* * * *
Sir Hugh saw Nell just as she was about to enter the circulating library. When he signaled that he wished her to wait for him, she looked as though she might slip into the building instead. As he came up to her he exclaimed, "I was on my way to Queen Square, Nell! I would have a word with you in private if I might."
"I have a few errands to accomplish, if you wish to accompany me," she suggested, lowering her gaze. "The library first."
"Of course."
He followed her into the building and up the stairs to the very place where he had first seen her, caught between his overbearing godmother and the long-suffering librarian. He had tried to deflect attention onto himself, thinking the poor young woman would be incapable of handling the situation. But he had found Nell more than capable of standing up to her aunt.
The librarian smiled at her now, calling them both by name, and offering any service of which he might be capable. Nell assured him she had nothing more than a pair of books to return.
"I have put aside for you another novel by the lady who wrote Mansfield Park," he whispered when Nell leaned forward to hand him the books. "I knew you would be pleased."
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Bentley. How kind." Nell smiled conspiratorially and slipped the volumes into her basket. "I shall be certain to return them as soon as I am finished."
"Take your time, take your time," he begged her. "With so much as there is to do in Bath, I know one's reading time is limited."
Hugh was not surprised by the admiring gleam in the librarian's eyes. He could only hope it had no more influence on Nell than the brisk breeze which met them on their descent back into Milsom Street.
"More errands?" he asked, a quizzical tone to his voice.
"Just one more. I wish to match some thread for my aunt."
"Stokers, then," he suggested and placed her hand on his arm. She looked up at him with such a sweet, tentative expression on her face that he ached to kiss her right there in the street. Instead, he said gruffly, "I take it Miss Longstreet is not unduly impressed by your change in circumstances."
"Oh, no. She expects we will go on much as we have, I believe."
Hugh's brow drew down. "And what do you expect?"
"I hardly know. Aunt Longstreet will not even tell me what she plans to do about Lord Westwick’s offer."
"Do you think she'll have him?"
"No. I think she will prefer to go on as we have."
Hugh was thunderstruck. "But, Nell, you cannot mean you will stay with her."
His companion sighed. "I believe I told you about my promise to my grandfather."
"She means to hold you to it, does she?"
Nell nodded, but she had turned her head away so that Hugh could not see her eyes.
"And you intend to make the best of that, as you have of everything else in your life?" he demanded.
"Did you hear Emily's news, about her husband?"
"Don't try to change the subject, Nell. This is important. Miss Longstreet can't hold you to a promise you made to her father on his deathbed."
"I doubt there is a more sacred promise than one made to a dying person," she returned. "It is surely as compelling as a promise of marriage, such as Lord Westwick made to her."
"And, in this case, just as despicably held to." His eyes flashed. "You read her letters, Nell. The earl attempted to get her to free him of his promise, and she would not do it, though it must have been perfectly obvious to her--and perhaps to her family--that he had changed his mind."
"Yes." Nell regarded him steadily for a moment. "Sir Hugh, you mustn't fret on my behalf. I shall be perfectly content to stay at Longstreet Manor."
"Nonsense! You... you should be thinking of marriage."
"Should I?" She paused on the pavement before Stokers and smiled pertly at him. "And who should I be thinking of marrying?"
"Me!" What a muff he was making of this, declaring himself in the middle of the street in Bath. But her face softened and she sighed. "Thank you. I would that it were possible."
"Well, it is possible," he insisted. "I know I should have spoken before, Nell, but I wanted to see this matter of my godmother and Lord Westwick cleared up first, and now everything has crashed in at once. You mustn't think that the change in your circumstances has anything to do with my offer, for it hasn't."
"Of course not," she agreed, readily enough. "But there is no change in one very important aspect of my circumstances. So, we will speak no more of the matter."
With this, she pushed open the door of Stokers' store and entered. A very annoying bell tinkled raucously for some moments as Hugh tried to gather his thoughts together. She had turned him down. Was her promise merely an excuse?
