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“Indeed. I’ve been chaperoning the tutoring sessions of late. Macalester had Pen studying the design, and this week, she calculated the number of panes of glass and tons of iron required. She’ll have to tell you the figures, but they’re staggering.”
Helen laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder, reassuring him that she was as delighted as him to be together again. They walked that way for some time in the bent rays of the late sun—until they reached Rotton Row.
“They prance day and night!”
He laughed, knowing she spoke not of the horses but of the fashionable ladies and gentlemen who rode along the broad track through the park. “In summer, they do. So long as there is enough light to see and be seen.”
“I suppose if I were a typical woman, I ought to be impressed. But it all seems so exhausting.”
Nicholas glanced at the rider passing by at the moment, a lady perched sidesaddle, her skirts falling artfully like a fountain of violet-colored fabric and ivory lace—then back at the woman on his arm. Blood pounded through his heart and to his groin, taking in her keen eyes, the luscious body under her uncomplicated gown.
He thought about how best to put her at ease, how to make her happy. A genuine compliment about her gown? Her gorgeous hair? No, he knew what this woman treasured.
“Perhaps you would find it more interesting to have been in Hyde Park in the days of King William. He had this avenue made when he moved court to Kensington Palace. But in the seventeenth century, highwaymen loitered in the park. For safety, hundreds of oil lamps illuminated the way at night.”
She giggled. “Now it’s not criminals who lurk but the upper classes!”
He nearly called attention to his relief about her laughing so freely again, but he simply basked in her delight rather than risk precipitating guilt or self-consciousness.
“Tell me more about the Serpentine,” she requested, referring to the manmade lake whose shores lay just ahead, its water sparkling in the evening sun.
There’s no more beautiful sight than Helen when she’s curious!
He explained what he knew of the history, then they were quiet again until they reached the site of the Great Exhibition, which sat on the southern shore of the lake near its midpoint.
“Oh! Look at the foundation! It’s going to be massive!”
He nodded and pointed to the towering mature trees within the boundaries of the future exhibition hall. “Those elms won’t be felled. The structure will be built around them.”
She covered her mouth. “How delightful! Imagine seeing trees inside a building!”
Nicholas could hold back no more; he interrupted her appreciation of the view, taking her by the arms and turning her toward him. He couldn’t hold back anymore. “Don’t imagine it. See it for yourself. Stay in London, Helen. Let’s attend the Great Exhibition together.”
In the raw emotion in her eyes, he saw his own reflected. She knew what he was asking of her—and she looked overwhelmed. “You would still want me to stay? Even after the silv—”
“Yes,” he said with certainty.
She blinked tears away, and when she tried to speak, she stopped, choking on her words.
He stroked her cheek. “You’re in mourning now, I know. You don’t have to say anything yet. Just think on it, and when you’re ready, when you feel free, you tell me.”
“Free.” She shook her head. “God, how I wanted that. Now I’m…”
She was nearly destitute. In a foreign land. Dependent on others.Her worst nightmare.“You’re safe. You have time to decide what you want. That’s freedom of a sort.”
“Of a sort,” she agreed, then turned back to the site where construction had recently begun. “There was so much opposition to the Great Exhibition, let alone to it being in Hyde Park. But your father would not be swayed. He and the prince are a tremendous force.”
He spoke neutrally. “Sometimes that force is very productive. Look what it’s achieved in this instance.”
She turned to him, her eyes soft. “Sometimes that force is destructive.”
He nodded.
“Nicholas, your father has apologized to me for what he said. I believe he’s sorry.”
He sighed.He always is.
It wasn’t enough, though. When would the man learn that not all his hotheaded behavior could be explained and apologized away? It was one thing to treat his own children like that. But Nicholas had promised Helen he would protect her and see to her well-being while her brother was away. Thanks to his father, he had failed.
