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Finally, Oliver and Clara left behind the bustling fete and made their way down a side route, the ground frozen beneath them aside from a patch of mud they had to sidestep every now and again. Hidden in the thicket of trees alongside the river—exactly where their introduction had taken place—the two began their conversation.

“I am certain you have a great many questions to ask me,” Clara said, “and I do not blame you. I will do my best to answer them, but might I first have your word that you shall keep what I say between the two of us?”

“Of course. I won’t speak of it to a soul.”

She nodded her gratitude, and a soothing warmth overcame him that she didn’t doubt his word—even after what had occurred in the town.

“Do you have a question you wish answered first?” she asked.

He nodded, and she motioned for him to ask it.

“Are you a gentleman’s daughter?” he asked softly.

Then he held his breath, awaiting her answer.

Twenty-One

Clara didn’t know if she was a fool for trusting Mr. Cole, for believing that he didn’t really initiate the kiss with Hannah Radcliffe, and for being so willing to tell him now about her past.

But fool or not, she was moving forward with each of her decisions. Not only did she trust Mr. Cole, but she also needed Mr. Cole. The letters from those solicitors had crushed her beyond repair. She needed someone to turn to, if only for a listening ear, and he had proven himself time and time again to be exactly that.

So, without waiting another moment, she squared her shoulders and nodded. “Yes, I am a gentleman’s daughter. Or rather, I was. Before Father died.”

Mr. Cole took her reply in stride with absolutely no response.

“I’m sure that will not come as a shock to you by now,” she said.

He gave a half-smile. “No, indeed.”

“Nor the fact that I have not given you my true name?” she added.

He glanced down at her. “I have long suspected that, as well.”

She nodded. “I only pray I have been more conspicuous with everyone else at Bellthorne than I have with you.” She took a deep breath. “My real name is Clara Hatfield. Hunt was my mother’s name before she married.”

“And how exactly did Miss Clara Hatfield come to be a maid at Bellthorne?”

“Because of the actions of my stepbrother,” she replied simply. “My parents were happily married until Father died unexpectedly, and Mother remarried, this time to a man who was more interested in gambling and drinking than caring for his new family. His son was the opposite in nature, but the same in feeling. Algernon did not approve of my mother or me. When his father died earlier this year, my stepbrother desired to pay off his father’s debts. Instead of doing so honorably, he seized my mother’s possessions and my own, selling everything within sight and refusing to give us any comfort of living. Eventually, he threatened to turn us out altogether if I did not agree to marry a friend of his.”

Mr. Cole was frowning. “The man who put himself upon you?”

“Mr. Agar, yes.”

“Surely the law would prevent that,” Mr. Cole said.

“Certainly. But we had no one to stop him from making our lives more miserable than they already were.”

Mr. Cole shook his head. “But you did not go through with the marriage.”

“No. I refused. I had already made the decision to never marry at that point. Seeing how happy Mother had been with Father, then how miserable she’d been with her new husband, I simply could not stomach the same happening to myself.”

“And how did your stepbrother respond?”

“As expected, Algernon made life even more terrible. He refused us the use of candles after certain hours, sold Mother’s family jewelry, and seized Father’s books, claiming Mother had pressed my stepfather to spend all the money to get into debt, so this was our way of repaying him.”

“Despicable,” Mr. Cole muttered.

“I did not know what to do until one day, Mother, in her distraught state, recalled that Father had settled a portion on me, payable when I turned of age. She recalled it being a significant amount but couldn’t remember the solicitor. When Algernon discovered my attempts to find that solicitor, he forbade me from continuing, threatening Mother’s livelihood even more.”