CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE TREE OF LIFE
THE TREE OF LIFE
James had been thinking about Anne Marie for days. He’d noticed that she and Nicholas had grown closer, though he didn’t know about their walk the day of the hat shop situation until it was mentioned as they tried to figure out what had happened.
In the four days since, she had spent an inordinate amount of time with Nicholas Cornwall and it was starting to wear on his nerves. He enjoyed his time with Clara, truth be told. However, he had been unable to get his mind off the lovely Lady Wiltshire, no matter how hard he tried. He saw her at breakfast, throughout the day, and in the evening at dinner. The time he spent with the Cornwall sons reminded him that she was spending more and more time with Nicholas. It seemed the reminders that she was there were everywhere and never-ending.
He wondered if she had chosen the money and the title over what she really wanted.
When he thought that, he chided himself for being arrogant. How was he to know if he was what she really wanted? He and the lady had an obvious connection. Was it strong enough to bond them together, through everything? Did that spark between them mean anything to her? How would he know when he had never asked?
He shook his head, dismounting his horse and throwing the reins over the hitching post to go into the hotel and get some breakfast. His morning meeting with Tyler had gone well and he’d noticed that Nicholas treated him no differently than he ever had. There was no tension, but what he himself created.
The sun was hidden behind some dense clouds and he dreaded the rain he felt was coming. He wanted it to be bright and sunny all the time but that was not how England was. There was talking and laughter in the dining room when he pushed the door open and went in.
He glanced through to the dining room and saw the entire Fordham hotel residents gathered around the table. He focused on the beautiful face of Lady Anne Marie Wiltshire and pictured himself kissing her lips. He pulled in a deep breath and went down the hall quickly to his room.
He entered and went directly to the window. The drapes were pushed out on one side, covering a box he had been keeping hidden. He pulled the drape to the side, exposing the box, a deep planter filled with Foxgloves. He had replanted the Foxgloves so that they would stay alive longer but was fearful they were going to die before he had a chance to give each one to Anne Marie. He stood staring at the box for a short time before reaching down and pulling them all out one by one. He wouldn’t wait any longer. He already felt bad that he had not been honest with Clara, allowing her feelings to grow under the false pretense that he felt them, too.
It was time to give them all to her.
He draped a long towel over the bouquet of flowers after wrapping the store-bought ribbon around them to keep them all together. He slipped out of his room like a bandit, creeping around the corner of the hallway to go up the stairs.
James stopped in front of her door and slowly turned the knob to open it. He looked to the left and the right but there was no one in the hallway. He slipped through into her room.
The first thing he did was put a single Foxglove on her pillow. The housekeeper had made the bed nicely and he spread a few more over the bedspread. He moved to the desk and set two of them down, one on the desk surface and the other on the shelf above. He took a few steps to her dressing table and looked down at the powders and fragrance bottles she had spread over the top. He picked one of the bottles up, uncapped it and took a sniff. He nodded. It was the scent of a beautiful woman.
He set the bottle back down and placed a Foxglove carefully in the middle of the table. He proceeded from there to put one on the chair near the window and two on the window seat. He had one left.
He turned around and surveyed the room. If he put the remaining flower on top of the wardrobe, it would most likely go unnoticed. He ran his eyes all around the room.
The door opened and he found himself staring into the eyes of the beautiful Lady Wiltshire.
He froze in place, and for a moment, they stared at each other. His heart was pounding.
He had been caught.
Anne Marie stared at him through wide eyes. The happiness that had filled her at the sight of him with a single Foxglove in his hand made her stomach do flips inside her. Her heart pounded and she gasped, feeling a little out of breath.
“M… My lady…” James stammered. “Please… forgive me for being in your room.”
Anne Marie entered and closed the door behind her. She took a few steps closer to him, never taking her eyes off him. “James.” She said his name softly. “It has been you all along putting these Foxgloves in my room?”
He nodded, much to her delight. She could not believe her good fortune. The man she had been pining for had been pining for her all along. “I… I bought them all the first day you went to the flower shop.”
She was still staring up in his eyes. She had stepped close enough to him that she could almost feel his presence. He held out the remaining Foxglove.
“This is also for you.”
She looked at it and slowly took it from him, lifting it to her nose to breathe in the sweet smell, her favorite smell of all. She fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Thank you, James.”
“Lady Anne…” James started and stopped. She looked at him expectantly. “Do you think there is a chance you would be willing to… can I take you on a formal date, my lady? I have something I would like to show you. And I’d like to explain myself and… perhaps encourage you to give me a try.”
Anne Marie wanted to faint. She could not believe how warm the feelings were that moved through her body. Her heart was thumping in anticipation. She wanted to throw her arms around him and feel him as close to her body as possible.
She nodded. “I will go with you, James.”
The look on his face was one of pure relief. He could not take his eyes from her. He held out one elbow and she wrapped her small hand around it, turning around to go back out the door.
The two of them walked down the steps together. Before they strolled through the tall front door, James leaned over and grabbed an umbrella.
