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His signature was a large, flourishing thing at the bottom.
She couldn’t. She shook her head. “I absolutely cannot,” she hissed to herself. Anyone could come along. Not to mention, she’d sworn up and down that she wouldn’t leave the house.
There was a knock on the door. She walked to it, hiding the letter behind her back.
“Come in,” she called as she neared. The door opened, and her aunt peered inside. “Aunt Georgiana!”
“Darling,” her aunt replied. She looked exhausted. “Your cousin, uncle and I are going to pay the family our respects. They are close acquaintances of ours.”
“I see,” she said, her heart thumping in her chest.
“Darling, you look pale,” Aunt Georgiana said, frowning. She stepped forward, placing a hand in a motherly way to Selina’s face. “You feel warm.”
“I don’t feel well,” Selina said—it was true. She felt agitated. Overwhelmed by all that had recently unfolded.
“You stay here, dear,” Aunt Georgiana said. “Perhaps get into bed.”
Selina nodded.
“We’ll be back in a few hours,” her aunt assured her. “Get some rest. Perhaps have some broth.”
She closed Selina’s door with a soft click.
Selina stood, frozen, for a moment. She wasn’t usually one to lie. She always told the truth. Yet, the Duke had told her to meet him, and she wanted to go, despite her promise to her Uncle, not to go running around the countryside, unaccompanied.
She stood, peering out of her bedroom window until she saw the landau brought around to the front of the house.
She watched, as they all got inside, and then it left. She waited until it was all the way over the hill, overlooking Kirby Hall. It was too good of an opportunity.
When she peered into Faith’s room, which adjoined hers, her maid was sound asleep, snoring softly. Her book was in her hands in her lap.
Selina considered what she was about to do. It was quite daring—she had never done anything like this. To be running about the countryside, meeting a Duke in secret!
She found, though, that there was nothing to stop her. Now that her mind was made up, her feet were already moving.
She snuck out of the house, making her way silently down the stairs and out the door. She made her way toward the field. Opening the gate. She went through, picking up her skirts as she broke into a run.
* * *
Jasper stood beneath the branches of the great fir tree, peering up into them, and then turning back toward Kirby Hall. He could see the house in the far-off distance. There was a bit of a hill, blocking his view.
She would have gotten his letter, by now. He’d given it to Wickes, who had looked at him strangely but had promised to give it to her, directly. Jasper wondered if, and what, the butler would tell his employer. Jasper found that he was past caring.
Now, he could only hope that she’d come. He expected her to bring Faith. However, he saw her, alone, running toward him. Her hair had fallen loose out of her chignon. She was wearing her white dress, which made her look like an absolute angel.
He ran to meet her, not thinking as he pulled her into his arms. She looked up at him; her cheeks flushed a bright rose. Her hands were flat on his chest.
“I’d hoped you would come,” he said. “I was starting to feel a bit worried that you wouldn’t.”
“Of course, I’d come,” she replied. “It might be completely mad, but of course, I’d come.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I can’t bear the idea that I’ve hurt you. I cannot marry her. Not when I’m in love with you.”
She froze, her lips falling open. He held her tightly, his hands on her ribcage. They were so far past propriety; it didn’t matter.
“I love you, too,” she said. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. His cheeks hurt from smiling so widely. He placed a hand on her cheek, and she tilted her head, leaning into it.
He leaned in, his lips capturing hers with his own.
