And she had done them now, but there was no Lathan to speak to and laugh with about the mess she’d made of the kitchens.
Or to sample the pie she’d made.
And with these past days, where she’d had only time to think about the way in which she’d left Lathan, she now saw that she’d been a coward. And selfish. She’d cared only about the fact that the fulfillment of Lathan’s dream would mean the end of hers—the dream of they two together. She should have celebrated with him as he deserved, because he’d been only supportive in helping her to live for her dreams.
Her chest ached, and she took a slow, shaky breath. She wanted to do it all over again, that day with the marquess’ arrival and Lathan’s meeting. Francesca exhaled in a bid to lessen the tension in her breast. It didn’t help.
Francesca squeezed her eyes shut.
Perhaps she could go back. To both congratulate him and to say goodbye. Mayhap that closure would be enough.
Liar. It will never be enough. Not unless she had him in her life in the ways she so desperately wanted him to be.
The crunch of snow reached her.
Blast and damn. “I told you I don’t require assistance,” she called.
A shadow fell over her.
“And here I thought you might welcome some company in completing the frolicking portion of your list.”
That droll response brought Francesca’s eyes flying open. The earth ceased to spin. She imagined him. There was no other accounting for the upside-down visage above her. Clean-shaven and with his hair closely cropped, he was different, and yet… the same. “Lathan?” she whispered.
He smiled wryly, that slight uptilt of his lips uncertain and so very endearing. “The same.”
Francesca struggled up onto her elbows.
Lathan helped her to her feet.
They stood before each other, and she was afraid to move, afraid to breathe, lest she find he wasn’t real. Or this moment. And she wanted it to be. Oh, how she wanted it to be.
She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he said, “You… left unexpectedly.”
She wet her lips. “It seemed the right thing to do.” She’d regretted that decision since. It had been the coward’s way, not staying to make her goodbyes. “I know now that it was wrong.”
His gaze moved over her face like the most tender of caresses. “Why?” he asked quietly.
Francesca hugged her arms around her middle. “Because you were a friend. Because the time we shared together mattered.” And her hungering for more time and a future with him hadn’t merited running away.
Sadness glinted in his eyes. “Were a friend?”
“Are a friend. You are a friend, Lathan.” She caught his hands and squeezed. “It is why I am so happy for you, and I should have remained to say as much. I should have told you that you deserve…” Mindful of the sensitivity of what she’d learned, she glanced about, and when she spoke again, she did so in quieter tones. “You deserve the work you were offered, Lathan.”
Surprise stamped his features. “You heard. You know, then, that I was offered an assignment with the Home Office.”
Her cheeks went hot with remorse. She knew as much. But she’d not heard the details beyond that. Now, she wished she had. Because when one wished to share a person’s life, one shared every aspect of it.
“I shouldn’t have been listening, and yet, at first I wanted to be certain you were safe.”
His features softened, and his gloved palm came up to caress her cheek. “Francesca.”
Not knowing what to make of how he looked at her, she cleared her throat. “And… is the assignment one you are happy with?”
Clasping his hands behind him, Lathan rocked on his heels. “It’s not within the same branch, and I’d have certain limitations and constraints, but it is a respectable position.”
Happiness filled her breast.
They spoke at the same time.
“Lathan—”
“Francesca—”
But she needed to say everything that was in her heart. “Since we’ve been apart, Lathan, I’ve only thought about you and what your greatest wish was.” She drew in a breath. “And it was wrong of me to leave as I did. Knowing you wanted it as you did and loving you as I do, I should have wanted that for you.”
“You love me?” he whispered.
Francesca nodded frantically. How could he not know? “I should have been there to meet your joy the same way you were there for me.” She pressed her palms against his chest. “And I was selfish, but I also thought… That is, I wanted to also say that you are an honorable man. And though this is presumptuous, if you wanted your future with the Home Office and a future with—”
Lathan kissed her.
His lips on hers was warmth and light and coming home.
He drew back.
Dazed, Francesca looked up at him. “What I was going to say—”
Lathan kissed her again, and she melted against him. Every nerve came alive so she was reduced to light and simply feeling. This time, when he broke the embrace, he laid his forehead against hers. “I love you, Francesca Cornworthy.”
Her heart beat wildly against her chest, and she drew back so she could see his face. His spectacles slipped to the end of his nose, and she gently pushed them back into place. “What?”
“The moment I walked into my kitchen and found you standing there with a pistol pointed at me, while talking nonstop through your forcible entry.”
“Mayhap we don’t mention that,” she said on a rush, earning a smile from him. “Well, the part of me speaking a lot, yes, but not the—”
Lathan laughed.
