Page 38 of To Follow her Heart

“Why don’t you just elope?” Jasper suggested.

Luke gaped at him and he shrugged.

“Once you’re married, it’s done. The scandal of the elopement will be minimal as no one knows who you are, as yet. Trevick has kept you such a secret that a Mr Baxter marrying a Miss Connolly will hardly raise any eyebrows. Once it’s done, Mrs Baxter is perfectly respectable. No doubt there will be other forms of retribution, but she’d be legally yours and no one could change that.” Jasper noticed his shock and returned a rather crooked smile. “It’s what I’d do in the circumstances.”

The idea took root and Luke’s hopes began to lift, his heart thudding with anticipation.

“She’d be mine and there would be nothing anyone could do,” Luke said, considering the question. “Not to her, at any rate, and Trevick can’t disinherit me even if he were angry enough to do so.”

“Quite,” Jasper said, nodding. “You’d have only Lady Frances’ wrath and any displeasure of her father to contend with. Though, that’s enough to give any man pause. Lady Frances is a determined young woman, and she won’t take kindly to being thwarted.”

“No,” Luke said with a sigh. “That she won’t.”

Yet he couldn’t consider the cons of the plan with too much despondency, as the pros were so obvious. Why hadn’t he considered it at once? To elope was a shocking thing to do, but… Kitty would be enraptured by the idea, the devil.

“Do I take it the idea meets with your approval?” Jasper asked, as Luke realised he was grinning like a fool.

“Yes,” he said, laughing now, unable to contain his excitement. “Yes, it certainly does.”

“Excellent. Come to my study once you’ve had time to change and we’ll make a plan.”

“We?” Luke said in astonishment. “Surely you can’t mean to involve yourself in such a scandalous undertaking?”

“Oh, yes I can.” Jasper laughed and urged his horse into a canter. “If I don’t, my mother will never forgive me.”

***

Kitty lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She ought to get ready for dinner, but her thoughts were all a-jumble. She was deliriously happy on the one hand, but there seemed an awful lot of flies in the ointment.

As furious as she was with the Earl of Trevick and Mr Derby, she knew Luke. He was decent and honourable, and letting anyone down would grieve him, no matter his own desires. He might not give a damn for Trevick and Mr Derby any longer, but she knew he was fond of Sybil and the others, and when his mother found out she’d be fit to be tied. Kitty didn’t want him hurt or unhappy or plagued with guilt, and she certainly didn’t want to be the one who made him feel that way. As it was, his mother would make him wretched for the rest of her days for having thrown away the chance to marry a duke’s daughter.

Yet, what option was there? Luke loved her. Despite everything she’d said to Matilda, there had been a doubt in her mind before he’d appeared, of course there had. Although she remembered the depths of their friendship, their love for each other and the absolute certainty that it would endure, they had been children. She’d heard nothing from him for so many years, they’d been apart such a long time, and they’d changed. Both of them had changed.

In the moments after she’d burst out from behind the curtains that night, she’d had no doubts. Luke had known her at once, and the years had fallen away in an instant. He’d looked so different to the fresh-faced boy he’d been, and yet in his eyes was the person she’d loved with all her heart. She recognised him, and the joy at being reunited with her shone from him now. He couldn’t hide it if he wanted to. So now they had to find a way to be together, a way that would cause him as little distress as possible.

If only she could figure out what it was.

Kitty looked up at a knock at her door and clambered off the bed. Her face fell when she saw Harriet, as she’d rung a peal over Kitty earlier in the day, and Kitty wasn’t ready for another scolding just yet.

“May I come in?” Harriet asked, pushing her spectacles up her nose.

She looked a little uncomfortable and Kitty sighed, opening the door for her.

Harriet came in and then dithered as Kitty went back to sit on the bed. She walked to the window, looked out, walked back, and then returned to the window again.

“Is anything wrong, Harry?” Kitty asked, hoping she’d not done anything else Harriet considered appalling in the distance from the stables to her room.

“No,” she said. “Yes. That is….”

Kitty braced herself.

“I wanted to apologise.”

“Oh!” Kitty said, brightening with relief. Then she frowned. “Whatever for?”

“Oh, for being such a beastly friend.” Harriet moved towards her and plonked herself down beside Kitty. “I had no right to reprimand you so. You’re a grown woman and I’m not even your sister, certainly not your mother. Only, I was so frightened for you when Lady Frances discovered you alone with Mr Baxter. I was terrified for what would become of you. You’re so much braver than me, Kitty, but sometimes what other people see as bravery seems to be dreadfully reckless in my eyes. I’m not very good at adventures,” she admitted. “In fact, I hate adventures. They invariably end with muddy boots and soggy clothes and no dinner, freezing to death and getting a cold in the nose… well, I’d rather go to bed with a book,” she added, defiant now.

Kitty laughed and took her hand, raising it to her cheek. “Oh, Harry, you goose. How funny you are.”