As soon as the door closed, the serving woman returned to pick up the emptied tankards.
“Lizzy, is it?” Bromton asked.
She slanted him a suspicious glance.
“Lady Katherine tells me you brew a fine tipple.”
“Lady Katherine?”
Bromton lifted the miniature from his pocket. “My betrothed.”
Lizzy’s eyes widened.
“I’d like a room and a basin of hot water to wash up, as well as a glass of your best.” Bromton slid a pile of coins across the table. “Everyone’s next round is on me.”
“Well, then. Why didn’t you say so from the first?” Lizzy slipped the coins into her bodice and then smiled—this time genuinely. “I’ll be back with a tankard of my best.”
Bromton eyed the men as Lizzy disappeared into the back. He, Rayne, and Farring had concerns and responsibilities, but their responsibilities, for the most part, waited on their leisure. The contrast couldn’t have been more distinct. These men worked at the demand of the sun and the seasons. They were here only because the threatening storm had granted them reprieve.
He listened to their lively—and surprisingly informed—conversation, growing more ashamed of his swift judgments and arbitrary categorizations.
Then, Lizzy returned with a tray of tankards. Bromton nodded toward the farmers so she would serve them first. He waved his hand in an informal salute as the largest of them eyed him appreciatively.
“Join us?” the man asked.
The marquess who’d raised him would have been appalled.
“I’d be delighted,” he answered.
…
Fully aware of the gathering storm, Katherine rose to take her leave of Miss Watson, after having made her weekly visit. She placed a light kiss on the old woman’s smooth cheek.
Miss Watson grasped her hand in a bird-like grip. “I will miss you, but I am happy—sohappy—you have found love.”
Katherine’s features softened. Miss Watson possessed a truly pure heart—and a far too perceptive mind. “I said nothing of love,” she responded, “just marriage.”
Miss Watson’s eyes twinkled. “I may need spectacles, but I am not blind.”
A feather of panic tickled her throat. She swallowed. “What do you see, Miss Watson?”
“You are glowing, my lady.”
Was she?Glowing?
Her last kiss with Gileshadsparked a potent kind of magic. After years of striving and failing, suddenly she had become femininity incarnate, and it had happened without any effort at all.
No, she could not deny there had been a change, and a drastic change at that.
“Thank you, Miss Watson.” She embraced her friend. “No matter where I go, I will write as much as I can.”
Miss Watson grinned. “Be sure to include the good gossip, won’t you?”
Katherine’s glancetsked.Then, they both laughed.
“In all seriousness,” Miss Watson continued, “you must promise me that when you return to London, you will take the Town by storm.”
Katherine snorted. “I have taken London by storm, and it’s not to be wished.”