Nell headed directly to the display of threads, pulling a swatch of fabric from her basket. Hugh hadn't realized how many variations of color there would be, with spools lined up in two drawers. Nell bent to consider a section where blue and green threads proliferated. Hugh came to stand behind her.
"If Miss Longstreet were to free you from your promise...," he began.
"She won't." Nell placed the swatch of cloth beside one of the spools, but the thread was too dark.
"Nell, it isn't fair of her to hold you to it."
"No. Aunt Longstreet is not always fair."
"Then you will have to break your promise."
She regarded him with solemn eyes. "I can't do that, Hugh."
"But you must!"
She smiled sadly but did not answer. Picking up another spool of thread, she compared it to her fabric, and set it down again.
"Your grandfather did not envision the change in your circumstances. He didn't even know for certain of your... well, you understand," he said, glancing around the shop to see if anyone was within earshot. There was no one else in the shop at all except the shopkeeper, who was busy refolding some untidy bolts of cloth at the far end of the room. "Nell, he would have wished you to have a life of your own."
"No, he wouldn't. He was just as self-absorbed and uncaring as Aunt Longstreet."
Hugh grimaced. "Yes, I remember. Well, then he had no business extracting such a promise from you."
"Perhaps not, but he did. I can't change that, Hugh." She picked up another spool of thread, matched it and said, "This one will do."
When she had paid for her purchase and dropped it into her basket, they turned their footsteps in the direction of Queen Square. Hugh tried once again. "Nell, no one would hold it against you if you broke such a disagreeable and unfair promise. In fact, no one would even know."
"You would know, and I would know, and Aunt Longstreet would know. Even Emily would know. You're the most important people in my life, and you would all know that I hadn't kept a promise merely because it was inconvenient for me."
"Inconvenient! Heaven help us, it is a great deal more than inconvenient. And, Nell, you have seen what Lord Westwick did in the same circumstances. His own happiness was more important to him than his honor."
"No, the happiness of his beloved was more important to him, Hugh. If it had been merely his own happiness, I do not think he would have broken his promise."
"And isn't my happiness important to you?" he asked, his voice low and intense.
"I... I don't think... It's not the same."
"Isn't it? You don't truly believe in my love for you, do you, Nell?"
"I... Of course I do. It is just..."
"Then it is your own love for me which you don't trust."
"No!" Nell's cheeks flushed hotly. "We're not like Lord Westwick and his lady. We're not the stuff of legends. At least, I am not, Hugh! You must see that. I'm just an ordinary girl, someone who has been companion to her aunt for years and is given to daydreaming and flights of fancy. I feel as though I've made you up, invented you. Nothing like this could really happen to a simple country lady like myself. I will leave Bath and you will go on with your life as though I had never been."
"Impossible." He brushed a thumb along the line of her j
aw, bemused. "You didn't make me up, my love, you merely made me fall in love with you. How could I not have? All your strength and good humor in the face of adversity. All your enthusiasm and excitement about the simplest treats. You are the most remarkable woman I've ever met--practical and whimsical, generous and competent. I love you dearly, Nell."
"Oh, Hugh." She turned her face up to him, her lips trembling, and suddenly he was kissing her--right there in front of the Queen Square house! Her body leaned toward him, as though he were the sun and source of her very survival.
"Will you marry me?"
"Oh, Hugh, you know I cannot!"
"Will you marry me if you do not have to break your promise?"
Her eyes blinked in confusion. "Oh, Hugh, I love you. Of course I would marry you if I didn't have to break my promise."
He smiled ruefully. "Very well. She can't live forever, the wicked woman. I dare say we can avoid her now and again. Longstreet Manor is a large house."
"But... You cannot mean to..."
"Yes, my adorable Nell. If living at the manor is the only way I can have you as my bride, then live there I shall. She does intend to leave it to me, you know. I might as well reacquaint myself with the place."
