Page 94 of Leap of Faith
Lord Westwood greeted each of them. “Do you come alone?”
“Lady Westwood accompanied us, my lord,” Hope answered. “She has remained at the house.”
“I will go and greet her while the five of you reacquaint yourselves with the goings-on. However, I will be back in half an hour to return Joy to the house. She must not overdo it on her first outing.”
“I am sitting still whether I do it here or in my bedchamber,” she said with her mischievous smile.
“Do not try me, imp,” Lord Westwood said with a flick of his finger on her chin.
As he left, the sisters sat on the blanket surrounding Joy.
“I hope you do not mind our visit, but we could not stay away any longer. Once Hope told us Joy had awakened, we simply had to see her for ourselves.”
“Not at all. We only kept you in Town to provide you with distraction.”
“I would ask how Joy is, but I can see that she is very well. What does the doctor say about her recovery?” Patience asked.
“You should see under the bandage,” Joy said with zeal. “The doctor says I will have a scar for life!”
Faith supposed if one of her sisters had to bear a scar, at least Joy would mind the least.
“You have no objection?” Grace asked.
“Not at all. It gives me a good story to tell.”
The sisters laughed and shook their heads.
“I am surprised you do not have your guards accompanying you,” Faith remarked.
“They have been continuing to escort us to events,” Hope explained. “But now that the threat posed by Sir Julian seems past, their vigil is not quite so pronounced.”
“You are still enjoying yourselves?”
“Yes, dearest, although we have not attended as many functions as before.”
“Are your suitors still too numerous to count? Or have you managed to scare some away?” Faith asked with amusement.
“There are still too many,” Grace remarked and they all laughed.
Faith reached out and gathered her sisters to her for an embrace. “I am so happy you are here.”
* * *
Dominic had beento visit one of his tenant farms that morning and rode into the stables with one thing on his mind.
With Joy healing, and all of the sisters at Taywards, Faith was spending her time with them, and Dominic found that he did not like it. He had begun to cherish the hours they had spent together when he’d had her to himself. Soon, they would all return to London and where would that leave him? There were still three months left until Faith reached her majority, but something told him he should not wait to make his feelings known, because once they returned to London, it would be far more difficult to enjoy the freedoms and intimacy they had shared at Taywards.
Many enquiries had been made as to Dominic’s whereabouts and why he had yet to return to Town. He could not explain to them that Town held no allure without Miss Whitford’s presence. He could no more enlighten himself as to why it was so with her and none other, but it was so.
He was perfectly content to spend his life shielding her from all adversity, and could see no other replacing her in his esteem or as his companion, wife and mother of his children.
He no longer had any doubt in his mind that Faith was the one for him. Never before had he given any thought to a permanent relationship with any female of his acquaintance. Yet he still could not be certain she reciprocated his feelings and desired anything more than friendship.
Was he simply like an elder brother to her? Did she regard him with any more emotion than fondness? How his friends would laugh when they knew how low he had been brought!
The one time he had exerted himself, Joy had been hurt and they had since behaved as though that caress had never happened.
He kept trying to think of some way to lure her away from his sisters, but what would tempt her and not make him seem ridiculous?
