“A sound decision. You’ll be welcome.” He frowned. “Make yourself scarce if Wakeham comes looking for Pearl. I’ll instruct my staff.”
Hart rode Pearl along the bridle path in the woods toward Pembury. Not a bad night’s work. A horse for Maddie and an excellent groom for his stables.
The next morning, painters were still at work in the house. Glad to leave the unpleasant smell of paint, he rode over the estate to see how matters stood. After which, he’d be off. He would have Maddie’s answer. Last night, he spent some hours dwelling on the idea before he fell asleep. Today, the more he thought about it, the more he liked it. He hoped she would see the sense. Now that he had committed himself to wedlock, he would be deeply sorry should she refuse him. For both their sakes. He feared what might happen to her should she fall into Wakeham’s clutches again. The heartless man appeared to be a crook. Although Hart thought it unlikely Wakeham would wish to draw attention to himself by notifying the constable about a stolen horse, he might come to inquire after it at Pembury. Hart would leave instructions to admit them. They would find no sign of Pearl at Pembury, because Hart planned to depart with the horse at first light.
*
“It’s a fineday again, my lady.” Jane put a cup of unappealing black tea sweetened with honey on the table, then went to draw back the curtains.
“So it is.” Maddie threw off the covers, noting the sunny day beyond the window. She’d finally fallen asleep at a late hour and woke to the sound of a cockerel somewhere nearby announcing dawn. Hart stayed in her thoughts, his blue eyes dark and intense as he asked her to marry him. She tried and failed to find anything behind his words to reassure her he wanted her for more than a sensible arrangement to suit them both. Marriage! It was such a big step to take. And this was not the way she envisaged being proposed to. It would have been somewhere romantic. Her suitor down on one knee… She shook her head. Well, maybe not that precisely, but certainly with a heartfelt declaration of love.
What should her answer be when he came today? If she refused him, what could she do when she left here? Hart had invited her to remain until her birthday. Then she supposed she could join her aunt in London, although she must first claim her inheritance, visit the bank, find accommodation, and have an appropriate wardrobe made. And that meant going to London in these clothes, which by then would be little more than rags. She might buy a readymade gown in one of the bigger towns. But then, how would she get there? She would not be able to rely on Hart. Then, after she contacted the trustees, she would have to inform them she had left her uncle’s house. And the trustees would, in turn, write to him. Even though he would no longer be her guardian in the eyes of the law, he still might be a danger to her. She found it overwhelming.
If she refused Hart, she supposed he would rarely come here to see her, if at all, for he would seek another bride. She disliked thinking of him with another woman. She didn’t want to face a future without him in it. During her restless night, she’d realized that. But it made it harder rather than easier to make a decision, for she must guard her heart.
She grimaced and put the cup down. “After breakfast, we’ll walk up to the farm and ask if they will sell us milk and eggs.”
“I’ve boiled a large pot of water,” Jane said. “I found an old tin hip-bath if you wish to bathe first.”
Gritty and still tired, Maddie would love to soak in a hot tub. After all that had occurred, she did not look her best when she very much wanted to. Her appearance had mattered little to her while with her uncle, but now… “That sounds heavenly, Jane. You can wash my hair.”
Maddie’s thick locks were still damp, and it was past midday when they set out on the road.
The farm looked prosperous, the farmhouse recently whitewashed with green shutters on the windows. The farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lester, a slender woman with gray-streaked dark hair, enthusiastically showed them into the parlor. Whipping a dust sheet off the sofa, she invited them to sit. “How nice to have company. Lester is out in the fields or with the pigs most of the day. Will you have coffee, Miss Burrell, Miss Frost?”
“We would welcome a cup, thank you,” Maddie said, a little guilty at deceiving her about her title. But she feared any word of her staying in the area might reach her uncle.
Mrs. Lester chatted about the history of the old cottage while they ate an excellent pound cake with their coffee. “The cottage belongs to a handsome young lord, but you would know him, for didn’t I see him drive past yesterday? There were tenants, but it has been empty since before Christmas. I hoped somebody would come to live there. It has a certain charm.” She glanced at Maddie curiously, but was too polite to ask about her circumstances.
“We think so, don’t we, Jane?”
Jane put a hand to her mouth full of cake and nodded.
After they drank the coffee and consumed the last crumb, Mrs. Lester stood, all business. “Now, is there anything else you might need? Cups, plates, blankets?”
“How kind of you, Mrs. Lester. We are well catered to.”
As they prepared to leave, the farmer’s wife insisted they take some of the cake wrapped in brown paper, along with the china jug of milk and the eggs. She refused any payment. “The hens are laying, and we have more than we can use. Come again when you need more. It would please my husband to meet our new neighbors.” She saw them to the door. “Lester will come and scythe the long grass. You have only to ask.”
“What good people they are,” Maddie said as she and Jane walked back down the road. “They have little compared to those far wealthier, yet they are happy to share it. And often the wealthy are not.”
It was late in the afternoon when they arrived back at the cottage, Jane walking slowly, careful not to spill the milk. As they turned down the cottage driveway, Hart appeared with Pearl’s lead tied to the curricle.
Maddie handed the package she carried to Jane and ran to greet him. “You brought her! Thank you!”
He scrutinized her face. “How are you coping with all this, Maddie?”
She laughed. “I’m in much better spirits, thanks to you,” she said in a rush. “We have visited the farmer’s wife. Such a generous woman,” she added over her shoulder as she ran to her horse.
Pearl whinnied and Maddie threw her arms around her neck.
Hart chuckled as he stood and watched. “Your mare would have liked to throw me off last night.”
“Pearl would do nothing so unladylike.”
“The horse only wants you, and I can see you return her affection.”
Maddie rested her head against the horse’s glossy neck, familiar with her sweet, warm, and musty smell. “Pearl is all I have from my old life.”
