“I doubt you will need it,” she had said. But she had tightened her arms about him. “Go and get her then if you must. I daresay I will tolerate her if she makes you happy.”
“Thank you, Wil.” He had grinned at her as he released her.
Neville had clapped a hand on his shoulder when they met on the stairs after he escaped from the salon.
“Still on your feet, are you, Joe?” he had said. “Do you need a sympathetic ear? A companion with whom to ride neck or nothing across the roughest terrain we can find? Someone with whom to get thoroughly foxed even this early in the day? I am your man if you need me.”
“I am on my way to Lindsey Hall,” Joseph had said with a grin. “Once my relatives have stopped delaying me, that is.”
“Quite so.” Neville had removed his hand. “I left Lily and Lauren and Gwen all huddled together in our room, all close to tears because Uncle Webster’s voice was carrying from the library and it did not sound pleased with life. And all agreeing thatfinally, despite Uncle Webster, dearest Joseph was going to behappy. I think they must have been referring to the possibility of your marrying Miss Martin.”
He had grinned back at Joseph before slapping a hand on his shoulder again and then continuing on his way downstairs.
And so now at last Joseph was arriving at Lindsey Hall, buoyed by hope despite the fact that he knew nothing was yet decided. Claudia herself was the remaining hurdle—and the greatest. She had loved him last night with passionate abandon, especially the second time when she had been on top and had taken the initiative in a manner that could make his temperature soar even in memory. She alsolovedhim. He felt no real doubt about that. But making love to him, even loving him, was not the same thing as marrying him.
Marriage would be a huge step for her—far more so than for almost any other woman. For most women marriage was a step up to greater freedom and independence, to a more active and interesting life, to greater personal fulfillment. Claudia already had all those things.
He asked for her when he arrived at the house, and she sent down Lizzie. She came alone, with the dog leading her, and stepped inside the salon when a footman opened the door for her, her face lit up with smiles.
“Papa?” she said.
He strode toward her, wrapped his arms about her, and twirled her about.
“How is my best girl this morning?” he asked her.
“I am well,” she said. “Is ittrue,Papa? Edna and Flora heard it from one of the maids, who heard it from another maid, who heard it from one of the ladies—it might have been the duchess, though I am not sure. But they all say it is true.HasMiss Hunt gone away?”
Ah.
“It is true,” he said.
“Never to return?”
“Never,” he told her.
“Oh, Papa.” She clasped her hands to her bosom and turned her face up to his. “I amsoglad.”
“So am I,” he said.
“And is ittrue,” she asked him, “that you are going to marry Miss Martin instead?”
Good Lord!
“Is that what Flora and Edna and all the maids say too?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
“And what does Miss Martin have to say about it?” he asked her.
“Nothing,” she said. “She was cross when I asked her. She told me I ought not to listen to the gossip of servants. And when the other girls asked her too, she gotverycross and told them she would make them all do mathematics problems for the rest of the morning if they did not stop even if thisisa holiday. Then Miss Thompson took them all outside except for Julia Jones, who was playing the spinet.”
“And except for you,” he said.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I knew you would come, Papa. I waited for you. I wanted Miss Martin to come down with me, but she would not. She said she had things to do.”
“She did not saybetterthings, by any chance, did she?” he asked.
“Yes, she did,” Lizzie told him.
