An Ideal Companion
Page 23
‘Secondly, someone must have picked up that pillow and blown out that candle. The candle had not guttered and someone had replaced that pillow. And the most intriguing fact of all is that Julia, for fear of rousing me, returned to her bedchamber by way of the door leading to the landing, not through my chamber again. So who relocked it? Julia couldn’t have done so. The key remained on the inside.’
Ruth then shrugged, ever the realist. ‘She could have lied, of course, and left using my room. But I don’t think so. When she visited the bedchamber the following morning, I swear her shock at seeing Lady Beatrice lying there wasn’t feigned, simply because the last time she’d seen her she’d been very much alive. No, I believe Lady Bea relocked the door herself and replaced the pillow. Then, sometime before morning, she suffered some kind of seizure. In her last throes she must have clawed at the bedcover, and in so doing clasped again that piece of lace she had torn from the pillow earlier.’ She shrugged. ‘Who can say?’
‘So what do you intend to do now?’ Hugo asked, even though he suspected he already knew the answer.
She confirmed it a moment later. ‘Why, nothing! Why should I? I don’t believe Julia murdered anyone. And I certainly cannot find it within me to blame her for attempting to protect her daughter. Whether she was directly responsible for causing the seizure that subsequently killed Lady Beatrice we can only speculate. But that is something she herself must live with. What I flatly refuse to do is ruin young Alice’s life. I shan’t be the one to deprive her of a mother who loves her and has done her utmost to protect her and raise her decently. And it will definitely not improve her lot to discover that she wasn’t a respectable notary’s daughter, but the by-blow of a rakehell!’
At this blunt choice of language, Hugo turned his head away in order to conceal his twitching smile and by so doing drew Ruth’s attention for the first time since setting out to the view beyond the window.
She frowned. ‘Are we going back a different way? I cannot recall passing through such a densely wooded area prior to arriving at the inn yesterday.’
‘We are not returning to London, my darling,’ Hugo apprised her, determinedly, ‘at least, not for a week or so. You may not be sure where your future lies, but I most certainly do. So, we’re now heading towards the border with Kent, where we shall stay with my good friend the Viscount and his charming lady wife for a week or two. I fully intend to obtain a special licence as soon as may be, so that when we do return to the capital to enjoy the remainder of the Season together, we do so as man and wife, and we’ll not take up so much room in my brother-in-law’s home, as we shall be sharing one bedchamber.’
The prospect clearly pleased him as he was looking quite smugly satisfied with himself. And, in truth, Ruth couldn’t find it within herself to object to these almost cavalier arrangements he was making for her future, as her heart continued to remain firmly in charge of her head. Only one typically feminine objection instantly sprang to mind.
‘It might possibly have escaped your notice, but I brought with me only the barest essentials and sufficient clothing for an overnight stay, not a sojourn at a country mansion.’
‘Fear not, my angel, all has been arranged,’ he assured her. ‘Aggie, accompanied by my man Finn, left the capital yesterday afternoon for Kent, taking most all our belongings and carrying a letter to my friend the Viscount, apprising him of our intention to be his guests for the following couple of weeks.’
Ruth couldn’t help smiling at this piece of downright impertinence. Really, it was the outside of enough to inflict himself, not to mention a complete stranger, on the Kingsleys without receiving an invitation to do so first! ‘Well, let’s hope they haven’t made other plans and are away from home.’
‘Oh, they’ll be there, right enough,’ Hugo assured her blithely, thereby betraying his supreme unconcern. ‘Luke told me himself they were spending the rest of spring and summer quietly at Kingsley Hall. They’ll not be travelling any great distances until Briony’s had the baby. And before you raise her condition as a reason not to inflict ourselves upon them,’ he added, reading her thoughts with unerring accuracy, ‘I can tell you now they would both be grievously disappointed were they ever to discover we used that as an excuse not to visit them, as they employ an army of servants.’
‘Well, let us hope we don’t scandalise them both by the improper mode of our arrival.’ She regarded him accusingly. ‘Who was it who told me that no gently nurtured female would consider travelling alone with a gentleman in a closed carriage?’
A wickedly smug and satisfied smile played about his mouth. ‘Yes, that was rather well done of me, even though I say so myself. Ruined in the eyes of the world, your only option now, my angel, is to accept the protection of my name, especially as there’s no guarantee we’ll arrive at Kingsley Hall before nightfall. We might be obliged to put up at an inn somewhere and complete the journey in the morning.’
