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Chapter 16
Their house was silent when Lucy and Aunt Joan arrived back at home. The two women parted ways; Aunt Joan headed to her room for a nap and Lucy went up to the parlour. She walked straight to the curtains, throwing them open to let in the light.
Dust flew up, getting caught in rays of distilled light through the glass. Lucy sniffed, turning away from the window.
She breathed in the comforting and familiar scent of her oil paints. Her half-finished picture still sat on the easel by the window. The blue bowl still sat on the table, though the apples had been eaten during the journey to Thornbridge Manor.
She placed her finger against it, feeling that the paint had dried since the last time that she had done any work on it. It was smooth beneath her finger, and the canvas had a little bit of give.
She thought of the pleasant trip she’d have to the market, to pick up the perfect apples to replace the others. She loved going, wending her way through the stalls and peering at the perfect piles of shiny new apples and oranges.
It felt good to be home, standing among the quiet stillness of her own parlour. She could hear carriages going by outside. Light spilled through the window, which was a little dusty since she and Aunt Joan had been gone.
It was a relief to be back. She couldn’t have spent any more time among the company at Thornbridge Manor. A four-day long party extravaganza was far too much excitement for her. Yet, she felt changed, somehow. She was not the same person she had been when she’d left.
Her mind went back to that kiss in the forest. Her cheeks coloured at the memory of how his hands had teased her into some sort of madness.In time, I’ll be able to look back at it and laugh. To think, that the heir of a viscount looked my way.
She sank down onto the settee, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. No. She was not the same as she had been. She was no longer wholly content with her lot in life. She now knew that there was a gentleman who she could fall madly in love with. He was out there and unattached.
But it could not be. If she gave him her heart, she didn’t know that he could be trusted with it. It was better to have protected herself. Heartbreak was difficult to come back from.
