Will She Be Mine (4 page)

Chapter Seven

Hinderwell’s church green hosted a large gathering and still
had room for a variety of fun races for both the young and the more mature.
Dozens of chairs were set around trestle tables erected in the shade. Canopied
booths offered home-grown produce, cut flowers, baking, lemonade and even
fossils collected off the beach at Runswick Bay. Local craftsmen and women had
their wares displayed to advantage. A maypole awaited the dancers come late
evening.

A number of attendees had already found perches for
themselves among the tables. One small group drew Thaddeus’ attention and
elevated the local fête to unexpected social heights, for sitting beside Squire
Minton and his lady wife were Raven Caxton, the Duke of Lipton, Kathryn, the
Duchess of Lipton, and Kathryn’s son—Raven’s stepson—Lord Justin Leakesly.
Thaddeus’ surprise could not have been greater. He eagerly approached his
cousins, drawing his three companions after him.

“Raven, Kathryn, Justin,” he said, grinning at them. The two
men stood. The squire’s wife nudged him with her elbow and he automatically
stood. Everyone bowed, nodded and curtsied. “May I introduce you to my dear
friends the Misses White? Justin, I believe you have met them before. Miss
White. Miss Ann White. This is His Grace, the Duke of Lipton. This is my
cousin, his wife, Her Grace, the Duchess of Lipton, and their son, Lord Justin
Leakesly, who is also my cousin.” More nods and curtsies. “Everyone, this is
Miss Horton.”

Amelia, feeling herself blush from the roots of her hair
down to the tips of her toes, curtsied awkwardly and wished that she could
somehow disappear entirely, leaving not a hair or a thought behind. Lord
Leakesly, a handsome, fair-haired man a few years younger than Thaddeus, drew a
chair out for her. The Duchess, a strikingly beautiful mature woman with
cascades of red hair, asked her how she fared after the walk to the green. The
duke, dark and dressed rather oddly all in black, like a valet, smiled kindly
at her and mentioned that his dear Kathryn also enjoyed a rather interesting
condition. This child would be their seventh and was due near Christmas. Rather
overwhelmed by their kindnesses, Amelia could only smile and nod and utter
incomplete nothings in response.

“Another little Caxton?” Thaddeus exclaimed, pounding Raven
on the back. “Congratulations. We must toast the good news. Come, let’s find
some lemonade and salute your prowess.”

“Thaddeus!” Kathryn cried, rolling her eyes. He merely
laughed at her and carried Justin and the duke off to help him with the
refreshments. She turned her attention back to Amelia.

Feeling somewhat abandoned, Amelia smiled shyly and even a
bit fearfully at the older woman. Before the duchess could speak, however, the
two spinsters rescued her.

“Your grace,” Miss Sadie said, furling her parasol and
thrusting it at Angus who hovered nearby. He held the frilly thing as if it
would break and looked stonily at anyone who glanced his way. “Are any of your
other children joining us today? Mr. Milborough mentioned, did he not, that
Lord Leakesly is your son?”

“Yes, he is my son. And no, my other children will not be
joining us today. We did not bring them to Yorkshire for this visit,” Kathryn
explained, a humorous twinkle in her green eyes. Once again her gaze returned
to Amelia and once more an interruption prevented her from addressing her.

“How old are your other children?” Miss Ann asked, her thin
eyebrows rising until they disappeared beneath the smooth bands of her gray
hair. “How they must be looking forward to this new addition to their family.
At your age, too. They must have thought you finished with childbearing.”

Amelia gasped softly, her eyes huge. She gazed in shock at
the effrontery of the two sisters. Amazingly, it seemed these old darlings
meant to protect her from possible attack by the Duchess of Lipton, one whose
rank placed her immeasurably higher on the social scale than any of them.
Thaddeus’ cousin. As the youngest son of an Earl, she had not thought them so
unequal in rank. Her own father was the third son of a Viscount. But now? Her
heart sank. His family must be here to object to his association with her—a
pregnant, unmarried woman of barely acceptable rank with no support or
acknowledged connections.

The duchess’s answers barely registered. Maybe Lady Caxton
said something like nineteen, sixteen, fourteen, twelve, and… But by then
Amelia’s spirits hung so low that she scarcely took any notice.
The dream
was such a nice fantasy,
she thought wistfully—
kind of like a game of
pretend played in the garden.
She gazed across the green to where Thaddeus
stood with his cousin and the duke. The sun struck the three men, who laughed
and talked animatedly together, and she thought she’d rarely seen a finer
sight.

“So, I suppose my father sent you?” Thaddeus asked, scowling
good-naturedly. He handed a coin to the lemonade attendant and waved away the
change. He picked up his three glasses and waited while Raven and Justin picked
up their two.

“Not your father,” Raven admitted. “It was your mother. She
sent an especially long letter to Kathryn last week begging her to come and see
the woman you keep writing about.”

“I have warned you before,” Justin said, shaking his head at
his cousin while juggling his two glasses. “If you do not want the whole family
knowing your business, keep your business to yourself. Mum’s the word, old
fellow.”

