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“For what?”
“For being here. For listening. For just being you.”
“Thank you, then,” she whispered back. “For all the same things.”
Chapter 16
As James walked Elizabeth home, he felt his life fall into focus. Since he had been forced out of the War Office, he had been floating more than actually living. He had been caught by malaise, knowing he had to move forward with his life but dissatisfied with the options that had presented themselves. He knew he needed to marry, but his response to the women in London had been almost uniformly lukewarm. He needed to take a more active interest in his lands and estates, but it was difficult to call Riverdale Castle home when he saw his father’s shadow in every corner.
But in the space of a week, his life had assumed a new direction. For the first time in over a year, he wanted something.
He wanted someone.
He wanted Elizabeth.
He had been bewitched before this afternoon, enchanted and obsessed to the point where he’d decided he’d marry her. But something very strange and magical had occurred in the stable stall when he’d tried to comfort Elizabeth.
He’d found himself telling her things he’d held secret for years. And as the words had poured forth, he’d felt a hollow within him filling up. And he knew that he wasn’t bewitched by Elizabeth. He wasn’t enchanted, and he wasn’t obsessed.
He needed her.
And he knew that he wouldn’t find peace until he made her his, until he knew every inch of her body and every corner of her soul. If this was love, he gave himself up to it willingly.
But he could not abandon his responsibilities, and he would not break his promise to his aunt. He’d solve the mystery of this damned blackmailer. After all Agatha had done for him as a child, he’d solve this mystery for her.
Elizabeth loved Agatha. She would understand.
But that didn’t mean that he would sit on his hands. He’d told Agatha that the best way to find the blackmailer was to wait for another note, and that was true, but he was tired of waiting.
He looked over at Elizabeth’s face, took in those endless blue eyes and flawless skin, and made his decision. “I have to go to London tomorrow,” he said abruptly.
Her head turned toward his in an instant. “London?” she echoed. “Why?”
“Some unpleasant family business,” he replied, hating that he could not tell her the whole truth, but taking some comfort in the fact that his words were not precisely a lie.
“I see,” she said slowly.
Of course she didn’t see, he thought angrily. How could she? But he could not tell her. It was unlikely that Agatha’s blackmailer might turn violent, but James could not completely discount that possibility. The only way to fully safeguard Elizabeth was to leave her in the dark.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said. “I hope within a week.”
“You’re not planning to pursue Fellport, are you?” she asked, worry creasing her brow. “Because if you are—”
He pressed his index finger gently against her soft lips. “I’m not planning to pursue Fellport.”
Her expression remained uncertain. “If you attack him again, you will hang,” she persisted. “Surely you know—”
James silenced her with a kiss that was brief and yet full of promise. “Don’t worry over me,” he murmured against the corner of her mouth. He drew back, taking both of her hands in his. “There are things I need to do, items I need to take care o
f before…”
His words trailed off, and he saw the silent question resting in her eyes. “We will be together,” he vowed. “I promise you.”
In the end, he had to kiss her one last time. “The future looks very bright,” he whispered, the words soft and sweet against her lips. “Very bright indeed.”
Elizabeth held those words close to her heart ten days later, when there was still no sign of James. She wasn’t certain why she was so optimistic about the future; she was still a lady’s companion and James was still an estate manager, and neither of them possessed a cent, but somehow she trusted in his abilities to make the future, as he had put it, bright.
Maybe he was expecting an inheritance from a distant relative. Maybe he knew one of the masters at Eton and could arrange for Lucas to attend at a reduced rate. Maybe…
