‘You think I don’t know what I look like?’ her companion challenged. ‘Why, ’tis only you and this family who don’t regard me as some kind of freak.’
‘No one who knows you could possibly think that, my dear ma’am. You could dine with me before the feˆte, and we could go together…’
It took some persuasion, but when Gina included the rest of the Isham family and Thomas Newby in her invitation Mrs Clewes agreed at last. She beamed as India joined them.
‘Well, my lady, what does the doctor have to say to you?’ she asked.
‘He’s pleased, and so am I now the sickness does not trouble me in a morning. It will be a relief to be able to go about again without the need to rush away at times.’
‘’Tis a trial, my dear, but worth it in the end. When you have your babe you’ll forget the discomfort of these months.’
‘I’m sure of it. I feel so well at present.’
‘I’m glad to hear it, my dear one.’ Isham had entered the room, accompanied by Thomas Newby. ‘You will be the belle of the feˆte and carry off all the prizes.’
‘I doubt that, Anthony,’ India smiled up at her husband. ‘But I shall be glad to see so many of my friends again, and most especially Hester…My cousin was always so full of news. I’ve missed her since she went to London for her Season.’
‘Today I hope to prove a worthy substitute, my darling. I too have news. As we expected, the murder of the Marquis is to be investigated by the Prince Regent’s men. They are already in the village.’
‘Murder!’ Mrs Clewes echoed blankly. ‘You’ve had a murder here in Abbot Quincey?’
‘My dear ma’am, don’t distress yourself. It happened before you arrived here.’ Isham was quick to reassure his guest. ‘We had no wish to worry you with the story, though I doubt that you will have heard of the victim…the Marquis of Sywell?’
‘Oh, I’ve heard of him, my lord. Show me someone who don’t know of his goings-on. We shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, I know, but ain’t you well rid of him?’
‘That is the general opinion, ma’am, but murder cannot be condoned.’
Unrepentant, Mrs Clewes began to chuckle. ‘You may be right. We’d be knee deep in corpses otherwise. I can think of a few prime candidates for murder.’
‘That’s a blood-thirsty statement if ever I heard one.’ Giles stood in the doorway grinning cheerfully at the assembled company. ‘I must hope that you don’t intend to put it into practice, Mrs Clewes?’
‘Don’t think I ain’t considered it at times,’ Mrs Clewes beamed at her new-found partner. ‘The trouble is I ain’t no shot and I can’t run fast enough to catch a villain to strangle him…’
‘You can’t think how relieved I am to hear it.’ Giles was laughing openly as he came to her and took her hands, kissing them both in turn.
‘Get on with you! You don’t believe a word of it! Now how did you fare, my lad? Do we have an order?’
‘We have as many as we can handle, ma’am, with others promised for the future…’
There was a general murmur of congratulation as Giles listed his successes. Gina could only marvel at the change in him. His journey had been long that day but he seemed so fresh, so alert, and so alive.
Suddenly she felt unaccountably nervous. With the coming change in his fortunes Giles would be free to offer for her, but would he do so? The uncertainty was unbearable. At the first opportunity she excused herself and left for Abbot Quincey.
On the journey home she took herself to task. Her departure from the Grange had been sudden to the point of rudeness. What must the Ishams think of her? Good manners indicated that she should have stayed to join in the celebrations. Instead, she recalled muttering something about a forgotten appointment. It was a lame excuse, which would not have deceived a child.
She clenched her hands until the nails dug into her palms. She would make amends when she felt calmer. What she needed was time to think.
Her wish seemed unlikely to be granted.
‘You have a visitor, Ma’am,’ her butler announced as she walked into the hall.
George again? Gina sighed to herself. She had no wish to listen to her cousin’s lamentations at that particular moment.
‘You should have denied me,’ she snapped more sharply than was her wont. ‘You knew that I was not at home.’
‘I tried, ma’am, but the gentleman would not be denied. He said that you were to be expected within minutes…’
Was George spying on her? Indignantly, Gina stalked into the salon. Then she stopped. It was Giles who came towards her.
