Page 16 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding
‘Later, perhaps. For now, I want to know more about you. How is it you come to be living here, in this quiet backwater?’
‘There is nothing to tell. You already know I have lived here very happily since I was a child.’
‘No doubt you are looking forward to moving away, when you are married.’
‘I shall not be moving very far,’ she told him. ‘We shall be making our home at Whilton Hall.’
‘Is it not a little…small, for a principal residence?’
Flora had thought as much herself, although she would not admit it to anyone.
‘The Viscount has a passion for antiquities and Whilton Hall is a fine example of a medieval moated house.’ She glanced at him. ‘Do you disagree?’
‘No, it is a splendid building, but it can hardly be the best of his properties. Is it your choice to live there?’
‘He has done a great deal to make it comfortable.’
‘Once again you are avoiding my question.’
‘You ask too many questions!’ Flora retorted, taking her fan back from him.
‘I beg your pardon.’
Flora held her tongue and allowed the silence to stretch between them. Until she could bear it no longer.
‘I might ask you why you have not returned to Gloucestershire.’
‘You know why. I am hopeful of seeing the Viscount.’
‘That statue must be very important to you.’
‘It is. It belongs at Bellemonte and I want it back.’
Flora remembered how pleased the Viscount had been when he had installed it in his garden. He would not want to part with it.
She said, ‘Surely it would be easier, and possibly less costly if it comes to a legal battle, to commission a replacement.’
‘Rysbrack has been dead these forty years and a copy would not be the same thing at all. Besides, it is not wholly my property,’ he explained. ‘I have shareholders to hold me to account, as well as the Earl of Dallamire. He owns the land.’
‘One sculpture.’ She waved a hand. ‘It is very pretty, but is it really worth so much to you?’
‘The sculpture is one of a pair and therefore irreplaceable. What I have achieved at Bellemonte has been through honest toil and hard work. I abhor lies and deceit of any kind. It is a point of principle to try to recover my property.’
He sounded very serious and Flora felt a chill of anxiety. If Quentin decided to oppose the statue’s return, things could go ill for Matt Talacre.
‘Then I wish you good fortune, sir. I hope you will succeed.’ She rose. ‘The dance has ended. I should go and find my aunt.’
‘Yes, of course.’
He took her empty glass and put it with his own on a small side table before leading her away from the window. They had gone only a few steps when she realised how many people were looking at them.
She stopped. ‘It might be best if you did not come with me. You should find yourself another partner.’
‘Time for that once I have seen you safely restored to your aunt,’ was his cheerful response. ‘Where are we likely to find her?’
‘I would expect her to be with our friends—where I was sitting when Mr Makerfield brought you over. On the far side of the room, by those large windows.’
‘Come along, then.’