When they stepped out, they didn’t know that Clara had just come out of the dining room and stood back, watching them go with sorrow on her face.
The sun had come out and the clouds had moved on. The ones remaining were white and fluffy. They did not look dangerous. James opened the umbrella anyway, so as to shield the lady from the sun’s warm rays.
“Do you want to take a hackney or shall we walk?”
Anne Marie could barely walk. She felt like she was floating on a cloud of happiness and excitement. She looked up at him. “I don’t know where we’re going to make that decision.”
“We’ll take a hackney. Come, this way.” She walked with James down the street away from the sundial, the flower shop, and the construction going on at the hat shop. Only a block away, coachmen were standing around with their hackneys for rent, waiting for a paying customer.
James caught the attention of the nearest one and helped Anne Marie into the back. He told the coachman were to go and climbed in to sit next to her.
Anne Marie noticed the hackney didn’t travel too quickly down the road. It was going back in the direction of the hotel and maneuvered around the sundial easily, continuing on past the shops.
“I want you to see something that has been part of Bainbridge since the village was founded. It is one of the most beautiful sights in all of England.” James looked down at her warmly. “That is not just my opinion. It’s been written about in the daily papers in London!”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Oh? I will enjoy seeing it then. It will be a memory to remember for the rest of my life.”
James nodded. “You will never forget it, my lady. I can promise you that.”
The hackney ran over a particularly rough part of the road, knocking Anne Marie into James’ side. The touch made Anne Marie’s cheeks flush. The red deepened when James took one of
her hands and brought it up to his lips. His thumb rubbed the placed between her thumb and forefinger a few times before he let it go. The feeling sent sharp tingles down Anne Marie’s spine and thighs.
Her breath was shaky so she tried to breathe shallow so he wouldn’t notice.
“My lady, I do not want to interfere with anything you might have going on with my good friend Lord Nicholas Cornwall. Am I intruding? Should I be ashamed of myself?” James sounded very serious in his questioning. When she looked at him, Anne Marie could tell he was, in fact, very serious. She shook her head.
“I have been spending time with Nicholas. He is a gentleman, so friendly and kind. He is very humorous, as well.”
James nodded, looking down at his hands. “The perfect man for a perfect lady.”
Anne Marie giggled. “James, I am far from perfect. And I noticed that you were spending time with Clara. I have… been watching you since I got here. I… I think you are fascinating.”
James smiled at her. “You do?”
“I do.”
“I feel the same way about you. Shall we spend some time together instead of stalking each other in the background?”
Anne Marie laughed. “Yes, I would love that.”
The hackney came to a stop and James got out first, holding up his hand to help the Lady down. As soon as she stepped down, she was staring up the hill in front of them with eyes of wonder and amazement.
At the top of the hill, a perfectly shaped tree, the biggest tree Anne Marie had ever seen was reaching up into the sky above. She pulled in a deep breath and began to walk toward the gate at the bottom of the hill. On the other side of the gate, a path led up to the tree, stopping a few feet short. James stepped in front of her to swing the waist high iron gate open. The same black iron posts were used to surround the mountain on both sides, all the way around.
“We call this the Tree of Life.” James said. “It is supposed to be a thousand years old but we really don’t have an actual date of its birth.”
Anne Marie couldn’t take her eyes from the massive trunk of the tree. She would not doubt that it was a thousand years old. It would take her a good three minutes to walk its circumference. The branches stretched out all around it, almost low enough to touch the top of James’ head. It looked strong and majestic.
“This is absolutely beautiful.” Anne Marie said.
James stood back and let her approach the tree, touching its side with her hands. He put his hands behind his back and watched her, thinking there were no words to express how beautiful she was to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ANNE MARIE DISCOVERS THE TRUTH
ANNE MARIE DISCOVERS THE TRUTH
Dinner that night was both sides of awkward and exciting. Anne Marie could only flirt with James with her eyes. She was extremely anxious to hear back from her uncle. She had already decided that if he would not let her out of the requirements her father had put in his will, she would let the fortune go. Someone else could use the money. She would live in Fordham Hotel, work the front desk, and even help the housekeepers, if that was what was asked of her. She wanted to marry for love and that’s exactly what she intended to do.
She could hear the love in his voice when James spoke to her. She was willing to bet good money that everyone else could, too. In fact, it was so obvious that Lady Melanie Saville had a go at them for it.
“I see the choice has been made,” she said in spiteful voice, her eyes narrow as she looked back and forth between James and Anne Marie. “For two weeks, I have been observing the behavior of the men and women around this hotel. Now I see that the Lady Wiltshire has finally made her choice.” She leaned forward at the table, looking around the two of them at Clara. “Bad luck for you, dearie. Sometimes we do not get what we want, do we?”
Clara colored slightly, not looking up from her plate.
“Lady Saville, there is no need to be rude to my companion.” Anne Marie said.
Melanie gave her a disgusted look. “Oh pardon me, Viscountess, I did not mean to be rude.”
