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“Not now.” Ophelia was in a rush. Her lady’s maid was still helping her to pack, and they were hurrying to gather her gowns as swiftly as possible. “I wish to be out of Cheltenham soon, before Gertrude can come back. Oh, Lord, Margery. To think of how angry I am at Gertrude now. I cannot describe it. I cannot believe she would go to such lengths to drive me from my husband. Could she really do all this just to have my father’s money?”
“She pressed you to get an annulment, did she not?” Margery said distractedly, still perched on the windowsill as she glanced over her shoulder. “That would have meant your husband would have to pay back every penny of your dowry.”
“Pah! Like that could even happen,” Ophelia huffed as she added her toilette case to her bag.
“Ophelia, you really do need to look out of this window now.”
“Why?”
“Because it might halt your need to pack.” Margery tapped impatiently on the glass that she had pressed her face against. Ophelia left her bag with the lady’s maid and moved to the window, peering down below.
That carriage…
A carriage had pulled up outside of the house, one she recognised. She had been with Elliot the day that he had purchased it.
“It’s not possible,” she whispered, matching Margery’s stance and pressing her face to the glass to get a better view.
Even before the footman could step forward to open the carriage door, though, it was flung open by the occupant and Elliot stepped down. He seemed flustered, his tailcoat barely on and his collar undone.
“Elliot,” Ophelia whispered in a rush.
“Go. Go to him,” Margery urged. “The man has come all this way to find you. If that isn’t a statement of affection, what is?”
Ophelia didn’t answer. She rushed from the room, heading for the stairs as quickly as she could. All night she had been restless, thinking of what she had heard at Gertrude’s house and the possibility that her stepmother and Lord Chester had had a hand in the matter of Celeste.
Oh, Elliot. What does it all mean?
Elliot was banging on the front door as Ophelia reached for it, long before the butler could get there. She flung it open, breathless from her run, moving so fast that Elliot practically fell through the door and into her.
“Ophelia!” he said hurriedly, his hands going to the doorframe on either side of him to stop himself from colliding with her.
“Elliot.”
“Thank God you’re here. Thank God.” He released the doorframe and took her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing the back. Ophelia closed her eyes, indulging in the feeling of his lips against her skin.
How I have missed this.
“Please, Ophelia. Don’t send me away, and do not run off again. This last month has been agony and there is so much I need to say to you now.” His words came out in such a rush that they were jumbled together.
“Ahem.”
The voice of the butler behind them made Ophelia self-conscious. She looked round to see his face confused at the rather public display going on. Ophelia took a tighter hold of Elliot’s hand and dragged him into the house, aware that it made Elliot’s eyes widen.
“Excuse us. We are not to be disturbed.” She towed Elliot into the nearest drawing room and shut the door behind them. “Elliot, how did you find me? How is it you are here?”
“Your stepmother. I had Thomas watch her house and he discovered this is where she came to visit with you.” Elliot was already lifting her hand to his lips again. “Please, don’t send me away, Ophelia. Not now.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have not sent you away,” she said with a small smile. “I have dragged you into the house.” Yet her teasing did not make the worry on his face soften.
It was then that Ophelia truly looked at him. She could see the heavy shadows under his eyes and a pale pallor to his skin. His hair was mussed, too, as if he had slept in the carriage.
“Elliot,” she whispered his name and lifted her other hand to his face, resting her fingers against his cheek. “You look so tired.”
He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes.
“Well, maybe I haven’t been sleeping so well.” His slight teasing tone reassured her. The Elliot she had always known was in there. He was just exhausted. “Celeste was lying, Ophelia.” Her eyes shot open as he said the words. “I suspected it was a lie, but this last month has confirmed it. She has not shown any indication of being with child. I went to confront her last night and she confessed to me the truth. It was all a lie.”
“It was?” Ophelia whispered, finding her heart was beating harder in her chest.
