Page 46 of The New Earl’s Convenient Wife

Perhaps he would try to take her to the Americas one day. He knew she would thrill to such an adventure, while he could enjoy her awe and wonder at the plants and animals they would see and treasure the drawings she would make.

At length, she finished the sketch and looked up at him. ‘Thank you for bringing me. Coming here reminds me that I had a letter from Mrs Earnshaw, Lady Fallsham’s cousin who lived with her. She wrote that she regretted I wasn’t able to join them before her ladyship’s death but invited me to visit whenever I could and stay as long as I liked, sketching the birds and animals of the region. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the Americas—’ she gestured towards the hummingbird ‘—but I should like to visit Cornwall.’

‘They have the red deer, otters and the badgers I’m so fond of,’ she continued, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. ‘Hares, foxes and wild ponies. Birds of prey like the kestrel, osprey and falcon. Being right on the ocean, there are even more water birds than we have at the lakes, a whole variety of geese, ducks and swans.’

She smiled, gazing off into the distance. ‘She described their great cliffs overlooking the sea, sheltered caves near the beach…’

‘Smugglers’ lairs, I’ll bet. Cornish smuggling was famous.’

‘Perhaps. I can imagine settling in sheltering rocks above the beach to sketch sea-birds, or perching atop cliffs, like on the heights of the fell, wind whipping my hair and trying to tear the pencil from my fingers, the waves crashing below. The vista even vaster than that atop the fells! Truly one could see forever, nothing but ocean all the way to the Americas. Besides the seaside, there’d be hills, valleys, woods and meadows to wander, looking for hares, foxes, deer or wild ponies.’

‘When this session of the Lords ends, after I check on the estate, maybe I could take you there. I won’t be needed to supervise at Thornthwaite until harvest. I’d like to see Cornwall myself.’

‘Truly?’ she said, gazing up at him, those dark eyes excited but wary, cutting him again with the reminder of how little encouragement she’d been given to pursue what interested her.

‘Truly,’ he confirmed, determined to do all he could to make up for that lack. She demanded so little of him, it inspired him to want to offer more.

Being well away from London, with no chance of encountering someone he’d just as soon not meet, would be another advantage of the trip.

He looked over her shoulder at the sketch. ‘How well you’ve captured the little bird!’ he exclaimed, impressed anew by her skillful rendition. ‘Your drawing looks more alive than the actual specimen. You really should consider creating a book of your drawings. If such likenesses need to be engravings, we could inquire about having you take lessons from one of the instructors at the Royal Academy. I wager you’d prefer that to receiving Society ladies for tea or promenading in the Park.’

‘I should love it!’ she cried. ‘But not until later, when the estate is in better form. Mama was forever bemoaning not being about to spend every Season in London, residing in the city being so expensive. I hope we can return to Thornthwaite as soon as your duties in the Lords are completed.’

‘I should like that, too.’

‘The museum closes soon. We must leave.’

Glancing at his pocket watch, he discovered she was correct. He helped her stow away her sketchbook and pencils, sorry to end this private excursion and resolved to have more of them. Together they descended the stairs and walked back into the courtyard where she waited while he summoned a hackney.

Riding back, she leaned on his shoulder while he held her hand. A sense of satisfaction suffused him that he’d succeeded in dispelling her alarm and making her happy, as he had vowed to do.

In return, she’d once again given him a deeper look into the wonders of the world as she saw it, the beauty in the everyday, the majesty in a whirl of iridescent feathers. Enriching his life, as she enlightened it.

Cornwall was farther away, but Thornthwaite would serve, too, to distance him from any ghosts from the past that might cause him disquiet. A place where he and Juliana could preserve and deepen the quiet camaraderie they’d shared today, a sense of well-being underlaid by a strong sensual bond.

How thankful he was to have ended up with a wife who inspired him with only stable, calming, quiet emotions, feelings that would never threaten to plunge him again into a chaos of anguish.