Falling for Mr. Townsbridge

by Sophie Barnes

  A crease formed on Sarah’s brow. “That’s not was I was suggesting.”

  “In fact,” Mama continued, “I think it would be a marvelous idea if we were to invite all the suitable prospects here for tea. It will give you a chance to further your acquaintance with them without other young ladies getting in the way.”

  Athena pressed her lips together but didn’t quite manage to stifle her laughter. It came out through her nose in a snort. Mama gave her a disgruntled look while Sarah’s frown deepened.

  “I’m curious to know why you’re in such a wonderful mood this evening,” William told his mother with the aim to distract her. Sarah shot him a look of appreciation.

  “Naturally, it has everything to do with Mrs. Lamont’s return. Our dinner this evening is bound to—”

  William didn’t hear another word his mother said. Eloise was back, not far from where he stood. It would only take a couple of minutes to reach her. His heart knocked about wildly and his lungs, which had felt so constricted since her departure, finally welcomed the air he breathed.

  With absent nods and “mmm...hmms,” he did his damnedest to look as though he paid attention to whatever else his mother was saying. It was also vital he hide his excitement so no one would know just how thrilled he was with Eloise’s return. After all, he hadn’t shared his plans with his family yet and quite liked keeping them to himself for the moment. But when they made their way toward the dining room a short while later, he met Athena’s gaze and realized he must be failing in that regard. At lease, if he was reading the sly gleam in her eyes correctly.

  “When will you invite me to see your new house, Will?” Sarah asked once dinner was underway.

  The salmon William was eating melted against his tongue, allowing a rich citrus flavor to liven his senses. It was followed by a piquant aftertaste and a subtle hint of creamy smoothness from the sauce with which the fish had been garnished.

  “Once I’ve moved in, I should think.”

  “And when will that be?” his mother asked.

  “Well, the house isn’t quite ready yet, but I have been thinking of asking you all to join me there for tea once I’m settled so I can give you a tour.”

  “Honestly, I don’t understand your sudden urgency,” Mama said. “This is your home and should remain so until you marry.”

  William reached for his wine glass. “It is common for men my age to move away from home. In fact, most do it sooner. And after having lived alone for a year, I’ve grown accustomed to the freedom I’m able to enjoy in my own house.”

  “It allows him to be independent,” Roxley said. “We mustn’t deny him that when it’s all part of growing up and learning to be responsible.”

  “I suppose,” William’s mother said with a sigh. She met William’s gaze with sternness. “But I expect you to call on me at least once a week, hopefully more.”

  “Of course, Mama. The house isn’t far so I plan on seeing you all as often as time will allow.” What he didn’t want to delve into right now was the part he intended Eloise to play in all this. His mother was too pleased to have her returned for him to stifle her good mood with the prospect of losing her cook for good.

  But in light of the offer he meant to make Eloise, there was no doubt in his mind that she’d soon be packing her bags and relocating to his new home. The only issue now was getting her alone so they could talk privately. Seeking her out in the kitchen was obviously out.

  But he knew she left the house around seven each morning in order to make it to market before getting started on breakfast. He could intercept her as he’d done by chance once before.

  It was the best idea he could think of. So after finishing supper and sharing a drink with his father afterward, William retired for the evening just to make sure he wouldn’t sleep in. He was up at six the following morning, and half an hour later, he left the house and walked to the corner where he proceeded to wait.

  As expected, Eloise exited through the servants’ entrance at precisely seven o’clock. Her hair was pulled back beneath the bonnet she wore. Her gown was a stark shade of midnight blue, her expression more somber than he’d ever seen it before.

  William’s chest tightened. He didn’t approach but waited for her to reach him before he stepped away from the building and made her aware of his presence. She looked up, her gaze met his, and William’s soul wept in response to the pain he saw there.

  Without even thinking, without so much as one word spoken between them, he pulled her into his arms and just held her. No one else was about. The chance of being seen was almost nonexistent. And the risk was certainly worth it.

  She didn’t resist, and when she eventually pulled away, she looked a little bit more like herself. “I made it there in time, thanks to you. He didn’t wake up the next morning, so if I’d delayed, I would have missed out on saying goodbye.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Eloise, but I’m glad I was able to help in some way.”

  She nodded and recommenced walking. He fell into step beside her and promptly offered to carry her basket. She didn’t argue as she’d done before, which lent a comfortable sense of closeness to their walk.

  “It’s actually nice to be back,” Eloise said as if this was something that had just occurred to her right now. “Cooking for your family gives me a purpose and a sense of accomplishment while offering a much needed distraction.”

  “There’s a chance for something more,” William told her. He took a deep breath when she glanced up at him, her eyes wide with wonder. “If you’ll allow, I’d like to show you something before we return to Townsbridge House. It won’t take long. I promise.”

  A hint of uncertainty strained her features. “I really should get back as quickly as possible.”

  “And I’ll make certain you do. As soon as I’ve shared my surprise with you.”

  She smiled, just enough to reveal a hint of amusement. “All right. Let’s make haste then.”

