Page 42 of Counting on a Countess
The carriage came to a stop outside the town house on Bruton Street. A footman opened the door to the vehicle, and with his help, Tamsyn alighted. Kit followed, but he seemed deeply distracted. Instead of offering her his arm, he drifted up the front steps and into the house.
Their lives were inexorably intertwined now. Precisely the opposite of what she had wanted going into this marriage. She had hoped for polite disinterest; instead, it could shift into a bitter attachment.
She hurried from the carriage to the foyer, dodging the rain. Inside, she gave her hat and bonnet to a waiting footman. She briefly considered going in search of Kit before rejecting that notion. He likely wanted to be alone right now, and pursuing him could create tension between them.
“Send my maid to me,” she said to the footman. “I’ll be in my room.”
Slowly, she made her way up the stairs. Candles had been lit to combat the cloudy gloom outside, but they barely penetrated the dimness. A surprising wave of homesickness struck her and her heart felt leaden. If only she could roam the seaside cliffs as she longed to do, taking consolation in the ceaseless rhythm of the ocean as it pounded the shore. When the pressures of shouldering the village’s burdens became too much, she often went on daylong rambles, losing herself in the eternal Cornish countryside. She didn’t know her way around London, and the endless, dangerous city would give her no comfort tonight.
She reached her room, where a low fire burned, and drifted inside to stand at the window to watch the raindrops course down the glass and obscure her view of the garden.
“I heard the master came wandering in as distracted as a cloud,” Nessa said as she entered, shutting the door behind her. “Didn’t talk to nobody, just went to his chamber and shut the door.”
Tamsyn turned to face her friend. She planted her hands on her hips. Briefly, she explained what happened at the solicitor’s office.
Nessa walked to one of the chairs by the fire, then sank down into it. Her expression was opaque, until it cleared.
She beamed at Tamsyn.
“But this news is first-rate,” she exclaimed.
“I cannot see how,” Tamsyn answered grimly. “Kit and I will have to be in each other’s pockets.”
Nessa shooed this away with a wave. “You’ll find a way through this. The important thing is that you’re rich—andyoucontrol the purse strings.”
“I don’t want to,” Tamsyn objected.
“Listen, my girl.” Nessa rose and walked to her. “Ever since taxes were raised and the catch dried up, the folk of Newcombe have been scraping by. We took to smuggling because we had no choice. But we don’t have to worry anymore. You’ve got more than enough to keep the roofs over our heads and fresh bread on the table.”
Tamsyn stared at her. “Just hand over the Blakemere fortune to the village?”
“Why not?” Nessa challenged.
Pacing away, Tamsyn said, “That’s not a solution to our difficulties. Subsisting on charity is no way to live.”
“How would you know?” Nessa demanded.
Tamsyn threw up her hands. “I live in a house that’s less than a mile from the center of Newcombe. I might not live in the village, but it’s my home, and yours. And... we’re proud people. Too proud and hardworking to depend entirely on alms. When Will Fox’s house burned down and everyone came to fix it—he patched up all the boats and sails in the harbor to pay everybody back.”
“Aye, I remember,” Nessa said with a nod.
“The villagers smuggle because it doesn’t hurt anyone. None of us are criminals. We’re not going to steal all of the earl’s money.”
For a moment, the other woman was still. Then her shoulders drooped. “You’re right, blast it. I can’t see Alan Hammett or Susan Bligh going a-begging. They’d never countenance it.”
“No,” Tamsyn said with a shake of her head, thinking too of the independent, dignified fisherman and the washerwoman, “they wouldn’t.”
“Shame we can’t touch that money, though,” Nessa murmured.
“But...” A thought occurred to her. “I’d been planning on using my allowance from Lord Blakemere on a down payment for Chei Owr.”
Excitement filled Nessa’s face as she realized where Tamsyn was heading. “And now—”
“I can buy it outright.”
The house would be hers. The smuggling could continue, and nothing had to change.
Thank you, Lord Somerby. I never knew you, but you’ve helped me in ways you’ll never know.
