“Really?” Lucy smiled as Mrs. Tucker, with her mob cap and no-nonsense precision, ladled their breakfast into the bowls. “Which of those did you decide to do?”
Mrs. Tucker smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Both, naturally.” Lucy snorted, because, well, of course Mrs. Tucker did. Mrs. Tucker shrugged in response. “I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“Which of the two methods was the one that made him ask you to marry him?”
“Definitely the kissing. But the talking didn’t hurt either.”
Kissing.
Helena had thought kissing Mr. Harrison would be the best way to bring him home too. She pictured the rough texture of his cheeks and the way rain ran down them in rivulets while they were in the storm together. His mouth was broad and expressive when he wanted it to be, and like everything else about him, she assumed it would be powerful. She didn’t want to give up any of their friendly time together on the cart, but if the friendly time could turn into kissing…
Honestly,thatmight be a good trade-off.
“You think I should just grab him and kiss him? Before he even knows who I am?”
“I didn’t say that. You are the one who has to decide that. But you could, at least, mention that you like him.”
“Or I could simply tell him we are engaged.”
“Like I said, you will have to decide that, but I wouldn’t. Not yet.”
“But I have almost no time left.”
“Yes, but if you tell him first, before having any inkling that the man likes you in the ways that a man should like the womanhe is going to marry, you’ll never know the truth of his feelings for you.”
Mrs. Tucker had a point. Once he knew who she was, he would have to say he liked her. She would go from being a friend he could talk to and dream about adventures with, to a man trying to placate the woman he was to marry.
“So find out what he thinks of me first, then tell him?”
Mrs. Tucker nodded. “Either that or kiss him, and his reaction to that should tell you plenty.”
Lucy ate the last few bites of her porridge, then picked up her bowl and brought it to the sink. “I still have a few more days left. I don’t want even one day to be cut short because of something I say or do to him.” She wiped her hands on a towel and turned around to face Mrs. Tucker. “We are finally interacting. I’m not going to jeopardize that just yet. Not unless something changes.”
Mrs. Tucker shrugged. “That keeps you from having to make a decision, at any rate.”
Lucy cringed. Is that what she was doing? Postponing a decision until the last minute possible? She didn’t think so. A few more days of friendly rapport would not only be enjoyable, it would give Mr. Harrison more of a chance to become attracted to her. Their first week-and-a-half together hardly counted at all. She didn’t want to try to get an answer to his feelings right now, before they’d even had a chance to develop.
“I don’t think that’s why I’m waiting. I’m not simply putting off a decision,” Lucy said, leaning against the counter. “I want to give us the best chance possible to fall in love. When we first got engaged, I had almost no hope of loving my husband. Mama and Papa had assured me he was a decent man, but still, I knew there must be something wrong with him if he had to have his marriage arranged. Then I saw him for the first time in his parish, and I started to wonder if, in fact, I could love the man I was to marry, even if he might not ever love me. But lately, I’vestarted to think that perhaps we could love each other, and—” Lucy’s voice cracked for some reason. She wasn’t the sort to get overly emotional. She wasn’t like Lady Bridgewater, crying over a favorite pair of slippers being ruined. Of course, Lucy wasn’t talking about slippers. She was talking about the rest of her life’s happiness. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make him love me, and then bring him home.”
Mrs. Tucker’s smile was warm and tender in a way that only a woman hoping for the best for someone they loved could be. She walked over to Lucy and folded her into her arms. “Don’t you worry about the timing. I’ve only truly known you for a few days and I couldn’t help but love you. Now go out there, help your man harness his horse, and make him fall in love with you.”
CHAPTER 15
“Areye ready to finally tell me the secret of how ye’ve become Fenswallow’s most successful delivery driver?” Miss Shroud asked after they’d hitched up Marge and climbed onto the cart.
“I don’t think I have any secrets.”
“Ye must have some.”
He shook his head. He still couldn’t believe Miss Shroud actually wanted to understand what he did for a living. He’d never been scrutinized in such a positive way before. He wanted to help her and make certain her time spent with him wasn’t wasted. “I don’t do much else besides my job. Perhaps that helps me remain focused. I don’t have family here, and hardly any friends. Nothing gets in the way of making my deliveries.”
Miss Shroud nodded and asked a question he hadn’t been expecting. “Where is yer family?”
She’d never asked him anything about his family before. Blast. How would he answer her? He didn’t want to lie to his new friend, but he couldn’t tell her the truth, either. Not that he didn’t trust her, but he hadn’t ever told anyone who he was. Not since he’d left. Telling her about his family would change everything between them. She wouldn’t sit here on a cartchatting about ribbons and Arctic adventures if she knew he was the son of a baron.
An engaged son of a baron.
Not that the engagement mattered to her. He glanced quickly at the locket she wore. Everything Miss Shroud wore was of excellent quality, but the locket was exceptional, crafted by a master, he’d guess. Did the man whose picture sat inside it give it to her? He took a deep breath. The milliner’s shop was only a few hundred feet ahead of them, and she would be off to Mr. Garvis’s book shop. If he answered her question in a vague manner, she wouldn’t have time to investigate more. “They are in London at the moment.”
