Back to his Lordship: Clean time travel regency romance (Twickenham Regency Romance Book 2)

by Jen Geigle Johnson

  He nodded.

  “I’d like to see the Elgin Marbles.”

  He coughed.

  “I’d like to visit a museum.”

  Easy enough, that one.

  “The opera, a poetry reading. A musicale. Oh, and I must must be present when Beau Brummel gets his cravat tied.”

  “How do you plan to manage that feat?”

  “Perhaps he will take to doing public demonstrations.” She shrugged like she knew something, and Oliver would not have been the least surprised if she did.

  “I’d like to see Prinny, but not meet him. But I would love to meet the Duke of Wellington.”

  A touch of jealous tugged at his peace of mind. “You would?”

  “Certainly. Wouldn’t you? Oh and Blake Shelley and also Lord Byron.” She held a hand to her heart. For a moment he thought her quite near fainting.

  “This is probably not at all likely, given the distance. But I had not even considered how wonderful it would be to meet a woman by the name of Jane Austen.”

  He frowned, trying to place her.

  “She wrote the book, Pride and Prejudice.”

  “I haven’t had the privilege of reading such a book. So, this woman is an author, you say?”

  “Yes, one of the most talented of my day.”

  “Your day?”

  “That is to say, those who have read her book are enchanted. We anxiously await her next.”

  He committed the information to memory. If he ever came across such a book, he would know what to do with it.

  “And now, tell me something you find most difficult.”

  “I cannot abide disappointing others. Now you.”

  “I find it difficult to relax in large groups.”

  “Do you? A do I. I much prefer the private more intimate conversations.” She stepped closer almost without thinking.

  “And so do I.” He lifted her hand in his own. “But most especially with you.” He pressed his lips to her bare hand, the velvety softness sending ripples of expectation up her arm.

  “Oh.”

  He turned her hand over and then pressed his lips to her wrist. “While we are yet alone, I must tell you, I have longed to do just this.” He pressed his lips to her wrist again, lingering longer. “And this.” He kissed her again, slightly higher.

  She was astounded at what a kiss could do to a person. She reached out her other hand to steady herself on his arm.

  “I want very much to have many more moments such as these.”

  She lifted her chin to wonder at his sincerity, and all she saw was an intensity that drew her closer.

  “I as well.” Her dress slipped down off her shoulder.

  His eyes travelled along the bareness of her skin exposed and then up to her face.

  Everywhere he looked sent waves of awareness. His gaze moved to her lips and they moved together, closer, her head giddy with a spinning desire. Her mouth parted. And then he backed away. “Forgive me. I quite forget myself.”

  She adjusted her dress and ran hands down the front of her skirts. “Me, too. I think.”

  After a moment of awkwardness, he lifted his time piece up out of his pocket. “We must return. Good heavens, the time has passed rather quickly.”

  He led her as swiftly as he could without rushing unnecessarily until they stood at the duke’s front step.

  When the butler opened the door, to his credit he did not react but simply gave them space to enter. Oliver turned through the front room and made his way to where he knew they might have started their breakfast.

  “You know your way around.”

  “I do. I have been the happy recipient of many an invitation here at the ducal townhome.”

  Jane smiled in welcome as they entered the breakfast room. “Yes, we enjoy Oliver whenever he will deign to spend some time with us.”

  “It is always my pleasure, you can be assured of that.” He bowed. “Your grace.”

  “And you.” Jane looked to Lady Eva with eyebrows raised. “I suppose you were outside of these walls dressed in such a state?”

  Eva looked down at herself, readjusting her sleeve once again so that it rested on her shoulder. “I suppose I’m a bit disheveled.”

  Jane laughed, looking to Oliver. “And we have you to thank for the rescue?”

  “It was my pleasure, I assure you.”

  “Well, you must stay for breakfast.” She indicated the service on the side of the room.

  “I would be delighted. Thank you.”

  Lady Eva and he filled their plates, and he was pleased to discover she liked her eggs just how he did.

  As he sat to eat, he realized he couldn’t have felt more cozy, more at home than he did in that moment. He didn’t know her as well as he would like, but there was much to be said about general ease of knowing. And she had that in a great abundance.

  Perhaps it was time to mention her to his mother.

  10

  As soon as Lord Hereford left, Jane pulled her into the duke’s office and shut the door. “Okay, spill.”

  “Oh my gosh! You aren’t gonna believe what just went down. Hold on. Did you just say, ‘Okay, spill’?” She crossed her arms. “Something you want to tell me?”

  “I thought you knew. Algernon and I met when he came forward to 2020.”

  Eva stared, not sure what to make of this woman. “I knew it! So you really are Jane Sullivan, from my time?”

  “Yup.”

  “And you’re living here forever? As a duchess?” She squealed. “That’s insane and so totally awesome I don’t even know what to do with that information.”

  “I go back now and then. It wears on you after a while, the time hops, but I need to bring back some supplies. And I grab a donut. You know, the important things.”

  She rubbed her temples. “I don’t even know what to do with this information.”

  “You said that.”

