“No, thank you.”She scrunched her nose and shook her head.
He sighed.“All right.We will talk again with Spencer.But you must live at home, where I can keep an eye on you.”
“Absolutely.”She clapped her hands together in glee.The smile on her face erased any reservations he had.He had promised no rules, and he meant it.Stella deserved her freedom.
The door opened and three men walked into the room.“Good afternoon, Lord Griffen.Miss Perin.”One man gave a short bow.“I am Mr.Harrington and this is Mr.Sibley.”
“Mr.Travers,” Stella exclaimed.
The third man to enter the room stilled, and a huge smile broke across his weatherworn face.“Miss Stella!”He crossed the carpet to grasp her hands.“I’m so glad to see you safe and sound.”
Stella stepped forward to buss his cheek.“I am just fine.I have been safe with Matthew this whole time.”
Mr.Travers’s gaze snapped to him.“The missing spare.By golly, never thought I would see the day.”
Mr.Harrington coughed.“Why don’t we all take a seat?This is Mr.Travers, the land steward for Foxglove Glen, the entailed estate in Norfolk.We are here today to confirm your identity and to explain the extent of your holdings and accounts.”
“That’s Matthew Perrin.I’d recognize the boy anywhere.Even with a grown man’s beard.Spitting image of his father,” Mr.Travers said.
Matthew frowned at that.Was he?He supposed so.All three siblings shared the dark hair and eyes from his father’s side.But he had never wanted to emulate his father.Cold, pious, and unloving, his father had never been the man he wanted to be.He shook his head.“Let’s get this over with.Please continue, Mr.Harrington.”
It took much of the afternoon.But in the end, Matthew had gained new holdings in Norfolk, a house in Bath, and the large townhome in London he thought his brother let, actually belonged to the estate.There was a sizable dowry for Stella.She and Matthew decided to close up the manor house for now.Neither of them was interested in returning to their childhood home haunted with bad memories.
Matthew leaned back in his chair after signing his name to the last of the papers.It was all a bit unbelievable, this large windfall, as though he had won a lucrative hand at the tables.He ran a hand over his beard.The whole afternoon had been strange.It wasn’t that the business of it all didn’t make sense.Instead, it was the way they all kept referring to him as Lord Griffen, which was the hard part to swallow.As Stella had said earlier, it felt like a cage, and all of a sudden, his chest tightened painfully.
Stella’s hand gripped his under the table.“Remember, you have the key,” she whispered.“You can make this whatever you wish.No rules.”
He squeezed her hand back.No rules.He leaned forward to address the solicitors.“The first thing I want you to do is sell the house in Berkley Square.We won’t be needing it.”
*
Instead of working,Elizabeth stared out her window at the cloudless blue sky.A bird trilled from a nearby tree and a small breeze raced through the open casement to cool her brow.The last two weeks had been blissfully slow and peaceful.Oh, there were articles to write and curious boys to rescue from trees, but after the day was done, she would curl up with Matthew in his big bed, and they would talk about the work of the day, and he would distract her with passionate kisses and roaming hands.The club had been closed while they worked on repairs, but he hoped to have a grand reopening this weekend.
“Hello, pretty lady,” a deep voice called out.
Pulled from her thoughts, she leaned out the window, glancing over at the front walk to find Matthew grinning at her, looking so handsome with his wild tangle of curls falling across his brow and his hands in his pockets.She smiled back.“Well, hello to you, fine gentleman.What brings you to Bloomsbury this afternoon?”
“I have something to show you.Will you come for a walk with me?”
“Love to.”Elizabeth pulled the window closed and hurried through the front room to grab her bonnet and keys.She pulled the front door closed and locked it.When she turned, Matthew was right behind her.His hands came to her waist and his lips slid against hers in a warm welcome.Lord, she was such a fool for his kisses.She smiled against his mouth, and he pulled back to bump his nose gently against hers.
“How’s my girl today?Get your article written?”
She nodded.They walked down to the pavement, and he led her to the left.“I should have been organizing the page proofs, but I got distracted by the fine weather and found myself woolgathering instead.”
“Nothing wrong with a little woolgathering,” he said.
“Says the man who has worked every moment of the past two weeks.”
“Not every moment.”He took her hand and placed a kiss in the center of her palm.
She blushed.No, not every moment.“You need to sleep sometimes.”
“I told you; I’ll sleep when I am dead.There is too much to do to get the Angel up and running again.Seaton and I finished the last coat of varnish on the new bar today and it looks fucking fantastic, if I do say so myself.”
Elizabeth looked around.They had entered Bloomsbury Square.The large green lawn in the middle of the square was dotted with children playing under the watchful eyes of their nannies.The houses in the square were far bigger than the narrow townhomes along the adjoining streets, like hers.But still, the warm brick facades lent a homey feel to the square.“Where are we going?”she asked.
Matthew stopped in front of a house at the far corner.Its white stone exterior gleamed in the sunlight and the front door was painted a cheerful, azure blue.“Here.”