  Half an hour later, after purchasing a colorful variety of fresh produce, William led Eloise up the front steps of his new home and welcomed her into the foyer. The door closed, shutting out the rest of the world and offering them the sort of privacy he’d dreamed of sharing with her for so long.

  Heart racing, he set the basket aside and took her hand. “What do you think?”

  Confusion filled her gaze. “It looks like a nice house.”

  He grinned. “It is my house. I bought it while you were away. With my father’s help, I’ll admit, but I’ve recently acquired a job at the Home Office, so I’ll cover the necessary expenses myself. In time, I hope to repay him in full.”

  “How wonderful for you.” She seemed to study the space with greater interest than before. “I must say I’m impressed with your desire to be self-reliant since I’m sure you don’t need to be.”

  Her happiness on his behalf was so genuine he couldn’t resist. He pulled her into his arms and gazed into her upturned face. “You inspired me to figure out what I want for myself and work toward it.”

  “I did?”

  “Yes,” he murmured. “You did.” He flattened his palm against her back and drew her closer still. Her floral scent filled his nostrils, intoxicating his senses. A surge of desire swept through him, tightening every muscle and filling his heart with increased yearning.

  The need to taste her was too insistent. He couldn’t ignore it any longer, especially not after dropping his gaze to her parted lips and catching a glimpse of her tongue.

  His mouth met hers with a sigh of pure pleasure. God, how he’d longed for this moment and heaven above if it didn’t feel perfect. Her lips were like velvet and as he deepened the kiss, he was rewarded with a taste that could only be described as wholesome goodness.

  A small whimper escaped her, vibrating through him until he forgot everything besides her. She was all that mattered; her softness pressed against his harder planes, her sweet surrender as she wound her arms around his neck and met his advance, the honesty of
the caress.

  “You’re everything I expected and more,” he murmured while kissing his way down the side of her throat.

  “William,” she sighed, his name half plea and half benediction.

  “Everything will work out, Eloise.” Her skin was perfection itself, her scent so alluring he wanted to bury his nose in it forever. Eager for more, he pulled at the sleeve of her gown until he revealed the gorgeous slope of her shoulder. He pressed his mouth to her skin before working his way along the edge of her bodice. “You’ll have your dream and more – we’ll both get what we wish for. I promise.”

  HALF-DRUGGED BY WILLIAM’S passionate kisses, it took a while for his words to sink in and another for them to make sense. But the moment they did, Eloise froze. “What are you saying?”

  He was still kissing a scandalous path across the edge of her décolletage, so Eloise placed her hand against his chest and gave him a nudge before stepping back. She looked into his hungry eyes and forced herself not to pull him back for another scalding caress.

  His chest rose and fell in response to his rapid breaths. He blinked. Shook his head as if to clear his lust-infused brain. “You want to open a culinary school, right?”

  “Yes,” she agreed with instinctual wariness.

  “Well, this will help you do so quicker than you intended.” He spread his arms to indicate the space in which they stood. “You can use this house to teach anyone who’d like to learn how to cook.”

  A nervous bit of laughter escaped her. “You cannot be serious.”

  “I wasn’t sure precisely what you might need which is why it’s so vital you see it so you can tell me. I’ll convert whatever rooms in any manner you suggest and—”

  “Why on earth would you do this?” The gesture was extraordinary – completely out of proportion when keeping in mind the length of time he’d known her.

  “I don’t think you should have to wait ten years for your dream to come true.” He smiled down at her. “Not when I am in a position to help you realize it right away.”

  She shook her head, incredulous. Her pulse was leaping with furious excitement. This had to mean he loved her. It had to mean he was willing to face all manner of condemnation in order to make her his. It could only mean that he would propose, and while she hadn’t allowed herself to hope for such an outcome, it seemed it was happening, just as Vincent had told her it would.

  “What about your mother? I am still in her employ.”

  “I know, I still need to discuss this with her, but I am certain she’ll understand once she learns why I did this.”

  “And that is?” she dared to ask while her heart raced on, faster and faster until she feared it might fly from her breast.

  “Because I need to have you in my life, Eloise. Because these past two weeks without you have been the most unbearable weeks of my life.”

  No words of love yet, but that was all right. She could see the emotion shining in his eyes. “So I would be...”

  “Able to fulfill your purpose.”

  Every thought inside her head collapsed in a heap of disappointment. She’d expected him to say, my wife, or Mrs. William Townsbridge. “My purpose?”

  “You desire to teach your culinary skills to others and so you shall. This may be my house, but it will also be a business, I suppose, which means we can both live here together without a single person raising an eyebrow. And that—” he clasped her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss “—means you and I can finally be together, hidden away from prying eyes every evening, and able to enjoy each other’s company to the fullest.”

  Eloise’s heart wilted. “I see.” She withdrew her hand and took a step sideways, deliberately adding distance. “So helping me open a culinary school is a bribe. Yes?”

  He frowned. “No. It’s—”

  “I will not be your mistress. I thought I made that perfectly clear. And yet you have crafted this elaborate plan in the hope of winning me over.”

  “I’m giving you what you want.”

  “Non,” she exploded while forcing back tears, “you are giving yourself what you want.”