  “True. Okay.” She plopped down in an armchair. “For starters, I think you living here as a duchess is incredible. Do you know how many men you could help? How many women you could help?”

  “It’s not as easy as you think.”

  “I don’t see why not. You walk up to someone, ‘Hey, you don’t have to put up with this, you know that right?’”

  “It took two hundred years to get where we are today.”

  Eva waved her hands. “We can talk about that later. I gotta tell you what happened, and you’ve gotta help me know what to do.”

  She told her about the almost kiss, the great talks, the amazing energy between them. And then she frowned. “But I can’t fall in love with this guy. I’d feel terrible if I was encouraging him to fall in love with me.”

  “It may be too late. Oliver has never acted like that before. I’m sure you’ve noticed he is the king of propriety. So if he is acting like this, I’d say he’s about a hair’s breadth away from proposing.”

  “What!” Eva choked. “We don’t even know each other.”

  Jane shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. He can probably tell you two would get on well together, and you’re the best woman he’s ever talked to hands down.” She laughed. “It’s so nice to talk like an American again.”

  “But I’m not like you. I came here for a month’s vacation. I have no intention of living here forever. What am I gonna do?”

  “That’s something you will have to decide. I can’t help you there. But if you do decide to figure out if Oliver is worth it, I will tell you that of all Algernon’s friends, Oliver is the absolute best. And he’s fun to look at.”

  “He’s so hot. I should have kissed him.”

  “Well now, remember if you’re caught kissing someone, they will feel obligated to propose. It will set up a whole expectation here in the ton.”

  “I’ll just have to make sure I don’t get caught.” She tapped her hands together. “But he would take it to mean something more serious, wouldn’t he?”

  “Of course. Especially Oliver.”

&nb
sp; She nodded. What a quandary. She could not in good conscience do that to him. “Should I tell him about where or when I’m from?”

  Jane considered her for a long moment, longer than Eva felt was necessary. “I don’t know. Not yet. It’s a risky thing to let too many people know about the opportunities that come with time travel. I suspect he is meant to know, because you and he are so obviously drawn to each other. But it really isn’t my decision to make.”

  “Who’s is it?”

  “I think yours.”

  Eva thought that over. “True. Because what if I tell him and he follows me home?” The idea sounded more romantic than anything she could imagine. “Wait a minute. Isn’t that what you did?”

  “More or less. I’ll have to tell you about the time I spent in New York City, dating the duke.”

  “This I gotta hear.”

  “Maybe tomorrow night. We can have an old-fashioned slumber party, and you can hear mine and Anna’s stories.” Eva smirked.

  “Anna has a story?”

  “Oh, she’s got many. Most I don’t even know about.”

  “Well, this I gotta hear.”

  “But in the meantime, I can’t lead him on,” Eva frowned. “I can’t keep seeing him especially if he’s thinking all of this is a fast track to marriage. I don’t want to tell him about the time travel yet. But I do think we should relax and have some fun. Maybe I can scare him off with my uncouth and almost scandalous ways.” The idea brought a twinge of sadness.

  “I don’t think you’re gonna lose him that quickly.”

  “You underestimate my powers.”

  Her smile turned secretive. “No, you underestimate your power.” She wrapped an arm across her shoulders. “And I happen to know he’ll be here to pick you up to picnic at Vauxhall Gardens tomorrow.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” She moaned. “I supposed I’ll have to start turning him away then.”

  “If you insist. But that doesn’t sound very fun. Do you know how many women would die to have a specimen like him in their lives?”

  “But at what cost? Do you never miss people back home?”

  “I go visit. And yes. I miss them sometimes, but my parents were done with me. They’ve since moved to Italy, rented a house there.”

  Jane’s words stung. Did Eva’s own family feel that way about her? They certainly were involved in their own lives. The memory of the phone being dropped on the floor last time she called stung. Did her mother even know that Eva was in England? She snorted. She certainly didn’t know she was in 18-hundred-something England, but she suspected she hadn’t really paid enough attention to the call to know Eva was out of the country.

  Oliver stepped out of his carriage and reached back to help Jane down. His servants gathered the items for their picnic to set up in their designated spot. When his hands touched hers, even gloved, he felt the familiar happy expectation he’d come to expect.

  She smiled up into his face, and he recognized a glint of something worrisome. Was it dangerous? Recklessness? It seemed to him to hold a desperate quality about it. But she behaved as she had the last time they’d been together.

  “Tell me, did you bring the journal?”

  She patted her overly large reticule. “I did. We can be entertained while we rest on our walk.”

  “Excellent.” He secretly wished to know the entirety of her list. If he could fill every one of her buckets, how happy that would make him. And perhaps that would also convince her to want to be with him, for he knew that as much as he was engaged in trying to make a relationship with her, she was not so engaged. But he couldn’t ascertain why. For he suspected she was as equally attracted. He’d seen her pull away, seen the regret and the hesitation to do so. Still, he would persist. He had all the time he could need and plenty of patience.

  They walked through the entrance. “There are quite a few people out here today, aren’t there?” She looked around with wide eyes, and he was gratified again that he was gifting her with something she’d wanted to do for so long.

