Weddings of the Century: A Pair of Wedding Novellas
Mary Jo Putney
Introduction
Weddings of the Century includes two novellas, Claiming His Bride and The Wedding of the Century.
Claiming His Bride was originally published in a Signet historical romance anthology called Dashing and Dangerous, which is why the original title was the much more dangerous-sounding, The Devil's Spawn. But Claiming His Bride is much more appropriate because the story is about a young man returning after years of roaming the world to reclaim the young woman he's always loved—if she'll have him. This is the first time this story has appeared in a digital edition.
Dominick's story was inspired by the odd but true tale of Princess Caraboo. In 1817, a strangely dressed young woman speaking an unintelligible language convinced a town of people in Gloucestershire that she'd been kidnapped from her home in Polynesia and escaped her captors in the Bristol Channel, which was how she ended up in England.
She was much feted by the locals until a boardinghouse keeper in Bristol identified her as an English servant girl named Mary Baker with a vivid imagination and apparently some experience with sailors from exotic places. Her story gave me the idea for Dominick's strategy in Claiming His Bride, and it was later the subject of a charming movie named Princess Caraboo.
The origin of the next story in this volume, The Wedding of the Century, was when I was delighted to be the first non-Harlequin author ever asked to contribute a long novella to a Harlequin historical romance anthology. The theme was "Brides," and what romance author doesn't love that topic? Inspiration for this story came from the real life marriage of the great American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt to the 9th Duke of Marlborough. (Winston Churchill was the duke's first cousin.)
Blenheim Palace, the vast Marlborough estate, is near Oxford, England, where I lived for several years, and whenever I took visitors for the Blenheim tour, I saw the huge, splendid family portrait painted by John Singer Sargent. Consuelo was a beautiful swan-necked duchess, her husband looks very much like a duke, and the painting includes their two little boys and two dogs, but the marriage was not a happy one and ended in divorce.
I thought it would be fun to write a similar story with a happy ending. (Consuelo found happiness in her second marriage to a distinguished Frenchman.) I was aided in this by the marvelous book To Marry an English Lord by Gail McColl and Carol McD. Wallace. It's packed full of pictures and delicious details about American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy. (This is the same book that later inspired Julian Fellowes to create Downton Abbey.)
I liked the idea of finding two real people buried within all the celebrity trappings of such a famous and wildly publicized marriage. And then giving them a happily ever after.
–MJP
Claiming His Bride
Chapter 1
Devonshire, 1819
"But what if he refuses?"
Dominick Chandler silenced her with a kiss, which was what happened whenever she tried to be practical. Roxanne Mayfield sighed and relaxed into his embrace for a moment before pushing away. Trying to sound stern, she said, "Papa is not going to be persuaded by kisses."
Gray eyes sparkling, he brushed an errant red curl from her cheek. "That's all right. I wouldn't want to kiss him anyhow."
Trying not to laugh, she said, "Dominick, please be serious, we haven't much time. It was hard to convince Miss Bartholomew to let me see you alone for even ten minutes, and that wouldn't have happened if she weren't half in love with you herself."
His expression turned grave. "It's true that I've been a bit wild in the past, but I've never done anything really dreadful. My birth is good, I have a respectable income, and I'm reasonably eligible. Why would your father reject me? Here in the wilds of the West Country, there isn't a lot of competition for your hand."
She chuckled. "You mean he'll take your offer because I'm so hopelessly plain that otherwise he risks having me on his hands forever."
"Minx!" Dominick said appreciatively. "You know that's not what I meant. If you'd had a Season in London, you would have had half the men in England at your feet. But then you might not have met me."
"A thought too terrible to contemplate." For the thousandth time she marveled that such a splendid, charming, handsome man had fallen in love with her. But he had. Ever since they met by chance while riding, there had been magic between them. Roxanne suspected that she was the only person who really knew the honest, caring, vulnerable heart that lay beneath his dashing exterior. When she had recognized that, she had started to believe his declarations of love.
His hands tightened on hers. "I'm no paragon, Roxanne, but I swear that I will never fail you."
"I believe you." She shivered. "But I'm afraid, Dominick. You don't know Papa. He… He's not always reasonable, and he is not going to like the fact that you and I have been seeing each other without his knowledge.”
"Since you spend all your time on the estate, how else could we have met?" Dominick said reasonably. "Granted, our courtship has been a bit irregular, but we've done nothing improper." He grinned. "I'm waiting for marriage for that."
She blushed and looked down, knowing how easily he could have seduced her if he had put his mind to it. She was lucky that he was honorable. But Papa was still not going to be pleased that she had a suitor. "If my father refuses your offer and forbids me to see you, what will we do?"