‘How did you get here?’ she whispered. ‘I left you at the Grange…’
‘You did indeed! Why did you run away, my darling? You must have known that I would wish to speak to you.’
‘How could I know that? You’ve spent these last few weeks in trying to avoid me…’ Gina could not hide her hurt and disappointment.
Giles had come towards her with outstretched arms, but now they fell to his sides. ‘I can only ask for your forgiveness, Gina. I’ve been a selfish fool, thinking only of my pride…my honour. Send me away if you must, but believe me when I tell you that I’ve come to my senses at last.’
‘And what has caused this sea-change, sir?’ Gina was determined that she would not make the same mistake again. Giles would not find her ready to fall into his arms.
‘Long ago I wanted to offer you the world,’ he answered sadly. ‘I found I couldn’t even give you part of it.’
‘And what made you think that I wanted the whole world?’ she asked coldly. ‘Did I ever ask for it?’
‘No, you didn’t. I know your loving heart. You would have suffered anything with me.’
‘There we differ, Giles. You could not put aside your pride for me.’
‘Would you have had me do so? I think I could bear anything but your pity and contempt…’
‘Contempt?’
‘Oh yes, it might have come to that, my dear. How could I live upon your fortune, knowing that I had done nothing to earn a comfortable life?’
Gina kept her eyes fixed firmly on the carpet. ‘You must have ridden hard to outpace my cattle, Giles. Will you allow me to offer you refreshment?’
‘Damn the refreshment!’ he shouted explosively. ‘Why do you think I’m here?’
‘I haven’t the least idea, but I’d be obliged if you would refrain from swearing…’
‘You’d make a saint swear, Gina, and I’m no saint.’
‘That I can believe. For once we are in complete agreement…’ Gina’s shoulders were shaking.
‘Why you little minx, you are gammoning me!’ Without more ado Giles took her in his arms. ‘If you weren’t so adorable I swear I’d put you across my knee…’
‘You could try,’ she agreed. ‘Have you forgotten my fearsome reputation?’
‘I have forgotten nothing…’ As his lips found hers the long years of heartbreak faded as if they had never been. The lovers were transported in an instant back to that terrace in Italy where they had vowed eternal love.
When Giles released her at last, Gina clung to him, half laughing and half crying.
‘Can this be true?’ she whispered. ‘I’d almost given up hope that we’d find happiness together…’
‘And I! Why do you think I never married, Gina? I hadn’t forgotten my vows to you, although it seemed impossible that we should ever meet again.’ His mouth came down on hers once more, urgent, demanding and yet filled with tenderness.
‘I’d almost decided to go away again…’ she told him breathlessly. ‘Oh, my darling, would you have let me leave you if you had not had this offer from Mrs Clewes?’
He shook his head. ‘Not this time. I would have found some way, even if it had meant asking you to wait…But it was Mrs Clewes who brought me to my senses.’
‘She’s been a good friend to you…’
‘And to you, my love. That morning in the library she gave me a tongue-lashing which I won’t f
orget. She has a flaying turn of phrase, you know. I felt lucky to escape with a whole skin. I was given a full account of the failings of my character.’
‘Perhaps you’d better tell me,’ she teased. ‘Before I commit myself to a life of misery with a monster.’
His arms tightened about her, and the smile vanished from his lips. ‘I wonder that you can be so generous, Gina. I have behaved in a monstrous way, I know. Mrs Clewes left me in no doubt that in refusing offers of help I was thinking only of myself. She left nothing unspecified, and I had no difficulty in recognising the miserable creature she described.’
Gina kissed his cheek. ‘It was all said in love, my dear. She is so fond of you. She thinks only of your happiness.’
‘I don’t deserve either of you,’ he said simply. ‘Women are amazing creatures. Who would care for an arrogant, stiff-necked fellow, eaten up with pride, and full of self-pity…?’
She raised her fingers to his lips to hush the bitter words. ‘No!’ she said. ‘I won’t have that. We both knew you to be an honourable man, and we understood your need for self-respect. Would Mrs Clewes have offered you this partnership if she had not been sure of your honesty? And would I have loved you for so long?’
