But he only smiled. “Do you imagine it is any different for me? I am terrified too. What if I cannot make you happy? What if I cannot match your high standards and lapse back into weakness? What if…? What if…? My head is full of what if. But we cannot know the future, none of us can, not even the Romanies. Perhaps we will end our days in blissful harmony, our grandchildren around us. Or it may be that our time together will be shorter, if God wills it so. All I know is that I want to try this, that I would rather have a year, a month, a day with you than a lifetime without you. It is a terrible risk, and perhaps it will lead us to great pain in the end, but that will be bearable if we have shared great joy first. Will you risk it with me? Will you share my life, for better or for worse, Lucy Price?”
She nodded, almost too choked with emotion to speak, and then, with a great effort, said, “Yes. I will.”
He closed his eyes with a long exhalation, his forehead resting against hers.
“Kiss me,” she said. “Kiss me, Leo.”
So he did, and she was swept away on such a tide of joy as she had never known before. His lips sought hers with such passion that she could do nothing but yield to him, sinking into his strong embrace and hoping he would never let her go.
This time, there were no screams, just a little squeak of surprise, followed by a familiar rumble of disapproval.
“Well, really, Audley, you are incorrigible!”
Mr Kingsley and Augusta stood not three feet away, he looking askance, while she was trying not to laugh.
Leo jumped to his feet. “You may be the first to congratulate us, Kingsley. Mrs Price has just this moment accepted my offer of marriage.”
Augusta clapped her hands together in glee. “I knew it, I knew it! Oh, Leo, Lucy, you will be so happy, I know it! I wish you both joy.”
She kissed Lucy on the cheek, and then Leo, and then Lucy again, by which time she had begun to cry and had to rummage for a handkerchief, and that set Lucy off again. Mr Kingsley had the grace to shake Leo’s hand and congratulate them.
Nothing would do for Augusta but to rush back to the house to order champagne for the saloon that evening, and to begin plans for a celebration dinner for all their acquaintances. She towed Kingsley, not unwillingly, behind her, leaving the newly betrothed couple to return to kissing if they chose, and for a while, they did indeed so choose.
At length, with a sigh of satisfaction, Leo said, “Who may I ask to give a blessing to our union? Your father is dead, and your mother also — is there another relative? An uncle, perhaps? Or a cousin?”
“There is no one,” she said. “My sisters and I are quite alone in the world.”
“Then I shall ask them to give their blessing,” he said with a smile. “Who better than your own sisters? They will all be gathered together in Brinshire at Christmas, so I will meet them then and, if they approve and you wish it, we may have the banns called there and you shall be married in the village where you grew up, and where you married your first husband, for I do not forget him or your affection for him. He gave you three years of happiness, and I shall do my very best to make you happy too.”
“I do not doubt you will succeed,” she said, suddenly shy. “Oh Leo, I am so lucky! You could have gone away after I was so horrible to you at Stoneleigh, and I would not have blamed you one little bit. But you stayed and kept whittling away my resistance, and I am so thankful you did. Darling Leo!”
“The best things in life are well worth waiting for,” he said softly, “and you, my adored Lucy, are the very best thing in the whole world.”
She sighed with happiness, and rested her head on his broad shoulder.
THE END
Thanks for reading!
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Book 3 of the series is The Companion, featuring Margaret, and you can read a sneak preview of Chapter 1 after the acknowledgements.
A note on historical accuracy: I have endeavoured to stay true to the spirit of Regency times, and have avoided taking too many liberties or imposing modern sensibilities on my characters. The book is not one of historical record, but I’ve tried to make it reasonably accurate. However, I’m not perfect! If you spot a historical error, I’d very much appreciate knowing about it so that I can correct it and learn from it. Thank you!
About the series: When Mr Edmund Winterton of Woodside dies, his daughters find themselves penniless and homeless. What can they do? Unless they wish to live on charity, they will have to find genteel employment for themselves. This book is set in England during the Regency period of the early nineteenth century. Book 0 takes place 5 years before books 1-4, and book 5 ten years later.
Book 0: The Betrothed (Rosamund) (a short novel, free to mailing list subscribers)
Book 1: The Governess (Annabelle)
Book 2: The Chaperon (Lucy)
Book 3: The Companion (Margaret)
Book 4: The Seamstress (Fanny)
Book 5: Woodside
Any questions about the series? Email me - I’d love to hear from you!
About the author
I write traditional Regency romances under the pen name Mary Kingswood, and epic fantasy as Pauline M Ross. I live in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland with my husband. I like chocolate, whisky, my Kindle, massed pipe bands, long leisurely lunches, chocolate, going places in my campervan, eating pizza in Italy, summer nights that never get dark, wood fires in winter, chocolate, the view from the study window looking out over the Moray Firth and the Black Isle to the mountains beyond. And chocolate. I dislike driving on motorways, cooking, shopping, hospitals.
Acknowledgements
Thanks go to:
My beta readers: ???
Last, but definitely not least, my first reader: Amy Ross.
The Chaperon (Sisters of Woodside Mysteries Book 2) Page 28