“Yes, and we have straightened the whole thing out between us.”
“Really?” She closed her book and sat bolt upright on the bed full of interest.
“He was suffering from a dreadful financial worry, and I genuinely believe that things got away from him, got out of hand before he knew quite what to do about it.”
“And so you have forgiven him?” she said gently, her bright blue eyes staring up into his own.
“I have forgiven him, and I have asked him to forgive me. For if I had been a true friend to him, Henry Mercer could have come to me with his problems instead of trying to solve them in a most convoluted fashion.”
“Violet was right about you … you really are such a very good man.”
“I like Violet better and better every day,” he said and laughed. “As I like you better and better every day.” He stared back into her eyes and was pleased that she did not look away.
“You do?” she said quietly.
“Ella, I know we have had a most peculiar start, but I feel as if I have come to know you very well. And I realized something today, something that I would like to tell you.”
“What is that?”
“I realize that I have only truly been in love twice in my life.”
“Twice?” she said quizzically.
“Yes, and it turns out that both times it was with the same woman,” he said and reached around her to pick the golden mask up from the nightstand. He gently placed it against her face and tied the little ribbon at the back of her head.
She chuckled, such a sweet sound, and he found he could do no other than pull her into his arms and kiss her. And when she kissed him back with equal passion, Rufus knew that he had finally found what he had sought for so many years.
Epilogue
“I must admit that I am sad that Violet cannot be there. I should so much have liked her to see me married.”
“I know, Ella, but it was just impossible. She could not have managed to get away from the hall to come up to Scotland with us so suddenly. She would have lost her position immediately, and the Earl would very likely be hot on our heels, doing what he could to prevent us getting married.”
“I can hardly believe that I am eloping. It is very exciting when you think about it, is it not?”
“It strikes me, Ella, that you are no stranger to excitement, and I think now that I have you in my life, I will be no stranger to excitement either.”
“I must admit I am a little adventurous at times.”
“Oh, you mean sneaking into a ball and running away, dropping your mask and disappearing into the night? Dressing as a scruffy little man to hand me a note outside my club having escaped from your home in the dark of night? Or perhaps you mean climbing out of the window like a little monkey at the circus?” He laughed loudly and put his arm around her. “I am only pleased that you are going to be getting married in a gown and not breeches.”
“What a good thing that Lady Brightwell is so similar in size to me. She really does have wonderful taste, does she not?” Ella said and looked down at herself approvingly. “I cannot think that I have ever been so well-dressed.”
“You always look beautiful, Ella,” Rufus said and put his arm around her as the carriage rumbled on into the sunshine. “Always.” He pulled her to him and kissed her again.
“I will never tire of you doing that, Rufus. When we are married, will you kiss me every day?”
“I will kiss you every day, every luncheon, and every night. And then I will kiss you every ten minutes in between.”
“What a wonderful life I am to have,” she said and traced her fingers down his handsome dark face as she looked into his eyes. “And I really do love you, Rufus. I have loved you for quite a long time.”
“And I have loved you for quite a long time too, Ella.” He laughed. “I will love you forever.”
“And when we return home, we will be married. There will be nobody on earth who can part us, and not a thing that my mother’s husband can do to upset us.”
“That is very true, my love.”
“But I wonder, is there a way that I could have my dear Violet with me? Could you not steal her away from Dandridge Hall just as you stole me away?”
“Well, I would certainly take her without references,” Rufus said and laughed. “But I hardly think that we can take Violet without taking that young man she speaks of.”
“Oh yes, William. You would like William. It was William who drove me out that night in the cart so that I might sneak into the ball. And he waited for me out in the woodlands on your estate, ready to spirit me away again.”
“Well, then I shall certainly steal William away too, whether he likes it or not.”
“I think they would both be very pleased, Rufus. And it would mean more to me than I can possibly tell you. Violet and William were my only friends in my darkest hours. Apart from you, of course, who was every bit the friend to me that they were. I would never have managed it without you all.”
“And you never shall have to manage without any of us ever again. I promise you that.”
“Thank you, my darling,” she said and leaned her head on his chest, feeling suddenly so tired.
“Sleep a while … we are nowhere near Scotland yet. Gretna Green is some days away, my dear.” She could feel Rufus’s deep laugh inside her body, almost as if it were her own.
As the carriage rumbled northwards, bound for Scotland, Ella knew that she had never been so content in all her life.
She had never been as happy as she was at that moment.
THE END
Can't get enough of Ella and Rufus? Then make sure to check out the Extended Epilogue to find out…
Will Ella be able to forgive her own mother?
What happened to the cruel Earl of Dandridge?
