Page 68 of Snapdragons
The exertion of the day began to catch up with Niles, and he reluctantly excused himself for the remainder of the evening, intending to drop exhausted on his bed.
Penelope, however, followed him and pulled him aside at the edge of the corridor. It was empty at the moment, but enough people were still awake and still wandering about that it wasn’t so private as to be scandalous.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“I’m certain that when I arrived here, you wanted nothing so much as to see me depart. But instead, you’ve allowed me to be part of this group, to be able to call them friends, and to know you better. I...” She seemed momentarily at a loss for words. “I have been lonely for a long time, Niles. I don’t feel that way anymore. And I am so glad to know you—actuallyknowyou, not merely know the list of things I was told about you. So, thank you.”
“I’m glad you came, Penelope.” The sincere, heart-deep declaration spilled from him unbidden. “And I’m glad you stayed.”
“So am I.” She rose on her toes and pressed a feather-light kissto his cheek before turning and slipping inside her room.
Niles didn’t move for what felt like hours.
She’d kissed him.Shehad kissedhim.And his world had tipped on its axis. He’d been hemming and hawing over his seemingly conflicted feelings. Then she’d kissed him, and there was no sense denying it any longer. He had fallen in love with Penelope Seymour.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lucy acted in the roleof Penelope’s lady’s maid again the next morning. She was good at it and seemed to enjoy the assignment. Penelope meant to ask Mr. Layton if she could make an offer of employment to the young woman. It was possible Lucy had family nearby or didn’t wish to leave Pledwick Manor, and Penelope didn’t mean to try to force anyone’s hand either way.
The weather was wet once again, and she was delayed in taking her daily ride. She didn’t mind, which was a rare thing. The rain afforded her the opportunity to spend the morning gabbing amiably with Violet and Nicolette and blessing fate once more for this unexpected opportunity to make two new friends. And the two of them told her enough about Lady Jonquil, whom they insisted would want Penelope to call her Julia, that she felt as though she knew the lady already and had gained athirdfriend. The Gents had begun to feel like friends as well.
And Niles... Well, Niles felt like something more. Something even better.
By early afternoon, the rain had ceased falling for a couple of hours. The grounds would be dry enough for a not-too-miserable ride. With Lucy’s help, she changed into her emerald-green riding habit and quickly made for the stables. She hadn’t ridden at all the day before, and she was anxious to be on horseback again.
Upon reaching the stables, however, she was distracted as she so often was by the filly. The little horse was standing in the midst of her small pen, being brushed by a stablehand.
“She is doing so much better,” Penelope said, indicating the arrangement.
“She ain’t so afeared of us as she has been,” the stablehand answered.
There was something so heartwarming in watching an animal learn to trust people who were worthy of that trust. It was a connection that wrapped the soul in hope.
“Has she a name yet?”
The stablehand shook his head. “Haven’t come upon one that suits her.”
“She needs an elegant name.”
“That she does.”
The groomsman who had ridden out in search of Liam to deliver Penelope’s letter happened past in the next moment.
“Did you find Mr. Seymour?” she asked him.
He doffed his hat. “I did, Miss Seymour. You guessed right on the inn he stopped at.”
“And you gave him my letter?”
“I did, miss.” He reached into the pocket of his coat, still muddied from the road, and pulled out a sealed letter. “He asked me to give you this.”
Liam had sent a letter back. That had to be a good omen, didn’t it? She took the letter, nervousness and excitement warring inside. This was likely similar to how Niles had felt upon receiving the letter from his family—hoping it contained words of reconciliation but fearing the letter held only more rejection.
“Mr. Greenberry doesn’t happen to be out for a ride just now, does he?” Niles liked to ride as much as she did, after all, and the weather was finally clear enough.
“I don’t know, miss.”