  “Eloise.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “We are both adults here. Please don’t pretend to deny what’s between us.”

  “It’s a lovely house, William. I congratulate you on purchasing it, but I shall never live here with you.” Turning away, she started toward the door.

  He grabbed her upper arm and spun her back to face him. “Do you prefer Matt? Is that it?”

  Now she was truly confused. “What?”

  “I’ve seen the way he looks at you and the way you look at him too. Christ, you’re like a giddy young girl when you’re in his presence. I wonder if—”

  “Arrêtes! This is enough. My head is starting to pain me.”

  “Not nearly as much as mine pains me whenever I think of the two of you spending time together.” He tightened his hold and leaned in. “It kills me inside, knowing he has more right to you than I do.”

  In spite of his error in judgment, sympathy filled her. “There’s no need for you to be jealous of him. Matt is a friend, nothing more.”

  “You’re wrong, Eloise. He wants you as much as I do, I’ll stake my life on that.”

  “In that case we ought to prepare for your funeral,” she told him gently. Her hand cupped his cheek. She felt broken inside – shattered – and yet she had to keep moving forward somehow. “You see, mon coeur, Matt doesn’t want a woman in his bed, but if you mention that to another soul, I shall run you through myself, no matter how much I love you.”

  William’s hand fell away as his mouth dropped opened, and Eloise took advantage. She flung the front door opened and hurried out onto the pavement.

  “Eloise!”

  Her name followed her as she ran. She knew he would likely be faster than she if he chose to give chase, only he’d have to collect the basket of vegetables first and lock the door, by which time she planned on being well out of reach.

  How could he do it? How could he break her heart so? It felt as though he’d taken an axe and chopped it up into little messy pieces. Worst of all, she actually understood him. He couldn’t envision marrying her, so he’d tried to find another solution. But he’d underestimated her pride and her willingness to sacrifice her own dream in order to safeguard her self-respect.

  They were idiots.

  Both of them.

  He for going so far as to purchase a house and she for loving the blasted man. On second thought, she was the bigger fool for revealing how she felt. The words had popped out in pure frustration. It was too late to take them back. Unless she drugged him and then convinced him that he’d imagined the last half hour. Now there was an excellent thought.

  Panting for breath she hurried back inside the kitchen the moment she reached Townsbridge House, past a series of startled servants, up the servants’ stairs to the main floor, and straight toward the small feminine office where Viscountess Roxley spent her mornings.

  After everything that had just transpired, Eloise had little choice. She knew what had to be done, and she had to do it now. Before William arrived.

  Chapter Five

  Stunned by the conversation she’d just had with Mrs. Lamont, Margaret sat at her escritoire for a moment after the cook had departed, her mind a muddled mess of incomprehension. Her first instinct was to seek out her husband, but she doubted he’d offer any more clarification on the issue at hand, so she finally chose to speak with her youngest daughter instead.

  She found her in her bedchamber, nestled on her window seat with her sketch pad in her lap.

  “Has breakfast already commenced?” Athena asked, straightening herself when Margaret entered the room. “I was just about to come down. Right after I finished this sketch.”

  Margaret closed the door. “I’m not here to fetch you down for breakfast. In fact, I’m not sure there’ll be any breakfast now that I think of it.”

  Athena’s brow crinkled. “Whatever do
you mean?”

  “Well.” Margaret clasped her hands in front of herself. “Mrs. Lamont just gave me her notice.”

  “What?” Athena was on her feet in a second, her eyes wide with dismay. “Why on earth would she do so now when she obviously returned with every intention of continuing her employment?”

  “I’ve no idea. When I asked about her reasoning, she did her best to avoid the subject.” Margaret thought back on Mrs. Lamont’s rigid posture and how she’d averted her gaze to avoid meeting her own head on. “She seemed uncomfortable, which troubles me. I know you consider her a friend, so I was hoping you might be able to enlighten me.”

  “No. I...” Athena stared at Margaret. “She loves working here so if she’s leaving it’s not because she received a better offer, in which case it can only be because of William.”

  Margaret hadn’t thought it possible for her confusion to deepen further and yet it did. “What on earth can William possibly have to do with Mrs. Lamont leaving us?”

  “I don’t believe she’s leaving us, Mama. I believe she’s leaving him.”

  Surprise caught Margaret completely unawares. Her mouth dropped open and a prickly heat settled against the back of her neck. “Please tell me he hasn’t made untoward advances. Good grief. I’ve done my best to raise him well, with the right moral compass, and dear heaven I thought I’d succeeded. But does a parent really know their own child? One would like to think so, and yet it is clear from what you are saying that—”

  “Mama?”

  Margaret blinked. “Yes?”

  “You’re babbling.”

  “Well of course I am. What else do you expect me to do when you’ve just informed me that one of my sons has behaved so deplorably, he’s managed to frighten away my cook?”

  Athena sighed. “It’s just a theory, Mama. We’ve yet to prove it. And if her leaving does have something to do with William, then I believe it has more to do with her fondness for him and his dimwitted inability to recognize his own feelings.”