swallowed the last of his tea, “if you arrive too early, you are only going to become nervous and look at your watch every second or so.”

“I am not nervous. I am excited. I want to be there when she arrives.”

The ticking from the fireplace mantel seemed too slow. “Has anyone wound that clock?”

“It is wound every day, my lord,” Lumner said.

“You see.” Turley poured a cup from a fresh pot of tea. “It is happening already.”

Finally, at eight thirty, they agreed to travel to the church. They arrived just as the first ceremony was ending. Shortly afterward, his future brothers-in-law arrived with their ladies.

“You are much too early,” Kenilworth said.

John almost rolled his eyes. “Not you too. That’s what Turley and Exeter told me.”

His mother, sister, and Lytton arrived, and John opened his pocket watch. Damn, he still had almost ten minutes before Eleanor would get there.

“There he goes,” Rothwell commented. “Pacing. It’s all a man can do.”

Lady Merton sighed. “You do realize this happens at every wedding? Rothwell, you were no better. By the time Louisa arrived you had convinced yourself she had jilted you.”

“Why are all of you here so early?” John asked.

“To keep you company,” Lady Kenilworth said. “Once the children and Grace arrive, Eleanor will come shortly thereafter.”

He glanced at the growing number of what Rothwell rightly termed “random” people taking their places at the back of the church, and his neck started to prick him. When he looked again, he recognized one of the Worthington footmen dressed in regular clothing and knew there were more. He took out his pocket watch again, then put it away. Eleanor would arrive soon. Worthington and Stanwood were with her and her sisters. Until the service was over, there was nothing to worry about.

* * *