“Well… if you are quite sure…”
With a smile of reassurance, Tess nodded and she drifted away. Silence fell.
Tess was disinclined to move. In Edward’s arms, seeing him in this new and wonderful light, she was utterly content. Happiness seeped through her, filling her with warmth. She would marry him and put up with the baroness business for the sake of those splendid muscles. Edward seemed no less reluctant to move. One arm was still clasped securely around her waist, and with his free hand he played with her hair, twisting one curl round his finger and then releasing it.
“I suppose I ought to return you to your bed,” he said eventually. “Shall I send Betty to you? You will not want to be alone after this.”
It was true that she had no desire to be alone, but it was not Betty she wanted. Edward’s bare chest and muscular arms were sending a powerful message to her. “Not Betty,” she said firmly. “She will only fuss.”
With a little laugh, she reached up to draw his head nearer to hers.
To her surprise, he hissed and pulled sharply away from her. “Stop it, Tess!”
“What is the matter? Kiss me, Edward.”
He scrambled upright and dumped her unceremoniously on her feet. “Every time I think you are acquiring some sense,you revert to stupidity,” he spat. “Will you never, ever learn to consider theconsequencesof your actions? Get back to bed, Tess, and leave me alone. Which is your room?”
“That one.”
He threw open the door. “In!”
She went, turning to gaze at his furious countenance.
“Lock the door,” he said curtly, then slammed it shut. She could not hear him walk away, for his bare feet made no sound on the deep carpet, but the thin line of light under the door from Ulric’s candle wavered and then vanished. She heard a door close some distance away, and then there was silence.
The room was utterly black, the fire having long gone out. Tess rested her head against the unyielding door and wept as if her heart would break. And perhaps that was only the truth.
***
Tess was woken by a rattling outside the door, then a knocking. It was still dark, but the girl had come to see to the fire, and the door was locked. Letting her in, she opened the shutters and curtains, and, swathed in her thickest shawl, sat by the window watching the sky slowly lighten.
Despair. That was the emotion that held her in its icy grip. All the warmth of her joy in the night had been swept away by Edward’s peremptory words.Leave me alone.He had loved her once, and she had never properly appreciated that before. He hadlovedher, as no one else had ever done, and now that was gone. She had driven him away once too often, and just at the point when she could happily accept him as her husband, he no longer wanted her.
But she could not marry Ulric. She had already decided that Fanny was a much better match for him, and she must do what she could to make that happen. No, she should not interfere. Shewould release Ulric from his betrothal, and then she could leave it to Fanny to persuade him to marry her. If that was what he wanted to do.
Lady Peterson and Fanny came to see her while she was sipping her morning chocolate, to report that Ulric was fully recovered, and to assure themselves that she had not expired in the night.
“There’s some bruising,” Lady Peterson said. “I’ve brought some arnica—”
“I have some with me,” Tess said. “My maid has already applied it.”
“Excellent. Miss Nicholson…” She twisted her hands nervously. “Miss Nicholson, I shouldn’t like you to imagine that Ulric often becomes…enragedin this way. He likes to watch the full moon from the clock tower when he’s here, but he’d never before met anyone on the way there. When he grows more accustomed to you—”
“No,” Tess said quietly. “I was wrong to use Ulric in this way, for my own selfish purposes. I intend to release him from this foolish betrothal, and perhaps he will find a wife better suited to him, who knows?” She smiled at Fanny Peterson. “I shall leave Myercroft as soon as Lord Tarvin can arrange it, and then you may all return to your usual occupations and be easy.”
Fanny flushed and then laughed. “I believe this is the right decision, Miss Nicholson, but it’s a pity you had to be almost throttled before reaching it.”
Tess could not help smiling. “No, I had already realised what needed to be done, as anyone… anysensibleperson would have understood long since. I am very sorry to have caused you all so much trouble.”
“It’s of no consequence,” Lady Peterson said. “All’s well that ends well. Oh, I had almost forgotten. The letters came inlate yesterday, and there’s one for you, franked by the Earl of Rennington.”
Tess waited until the Petersons had left before opening the letter, but it did nothing to improve her mood. Her uncle had considered all that she had said most carefully, but he did not consider it proper for an unmarried lady of only twenty to set up her own establishment, no matter how respectable her companion. She would be married in a few months and have a perfectly good home of her own, so what was the need? He would not sell Apstead House for the moment if she wished to keep it, but her husband would decide what should become of it in the end.
She had expected nothing else, so she was not disappointed. It did nothing to lift her spirits, however, nor did the morning bring any relief. She had to see Ulric first, which necessitated finding him, but she had no more than an hour to loiter in the stables before he returned from his morning ride. She took the precaution of asking Fanny to accompany her, in case of misunderstandings, but Ulric was a very different character this morning. He gave no hint of remembering their encounter the night before, accepted his dismissal with a nod and said only, “Pity. Should have liked to live at Myercroft with Fanny.”
The opportunity was too good to miss. “Then perhaps you should ask Fanny to marry you,” Tess said sweetly.
“Marry me, Fanny,” he said at once, turning vivid blue eyes on her.