Anne Marie shook her head, lifting a cup of lemonade to her lips and taking a sip, refusing to be baited into an argument with a jealous woman.
“Lady Saville, I would appreciate civility at my table.” Judith said, her eyes on Melanie. “If you cannot be civil, you may leave the table and take your plate with you.”
Instead of picking up her plate and leaving the room, Melanie huffed and fell silent, stuffing soft potatoes in her mouth.
Anne Marie was finding it hard to fall asleep. Her eyes were wide open. She’d left the drapes open slightly and the moon outside was so bright, its rays were shining in as if it were a white sun, providing light in the night.
Unable to close her eyes and rest, Anne Marie got up and went to the window, lowering herself silently to the cushioned bench seat, picking up the Foxglove that still sat there, and placing one hand on the cool pane of glass as she looked through. The feelings she had for James had to be love. She had never felt this way before. She had never been so taken with a man in her life. She felt as though she would do anything, give anything, to make him happy. She was willing to sacrifice the money, though she hoped she would not have to. She knew the hotel could use some improvements and repairs. Updating it would bring more guests and more income for the Ellingham's.
She stared down at the street below, noticing the light made strange shadows on the street sundial, thinking deep thoughts about the future. What would it hold? Would she be accepted here as the wife of a hotel owner? Surely Judith and Christopher would accept her as a daughter. Judith had not seemed opposed to the courtship at dinner time when it became apparent she and James were going to be a couple.
She sniffed the Foxglove, staring out at the starry sky. There were streaks of white clouds going through the black but each one missed the moon. Her eyes dropped to the walkway just outside the front door of the hotel. Someone had come out.
Someone dressed in a brown hooded cape. The hood was pulled over the person’s head so that it was impossible to see who it was. The caped person stopped for just a moment, looking both ways. Then, looking as though they were desperately trying not to be seen or heard, they moved down the street along the walkway.
Anne Marie was immediately suspicious. The person had no lantern, but was using a simple candle to light the way. She decided to jump into action. With the strange things that had been going on lately, she did not want anything suspicious going unchecked.
She ran to her door, grabbing a long robe along the way. At the door, she slid her feet into a pair of slip-on shoes and threw the robe around her, tying it at the waist.
She went down the stairs as quickly as she could, not particularly caring if she was heard. She would just tell whoever caught her exactly what she was doing and invite them along.
No one heard or saw her. She went through the front door and moved quickly along the sidewalk, relying on the bright moon to guide her way. She had slipped a small candle and a flint box into the pocket of her robe but didn’t feel the need to use it. She could see fine. The brown hooded person was well ahead of her, going in the direction of the flower and hat shop.
A noise behind her made Anne Marie jump. The door to the hotel had opened and closed again. She quickly ducked into an alley between two of the buildings and pressed herself against the exterior wall, wishing she could meld herself into the side and disappear. A tall dark figure passed her by, holding a dim lantern in one hand. She recognized the gait of Earl Kipling.
She frowned in confusion.
He was moving quickly, hurrying after the hooded figure. Anne Marie peeked around the corner. When she was satisfied that she had not been seen, she continued to follow the Earl and the hooded figure until the hooded figure stopped outside the dress shop. Anne Marie shook her head anticipating what was about to happen.
Fear shot through her but she pushed on. She kept ducking in between the buildings until she was close enough to hear when
the Earl reached the hooded figure.
“Lady Saville!” He hissed in a quiet voice. “What are you doing?”
“Go back to the hotel, Earl Kipling!” Melanie replied in an equally demanding voice. “I am saving you from prosecution, am I not? When they find out it was you who destroyed the flower shop, they will give you hard labor in prison for months, if not years.”
“I do not need you to save me, Lady Saville! I have asked nothing from you and will ask nothing from you! I will owe you nothing. Why did you destroy your own hat shop? To take attention away from me?”
“And keep it away from me. I will do anything to keep you from being sent away, my lord. Anything!”
Earl Kipling’s voice did not sound sympathetic when he responded. “You are a wicked evil woman, Melanie Saville, and I will never accept you as my bride. We will not court. I will not kiss you. You are a dangerous, evil witch!”
Anne Marie threw one hand over her mouth to keep her gasp from being heard by the two of them. She did not know what they would do if they discovered her there. She immediately wanted to be back in her room, safe in the hotel. She pressed herself against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut, listening to their continued conversation.
“How can you say such things, my lord? I have done nothing but serve you since I arrived. I have longed for you in the deepest parts of my heart.”
The Earl snorted. “You are nothing to me. I am in love with Lady Wiltshire and will have her hand!”
This time it was Melanie who snorted. “You will not have her, my lord. Were you not observing her with James Ellingham tonight at dinner? He is courting her and they will be married.”
“You are incorrect!” The Earl hissed. “She will be my bride. I have the wealth and the title she is seeking to gain access to her own fortune.”
The Trouble With These Gentlemen (The BainBridge - Love & Challenges) (The Regency Romance Story) Page 16