Did Violet and William end up together?
Click the link or enter it into your browser
http://bridgetbarton.com/extended
THE END
(Turn the page to read “A Damsel for the Mysterious Duke”, my Amazon Best-Selling novel!)
A Damsel for the Mysterious Duke
Introduction
Recovering from a lengthy illness, Georgina Jeffries is sent to convalesce in the Devonshire home of her father's cousin. Finding an instant friendship with his daughter, Fleur, the two of them eagerly await a garden party to be held on the fine estate of the young and handsome Duke of Calder. But when she first meets him, Georgina is certain that she knows him from somewhere, she just cannot place the handsome man anywhere in her memory.
Emerson Lockhart is a man with a secret. Now the Duke of Calder, he is painfully aware that he was not always so. And when he meets Miss Georgina Jeffries again after more than ten years, he is relieved to realize that she does not recognize him as the boy who was once a servant in her home; the boy who had once been her only friend.
But when the Duke lets his old nickname for her slip, Georgina finds herself spiraling back in time, instantly remembering young Sammy White, the servant boy and childhood friend who had disappeared so suddenly and without explanation so many years before.
Chapter 1
Although Winton House in Devonshire was very much smaller than her father’s estate in Hertfordshire, Georgina Jeffries instantly warmed to it.
It was a fine old house of many quirks, crooked corridors, and narrow secret staircases here, there, and everywhere. And it was set in the most beautiful grounds, both neat and rambling all at once.
From Georgina’s chamber window she looked down on a small lake surrounded by beautiful trees and luscious green shrubbery. And all around the water’s edge were daffodils, as yet unopened, but with buds enough to promise a fine display when spring began to turn warmer.
“May I come in, Georgina?” came the tentative voice of her cousin Fleur from the other side of the door.
“Yes, of course,” Georgina said brightly and turned to smile at Fleur as she came cautiously into the room. �
��I have just been looking at the view. Really, I do not think I have seen anything so pretty in a long time.”
“That is why I told Papa you ought to have this chamber. It really does have the nicest view of the lake, and when the daffodils are out, there are so many that they seem to glow when you look down upon them.” Fleur smiled.
Although the two had met many years before, they were but girls, and Georgina could barely remember the experience at all. Fleur’s father, Felix Allencourt, had made the journey from Devonshire to Hertfordshire many years ago to see his cousin, Georgina’s father. He had taken his young daughter with him, leaving his son behind as comfort and company to his ailing wife.
Georgina had never met her second cousin Fleur’s mother, but she knew that she had died some ten years before.
“It really is so kind of you to have spent so much of your day showing me around the place. And I cannot tell you how comfortable I am already here at Winton House, for it really is such a lovely place. I can hardly wait to see the sea; I so rarely have a chance of it, being landlocked back home at Ashdown Manor.”
“If I concentrate very hard, I can almost remember Ashdown Manor,” Fleur said thoughtfully. “Well, I can remember how large it is, at any rate.” She laughed.
“Yes, it is very large. But I cannot think that I have ever seen a house so well situated as your own. Devonshire really is the most beautiful county, is it not?”
“I would never wish to leave it.” Fleur advanced a little further into the room somewhat shyly. “I thought you might like some help unpacking your gowns and what have you.”
“Oh, yes please, that would be most welcome,” Georgina said and looked down at her open and unpacked trunk. “I seem to have brought rather a lot with me.” She laughed.
“Well, that means that you may stay for a long time.” Fleur looked extremely pleased with the prospect. “And I would be very glad of your company. I have friends, of course, but it would be so nice to have a woman of my own age in the house for a while. Jeremy is a fine and attentive brother, but he is a brother.” She laughed. “And Great-Aunt Belle is a wonderful lady with many stories, but alas she forgets that I have heard the stories over and over again.”
“My grandmother was the same,” Georgina said brightly as she thought that she and her cousin might get on very well indeed. “And I am keen to meet Great-Aunt Belle to see if she is anything like my grandmother, given that they were sisters.”
“I must admit that I am not sure that they were the greatest of friends when they were young girls together,” Fleur said cautiously. “And I also must warn you that Great-Aunt Belle often speaks her mind with little thought to the impact it might have on another. She is very old and often very sweet, so I must beg your forgiveness on her behalf in advance.”
“Good heavens, she sounds like my grandmother already. She was also a woman who did not spare anybody’s feelings when she had something to say.” Georgina laughed and reached into the trunk for the first of her gowns. “I am already looking forward to meeting her, and you need not worry about anything. Your family has been so kind already, and I cannot tell you how pleased I am to be here.”