  “They’re here for the surprise.”

  “Oh? What surprise?”

  He pointed to a large colorful fabric on the ground, attached to many ropes.

  “Is that?”

  “A balloon.”

  “What? Like a hot air balloon?”

  His confusion must have been obvious because she said, “Meaning, it flies on the hot air?”

  “Yes, you are correct, but I’ve never heard it called thus, and it is a relatively new custom. How is it you’ve heard of such a thing?”

  “Oh, um.” She looked away. “It might be new here, but in our small part of the world, hot air balloons, as we call them, are a huge part of our local parties.”

  Disappointment filled him. “Oh, so I won’t be adding anything new to your list then.”

  “Oh, now, everything about you is adding new things to my list. Never worry about that. If you are anything, you are new.”

  He wasn’t sure what to think about that answer. They walked through the long archway covered by trees creating a canopy above their heads. A light breeze cooled them, and Oliver didn’t think he could have made the day any more perfect. But he puzzled over why everything about him would be so new. Perhaps because she had fewer families with which to associate where she lived.

  They made their way to the back more woodsy part of the park. He led her down the first path, knowing that it turned and weaved through the trees for quite a distance and that they would be lost from sight for as long as they desired. Perhaps he could enjoy her journal and hear more of her plans. And he might share a few of his own.

  The path grew immediately more shady and Lady Eva sighed. “This is lovely. What a beautiful place.” She looked up at him. “Where does the park touch the banks of the river? Do people really arrive by boat?”

  “They do, and that’s part of the other surprise. We will be departing in that manner to return you to your home.”

  “What! Really!” She clapped her hands and jumped a little bit, in much the same manner as he remembered doing as a child. Perhaps part of her charm was that no one had stifled the human exuberance out of her. He would never tire of the study of Lady Eva.

  Their path opened up to a small circular garden area with a fountain in the center. “Oh this is charming as well.”

  They walked the edge of the circle and then approached a bench. Oliver dipped his head. “Shall we?”

  She nestled down, and he sat beside her. As close as he dared. “Let’s see this journal, then.”

  “We can check one off.”

  “Check it off?”

  “Yes, we make a mark next to the list item, and it means we accomplished it.”

  “I understand what you mean by marking it finished. I was wondering what we are checking off?”

  “This visit to Vauxhall of course. Remember?”

  “Oh yes. How do you hope to cross it off?” He leaned over her shoulder.

  She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she smiled and shook her head. “Ah, because we’ve no ink or quill.” She waved her hand. “I’ll do it later.” She opened the first few pages, skimmed past much writing he’d love to read some day, and then stopped on a well-worn page.

  “Here we go. Keep in mind, I’ve been working on this list for a long time, so some of the items might seem young. Or unimportant.” The slight pink of her cheeks was quite charming, and he hoped to bring it back to her lovely expression again in the future.

  He scanned the written page as quickly as he could and he saw the typical items he would expect, some of which she had already shared with him: the opera, the museum, a perfumaria, Ackermans—he chuckled at that one—the horse races. “Horse races? How can you possibly hope to see those? Or Jacksons? Whites?”

  She snatched it back. “If you’re going to have opinions about my list, I can keep it to myself.”

  He laughed. “No, please, show me. I won’t say another word except in undying support.”


  She held the book up to her chest for a couple heartbeats then leaned forward again, their arms pressed together, and he felt the situation the happiest circumstance. “See here. I want to see the theater as well. I’d love to dance once at Almacks.” Her brow lifted wickedly. “The waltz.”

  “Ho ho! Why am I not even surprised?”

  His eyes followed her finger to another item on the list. “And what’s this?”

  “Oh, right, that. So—”

  “Touch the hem of Lady Jersey’s gown? Borrow an item from her person?”

  She pulled the book back away from him. “This section is probably off limits. It’s about experiences.” She glanced down again. “Oh, yes, totally off limits.” She pressed the opened book to her chest.

  He tried his most endearing, pleading expression which felt deliciously new to him.

  Her smile grew and she succumbed. “I can tell you a couple.” She held up a finger. “But certainly not all, so do not ask. Watch Beau Brummel tie a cravat you’ve seen. I’d like to see Prinny. Ride a phaeton through Hyde Park. Become hopelessly lost with a gentleman in a hedge maze.”

  “Did our maze count?”

  She pressed her lips together, pretending to ponder his question which he found irresistible, unaccountably. The expression had never had a similar effect from other women.

  “Were we ‘hopelessly’ lost?”

  “No, but that hardly signifies. There’s not a maze in England in which we would become hopelessly lost. All you have to do is walk the perimeter—”

  She held up her hand. “You are ruining the magic.”

  He pressed his lips together.

  She checked her book again and then laid it back in her lap. “And those are enough experiences for one lifetime, I would think.”

  He knew she was hiding something he was desperate to know. But he’d just have to be happy with what they’d discussed so far. He pulled out his watch fob. “If we head back now, there is an event I know you’ll be happy to see.”

  “Oooh, what is it?”

  “A surprise makes it even better.”

  “True. Let’s go see this exciting surprise.” She jumped to her feet.