Chapter 40
1818
Etta woke up groggily as she heard the grate being cleaned. Her aching body reminded her immediately about the night’s rather epic activities – it turned out his ginormous bank account wasn’t in fact the largest thing about him – but Max had snuck out into the guest bedroom before the servants had risen. They’d been drunk, but not too drunk that she didn’t recall quite a bit of wild trifle sex. Etta had been very surprised to find Max had had a condom – it turned out that yes, such things did exist. He’d been momentarily taken aback that she knew what it was and what to do with it, but he hadn’t complained as she’d hopped on top of him. She’d been startled by the soreness – she remembered a moment too late that her new body hadn’t been through a test run – but my goodness, it had been worth it. It had been worth it the first time, and the second time, and most definitely the third time.
She sat up, wanting to catch the maid before she left and found her staring – first at Etta, and then at the empty trifle bowl sitting on her bedside table.Damn.
‘I’ll send for Bessie and have hot water brought up immediately, Miss Henrietta.’
Etta knew instantly that this gossip was going to be far too good to charm her way out of and lay back on the bed with a sigh as the woman silently exited the room, trifle bowl under one arm. This was going to be all over the servants’ quarters well before breakfast.
Etta and Max walked arm in arm by the small lake on the estate after what had to be the most awkward morning meal of her life. She gazed up into his eyes and found him staring steadfastly at her.
‘We cannot delay any longer, Etta. We must make our engagement public. I do not wish to – trifle – with your affections any longer.’
Etta felt herself burst wide open with laughter, Max joining her. He was so funny. She kept forgetting how much he made her laugh.
‘They’ll all be talking, you know,’ he continued. ‘My valet found custard all over my nightshirt. We’ll be infamous.’ He passed her a small, flat wooden box from the inside pocket of his jacket. ‘I got you an engagement gift. Take a look.’
‘Oh my god, Max. Where on earth …? You must have had this made, surely?’
She ran a finger over the misshapen tiger brooch, staring at her from its perfect little box with all three eyes shining in the sunlight.
It suddenly all sank in. She really had made her decision – the biggest of her life. She was going to do it. She already knew she felt All The Feelings for Max Stanhope, but now she knew he loved her back: he understood her as no man in her own time ever had. And she was quite certain she wanted to go all in, stay here and marry him.
They walked back to the house together in comfortable silence, holding hands, and she knew her life would never ever be the same again: not because she was living two hundred years before she’d been born, but because of the burgeoning love she felt for the man beside her.
Back in the morning room, Etta’s mother was almost as taken with the tiger-face brooch as Etta was. ‘Oh, darling, it’s so delightful! Goodness, where on earth could one even purchase such a thing? Maximillian, I believe this must truly be an heirloom piece.’
Charlie came barging in, eager to see what all the fuss was about, and broke out into almost hysterical laughter. Doubled over, tears in his eyes, he rolled himself onto a nearby sofa.
‘Good god, Etta. Max given you a gift, has he? I wonder which unfortunate jeweller was tasked with that commission?’
Etta watched as Max pinned it onto her dress, beyond delighted. ‘How did you know, Charlie? I thought it was an in-joke?’
‘I told him about it at the club,’ said Max, ‘in case you were wondering for even a moment that he might have been seen dead in the British Museum.’
‘You should wear it at the Baxter ball when we get back to town, sis.’
‘I think not, Charles.’ Their mother’s voice was steady and clear. ‘Unless the two of you have come to an agreement?’
Etta looked at her guiltily, then nodded.
‘Finally!’ She clapped her hands together. ‘Oh, my dears, I am delighted. Maximillian, you will follow me to Lord Bainbridge’s study immediately. We shall make the announcement and read the banns when we get back to London, I think, after the Baxter ball. The village church is far too parochial, and I should like to give my only daughter a good send-off.’
Charlie had already settled back onto his sofa and reached towards a newspaper, feet up. Unfortunately for him, his mother grabbed it first.
‘Charles! You are forgetting that it is your study.’
‘No need to hit me with a rolled-up newspaper, Mama! Coming, coming!’
Rubbing at his sore head, Charlie reluctantly followed, and the door was resolutely shut. The only person not required was Etta, it seemed. Now agreed in principle, the paperwork was someone else’s business. She had never felt further away from the office.
Etta sighed, thinking of all the responsibility now solidly off her shoulders, and settled in with one of her brand-new first edition Jane Austen novels. She hoped Hetty was having as much of a lovely time as she was.
Chapter 41
2024