With a muffled groan he caught her to him again. ‘Darling Gina, what can I say to you? If I have failings, you have none.’
Gina chuckled. ‘Don’t believe it, my dear one. Impulsive, hot-tempered and impatient of convention—I am all of these things. Shall I go on, or shall we agree that we are fallible human beings?’
He silenced her by raining kisses on her hair, her cheeks, her eyelids and her throat.
‘When can we be wed?’ he asked. ‘Will you keep me waiting, Gina?’
She looked at him with misty eyes. Then she shook her head. ‘It shall be whenever you wish, my love.’
With a shout of joy he seized her hand. ‘Come back to the Grange with me. Let us share our happiness with the others. Isham will tell me how to get a special licence, though I expect it will be a shock to him…’
To his surprise, this didn’t prove to be the case.
‘We wondered only what was taking you so long,’ Isham observed with twinkling eyes. ‘You’ve been a shocking slow-coach, my dear chap. Gina might have been carried off by half-a-dozen men.’
‘And I was one of them.’ Thomas came forward to kiss her hand and congratulate his friend, wishing them both all happiness.
He left them then to return within the hour with Mair and Elspeth.
‘Mr Newby is so mysterious,’ Elspeth cried as she rushed into the room. ‘He’s promised us a surprise, but he won’t tell us what it is.’
‘I can guess,’ Mair said quietly as she looked at Gina’s face. ‘You are going to marry Giles?’
‘Bless me if the child ain’t a witch!’ Mrs Clewes beamed happily at the assembled company. ‘How did you guess, my dear?’
Mair blushed. ‘I saw the way he looked at Gina when he thought she wasn’t watching.’
Giles gave her a bear hug. ‘You are a dangerous woman, Mair. Remind me to be more circumspect when I want to keep a secret.’
This brought a ripple of amusement from his companions.
‘A secret?’ India teased. ‘You have been mooning about like a lovesick calf these many months…’
Giles looked disconcerted for a moment. Then he began to smile.
‘Families!’ he said in mock disgust. ‘Gina, what are we to do with them?’
‘For a start you might invite us to your wedding,’ India suggested. ‘When is it to be?’
‘As soon as possible,’ he told her promptly. ‘Gina has promised not to keep me waiting. All we need now is a special licence…’
‘But, my dear brother, what of Mama and Letty? You’ll wait until they return from London?’
‘And when is that to be?’ he asked impatiently.
‘They plan to be back in time for the feˆte at Perceval Hall…’
‘But that is weeks away…’ he protested.
Gina laid a hand upon his arm. ‘India is right, my darling. We can’t think only of ourselves. Your mother would be heartbroken not to see you wed…Besides, there are matters to attend…I must buy my gown…’
This wasn’t strictly true. Gina had no vanity. She would have been happy to be married in her oldest gown, but she guessed that Giles would accept her explanation.
He did so with a rueful sigh. ‘Am I to be outvoted then?’
‘Always where the ladies are concerned, my dear fellow…’ Isham was smiling broadly. ‘Take heart! At least you will not need a special licence. There is time for the banns to be called in the usual way.’
Giles did not argue further, but later, when they were alone, he held Gina to his heart, stroking her hair and kissing her hands by turns.
‘You are very silent,’ she whispered.
‘That’s because I can’t believe that you are to be mine at last. Do dreams come true, my love?’
‘Mine have done so, Giles. I never gave up hope completely, even when it seemed that all hope was gone. You are all I want in life…’
He kissed her then with a passion that spoke of years of longing, and Gina clung to him, offering him her heart and soul.
‘I wonder if you have any idea how much I love you?’ he said at last. ‘I swear I’ll make you happy, Gina. Nothing and no one shall ever harm you from now on.’
‘Is that a challenge to fate?’ Laughing, she threw her arms about his neck. ‘Perhaps I should have my fortune told. Do you fear dark forces in my future?’
‘Nothing shall ever injure you, my darling…’
‘Of course it won’t,’ she said with happy certainty. ‘I have no enemies, my dear.’