‘You needn’t have resorted to such extremes,’ she assured him, before resting her head against his shoulder once more, ‘as I had already decided I should very much like to spend the rest of my life with you. And I promise you, Hugo, I shall do everything within my power to make you happy.’
It wasn’t so much the assurance itself that gave him pause for thought as the hint of determination he couldn’t fail to detect in the soft voice. Placing his fingers beneath her chin, he easily raised her eyes to his.
‘And why should you suppose there’s a possibility you might not do so?’ he demanded to know, thereby revealing the sagacity for which he was famed.
Although by dint of lowering her lids she easily achieved breaking the hold of that fiercely direct gaze, Ruth knew well enough that he was far too perceptive to be deceived by some trifling response. Besides which, it couldn’t hurt, surely, for him to know that she perfectly understood her position in his affections?
‘Because I know I wasn’t your first choice for a wife,’ she said, doing her level best to sound quite matter of fact. ‘I’m well aware you’ve been in love before, and that if cruel fate had not intervened you would have married long ago.’
She wasn’t quite sure what reaction she might obtain. Never in her wildest imaginings did she expect to see him clap an impatient hand across his eyes, while giving vent to a low, threatening growl.
‘I’ll ring my interfering sister’s blasted neck when we get back to London!’ he vowed, sounding as though he’d relish the exercise.
Placing both hands on her shoulders, he held her away, the better to search every endearing contour of the face he had swiftly grown to adore. ‘What maudlin nonsense has she been spouting in your ears since you’ve been staying with her, my darling? No, don’t tell me!’ he ordered in the next breath. ‘I can guess. Told you some sentimental rubbish about me wearing the willow for a girl called Alicia Thorndyke, I’ll wager!’
‘Well, I—er...’ Although somewhat confused, there was no doubt in Ruth’s mind that she might well have been labouring under a huge misconception during these past weeks, not to say months. Naturally, her spirits soared at the mere thought that she might have been grossly misinformed, while at the same time she felt she ought to do her utmost to protect the woman who was shortly to become her sister.
‘Oh, Hugo, you mustn’t blame Sarah,’ she implored. ‘Lady Beatrice told me months ago that you were once engaged to be married and hadn’t so much as looked at another woman since the death of your fiancée.’
‘Heaven spare me! I would have supposed that you, my angel, would have had more sense than to believe such twaddle!’ he told her with thinly veiled impatience. ‘What was I doing during the past ten years or so? Answer me that! I was carving out a career for myself in the army, that’s what,’ he continued without granting her the opportunity to edge in a word. Not that she minded, of course. His every contradiction of what she had foolishly supposed to be true was acting like a p
owerful restorative, sending her spirits soaring to giddy new heights of delight.
‘Half that period was spent fighting the French,’ he continued meditatively. ‘A fine sort of a fellow I’d have been had I taken a wife, when there was every chance I might not return home to her. And as for those other years...well, they were spent enjoying my bachelor state, not pining for a lost love.
‘Now, I’m not denying that I wasn’t damnably cut up over Alicia’s death, because I was. And, maybe, had she lived, we would one day have married. But I wasn’t in the least opposed to waiting a year or two before announcing anything official. Looking back, I appreciate now that my father had been right. We were too young, at least I was. I appreciate, also, now how a fellow’s preferences can change.
‘And just to set the record straight I’ve never done this before’, and so saying he delved into the pocket of his jacket to draw out a small square box, which he deftly opened in order to slide its contents on to the third finger of her left hand.
He raised his hands to cup a face that was staring in awestruck silence at the sparkling diamond now nestling on her finger. ‘I’ve never searched for a replacement for Alicia. Nor have I consciously been on the lookout for a wife. I just chanced upon the perfect girl for me one early October afternoon, when I was obliged to put up at an unprepossessing pile during a snowstorm. I might not have realised then, but I certainly do now... You are the only girl I want.’
No further explanations were necessary as far as Ruth was concerned. She was now firmly convinced that her future husband was every bit as much in love with her as she was with him, and they would achieve true happiness only by spending the future together.
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Historical.
You dream of wicked rakes, gorgeous Highlanders, muscled Viking warriors and rugged Wild West cowboys from another era. Harlequin Historical has them all! Emotionally intense stories set across many time periods.
Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Historical every month!
Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN-13: 9781460333488
AN IDEAL COMPANION
Copyright © 2014 by Anne Ashley
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com