And it was true, Georgina really was pleased to be in Devonshire and the home of her cousins. As the only child of Baron Charles Jeffries and his wife, Jane, Georgina had often felt lonely.
Like Fleur, she had friends of her own, although they were few, but they now seemed so keen to marry that she did not see them anywhere near as much as she might have liked.
She had always wanted a sister, often feeling a little envious of friends who were so blessed. But now that she was at Winton House with Fleur, she had high hopes of finding just that close relationship at last.
“I think the two of us will get along very well indeed,” Fleur said as she gently hung one of Georgina’s gowns. “I say, this gown is awfully pretty.”
“Thank you, it is one of my favourites.” Georgina smiled as she looked at the gown, a well-fitting garment in a very deep blue velvet; a colour which suited her pale complexion perfectly.
“When you are feeling a little better, Georgina, I think we must find a wonderful ball to attend so that you might wear that gown,” Fleur said excitedly. “Or, at the very least, a dance at the assembly rooms.”
“In truth, I am already feeling much better than I have done for some weeks. I think the promise of a change of scenery and a chance to meet family I have not seen since I was a child has done much to improve my health.”
“But we must be careful; we must not set you back in any way,” Fleur said seriously. “As the spring down here can be quite deceptive. Especially being so close to the sea, you must take care to keep well wrapped because there is often a keen breeze.”
“I shall take care, I promise.”
Georgina, ordinarily hale and hearty, had suffered from a lung infection which had seen her bedridden from Christmas until late February.
It had come as a great surprise to all, given that nobody could remember Georgina being ill since childhood.
When she had finally declared that she was well enough to be up and about again, her mother and father had been greatly relieved. But it had been necessary to keep to Ashdown Manor and out of the cold, so much so that Georgina had become a little melancholy.
The stronger she got, the more listless Georgina became. She had not seen friends and acquaintances for several weeks and had the dreadful sensation that the world had moved on without her whilst she had remained standing still.
When her father had suggested writing off to his cousin in Devonshire to ask that she might convalesce in new surroundings, Georgina had felt an immediate sense of excitement. She had never been to Devonshire but had remembered her grandmother telling her what a beautiful place it was. Not only that, but there were cousins of her own age and the prospect of meeting other new people.
Her mother, of course, had been reluctant. The illness had terrified her, especially when it was at its height, and she had feared, secretly, that she might lose her only child.
Georgina, being a bright and perceptive young woman, had recognized her mother’s reluctance to let her go immediately and had done much to allay her fears with promises that she would barely move from Winton House until it was fully summer. She would only go outside for a few minutes here and there to get some fresh air and nothing more.
With her mother suitably placated, Georgina silently hoped for much more excitement than she had promised her mother she would be a party to. She wanted to walk by the sea and take every opportunity to enjoy herself and to meet new people. Still, Jane Jeffries did not need to hear all about her hopes and dreams for her time in Devonshire.
“Although I must admit it would be wonderful if you were able to attend a garden party at Calder Hall in a fortnight’s time.”
“Calder Hall?” Georgina said with interest.
“Yes, it is the home of the Duke of Calder, Emerson Lockhart.”
“Emerson Lockhart? What a fine name,” Georgina said, already determined that she would most certainly be well enough to go to a garden party on a Duke’s estate, even if she did have to wrap up warm for it.
“Yes, it is a fine name.” Fleur smiled.
“And is he a fine man?”
“I do not know as yet, cousin. He is the new Duke, you see, and still very young. He is not much older than we are, Georgina, at perhaps just one and twenty years.”
“Goodness, that is very young to be a Duke,” Georgina said and tried to imagine herself with such a responsibility just two years hence. “His father must have passed away so prematurely. It seems awfully sad.”
“Very sad,” Fleur said solemnly. “But he was not quite as young as you might suspect. The old Duke was easily in his middle fifties, although that is still no great age I daresay.”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Especially when you look at Great-Aunt Belle.” Fleur smiled mischievously. “Whose age I cannot even begin to imagine.�
�
Georgina laughed along with Fleur, pleased to find herself so at ease with her cousin and so quickly.
“But have you not met Emerson Lockhart before? I mean before his father passed away?”
“No, not once,” Fleur said in a gossipy tone. “Although I must admit that my father was not terribly well acquainted with the old Duke and his wife when they were alive. And Emerson Lockhart did not seem to grow up at Calder Hall, as I understand it. There is some talk of him having been unwell as an infant and child, and he did not really appear until he was much older.” Fleur screwed up her face as if she was not entirely sure that what she was saying was correct. “And then I suppose he would have been away at school and what have you.”
Dukes to Fall in Love With: A Historical Regency Romance Collection Page 52