Eloisa's Adventure (26 page)

“Not
long now,” Simeon growled as they approached her house. His fingers
clenched almost painfully on the reins against the need to reach
out to her. When she didn’t reply, he gritted his teeth with the
sheer bloody minded effort it took not to force her to look at
him.

Eloisa
nodded and turned her gaze away. Her thoughts turned toward Cissy,
and she felt such a wave of yearning sweep through her that the end
of the journey suddenly couldn’t come quickly enough.

What had
she made of Eloisa’s disappearance? She closed her eyes and tried
to calm herself down a little. Cissy would almost certainly know
that something had happened between her and Simeon if she saw her
like this. Right now she didn’t want to have to endure her sister’s
questions, because she didn’t have any answers for herself. She
rather suspected that she never would because she couldn’t bring
herself to ask Simeon what had happened that had brought everything
crashing down around them.

It took
all of the steely resolve she possessed to force her features into
the cool mask of indifference that was in place by the time he
pulled the carriage to a stop.

By the
time she stepped onto the pavement, she looked up in time to watch
Cissy yank the front door open and race toward her. The
unadulterated joy on her sister’s face crumpled Eloisa’s resolve,
and a sob escaped her before Cissy yanked her into a fierce
hug.

“Oh,
Eloisa, thank the good Lord you are alright,” Cissy gasped as she
enveloped her sister in a perfumed embrace that made it difficult
for either of them to breathe.

“
Oh, dearie me. We thought we had lost you,” Mrs Jackman
declared as she swept out of her house and hobbled toward Eloisa.
As soon as Cissy had released her, Eloisa was swept into the older
woman’s arms before both women stood back to study her
carefully.

Eloisa
watched in dismay as their joy slowly faded, and was replaced with
watchful concern.

“Mr de
Lisle has been beside himself. He has called by Lord Aldwich’s
house so many times that I think Lord Aldwich has offered to put
him on his payroll. We have had half of the village looking for
you,” Cissy chided as she glanced curiously at Simeon. “Where on
earth have you been?”

“Cissy,”
Eloisa croaked, suddenly lost for words.

Cissy
looked down at the ruined state of Eloisa’s dress. “What is it,
dearest? Whatever has happened?”

Eloisa
looked deeply into her sister’s eyes, and gave her one of ‘those’
looks that warned her sibling not to say too much with so many
people present. Cissy nodded, but worry clouded her eyes as she
looked over her shoulder at the tall, handsome man who remained
stern and silent just a few feet behind Eloisa. He too looked
worried, but there was something else in his eyes; something dark
and almost wounded that warned Cissy he was partly responsible for
her sister’s disappearance, and obvious upset.

“I take
it that you are responsible for this?” Cissy demanded and motioned
to the state of her sister.

“I am,”
Simeon replied stoically.

“He
rescued me,” Eloisa interjected when she saw a flash of anger in
Cissy’s eyes. “It isn’t his fault. It is the idiots who took me in
the carriage. They are the ones who were driving like lunatics. I
just landed on Lord Pendlebury’s doorstep. He has been kind enough
to give me a roof over my head while we waited out the
storm.”

She
dreaded having to do this. She would have much preferred to go
inside the house, close the door, and never have to see or speak to
Simeon ever again. As it was, dubious though it may be, he had
given her his hospitality and a relatively dry roof over her head
when she had been stranded and had nowhere to turn to. If he hadn’t
crossed her path, heaven only knows what would have happened to
her. Now, she wasn’t entirely sure that he had saved her. She
rather considered that she would have been much better off taking
her chances with the intruder by herself.

“Thank
you for your kind – hospitality,” she murmured quietly without
meeting his eyes. “I hope you manage to resolve your difficulties.”
She was relieved at the calmness in her voice, especially when
everything inside her felt as though it had been shattered into a
thousand tiny pieces.

“Eloisa,” Simeon growled when she turned away. There was so
much he wanted to say to her but couldn’t.

When it was over though, and the worst of the gossip had died
down,
he promised himself as he studied
her and tried to commit as much of her to memory as
possible.

He bowed
politely. “Eloisa,” he persisted.

She
couldn’t help it. She looked at him one final time.

“I need
to find Renwick, and get his issues resolved. Then, when everything
has quietened down, I should like to call upon you, if I may? Just
to check that everything is alright,” he asked quietly.

Eloisa
knew that he wouldn’t, but nodded politely.

“I am
sure that you are most welcome to call by whenever you are
available,” Cissy added when Eloisa remained uncomfortably silent.
She threw Eloisa a worried frown, and Simeon an askance look, but
neither of them seemed inclined to speak.

“I am
afraid that I haven’t been the best of hosts,” he explained to her.
“I was only at the castle to collect a few papers so was ill
prepared for company. As a result, I think that Eloisa could do
with a seat before the fire, some good food and plenty of rest. It
has been a difficult and trying time.”

He
looked so lovingly at Eloisa that Cissy gasped and stared at him in
shock.

“I will
bid you farewell, Eloisa,” he murmured, willing her to look at him
again. “For now.”

When she
merely nodded again, he had no choice but to turn around and climb
aboard the carriage. He wished now that he had handled matters
differently between them.

As soon
as Renwick was dispatched back to the army, he had a lot of making
up to do with the woman who had laid claim to his heart. First
though, he had to find a way to get her to talk to him again. He
glanced over at her as he turned the carriage around and made his
way past them but she didn’t look up.

To his
bitter regret, he rather suspected that he had just lost
her.

Eloisa
watched him go, and turned to nod her thanks to several of the
locals who came to offer their good wishes. It was a relief when
she was finally able to get inside the house, and away from the
curious eyes and plethora of questions.

“What
happened?” Cissy asked quietly.