Thaddeus grinned sheepishly and came near to scuffing his
foot across the ground like a schoolboy making a confession. “I could not help
myself. My feelings overwhelmed my reserve.”

“She has a bit of the look of her grandmother,” Raven
murmured, glancing over at their table, where his wife spoke animatedly to the
Misses White. Miss Amelia Horton sat composedly looking back at them. “If her
grandmother is Lady Horton?”

“I believe she is,” Thaddeus replied.

“How did she get—?”

Raven’s blunt question caught Thaddeus off-guard and he
stammered his answer. “I…I do not know. She has not made me privy to her
confidences.”

“Your mother—” Justin began, shaking his head.

“Will adore her,” Thaddeus finished. His comment secured the
two men’s astonished silence. Before either could open their mouths again, he
added firmly, “As will my sisters. And my father. And my five brothers.”

Thaddeus frowned when he caught Amelia looking at them, a
faraway expression on her face. “I think she’s upset.”

“She appears very tranquil to me,” Justin said, hastily following
behind, careful of his full glasses.

When they reached the table, they handed out the lemonade
with a flourish.

“I told you, young man, that I was parched,” Miss Sadie said
caustically, accepting her glass. “And yet you stood over there blabbering and
conversing like three hens while we have been left suffering.”

“Indeed, ma’am, that was not our intent,” Thaddeus murmured
smoothly. He drew a chair forward so that he could sit as close to Amelia as
was seemly. Under cover of adjusting her shawl as it had fallen to the ground,
he whispered to her, “What is wrong? Are you ill?”

Amelia turned a melancholy smile upon him and murmured
beneath her breath so that he strained to hear her. “It’s been rather like a
happy dream, has it not?”

“What has?”

“Us.”

Thaddeus did not pretend to misunderstand her. Though he
occasionally allowed himself to slip into scientific abstraction where all he
thought about was his work, he did have flashes of lucidity. Amelia’s presence
often put him in a similar romantic stupor of thought, but the actions of his
neighbors had wiped the bemusement from his mind.

“Be brave,” he encouraged, taking her hand. He ignored
everyone else around them and focused his attention entirely on her. Amelia’s
expression brightened as his words sank in. “We have allies.”

Chapter Eight

In spite of efforts to pry them away over the next few
hours, the Misses White affixed themselves to Amelia like gum plasters.
Gradually, once the initial shock wore off, other members of their small
community began to nod and curtsy as they passed. No one wanted to be seen
giving the cut indirect to the Misses White or the squire and his wife, or to
Mr. Milborough’s socially prominent cousins. The vicar and his wife sat with
them during the luncheon but moved through the villagers afterward.

After three hours, Kathryn had not managed to utter a single
direct question to the younger woman. Her husband urged her to learn more about
the girl but she confessed that she was thwarted on every front. Finally,
instructing Justin to carry his cousin away to play at lawn skittles, Raven
offered to escort Amelia to the sidelines of the playing lane to watch the two
men throw while his wife kept the spinsters entertained.

“When you and Thaddeus arrived,” Raven said, his tone gentle
and kind, setting her at ease, “I thought he looked very happy with his
companions.”

“Thank you. I thought you were a valet when I first saw
you,” Amelia confessed, struggling to keep her composure as they dawdled toward
their destination.

“Believe me, my dear Miss Horton,” he said, laughing, “you
are not the first person to think so.” He leaned toward her as if imparting a
secret. “Many people call me the Black Duke. It is a sobriquet to which I have
grown accustomed.”

“Why do you wear only black?” she asked, tempted by his easy
manner to be more forward than customary.

“It is a long story, my dear,” Raven replied, softening his
rebuff with a chuckle. “I would like to hear more about you. Where is your
family? Why are you alone here in Yorkshire? No, no. Please, do not stiffen
up.”

“Your grace,” Amelia said in a small voice choked with
emotion, “I would hardly reveal to you, a stranger, what I have not yet
explained to Mr. Milborough.”

“Of course not. You misunderstand me,” Raven said, his voice
calm. “I do not require the intimate details of why you are in Yorkshire.
Merely what you might tell anyone.”

Amelia looked at him suspiciously. He was a very handsome,
fit man even though gray hair stood out at his temples and smile lines creased
his face. She gazed deeply into his gray eyes and saw sympathy there.
Unaccountably, she felt that she could confide all to him. However, she did
not. She granted him the abbreviated explanation.

“Hinderwell is almost as far away from Weymouth as my
parents could think to send me. Certainly a place could have been found for me
in Scotland, I suppose,” she mused caustically. “However, they like Scotland.”
Amelia was forced to pause until Raven stopped laughing. “They’ve never liked
Yorkshire. Not since my mother became ill from the sulfuric waters in
Harrogate.” This last caused him to laugh again.
Really, Thaddeus has the
most delightful family.

“Thaddeus introduced you as Miss,” Raven mentioned, sobering
for his next probing question. “How did the villagers discover that you were
not a widow?”

“My parents informed them,” Amelia said shortly, since
anyone might tell him this—it was common knowledge. She feared her pain
remained evident in spite of her efforts to conceal it.