She swatted his arm. “You were saying?”
“You captivated me from the very beginning, and I didn’t realize until I found you gone that I’d lost all that I ever wanted in my life.” His features grew solemn. “I believed myself unworthy, defined solely by that one act of betrayal. You showed me that it is possible to become more than that decision I made, and as my superior stood there offering me that post, it hit me.”
She shook her head. “What?” she asked, her voice trembling.
The winter wind caught the hems of their cloaks, tangling them together.
Lathan brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “That in rejecting a future with you because of my past, I’d cost myself all I ever wanted, and if you could forgive me and find me worthy, then mayhap I could forgive myself and see my own worth.”
Her lips parted. What was he…?
Lathan dropped to a knee. “Marry me, Francesca.”
Just like that, for the first time in her thirty years, the impossible happened: She couldn’t manage a single word. Not one coherent or even incoherent response.
Lathan filled the silence. “When you left, Francesca…” His throat moved, and he looked over the outline of her snow angel; that mark left by her earlier frolicking. “When you left,” he repeated, his voice hoarsened with emotion, “I didn’t think about my role with the Home Office or the assignment I was offered. I didn’t think about restoring my name. All I could think about, all I could care about…” His gaze slid to her. “Was that I’d lost you.”
“Lathan,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “I thought about you with St. James, and”—his expression darkened—“all I knew was rage and pain… at the thought of you with him.” A muscle rippled along his jawline. “And I went to the Duke and Duchess of Sutton’s, searching for you.”
She didn’t blink for several moments. Lathan, who’d shut himself away in the Kent countryside, had left that sanctuary… for her? “You came for me?” So much love for this man flooded her heart.
“I yelled the household down. Needing to tell you everything. That I love you. That I want to spend forever with you.”
Francesca touched her hands to her mouth. Tears filled her eyes and blurred his face before her. She blinked frantically, and those drops slipped down her cheeks.
Lathan dusted
them away. “I don’t have much to offer you,” he said, his voice husky. “I come with a tarnished reputation and gossip. I’ll always be spoken of, and as such, any children I one day sire will be the recipients of that cruelty.”
“I don’t care what the gossips say,” she said, her voice cracking. She never had. Joining their hands, she tapped their interlocked fists to his chest. “They never mattered.”
“I only have a ramshackle cottage to call home.”
“I love your cottage, Lathan.” The imperfections made it perfect.
“The post with the Home Office would allow me to remain in the country, and there’d be assurances of security provided. And a salary. There’d be that, too. That is, if you want a future with me.” Uncertainty filled his gaze. “If you have any—”
Francesca launched herself at Lathan, knocking him onto his back in the snow.
He grunted, coming down hard, and Francesca came toppling over him.
“I love you,” she rasped, kissing him. “All I want is a future with you and…”
Lathan squinted.
Why was he looking at her like…? “I knocked your spectacles off,” she blurted. “That won’t do.” Doing a quick sweep, she caught the flash of metal resting within the wing of her snow angel. “Here we are,” she murmured. Grabbing them up, she returned them to his face, adjusting them slightly. “You were saying?”
“Asking.” He grinned. “I asked you to marry me.”
She puzzled her brow. “I believe I already said yes.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t.”
“Indeed?” Francesca searched her memory, replaying each moment from when Lathan had entered her gardens.
“I assure you, I’m quite certain, hen.”
Francesca caught his face between her hands and touched her nose to his. “Well, then, lest there be any doubt, Lathan Holman, my answer is yes.”
With their laughter melding as one, she kissed him.
The End
Other Brethren Books by Christi Caldwell
“The Spinster Who Saved a Scoundrel”
Book 5 in the “Brethren” Series by Christi Caldwell
The death of her father leaves Miss Francesca Cornworthy …. alone, and with one last wish to fulfill—that she marry a safe, respectable gentleman. She sets herself on a course to honor that request. That is until she crosses paths with Mr. Lathan Holman—the very opposite type of gentleman her father wished her to wed.
After one mistake earned him the title of traitor, Lathan Holman has no interest in reentering society. Then he meets a quick-witted, sharp-mouthed spinster. His dark past clouds his present and future. He’d been certain he’d never laugh or smile again…but it isn’t long before, he finds himself doing both with Miss Francesca Cornworthy…and wanting more.