Eloisa
shook her head and promptly burst into tears.

“You
have to tell me what happened dearest,” Cissy murmured when the
worst of Eloisa’s crying had subsided, and been replaced with
dejected misery. She frowned absently out of the window while she
listened to Eloisa recount what had happened, minus the details
about last night.

“Well, I
am sure that he will want to see how you are when he has dealt with
his relative. This Renwick Calversham is a no-good wastrel from
what you have told me. It is understandable that Lord Pendlebury
will want to deal with him quickly, especially with the family’s
reputation at risk.”

“I
know,” Eloisa murmured despondently. She knew that Cissy didn’t
understand because she didn’t have the full story, and offered her
a sad smile.

“I saw
how he looked at you. I am positive that your Lord Pendlebury will
be back,” Cissy declared encouragingly.

From
what she had seen, the devastatingly handsome man was smitten with
Eloisa, and was a Lord nonetheless. She was stunned, shocked, and
didn’t quite know what to make of the latest turn of events. At
least Eloisa was alive which, for a while had looked doubtful.
Cissy sighed and looked at her sister again. She sensed that Eloisa
wasn’t telling her everything but quickly closed off the thought of
what could have happened between the debonair nobleman and her
beautiful sister while they had been together – alone – in his
home. She closed her eyes and coughed uncomfortably. Right now,
Eloisa looked almost fragile, so now was not the time to
ask.

Later though
, Cissy promised
herself.
When I have had time to consider
how best to handle it.

Eloisa
shot her sister a dour look. “I hope he doesn’t come back,” she
replied quietly. She desperately wanted to see him again, but then
didn’t.

“
He is a lord, my dear. Far beyond our status, I know, but he
seemed a kindly man. I am sure that he will either write to ask
about your welfare, or will drop by if he happens to be passing
this way again. I am sure of it.”

Cissy
saw the heartbreak in Eloisa’s eyes, and could understand her
younger sister falling for such a wonderfully handsome man.
However, sisterly love forced her to warn her younger sibling of
the folly of expecting anything more from the man than
manners.

Eloisa
knew what Cissy meant, and offered her a sad smile. “I
know.”

“You
didn’t get to your ball dearest,” Cissy declared sadly after
several moments of thoughtful silence.

“What
happened to the carriage driver, and the footman?” Eloisa asked
thoughtfully as she stared absently into the fire. She didn’t
really care; she just needed Cissy to think of something other than
Simeon for a while.

Cissy
took a moment to make some tea before she took a seat beside
Eloisa. Once they each had a cup she leaned back and gave Eloisa a
dark look.

“Well,
Mr de Lisle waited and waited for you at the ball. When the
carriage arrived, the coachman was barely coherent. The horses ran
away with him, you see. They had run so fast that the carriage had
been damaged. The coachman hadn’t just lost you but he had lost the
footman off the back as well. He, the footman, turned up the
following morning, quite badly injured as a matter of fact. Lord
Aldwich was not best pleased from what I can gather.”

“I take
it that the footman is alright?”

“Recovering, I think. Lord Aldwich ordered his staff to try
and find you but nobody had any idea where the driver lost you. He
tried to get to his friend’s castle, which is on the route you
took, but they couldn’t get anywhere near the place because the
roads were awash. So trying to find you has been a little bit like
trying to find a needle in a haystack. Your disappearance been the
talk of the village, I can tell you, not least because half of the
village have been out looking for you as well.”

Eloisa
didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “All because I wanted to
dance,” she whispered mournfully. If she could go back and change
things she would never have mentioned dancing in the first
place.

“Lord
Aldwich has asked for you to attend his next ball, as an invited
guest this time, as an apology for the carelessness of his staff,”
Cissy declared excitedly. “Now that we have fulfilled the terms of
the will, we can afford to buy you a new dress.”

Eloisa
grimaced and threw Cissy a dark look. “I absolutely refuse to go to
another ball,” she declared firmly.

“Eloisa.”

“No,
Cissy,” Eloisa snapped. She put her tea cup onto the table beside
her with a little too much precision and took a moment to calm
herself.

“Oh,
Eloisa, I understand, I really do. Once you have had some sleep and
rest like Lord Pendlebury suggested, you will feel better, you’ll
see. In a few days’ time, you will think differently, I am sure of
it.”

“No, I
won’t Cissy,” Eloisa snapped. She couldn’t even consider the
notion, not even for a second, and wasn’t going to listen to her
sister harp on about it for the next several weeks. She had to nip
this particular idea in the bud before it even started. “I am never
going to a ball.”

“But
Eloisa –”

“Listen
to me, Cissy,” Eloisa demanded. She had no idea where her anger
came from but she just couldn’t ignore it. “I don’t belong at
social gatherings of that kind. One thing I have learned about Lord
Pendlebury is that he inhabits an entirely different world to the
one I live in. I know that I don’t belong in his world. I have
known it all along really, I just ignored it because I wanted to
dance. Just being at Simeon’s castle; seeing the luxurious décor;
the size of the building; the things he takes for granted that
other people struggle to get; it’s all an entirely different world
away from mine. I don’t belong there. People like him know it. I
know it. It is a ridiculous and foolish thing to consider. To even
dance outside and pretend to be like them, even for one night, is
just accepting that I will never belong. I will always belong
outside in the garden, Cissy.” Her voice broke. Tears streamed down
her face but she didn’t even notice them. She was suddenly hit with
an avalanche of pain that she couldn’t run hard enough to get away
from. The hurt hit her with such force that she felt unable to
regain her balance. Strangely, she didn’t think she would ever be
able to find solace in the life she had been dealt now, and wasn’t
sure what to do about it.

“Eloisa,” Cissy whispered.