Page 23 of Lords, Ladies and Love

“Well, as everything is well, I shall leave you to it, my lady. So long as all goes smoothly, I shall anticipate a meeting with you in London after your time is up.” Mr. Barton tipped his hat.

“Are you to visit my siblings?”

He nodded. “Though I will not be visiting with Lady Minerva. She only needs to come to me when she has completed her task.”

Angel nodded. The fact that Minerva was travelling made things difficult. Angel was no letter writer, but she wished she was able to contact her somehow. Just knowing how she was doing would make things much better. Now she knew Mr. Barton was happy with her progress, her thoughts turned to her siblings.

“Please tell them I am thinking of them.”

He smiled. “Of course, my lady.”

Angel watched the lawyer until he vanished around the garden wall. It was a good thing that he had visited. She had been able to show how well she was doing, and so long as Mr. Cartwright did not cause any problems, all would be fine.

She bit down on her bottom lip. Lord, she hoped he did not cause problems.

Shaking her head to herself, she walked back to where Mrs. Stone still snoozed in the late-afternoon sun. The lady opened her eyes as Angel approached and narrowed her gaze at her as she sat up.

“Who was that gentleman? Did he not wish to stay for tea?”

Angel shook her head and seated herself in the chair next to Mrs. Stone, closing her eyes briefly to savor the gentle warmth of the sun touching her skin. With bees buzzing around and the fragrance of lavender suffusing the air, she had to admit, Berkshire was not the tiresome, dull place she thought it would be.

Very well, perhaps it could be considered dull, but she was discovering she did not mind dull—for a while. She was not certain that if it was not punctuated with a few parties she would survive a lifetime of this, but another three weeks would be easy indeed.

Goodness, only three more weeks. Three more weeks of Mrs. Stone’s companionship, and quiet, lazy afternoons, and painting, and reading, and paddling in the stream.

Three more weeks of Mr. Hunter…

“He was my brother’s lawyer,” Angel explained. “He wanted to let me know my brother had travelled home.”

It was not a lie as such. Theo had indeed gone home—a rarity for him. Even so, she did not much like telling falsehoods to Mrs. Stone, not after she had been so kind to Angel and was still recovering from that ghastly cut on her hand.

“Ah,” was all Mrs. Stone said.

Angel closed her eyes again. She supposed once all this was done, she could tell Mrs. Stone the truth. She probably would but not before telling her how lovely her company had been and how much she had learned about herself. Perhaps she was not wholly changed, but she had gained the ability to put others’ needs before her own.

Oh dear, she hoped Mrs. Stone was not upset when she left. She would have to arrange to see her on a regular basis.

Of course, that would mean seeing more of Reuben Hunter, an excited whisper told her.

The afternoon and evening proved to be quiet and uneventful. Angel could not decide whether that was a good thing or not as she retreated to bed. It gave her far too much time to mull things over. Whatever would Minerva think, seeing her mull things over. Angel could not recall the last time she hadmulledthings.

As she tossed and turned in her bed, her mind raced to the visit from Mr. Barton to how her sisters were doing to what would Mrs. Stone think to realize this job had been more than a mere job to her. Angel sat up sharply and pressed both hands to her cheeks.

What would Reuben think? She suspected he might have changed his mind entirely about her, but when he realized she had taken this job to ensure she got her inheritance, he would think poorly of her once more. She was not sure she could stand that.

Huffing, she flung aside the bedsheets and shoved her feet into slippers then stuffed her arms into her robe, letting the ties hang at either side.

Since when did she care what anyone thought? She stomped across the bedroom and lit a candle to take downstairs. Creeping through the house, she made her way to the library and lit a few more candles. Books towered above and around her, cocooning her in the scent of leather and dust. She might have no inclination to read them, but she was starting to understand why Minerva found such comfort in libraries.

The golden candlelight created an amber glow that danced about the room. Already, she could feel her worries quelling. She supposed she ought to pick out a book so she at least looked like she was reading. Not that she had an audience.

What the heck was wrong with her?

Shrugging, Angel climbed the slim ladder and plucked up a book with a red cover. Perhaps it was the one Mrs. Stonehad been after all those weeks ago. Still standing on the ladder, she flicked it open and read the blotchy scrawl inside. No declarations of love or anything affectionate unfortunately. How dull.

A creak behind her made her stiff. Her heart jolted upward, and her mouth dried. She breathed very carefully. Who was in here with her and why were they creeping around? She waited until footsteps made her whirl around, book in hand. The figure was close. She brought the book down hard on the intruder’s head before recoiling.

“Oh Lord no!”

---