Excerpt: 'The Devil Takes a Bride' by Julia London

Julia London introduces us to a favorite scene of hers from The Devil Takes a Bride (out today!), book two in her Cabot Sisters series.

Julia: One of the things that interests me about the Regency period is how women began to stir under the thumbs of men, wanting more and bigger freedoms. I loved creating a series about the four Cabot sisters, who were not content to let their destinies be dictated to them. In The Trouble With Honor, this desire became especially urgent when the sisters were faced with the prospect of losing their place in society. Eldest sister Honor led the charge. They were undaunted! They would do what they must, and if they made mistakes they would live with the consequences! They instinctively knew it was important to act first, but as they had been raised in privilege, they really have no idea how to go about setting their course. They were determined but grossly ill-equipped young women.

In The Devil Takes a Bride, Grace decides she will save the Cabots from obscurity by seducing and entrapping a man with the necessary requisites (pleasing personality and a fortune big enough to support a herd of women) into marriage. Grace thinks she is very clever in this, but no matter what she believes, seduction and entrapment are not skills she possesses. She makes a huge mistake and ends up trapping the wrong man. Not only is the Earl of Merryton the wrong man, he has some pretty devastating secrets. It very quickly becomes apparent that this will be no cake walk. Grace is resigned to suffering the consequences of her foolish actions, but she will in no way be defeated by them. Not her! She is a Cabot! I hope you enjoy this excerpt from The Devil Takes a Bride:

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Grace glanced heavenward and sent up a silent prayer for courage.

The door opened, and a man of the cloth stood behind it. He was the same height as Grace, and his disdainful gaze slid down to her toes and up again. "This way, my lord," he said to Merryton, and gestured behind Grace to the front door of the offices.

Merryton swept his hand before him, indicating Grace should precede him. She followed the clergyman out of the offices and up the road to the little chapel. She could hear Merryton walking behind her, but she could not see him. She glanced over her shoulder at him. His gaze was locked on her.

Why did he not speak? At the very least he might tell her he was so angry he did not intend to ever speak to her. Surely she deserved at least that explanation.

Grace slowed her step so that he had to walk beside her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, debating what she might say to somehow improve this wretched situation. "Perhaps," she said carefully, "this…arrangement…won't be as bad as one might fear." She looked at him hopefully.

Something dark flashed in his eyes.

"I mean only that, sometimes, it is best to look for hope than to find fault." Oh, that sounded ridiculous.

He must have thought so, too, because he said nothing. Grace was beginning to think his silence might be the worst of it all—that he would never utter a word.

Cousin Beatrice and her disagreeable husband were waiting inside the chapel for them.

There was no one for Merryton, she noticed. Not even Amherst.

Her heart was pounding as they moved up the aisle to the altar. She'd never felt so alone—they may as well have been leading her to the gallows and her execution.

The clergyman spoke in near-whispers to Merryton, almost as if Grace was not even present. "We are gathered here today in the sight of God," he said, as if Grace wasn't aware that God was watching. As if she needed to be reminded. As if she wasn't acutely aware of how dreadfully she must have disappointed her maker.

She felt a little light-headed as the weight of what was happening began to sink in. Her thoughts jumbled and raced ahead to her duties as this man's wife. She was aware when Merryton shifted beside her, felt the heat in his much larger hand when he took hers—literally picking it up from her side to hold it when Grace failed to hear the vicar's instruction. The vicar began to read the assumptions of a married couple. She noticed that Merryton's eyes seemed to narrow the more the vicar spoke.

"My lord," the vicar said, his voice soft and even kind, "will you take this woman…" He began to rattle off the requirements of him. To hold her from this day forward. To honor and cherish, for better or worse—

Now there was a laugh. There was no accidental honoring and cherishing at this altar. The notion that he should have to vow such a thing was so absurd that Grace could feel a slightly hysterical, completely irrepressible smile begin to curve her lips.

As the vicar continued to speak, Merryton looked at her curiously at first, then crossly. He undoubtedly did not find any of this amusing. She bit her lip, but she couldn't keep that damnable smile from her lips.

"I will," Merryton said curtly.

Grace hadn't even realized the question had ended.

"Miss Cabot," the vicar said, "will you take Jeffrey Thomas Creighton Donovan to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, to cherish, to honor and obey until death do you part?" he asked quickly, his gaze on the book he held.

Oh, dear. Until death parted them seemed an awfully long time. Grace thought of her fantasy of escaping, of running away. She would do that long before death ever thought to part them, and that, therefore, begged the question—

Merryton squeezed her hand. Her hesitation had earned her twin stern looks from the vicar and from Merryton. "Oh, yes," she said quickly, and looked at the vicar. "I will." Her voice was surprisingly strong for all the roiling in her belly. She shifted her gaze to Merryton. His expression was either a devouring one, or it was a very heated one, and she was mystified as to what, exactly, his gaze meant.

She looked away, finding the stained glass once more, praying for wisdom, forbearance, hope.

The vicar reminded them both that they had said these vows in the presence of God, and then intoned, "I pronounce you man and wife."

Find out more about Julia and her books at julialondon.com.