Nora’s pulse skipped.
They had stopped just outside the threshold to the front parlor, and its inhabitants had witnessed everything.
“Mother,” Heath said, releasing Nora’s hand with obvious reluctance. “I was just saying that I hope to see much more of Miss Winfield.”
He didn’t saymarriage. He didn’t even saypossible courtship. Yet the unspoken implication hung heavy in the suddenly thick air.
Lady Grenville blanched in obvious shock.
Good,Nora told her twisting stomach. This flight of imagination was about to come crashing down.
Heath led her and his entourage of sisters further into the room.
“You wish to court Lady Roundtree’s employee?” Lady Grenville asked in baffled horror, when at last she managed to speak.
Lady Roundtree’s voice boomed from the settee. “Miss Eleanora Winfield is my cousin.”
A palpable wave of surprise coursed through the room.
Nora was perhaps the most shocked among them. She had known the baroness had developed some level of affection for her, but had not expected public acknowledgment. Lady Roundtree must truly consider Nora family now.
Dahlia stared at her. “The two of you are cousins?”
Nora nodded jerkily, not trusting her voice.
“I just said so.” Lady Roundtree pulled out her quizzing glass. “Don’t tell me you need an ear horn already.”
Everyone’s gazes turned to the matriarch of the family.
After a long moment, Lady Grenville gave a delicate sniff. “I cannot imagine why you are all looking at me. My arms are open. It is Miss Winfield who must decide if she wishes to accept Heath’s hand.”
Open arms. An audible gasp strangled in Nora’s throat. Lady Grenville would make no objection?
“That settles it,” Bryony whispered to Nora. “‘Honorary’ is only temporary.”
Nora’s heart leaped—and almost immediately sank. She could easily imagine spending a happy life with a family like the Grenvilles. But she already had a family of her own.
Would Heath demand she choose between them?
Chapter 24
After returning to Lady Roundtree’s town house, Nora helped the footmen settle the baroness upon a comfortable settee in the front parlor, then turned to face Heath.
His family was marvelous.Hewas marvelous. Her head swam at the thought of being his wife.
Now that Nora’s days of drawing Society caricatures were relegated to her past where they belonged, perhaps her future was finally open. She hated that she could not confess what she had done to save her family, but there was no sense causing trouble over something he had no need to know.
She supposed helping one’s family by any means necessary was not a worse secret than others brought to their marriages. If she wedded a rake, she certainly would not enquire names and dates of the countless women he’d bedded before her, and doubted even minimal information would be likely to be volunteered. A marriage was not about looking backward toward each other’s pasts, but rather forging a new future together.
That was the primary hurdle they would need to work out before their attachment could go further. Forging a future…where? What of Nora’s family? What of Heath’s? If one of them would be required to give up everything, she had no doubt the duty would fall upon her shoulders. He was the baron. She was the sheep maiden.
But she could not help but wish for a happy ever after.
“Stay,” she said impulsively, then turned to the baroness. “If it’s all right with Lady Roundtree.”
“He’s your suitor.” The baroness motioned for her tea set. “I wouldn’t shoo him out.”
Heath bowed. “Only a fool would turn down an opportunity to spend an evening with two beautiful women.”
