Mistress at Midnight
Page 21
‘Rodney will be here soon and Mr Beauchamp.’
‘Mr James Beauchamp? Why?’
‘He is not at all as we thought him, Lia, and he has formed an attachment to Prudence which she heartily returns.’
Such news was so surprising Aurelia could hardly ask the next question. ‘How did you come upon him?’
‘Rodney brought him around.’
‘And Papa? How did he take to all this?’
‘He smiles at James as if he knows him. In a way he does, too, because from the drawings of Papa as a young man there is a family likeness.’
The shouts of Harriet and Prudence stopped speech as the twins rushed in. ‘We have been watching for you, Lia, from the bedroom.’ They curtsied to Lord Hawkhurst before gathering Aurelia to them and Harriet began to speak. ‘The warehouse has been run by Mr Steele since you have been gone and he comes in with news of the day each evening.’
‘A good choice, then? I should have known you would be able to find a stellar employee.’ Aurelia turned to her husband with a smile on her face.
‘He hired a nurse for Papa, too, Lia. A real nurse who has been using ways to get Papa to walk more and eat by himself. A doctor comes, too, each day, from the hospital.’
Later that night Aurelia and Stephen lay together in the Hawkhurst town house, rain against the windows.
‘Before you came into my life, everything was difficult.’ Aurelia’s finger ran across his chest drawing circles as she spoke. ‘I thought that I should never know this…this…’
‘Bliss?’ he supplied and smiled as she looked up at him. Tonight under the candles her eyes glowed with a quiet happiness and her hair lay across him, the silk binding their bodies together. ‘Perhaps there is some God-given rule that allows those who have gone through hell to find heaven afterwards?’
‘Your uncle Alfred certainly thinks so.’
‘I have never seen him as happy as I did at dinner tonight.’
‘When we return to Atherton it would be lovely if he could come with us. He does not enjoy the city and…he seems lonely here.’
Hawkhurst swallowed, a sudden thickness obstructing his throat.
‘I cannot imagine what would have happened to me if I hadn’t found you, Aurelia. You are the only person who has ever truly understood me.’
He rolled across her, enjoying the curves of her body, lifting her hand up to kiss the small ring on her third finger that he had procured for her in Paris.
‘This is for ever, my darling, and I promise I will always love you.’
‘For ever,’ she returned and then her lips came up against his own, sealing the bargain.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Sophia James 2013
eISBN: 978-1-472-00403-1