‘The library is well stocked,’ said Max instantly.
‘There are only so many books I can read,’ I replied. ‘I’m not like Harriet, who would be quite happy to spend all day with her nose in a book. I have no friends nearby to visit, and with Jane in Steventon and Harriet in London ...’ I said, trailing off and feeling terribly ashamed of myself.How dare I not be satisfied with my good fortune! I had secured a handsome husband who loved me dearly, and I lived on a thousand-acre estate. I wanted for nothing.I knew other women would kill to be in my position and would keep their mouths firmly shut in case it was all taken away from them.
‘I’m sorry,’ I repeated. ‘I am just trying to be honest about how I feel.’
To my relief, Max resumed stroking my back. ‘You have nothing to be sorry about, Fliss. I am not totally oblivious to your moods and feelings. I know you have been out of sorts.’ He sighed. ‘It is partly my fault, I suppose. I had hoped you would be happy enough with my company and occasional visits from my family, but I know it isn’t enough for you. Missing your friend and sister isn’t a crime, and that is why I think you should go on this trip to Bath.’
‘I love you,’ I said solemnly, lifting my head to gaze at him. ‘You know I never want to be parted from you.’
Max kissed my forehead. ‘Nor I you. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, so they say, though my heart already feels as fond of you as it possibly ever could.’
‘Oh, Max!’ Tears welled in my eyes now that I was facing the reality of actually having to be without him for six whole weeks.
I stared at his beloved face and traced my finger along his cheekbone. Emotion threatened to overwhelm me, and I choked back a sob.
Max’s countenance grew sympathetic. ‘Don’t cry, my love. Six weeks is not so long, and we will write to each other, no? Remember when we were engaged, and we wrote to each other to arrange our secret meetings? It will be likethat, but without the actual meeting part.’
I giggled and wiped my eyes on his nightshirt sleeve, and he touched my cheek. ‘Yes, it will be a little hard to meet when we are at opposite ends of the country, a hundred or so miles apart,’I said.
Max’s gaze met mine, and his fingers that had been on my cheek lowered to undo the tie of my chemise. ‘Perhaps we should make the most of the time we have left then?’ he suggested huskily.
Indeed, I was feeling rather amorous too after our emotional discussion. So with that, I leaned over and blew out my candle.
Chapter 2
Two weeks later, I was in a carriage barrelling down the road towards Steventon. Outside, the day was bright and sunny, and we were making good time. Inside the carriage, everything was not quite as cheery. There had been a slight hitch in the Bath plan—Lucinda was with me. The girl had been apologising nonstop and had ceased only when we paused at Leicester for luncheon. But she started up as soon as we set off again.
‘I am so sorry, Aunty Fliss. Mama is awfully persuasive when she wants something, and only Papa can stand up to her, and sometimes not even him.’
‘It is perfectly fine,’ I said for the umpteenth time, trying to keep my patience in the swaying carriage—travelling so fast always made me feel nauseous, but our footman wished to make haste while the roads were dry and the weather clear.
‘But I hate to be a burden,’ replied Lucinda tearfully.
‘Do not fret,’ I said, closing my eyes and tightening my grip on the door handle as we rounded a sharp bend. ‘It is done. You are here, and we will make the best of it.’
‘We will make the best of it’ was actually borrowed from Jane’s most recent letter. She’d written a hasty reply when I’d informed her that Lucinda was coming too as her mother had emotionally blackmailed me.
To give her credit, Seraphina had argued her point eloquently and with heartfelt emotion. ‘There is’, she had said, having cornered me in the parlour the week before I left, ‘simply no one suitable in York for Lucy to marry. I have exhausted all the available options—there is a Mr Fothergill, whom she quite likes. But he is approaching thirty and has the most terrible buck teeth. I do not want my grandchildren inheriting that particular feature.’ She shuddered. ‘Lucy needs to widen her circle and make new acquaintances. London would be best, but I cannot be spared with four other children at home needing their mother, so you must take her to Bath while the Season is still in session.’
I was surprised that she’d assumed Lucinda could join us that easily. ‘But the accommodation has been booked by Jane’s brother. I cannot very well turn up with Lucy in tow for that length of time as I myself am a tagalong. Besides, it is an extra expense that they would have to incur—’
‘Well, then you must quickly write to Jane and tell her that your niece is accompanying you and that her relations need not worry as they will be paid handsomely for herstay.’
I gulped. That sounded remarkably forward.
‘I do not think I can.’
Seraphina shook her head at me and tsked.
‘Come now, Felicity. Think of Lucy. Would you have her marry someone unsuitable? Someone withbuck teeth?’
‘Well, if she likes him—’
‘No, I have decided. She must go to Bath. It is teeming with eligible young men.’
I raised an eyebrow at that, wondering from where or whom she had obtained her information. Bath was indeed a lively city, but I was not sure that the young men who visited it had marriage on their minds.
‘What if there is not enough room?’
