Page 40

“It’s not true,” he said.

“Then what’s the problem?” Helen pouted.

“She won’t marry me because she’s a governess, and she thinks that any connection with me will damage you,” he nearly shouted. “She doesn’t want to hurt you. Two women she hasn’t even met before.”

There. It was out in the open. The thing that had turned him into a raging, awful boor for nearly two weeks. When he looked up, both of his sisters appeared horrified and not a little hurt.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Effie in a soft voice.

“Don’t you think I know that?” he asked with a sigh.

“Of course, she’s right in one regard,” said Helen, cocking her head to one side. “Some people might look askance at us for having a governess as a sister-in-law.”

“But why would we want to marry anyone as cruel as that?” Effie asked.

“Precisely,” his youngest sister said with a nod.

All at once, the weight that had been pressing down on him since Jane had turned him down lifted from the center of his chest. He looked from sister to sister. “You’re certain you’re willing to take that risk?”

“I think I can say for my sister that we’re as certain as we’ve ever been about anything,” said Effie.

“We’ve all dreamed about what happiness might look like, Nicholas, and we don’t want you to miss your chance. Don’t martyr yourself for us,” said Helen.

“I love her.” His voice cracked, and he could hardly hold back the swelling of his heart and the aching pitch of his stomach. He felt like he might both soar to the ceiling and be swallowed whole into the earth. “I love her. I love her. I love her.”

Effie gripped his upper arms and forced him to look up at her. “Then what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know where she is right now.”

“Think and find her,” said Helen, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Ask her to marry you again and this time don’t walk away until you’re certain that she doesn’t want you.”

“This time tell her you love her until she understands what that means, and don’t let her use us as an excuse,” said Effie.

He leaned back against the threadbare sofa and concentrated. He knew Jane was supposed to go to Yorkshire with Lady Margaret, but how likely did that seem? With Mr. Lawrence lurking, he doubted that she’d have done anything short of delivering the young lady to her parents, if only to ensure that the fortune hunter didn’t manage to get his claws in the earl’s daughter again. Jane would’ve given up the security of her profession if she thought it meant securing Lady Margaret’s future happiness and preventing a bad marriage from happening.

London. She would have to return to London to do that, and she no doubt would be cut loose from her position by now. That meant . . .

“The Earl of Asten,” he declared, pushing up from the sofa.

“What has an earl to do with all of this?” asked Effie with a frown.

“I heard that he just married his governess last year as well,” said Helen. “The Lady wrote about their wedding at St. Paul’s Knightsbridge.”

“You think Miss Ephram might know the new countess from her previous life?” asked Effie.

“I know she does,” he said. “Jane told me Lady Asten is one of her closest friends. Lord Asten offered to take her in if she ever needed a place to live. That’s where she’ll be.”

“I’ll tell Beth to pack and we’ll leave as soon as we can,” Effie announced. “Helen, don’t we have a train schedule around here somewhere?”

“We?” Nicholas asked.

Helen nudged him with her elbow. “You don’t think we’re going to let you do this on your own, do you?”

“You might make a hash of it all over again,” said Effie.

“Besides, Miss Ephram will want our reassurances that we don’t care a whit about her past,” Helen added.

He sighed. There actually was some logic in that—something his sisters would never let him live down if he admitted it.