'She is Mrs Craven's guest.'
'Oh yes, of course. No doubt she will be wed soon, if she goes to Bristol as I hear she intends to do. Such a pretty young lady as she is.'
This was an even more deplorable idea. Edmund finished his cider and rose to leave.
'I must get back to the Court. I hope you have more guests here now?'
'Well, not yet, your lordship, but I trust there will be more soon.'
Edmund escaped, and continued his wanderings. He looked at the church, and thought of weddings. Elinor might, in Bristol, have a suitor and marry him. The very idea made him angry, and he swore violently, shocking a couple of parishioners who were tending a grave.
His brain had become addled, he thought in disgust. It was not just his memory that had been affected, but his powers of reasoning and his ability to know what he wanted. He wanted Elinor, he had suddenly realised, but whether she would consent to marry him he could not determine. She was always friendly, but as he had shown her no signs of being attracted, he had no idea what she might feel towards him. Well, he must discover it. He went to fetch his horse from the Cravens' stable. Tomorrow, he would seek an interview with her, and find out his fate.
*
Elinor slept badly. She hoped Jane would, at last, be happy. Perhaps, in years to come, she and Richard might pay another visit to England, but she doubted it. She must go on with the search for a congenial position, but so far she had received nothing but polite rejections. She had no references she could cite, and without them potential employers did not care to engage her. Mrs Craven would give her a reference, she knew, but it seemed wrong to trade on her friend's generosity. It would have to be her old school, and the dispiriting life of a schoolmistress. To become a governess or companion could, she was well aware, be just as uncomfortable, but she could always leave such a post if she found it unbearable. She could never desert Miss Mackenzie if she once agreed to teach in her school. Unless she found a man willing to marry her without a dowry, she thought, depressed. She could not wed without love, she decided, and how could she ever love anyone else?
She tried to banish the thought that had invaded her brain. Of course it was ridiculous. Edmund had no thoughts of marrying her. Of course not. He was disgusted with Jane, even though he probably held fond memories of the time when they were betrothed. He would never consider allying himself to another of that family. His mother would be horrified if, in some wonderful but unlikely event, Edmund offered for her, and though she knew Edmund was strong minded enough to ignore his mother if he wished to, could he ignore her opinion on the matter of his marriage? Besides, if he did offer it could only be because he was sorry for her. She could not marry him without love.
After breakfast she thankfully undertook several commissions for Mrs Craven. She did not think her friend had any notion of her secret, but she would be bound to want to discuss the latest news from Jane. She took a note to the Parsonage accepting an invitation to dine, delivered a stern rebuke to the butcher for the state of the mutton he had sent the previous day, and went to purchase extra bread, for Mrs Craven's cook had had one of her periodic spells of incompetence and her bread had not risen. Elinor sometimes ached to offer her own services, but knew the offer would be rejected by Mrs Craven and resented by the cook.
She was wending her way back to the house when Lord Tremaine came trotting down the village street. He saw her, waved, and hastily dismounted.
'My dear Elinor, what a fortunate chance this is, seeing you alone. I wish to speak to you.'
His mount, at that moment, took exception to a cow being led along the street, and pulled on the reins, forcing Edmund to twist round in order to control him.
'Has something happened? Have you heard more news of Jane?'
'Jane? No, of course not. It is of you I mean to speak.'
'Me? Oh, have you heard of some position that would suit me? Perhaps Lady Tremaine has met someone in Bath who wants a companion. Is that it?'
'Do you wish to go to Bath?'
'Not particularly. But I will go anywhere if I can only find someone to employ me.'
'Well, I would not recommend any friend of my Mama's! They would most likely be just as difficult as she is.'
Elinor laughed rather dubiously. She might consider Lady Tremaine difficult, but Edmund had always been polite and considerate towards her, never showing irritation.
'You should not speak of your Mama in such a fashion.'
'Why not? She is an unpleasant woman, and I was most offended by the way she treated you and your sister. I want to make it up to you.'
Elinor was embarrassed by this plain speaking.
'Really, sir, you ought not to abuse her so!'
'I shall speak of her as I wish, and when we are married I hope you will too!'
Elinor frowned. Had he been in the Black Bull? But that was behind her, he could not have reached it yet. And surely he could not understand what he was saying! It was impossible. He must be either inebriated or have had some recurrence of his loss of memory.
'I don't understand!' was all she could think of to say, and felt it was a most inadequate response.
'Oh, I'm making the usual mull of it. My wits have gone astray. Elinor, my dear, I came to ask you to marry me, but somehow I have jumped ahead.'
She could not believe what he said, and gave a rather embarrassed laugh. He frowned, and reached out to clasp her hand. Just at that moment his horse backed, and as he was pulled backwards Elinor found herself jerked forward and landed on Edmund's chest, the breath knocked from her lungs.
'Damn this brute!' Edmund said, but not releasing the clasp of his free arm round Elinor's waist. 'This is not how I meant to propose,' he said ruefully, 'but I am serious. I have only just realised how much I care for you, my darling, and how lonely it is at the Court without you. Will you marry me?'
'You can’t mean that. '
'Why not?'
