Page 50 of Two of a Kind
But why was he kissing her? That was the question,andthe reason why she had made him stop. His swift post-kiss apology had cut her like a knife. It had confirmed her worst fears. James had kissed her because he felt an obligation to make some sort of effort. If he had actually wanted her, then he would have declared his love.
He feels obliged to marry me. That’s why he kissed me.
They had been alone together on the road down from London. It made perfect sense for marriage to be the outcome her grandfather, and perhaps even her family, would come to expect of hers and James’s little adventure.
And marriage to James would be a very different proposition to that which she knew had been set out for her with Guy. James was a good man. He would no doubt in time do what was expected of him and offer for her hand in marriage. But he deserved more. He deserved to be in love with the woman he married.
As they began to climb the steep, winding steps back up to Mopus Manor, Leah chided herself. She had been a fool to nurture the affection she’d felt for James. Every day she spent with him, it continued to blossom and grow stronger. Leah could no longer keep it at bay.
She was in love with James, but she had to let him go.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Late one afternoon, James was finishing the final cleanup of his paintbrushes in readiness for closing the cottage for the night and returning to the manor. He had taken to hiding out in his painting studio for the best part of each day, ostensibly to get work done, but in truth, hiding from Leah.
She had made the task a little easier for him by busying herself with the management of the manor house and helping to plant new herbs in the kitchen garden. Over the past days, he and Leah had slipped into a polite but distant cohabitation of Mopus Manor. James had taken his cues from her and not pressed his luck. He had made a mess of things at the sea cave and had spent endless hours since then wondering if he had read the signs wrong. He did not want to leave Mopus Manor, but feared that at some point soon, he would be asked to go.
A knock at the cottage door stirred him from his private musings of light, shade, and how he could find a way to reconnect with Leah. He was surprised to see that instead of his visitor being Leah, it was Sir Geoffrey Sydell.
In the ten days since he and Leah had arrived at Mopus Manor, James had not seen Sir Geoffrey anywhere near the cliff-facing garden. His unexpected appearance at the cottage door set James’s nerves on edge.
“Mind if I come in?” said Sir Geoffrey.
James put down his paintbrushes and wiped his hands on a rag. He motioned for Sir Geoffrey to enter. “Please, do come in. This is your house; you shouldn’t need to ask for permission to enter any room.”
He busied about the cottage, clearing away a few of his smaller easels and making room for his guest to sit down. He then sat on a stool opposite to the chair Sir Geoffrey now occupied.
“Sorry about the sudden visit, but since Leah has not yet returned from Truro, I thought now might be a good time for you and me to have a little chat,” said Sir Geoffrey.
Ah.
James had known it was only a matter of time before Sir Geoffrey would want to come and talk to him about Leah. Or, to be more accurate, what was to be done about Leah. The situation for all of them was, at best, a temporary one.
Eventually, Tobias Shepherd would receive word as to the whereabouts of his errant daughter. After which, he was unlikely to sit on his hands and leave her to live out her life peacefully in Cornwall. James was surprised that no one had yet come knocking on the door of Mopus Manor, demanding the return of Leah to London.
James had wondered on more than one occasion as to what was happening in London. What had transpired on the morning of the ill-fated wedding after he and Leah had disappeared? A runaway bride was the sort of salacious gossip on which thetonthrived.
His own letter home to his parents had been sent at the beginning of the week. He had said little in it other than that he and Leah were safe, and that he would eventually return to London. He trusted his father to keep his confidence.
Sir Geoffrey was a different matter altogether. He was Leah’s family, and was therefore bound by a different set of rules when it came to be keeping, or not keeping, secrets from her parents.
The thought of discussing Leah without her being present sat uncomfortably with James. He had already breached her trust with that kiss at the sea cave. He was not keen to give her any further reason to mistrust him.
“Firstly, I need to make it clear I have only my granddaughter’s best interests at heart,” said Sir Geoffrey.
Upon hearing those words, James put down his cleaning cloth and sat hunched over on the stool. His hands were tightly clasped. He didn’t like the sound of the words ‘best interests’ one little bit. In his experience, people had an unfortunate habit of using that very phrase when they wanted to wrap up unpleasant decisions and hand them over for others to deal with.
Sir Geoffrey held a hand up and sat forward in his chair. “I can see that you are uneasy, James, so let me clarify what I mean. While nothing should happen without Leah’s express permission, the reality of the situation needs to be faced”
“The situation being?” asked James.
“My granddaughter is a gently bred young woman, currently on the run from her family. Her father has legal say over her life at present, and the only thing that can change that fact is marriage. Or her father’s death, which considering how fit my son-in-law is, will not likely be happening for many years to come,” replied Sir Geoffrey.
James ignored the obvious undertone of disappointment in Sir Geoffrey’s voice at the mention of Leah’s father. They were back to the problem that had sent Leah fleeing from her wedding in the first place: her father dictating her life, and society’s expectations of her doing exactly as she was told.
“And that is where you come into it, young man. Though I imagine you must have already accepted that you would have a greater and ongoing role to play in her life. Only a fool would think of travelling for several days with an unwed young woman and not expect there to be further consequences. From my experience of you, I don’t see a dull-minded man.”
“Society would expect me to marry her,” replied James.