The Black Duke drew up sharp and stared at her with incredulity.
She shrugged, attempted to look nonchalant, then almost broke down when Raven
said in a low, hoarse voice, “My dear girl!”

“We can hardly blame them,” she whispered, then watched the
duke struggle to find a reply. Dark anger suffused his countenance. He looked
as if he wanted to kill someone.

“I can,” he bit out at last, his contempt for her parents
clearly evident.

“Thank you,” she said simply.

“Thaddeus’ family is a very large one. In fact, prodigious
may not be a large enough word to describe their number. You won’t miss yours,”
Raven promised.

By this time they’d reached the spectators and no private
speech remained possible, which was fortunate, since Amelia found that she
could not speak. Gratitude for the duke’s compassion filled her heart. Nothing
had been settled between herself and Thaddeus—to be sure they were only
beginning to know each other—but she knew that she could not long delay in
explaining her history to the gentle man who had made his intentions clear to
his neighbors, his community and his family. Before events could be irrevocably
set in motion, she must reveal her secrets to him. This hideous thought almost
made her faint.

They stayed quite late at the gathering, eating jacket
potatoes roasted in the bonfire coals for supper along with huge slices of a
roasted bullock provided by the squire. With the drive back to Leakesly Manor
ahead of them, Thaddeus’ family took their leave soon after their meal. They
behaved very graciously to Amelia, setting the example of acceptance to the
entire gathering as they said their goodbyes.

When the maypole dancing had ended, Thaddeus noted that not
only Amelia was fading but the Misses White looked as if they should have been
in bed hours before.

“Ladies,” Thaddeus said, approaching them with Angus and
Mrs. Edley, who proudly displayed her two first-place ribbons on her bodice, in
tow. “I believe it is time for me to escort you all home. Are you ready to
leave?”

“We will be going home in the squire’s carriage, thank you,”
Miss Ann said, nodding kindly. She looked sharply at Amelia’s pale face.
“Perhaps you should not be walking home either, Miss Horton.”

“I am fine, thank you, Miss Ann.” Amelia rose and pulled her
shawl more tightly around her shoulders. “Thank you so much for your company
today. I cannot express with enough eloquence what your support has meant to
me.” She brushed a tear away before anyone around them could see it.

“Now, now. None of that. We shall see. Won’t we?” Miss
Sadie’s cryptic reply was followed by a dry chuckle. “We’ve had a choice day
today, have we not, sister?”

“Oh, yes,” Miss Ann said, sighing contentedly. “I have
rarely been in such a fair mood. Have a good night, dear,” she said to Amelia,
obviously dismissing them both.

Several villagers waved to them as they passed on the way
home, warming Amelia’s heart. She sighed with contentment, leaning a bit on
Thaddeus’ arm as they entered their lane.

“Thank you so much for taking me to the fête, Thaddeus,” she
murmured quietly to keep their conversation private. “I had a lovely time. And
your family is nice too.”

“They liked you,” he replied honestly, enjoying the feel of
her next to him. The setting sun cast a lovely glow across the houses,
softening hard edges and enveloping them in an unreal radiance. “How could they
not?” Thaddeus brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her
knuckles.

“How, indeed?” she asked breathlessly.

He watched Amelia cast an anxious look over her shoulder,
but their servants walked a respectful six paces behind.

“Did you see me beat Justin at skittles? I trounced him
royally,” Thaddeus announced, laughing softly, so happy he thought he might
explode with the delicious feeling. Poets tried to explain falling in love but
their efforts now seemed insipid next to the real process. “Look at how long
our shadows reach. All the way into the future.”

Amelia watched their shadows precede them down the lane and
had to smile at his metaphysical observation. She turned impulsively to
Thaddeus and looked up imploringly into his gentle face. He raised an eyebrow
and smiled at her.

“Mr. Milborough, would you do me the honor of taking me for
a drive on Monday?”

Angus, who had caught up with them, coughed behind his hand
and offered, “May come on to rain, sir.”

“Then on the first fine day?”
I’m not begging,
she
thought to herself, and then glanced at the servants to gauge their opinions.
Both servants had wooden expressions, though Amelia thought that Mrs. Edley
wanted to kick Mr. McLeod.

“The honor will be mine, Miss Horton. Most delighted.”

While graciously spoken, Amelia thought she detected a trill
in his voice that sounded suspiciously like joy. Or rather what she’d always
imagined joy would sound like. Her own soul, heavy with her intended
revelations, behaved with more decorum. Outwardly calm, she nodded and said,
“Well, then. Thank you, once more, for escorting me to the fête.”

“Not at all,” Thaddeus murmured. He saw that they had
reached her gate. Their time together had passed much, much too quickly. With
the utmost reluctance, he opened the barrier and guided her up the walk to her
front door. After taking her key and unlocking the door, he passed the key back
to her. Hating to go, he stood beside her, rocking back on his heels, then
forward again. How he wanted to kiss her.

“Good bye.” She smiled and placed her hand on the door
handle.

Hastily, his voice hoarse with checked desire, he said, “I
hope Monday is fine.”

Amelia looked shyly back. “As do I.” Then she opened the
door and left him on the doorstep.