Page 40 of A Bluestocking for the Wicked Duke
William smiled and rubbed his hands on her shoulders in a massaging motion.
“No, not at all but you will agree with me that I have been here for quite a while. It’s high time I left even if I am visiting my future bride,”
He winked his right eye as he made the last statement making Esther laugh and push him away playfully.
“Let’s go then. When next are you coming to see me?” she asked.
William thought properly about it.
Tomorrow is Sunday so I wouldn’t be coming here.
“I won’t come tomorrow but sometime next week,” he said.
Esther looked satisfied with his answer as she led him out of the garden back into the courtyard. She didn’t take the route she had taken into the garden.
“But you could send stewards to pass messages to me at Wellington or to ask that I make myself available at a particular time. That would let me know into your plans and would send signals of our seriousness to your parents,” William said to her.
Esther turned back to him and nodded her head, showing her agreement with his plan. They had gotten to the gate and the steward seeing William ran to bring his horse. William held Esther’s hand and drew her closer to him. He lowered his mouth close to her ear and spoke gently.
“Is it possible that your mother or father might be watching us now from the house?”
“It’s a surety if my father is around now. My mother would also look just to have an idea of what is going on,” she replied.
William looked beside him to see his stallion. The steward had brought his steed. He bent closer to Esther’s ear and spoke softly.
“So I would advise that you laugh like I said something very funny now. Then after that I’ll mount my horse and leave,” William said.
Esther drew her face away from William’s and burst into laughter. Her laughter looked real and William could not decide if it was phony or not. When she stopped laughter she drew back to William and kissed his left cheek then his right cheek.
“Thank you very much Mr. William Marlow. You are a real gentleman. I owe you,” she said before moving away from him.
William bowed to her then turned to mount his restless horse. He looked at her one last time before jeering his horse and riding away. He saw her raise her hand to wave as he turned his back to her. She was so grateful for his agreement to her ploy; she didn’t know how comfortable it was for him too. William smiled broadly at his good luck.
Chapter 11
Father’s Stern Warning
The next few days went past in a haze for William. He lived each day without doing anything really serious in them. He slept and ate, mostly ruminating over the turn of events with Esther and how he could get to see Joane once again. He wondered whether he should go to Eusten to see his friend because Lord James had not been at Wellington for the past three days. William decided to send a steward to Eusten instead. He walked out of his room and looked into the courtyard. He saw the stable boy with a silly-looking hat on his head, rolling a small stick between his fingers.
He doesn’t look busy.
He called on to the boy.
“Francis, Francis,” he called.
The boy looked around, searching for the direction his name was being called from. When he saw William standing on the stairwell, he ran to him.
“Do you know Lord James’ house at Eusten?” William asked him.
“I do sir. We have had cause to go there together once,” the boy replied.
“Okay good. You will go there now and tell him I sent you to ask him how he is doing. Tell him I am a bit worried since I have not seen him for over two days now. Take the fastest horse, I expect a feedback soon,” William told him.
The boy bowed and tipped his hat forward. Then he turned and jogged into the stable, when he came out again, he was on a tall, black horse. William turned to go in when he saw the boy ride out of the compound.
I need to go check on father.
His father seemed to gaining more energy every day. He was not yet the bouncing man he was before falling ill but now he could get into extended conversations and walk around the room. William walked down the corridor past his room and kept walking till he got to his father’s room. He knocked and waited for an invitation.
