Title: Unwilling Bride

Author: Neamh1

Disclaimer: Not mine

AN: Longer chapterws to come soon i promise, thanks for the reviews, you guys rock! Please keep them coming and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks

Angelus had been waiting for thirty minutes when he heard footsteps descending the stairs. He'd been looking through Hank Summers Last Will and Testament while he waited for Miss Summers to make herself
presentable and he was shocked at the wealth his old friend had obtained through the years. Angelus had made a lot of money himself but the amount he would gain by marrying Elizabeth would set them both up for
life; he'd never have to work again.

They had met when Angelus was just a young lad running around as a messenger. He'd been working for six months when he met Hank Summers; he was to deliver a message to Hank but was ambushed on the way. Luckily, he had managed to escape, thanks to his captor's horse
going limp after tripping on a branch through the wooded area he had tried to escape into.
When he'd reached Hank Summers home he had been badly beaten and in need of medical care. Hank had made sure his injuries were cared for and that he was cured back to health. Back then Elizabeth had just been a toddler and he had only seen a brief glimpse of her in the nursery.

After he was better, he had worked exclusively for Hank for a year until Hank secured him a better position where he was placed in an office in Washington where he undertook his training to become a spy. From
then onwards he had seen Hank briefly, no more than a dozen times in all the years but he had wrote to the old man, when permitted, to tell him of his life. He had always felt obliged to Hank for all his help and
had said that he would do anything for the old man. To say he was surprised at what Hank had asked of him in his missive was an understatement.
Angelus had never wanted to take a wife, he had plenty of mistresses and often bedded rich noble women, many of whom tried to trap him into marriage after their coming together but they never succeeded. He had
managed to escape every shotgun wedding so far except this one. He had hoped to arrive before Hank passed on, to try and talk some sense into the old fool but he'd been too late. Now there was no backing out, he
couldn't go back on his word to his friend that he would do anything for. He couldn't leave Hank's only daughter to the uncertain fate of having no
husband or guardian. And so he found himself reading through the list of Hanks assets, all of which would belong to him once he married Elizabeth. It was a sizable dowry of estates, bonds, horseflesh, and money
but he wondered whether it was all worth it. Hank had specifically stated in his will that he wanted them to be married as soon as possible and not
to wait until after the mourning period was over. It was most unheard of but as was stated in his Will, so would it be. He doubted that it would be a pleasant day and wondered briefly if the shotguns would need to be trained on Elizabeth instead of him. She was more likely to put up a fight about the upcoming wedding since he was obliged to go through with it due to his loyalty to his friend.
He felt suddenly very constricted as he read the letter that Hank had written and left with his solicitor for Angelus.

'Angelus, take care of my dear daughter, love her,
care for her and be faithful only to her and she will
make a wonderful wife. I beg you not to break her
heart with any infidelity on your part. And have
patience with her; she is a headstrong girl who will
no doubt fight you every step of the way...but gain
her trust and love and she will give you something
that you've been missing, something that my Joyce gave
to me - A lover, friend and partner for the rest of
your life.
Be well my friend.'

Trust Hank, he thought, to add that little part to make sure that I wouldn't seek womanly comfort anywhere else. He hoped that he had the will power to be faithful to his unwilling bride, or else he feared he would not live up to be the man that his long time friend expected him to be.

tbc..