She shook her head to clear it. She must be dreaming, but she was still clasped to his chest, and he pulled her even closer.
'You are feeling sorry for me,' she attempted, but not struggling to free herself from his embrace. It could not be true, but for a short while she would behave reprehensibly, and permit his embrace. In the middle of the village too. What would people say? Somehow she did not care.
'Sorry for you? Of course not. But I will be very sorry for myself if you reject me. Elinor, my sweet love, I think I have loved you since I first saw you, but my wits are addled, like my memory, and I didn't know until I believed I was going to lose you to some wretched school in Bristol. Enough of that. Will you, or will you not, marry me?'
'I don’t have a dowry,' she managed. 'You can’t marry a penniless girl. '
His horse nudged him, and he stumbled forward, clasping Elinor even more firmly to him.
'Confound this brute!' He released the reins. 'Go on, have it your way, go and get lost but leave us alone. Why should I need a dowry? I’m rich enough, unless you have very expensive tastes!'
'Of course I don’t!'
He laughed. 'You are my ideal, and why I did not recognise it the moment I saw you, I cannot tell.'
'Edmund, what would your mother say? I can’t, she would be so angry with you. '
And with her, she thought, but that she could endure. Oh, if only she dared believe he meant it!
Both his arms were now around her. Elinor did not know whether to laugh or cry, but when he bent his head and captured her lips in a deep, prolonged kiss, she lost all her doubts, and even forgot they were embracing in the middle of the village street. Her own arms crept round him, and she sighed. It was a dream, but a delicious one.
'Will you, my precious love?'
It was clearly impossible to make him see sense, and recognise all the difficulties that would await them. Was she strong enough to face them beside him? Suddenly she knew that she could, for she had loved him almost from their first meeting, but had not admitted it to herself. She could only nod, and
suddenly found herself swung into the air as he lifted her in his arms. A startled exclamation brought them to their senses, and they looked round to find the Reverend Leamore staring at them in amazement.
Elinor blushed and tried to push Edmund away, but he tightened his grip on her, and recognising he was beyond reason she gave in, and rested her cheek against his shoulder. Perhaps it was not a dream after all, or rather a dream come true, one she had never permitted herself to think.
'Reverend, be the first to congratulate me, and how soon can we arrange for you to marry us?'
To Elinor's surprise the Rector laughed.
'I think the sooner the better,' he said. 'Come and see me later and I will arrange to read the banns on Sunday.'
Edmund beamed, linked one arm in Elinor's, retrieved his horse which was happily eating the flowers in one of the cottage gardens, and turned towards the Cravens' house.
'We had better go and inform your good hostess she will soon be losing you,' he said, and paused to drop another kiss on Elinor's lips.
'My darling, darling girl! I should have realised how I felt as soon as I saw you, but at least I have not lost you to some school where you would not be appreciated.'
*
THE END
Marina Oliver has written over 70 novels, and has converted most of them to Ebooks. Others have been or are being published as Ebooks by other publishers.
For the latest information please see Marina's web site:
http://www.marina-oliver.net.
More Regencies by Marina Oliver
An Earl From India
Silas, impersonating his dead half-brother John, expects to find a flourishing estate at The Priory and marry an heiress when he returns from a twenty-year exile in India.
He is attracted to Fanny, the heiress daughter of a wealthy trader he meets on the homeward-bound ship, but she dislikes him and her brother Gerard, who is to take over his dead father's business, rejects him.
Then he meets his family, cousins Lucien and Amanda, and Aunt Charlotte, and finds his inheritance worthless.
He needs to recoup his fortunes, reverting to his earlier career of gambling and worse.
The Irish Bride
Brigid is happy working as a companion to Sophia, but knows she will soon have to look for a new position as governess or companion.
What she will not accept is marriage to Matthew, Sophia's brother, for she is penniless.
Another possibility is suggested when she meets her unknown uncle and aunt and they offer her a home.
Can she accept, or would it be a trap from which she cannot escape?
The Chaperone Bride
When Joanna finds herself destitute after her gambler father's suicide, unable to find work, and is offered instead a marriage of convenience, she sees no other option.
Sir Kenelm needs a wife as a chaperone, since governesses are reluctant to live in a widower's household.
The twins, children of his first wife, refuse to accept her as a new mama. The governess, having thought she too was applying for the position of governess, resents her.
The Marriage Gamble
Luke, Earl of Frayne, is determined to recover Frayne Caste, even if it means marrying the present owner, Damaris Hallem, a girl he has never met.
Luke's father, an inveterate gambler, lost the Castle fifty years earlier to Damaris's grandfather, an innkeeper.
As it is the first estate his family obtained Luke wants to regain it.
Damaris, unwillingly obeying her grandfather's wishes, comes to London for the Season with her friend Mary, Lady Gordon, and her two young children.
She will be twenty-one in July, and is looking forward to controlling her inheritance, which has been in the charge of a distant cousin, Humphrey Lee.
Damaris is convinced he wants to marry her.
She doesn't want any husband, who would deprive her of such control.
Her first encounter with Luke is disastrous, but she soon finds a way out of the dilemma.
*
My Lord Tremaine Page 20