“The Minx Who Met Her Match”
Book 4 in the “Brethren” Series by Christi Caldwell
Duncan Everleigh, barrister, widower, father. Accused murderer… Found innocent in the death of his wife, Duncan’s reputation is ruined, his law practice is nearly destroyed, and his daughter hates him. He’s content living for his work. Until one day he meets…
Miss Josephine Pratt…Her life is in tatters. Her oldest brother has brought them to financial ruin. Her betrothed has broken their engagement. Looking to escape, Josephine loses herself in her real passion—her other brother’s law books. A chance meeting in the London streets soon finds her employed by the last man she should, the barrister who’ll be opposing her brother in court.
Soon, Duncan and Josephine, two people who have vowed to never love again, find the protective walls they’ve each built, crumbling. When past secrets threaten to destroy their future, they’ll have to decide if love is enough.
“The Rogue Who Rescued Her”
Book 3 in the “Brethren” Series by Christi Caldwell
Martha Donaldson went from being a nobleman’s wife, and respected young mother, to the scandal of her village. After learning the dark lie perpetuated against her by her ‘husband’, she knows better than to ever trust a man. Her children are her life and she’ll protect them at all costs. When a stranger arrives seeking the post of stable master, everything says to turn him out. So why does she let him stay?
Lord Sheldon Graham Whitworth has lived with the constant reminders of his many failings. The third son of a duke, he’s long been underestimated: that however, proves a valuable asset as he serves the Brethren, an illustrious division in the Home Office. When Graham’s first mission sees him assigned the role of guard to a young widow and her son, he wants nothing more than to finish quickly and then move on to another, more meaningful assignment.
Except, as the secrets between them begin to unravel, Martha’s trust is shattered, and Graham is left with the most vital mission he’ll ever face—winning Martha’s heart.
“The Lady Who Loved Him”
Book 2 in the “Brethren” Series by Christi Caldwell
In this passionate, emotional Regency romance by Christi Caldwell, society’s most wicked rake meets his match in the clever Lady Chloe Edgerton! And nothing will ever be the same!
She doesn’t believe in marriage…
The cruelty of men is something Lady Chloe Edgerton understands. Even in her quest to better her life and forget the past, men always seem determined to control her. Overhearing the latest plan to wed her to a proper gentleman, Chloe finally has enough…but one misstep lands her in the arms of the most notorious rake in London.
The Marquess of Tennyson doesn’t believe in love…
Leopold Dunlop is a ruthless, coldhearted rake… a reputation he has cultivated. As a member of The Brethren, a secret spy network, he’s committed his life to serving the Crown, but his rakish reputation threatens to overshadow that service. When he’s caught in a compromising position with Chloe, it could be the last nail in the coffin of his career unless he’s willing to enter into a marriage of convenience.
A necessary arrangement…
A loveless match from the start, it soon becomes something more. As Chloe and Leo endeavor to continue with the plans for their lives prior to their marriage, Leo finds himself not so immune to his wife—or to the prospect of losing her.
“The Spy Who Seduced Her”
Book 1 in the “Brethren” Series by Christi Caldwell
A widow with a past… The last thing Victoria Barrett, the Viscountess Waters, has any interest in is romance. When the only man she’s ever loved was killed she endured an arranged marriage to a cruel man in order to survive. Now widowed, her only focus is on clearing her son’s name from the charge of murder. That is until the love of her life returns from the grave.
A leader of a once great agency… Nathaniel Archer, the Earl of Exeter head of the Crown’s elite organization, The Brethren, is back on British soil. Captured and tortured 20 years ago, he clung to memories of his first love until he could escape. Discovering she has married whilst he was captive, Nathaniel sets aside the distractions of love…until an unexpected case is thrust upon him—to solve the murder of the Viscount Waters. There is just one complication: the prime suspect’s mother is none other than Victoria, the woman he once loved with his very soul.
Secrets will be uncovered and passions rekindled. Victoria and Nathaniel must trust one another if they hope to start anew—in love and life. But will duty destroy their last chance?
Biography
Christi Caldwell is the bestselling author of historical romance novels set in the Regency era. Christi blames Judith McNaught’s “Whitney, My Love,” for luring her into the world of historical romance. While sitting in her graduate school apartment at the University of Connecticut, Christi decided to set aside her notes and try her hand at writing romance. She believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections and rather enjoys tormenting them before crafting a well-deserved happily ever after!
When Christi isn’t writing the stories of flawed heroes and heroines, she can be found in
her Southern Connecticut home with her courageous son, and caring for twin princesses-in-training!
Visit www.christicaldwellauthor.com to learn more about what Christi is working on, or join her on Facebook at Christi Caldwell Author, and Twitter @ChristiCaldwell!
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The Spinster Who Saved a Scoundrel (The Brethren Book 5) Page 17