"But... but what if she should accept Lord Westwick?"
"The place will be a little crowded, to be sure, but we'll manage. And I cannot think she would object to your accompanying me to Fallings from time to time, then. In fact, I shall insist upon it, even if she doesn't marry the earl."
Nell burst into tears. Hugh had never seen her cry before, and only realized after a few moments of dabbing at the moisture with his handkerchief that they were tears of happiness.
"Come, my sweet. There is nothing to cry about. We'll tell Emily first. She's been planning to make you her sister-in-law, and will be delighted to hear that she has once again been successful in one of her schemes."
* * * *
Rosemarie was nonplussed. She looked from Nell to Sir Hugh and said bluntly, "He can't live at Longstreet Manor."
"Of course he can," Nell retorted. "There's plenty of room, and if I'm going to marry him, he'll have to live there."
"You aren't going to marry him. You promised to stay with me as long as I live."
"And so I shall, aunt. I didn't promise not to marry; I promised only to stay with you, and I intend to do precisely that. Sir Hugh is your heir and it makes sense that he should spend time at Longstreet Manor, in any case."
"I can change my will," her aunt stated flatly. "I can leave my estate to someone else."
"Yes, but you have promised, have you not?" Nell asked innocently. "As I have. I think—in fact I am quite certain—that if you decided not to honor your promise to Sir Hugh, I would feel released from my promise to my grandfather."
"I think she has you there, ma'am," Sir Hugh said with a grin. "Your niece is a very honorable young woman, but she expects her conviction to be met with a similar commitment."
"You can't tell me you won't be haring off to Fallings all the time," his godmother suggested slyly. "Then what will missy do? Take off with you, or I miss my bet."
"Sometimes she will, sometimes she won't," Sir Hugh said. "She isn't indentured to you, Miss Longstreet. Her promise to stay with you does not--to my mind, at least--trap her at Longstreet Manor for every day of your life. Nell will reside there, but make trips whenever she pleases--to Fallings, to Bath, to London--just as any young lady might."
"He's marrying you for your money!" Rosemarie snapped to her niece.
But Nell only laughed. "Poor fellow. Some men would not think there was enough money in the entire world to offset having to live away from their own homes."
And she realized as she said it that it was what Lord Westwick had done, as well. For the love of his life he had given up his family estate and established himself in Bath with his countess. Not quite the same as living with a cantankerous lady like Aunt Longstreet, but just as much proof of his love.
Nell twined her arm with Sir Hugh's and asked gently, "Won't you wish us happy, Aunt Longstreet?"
"If I decide to accept Westwick, I won't have you two living at Longstreet Manor and underfoot all the time. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," they both said together.
"But you can visit, now and again. That would be all right."
"Yes, ma'am."
"That's if I accept him."
Nell and Sir Hugh said nothing.
"It's not a sure thing that I will."
"No, ma'am." But we can hope, Nell thought, and Sir Hugh squeezed her arm.
"And don't go trying to influence me."
"No, ma'am."
Rosemarie’s gaze dropped slightly before Nell’s determined look. “And I do wish you happy,” she said grudgingly.
“Thank you.”
There was a knock at the front door. Nell knew it would be Lord Westwick, come for his reluctant bride's decision. She watched as her aunt, most uncharacteristically, patted her hair into place and tossed the shawl off her knees.
"Run along now, you two. I've seen enough of this April and May. I want a word in private with Westwick."
Nell, her eyes sparkling, led her intended from the room. When the earl had greeted them and moved on to face his dragon in the parlor, Nell urged Hugh down the hall to the study. "She's going to accept him!" she whispered as he closed the door behind them.
"Thank heaven!" he replied, pulling her into his arms and capturing her lips with his.
Copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth Rotter
Originally published by Signet (0451205278)
Electronically published in 2007 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228
www.RegencyReads.com
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.
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