Chapter Twelve
Gina spent the following weeks in a daze of happiness. She seemed to be living in another world, where every sense was heightened. Suddenly, she felt like a girl again, for the sensation was familiar from those long-ago days when she and Giles had first fallen in love.
Now she could look forward to daily visits from her lover, smiling at his protestations that every hour spent away from her was like a lifetime. They dined together, walked in the gardens talking eagerly, and learned to know each other again as they renewed their vows of love.
Then he came to her one day, his face alight with joy.
‘Mother and Letty have returned,’ he said. ‘Now, my dearest, we can decide upon our wedding day.’ His mouth came down on hers in a passionate kiss.
‘Would all your family care to dine here at the Mansion House?’ she asked a little breathlessly.
‘India and Isham hope that you will dine with them. She plans to give a small party for you, your mother and father and your brother and sister, as well as Mair and Elspeth. Do say you agree! It would give her so much pleasure.’
‘How can I refuse? She is so kind, and my parents will be delighted.’
It was no more than the truth. After their initial disappointment when they heard that her cousin was not to be her choice, George and Eliza Westcott had rejoiced in Gina’s happiness.
‘This is a surprise to us, my dear child, but I can’t fault young Rushford,’ her father had admitted. ‘He’s twice the man his father was, and his life has not been easy. It was pitiful to see all his efforts go for naught when Gareth Rushford was alive.’
‘Now, Father, don’t rake up old scandals,’ Eliza Westcott begged. ‘We’ve always liked Giles. He was such a merry lad and full of mischief, though there was no harm in him. I never found him other than polite. He’ll make you happy, Gina, I am sure of it.’
They said as much to Giles, welcoming him as one of the family without the least trace of self-consciousness. George Westcott was his own man. He had done well in business and though he was aware of the social gulf between the aristocracy and those in trade, he sensed that times were changing. His wife was not so sure.
When Gina arrived with the invitation to dine with Lord and Lady Isham she met with some
resistance from her mother.
‘I don’t know,’ Eliza looked uncomfortable. ‘We’ve been taught to keep our place, and to look up to our betters, not to dine with them.’
‘Mother, please! How can you speak of “your betters”? Lord and Lady Isham are human beings like ourselves…no better and no worse…You knew India as a girl. How can you think that she has changed?’
‘She’s married to Lord Isham now…’
Gina laughed. ‘So that is what is worrying you? Believe me, he is nothing like you might imagine. His boon companion at the moment is Mrs Clewes, the widow of a ship’s chandler.’
This won a reluctant smile from Mrs Westcott. ‘That may be so, but I can’t abide that Rushford woman. She never exchanges a civil word with me.’
‘I think you’ll find she has changed.’ Gina gave her mother a wicked look. ‘Now I am her dearest Gina, a paragon of all the virtues…’
‘Then she doesn’t know you, love,’ George Westcott chuckled. ‘Come wife, your own daughter has a title now. You cannot let her down.’
It was enough to stifle all objections, and later that week, although claiming that she felt like Daniel about to enter the lion’s den, Eliza Westcott accompanied her family to the Grange.
Her fears were soon allayed. Isham’s easy greeting soon set his visitors at their ease, and Letty and India were their usual charming selves, insisting that Mrs Westcott sat between them.
‘You shall not stand on ceremony, ma’am,’ India said prettily. ‘You’ve known us all our lives. May I make you known to our dear Lucia, the Dowager Lady Isham?’
Mrs Westcott nodded shyly.
‘And here is Mrs Clewes, a friend of ours, as is Mr Newby. My mother you know already as a neighbour.’
‘How pleased you must be to have dear Gina home again,’ Mrs Rushford gushed. ‘And now to hear this happy news! I declare that I am over the moon about it…’
Eliza viewed the speaker with a sardonic eye. She was under no illusions. Gina’s fortune had brought about this startling change in Mrs Rushford. Without it the woman would not have given her the time of day.
Mrs Rushford noticed nothing amiss. ‘Two of my children to be wed this year!’ she continued in sentimental tones. ‘I hope that you won’t consider a double wedding, Gina? A bride’s day should be hers alone.’
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