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Percy scowled. “Harry? Is it really you?”
The man looked as if he were about to turn and sprint from the doorway. But then his hands, white from gripping the harp so tightly, dropped. He stepped forward and melted into a frustrated confession. His forehead and upper lip glistened with sweat. “Yes.”
Percy’s features contorted in confusion, his brow tight and his mouth firm. “You told me you were away…that you were aboard a ship. I thought you to be out at sea by now. What did you mean to do with my harp?”
Fanny watched Harry with round eyes. Mr. Gregory slipped through the door tentatively and huffed an annoyed breath upon seeing the scene before him.
Harry smoothed back the broomstick-bristles of hair falling over the baldness on his head and looked down at his feet. “I am sorry, cousin. But your selfishness prevented you from seeing how desperate my situation truly was. I looked after you here and spent so much time in your home because I have been disinherited from mine. Before my father’s passing, he expressed disdain for my gambling habits. I need money.”
Percy’s jaw grew tight. “You might have told me,” he said.
“I knew you would never help me—you had done nothing short of demand that I leave you alone!” Harry looked up at Percy, eyes flashing with dislike. “I knew the harp was valuable and would easily save me from my financial ruin. I worried I would be the first person you would blame, so I insisted you marry so your focus and accusations would shift to her.” He glanced at Fanny. “I promised a sum of the profits to your groundskeeper for his assistance.”
The hall was enveloped in silence as his confession sank in. Fanny could hardly believe it. Mr. Gregory had merely been spending time with her to create a false sense of friendship? Her teeth gritted in annoyance. What a horrid man! So Percy had been right in his judgments all along.
Percy stiffened and rubbed a hand over his opposite shoulder. He exhaled long and slow, then stopped, as if reaching a strenuous conclusion. “Since you have so willingly confessed, I will allow you to leave, Harry. I will not summon a police inspector.” Percy’s voice was even and calm, but Fanny sensed the hurt of betrayal.
Harry looked shocked, as if he had been expecting far worse.
“And if in the coming months you prove yourself again a very reliable friend, I might consider making a place for you here. If you are truly in need of work,” Percy said.
Harry looked as if he was about to choke, his expression flooding with relief and surprise. “What has happened to you?”
Percy’s head cocked in Fanny’s direction. “I have learned that there is a good, kind, and honest person within each of us. We only need the right people to unearth them. You have lost my trust today, Harry, but not my friendship.”
Fanny warmed inside, touched by Percy’s words. She wanted to reach up and throw her arms around him, so immense was her admiration of him in that moment.
“But you, Mr. Gregory, shall leave my property and never return. I should like to make certain you are through with pestering my wife. I shall make your thievery known to all the potential employers of my acquaintance.” The distaste in Percy’s voice when he spoke to Mr. Gregory would never change. “And Harry, in exchange for this ordeal, I would like assistance in securing a full staff for this household.”
Harry’s lips pressed together and he cringed. “I’m afraid the desertion of your staff was also my responsibility. I—well, I convinced them all to leave. You would not have seen the benefit of marrying otherwise, and I would not have been able to so easily sneak into the house.”
Percy’s eyes widened and his shoulders tensed, but then they relaxed. “Please just fix the problem. I suppose I must thank you in that regard…I never would have met Fanny if this entire situation had not been in place. Your devious intentions have become my greatest gift.”
Although Percy spoke to his cousin, Fanny felt his words nestle in the center of her heart. She leaned closer to him, breathing his scent—fresh parchment and leather-bound books. His lips lifted in a small smile.
After Harry and Mr. Gregory had replaced the harp in its original location and left the house, Percy and Fanny stood in the doorway. Percy took gentle hold of her hand. The breezes of the afternoon carried hints of flowers and cloudless skies. Fanny gazed up at Percy, squinting against the sun to see his expression. His face was positioned straight ahead, but he didn’t squint as he seemingly looked straight into the sun. “Harry was right,” he said in a hoarse voice.
Fanny frowned. “What do you mean? It was entirely wrong of him to attempt to steal your harp.”
“No—he was right that I would blame you. And I am sorry,” his voice cracked, “so sorry for even thinking of it.”
Fanny bit her lip and tugged resolutely at her gown. “So that is why you were so cold toward me. You thought I had been plotting something against you.”
Percy nodded, and his face flushed. “And…I thought that you were planning to leave me and run off with my groundskeeper. I cared for you, Fanny. Icarefor you. I—I didn’t want to think that you loved someone else.”
Fanny gasped and turned to fully face him. “It is no wonder then why you were behaving so horribly. You despised Mr. Gregory.”
“Idespisehim.” His head turned down to hers and he smiled, his blue eyes glinting with an apology. “I should have asked you. I should never have thought so little of you. I trust you, Fanny.”
Then he rotated on the top step, taking her other hand in his, facing her completely. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“Of course. You have proven yourself to be notentirelyunpleasant.” She smiled, filling her heart and soul with the strength of Percy beside her.
He chuckled, leaving Fanny in complete and utter disarray. That laugh would always leave her as a puddle. And his smile…
In a strange impulse, Fanny lifted on her toes, leaned forward, and kissed that smile. Percy froze, but then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her with so much fervor that Fanny found herself blushing. She pulled back, laughing, trying to catch her breath. “I’m sorry! I know that you hate surprises.”
“Surprises such as that I suppose I must learn to live with,” he said in a hoarse voice. His hand lifted to her face, a touch so gentle that all at once Fanny felt the threat of tears in her throat.
