ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13) (60 page)

Chapter 4

When Elizabeth came to herself again, she was in the carriage, jolting along the road. She did not open her eyes at first; she guessed that they had all left the ball and were now on the way back home, and she did not want to answer questions to her mother or to Mary just yet.

The whole story had changed everything, put it all into a new position. To think that all this time they had believed Arthur wronged, and murdered – when indeed it was his own foolishness that brought him to that terrible pass! And to think of the Lady Margaret – just a girl and not yet introduced – what had Arthur promised her? What had they done together in secret?

The thought of it all was almost enough to make her swoon again. She had experienced such a sudden and dramatic shift: all of her perceptions and beliefs swept away with just a moment’s explanation. Despite his situation, she believed what Richard had told her. He had nothing to gain with a lie, and in truth, Arthur had been given to such foolishness. He was a headstrong and belligerent man, and had found trouble with it in the past. To imagine him insisting on a duel was no hard thing.

At last Elizabeth raised her head and was met with the inevitable fussing. She insisted that she was alright, wrestling in herself with the problem of what to do. Were she to spill the whole story to her beloved parents, how would it leave them? Could her dear Mama even cope with such an end to her darling son?

She kept quiet for the moment, telling them she was awfully tired and wished to go to bed as soon as possible. Unable to argue with her, given her recent condition, Mary and Lady Shelley reluctantly gave her up to her bedroom, leaving her there in the quiet darkness.

She cried quietly for some hours, then at last managed to sleep. When she awoke, there was a new drive within her. Before going to breakfast she quickly took up pen and paper, and summoned a servant to deliver a note for her, in secrecy and with haste.

Lord Richard,

Your story took me by surprise, but I do not doubt the truth in it. I fear I must apologise for my behaviour towards you, believing myself the wronged party. Now I understand that it was my brother’s wild ways that sealed his own fate.

I regret what has happened between us, and I wish we might start anew. Would you ever consider calling me friend? I was fond of the Lady Margaret once and I should like to make both your acquaintance again, if it would please you.

Yours, and with much regret,

Lady Elizabeth Shelley

The mood at breakfast was sombre. Lord Shelley was furious, Elizabeth could see that; but whenever his anger boiled up to the point that he would speak it, Lady Shelley made sure to tap him on the shoulder or the leg, quieting him once more. He scowled into the paper and into his eggs, and finally strode scowling out of the room to be gone for the rest of the day.

“Your father is not best pleased at your choice of dance partners, Elizabeth,” her mother said carefully once he was gone. “I should make sure not to repeat the occasion, if I were you.”

Elizabeth said nothing, but held her tongue and went to work on some embroidery that she had underway.

It was a little after noon that another message came, returning from Lord Richard with a hurried hand.

Lady Elizabeth,

To receive your letter gives me great joy. For a year it has weighed heavy on my heart that your family sees me with such malice. I hope you know that it was never my intention to harm Lord Arthur, and that his death weighs as heavily on me as it must on you.

Lady Margaret and I would happily receive you on the morrow if you are able. My father Lord Spencer is unwell and is not fit to receive guests, but in his stead I am to play host. We should also like to see Lady Mary Percival if she is to come with you.

Yours faithfully,

Lord Richard Spencer

Her heart leapt into her throat, and she caressed the page where his words fell. She felt a sudden excitement now, a sincere wish to see him and to be in his company again. She lied to her mother about receiving a letter from Mary that invited her as a guest to luncheon, and made up her mind to take the carriage first to find her friend and second to the Spencer house.

Lord Richard,
she wrote back,

Lady Mary and I will call upon you in the early afternoon. I have so much wish to renew my affections with you and your sister. I can barely wait to resume the cordiality that we enjoyed some year since!

Lady Elizabeth Spencer

The morning was a mass of anticipation, so heavy she could hardly bear it. She excitedly related everything to Mary in the carriage on the way to see Richard, but not before Mary revealed her own news: that Lord Heyer had visited her the day before, asked her father’s permission, and then entreated her hand in marriage. She had of course accepted, and so their engagement was at last official.

The two women were almost giddy as the carriage pulled to a stop outside the Spencer mansion, and they had to calm themselves before they were able to step down and into the house.

“Lady Elizabeth,” Richard said with considerable warmth, greeting them as soon as they were inside. “And Lady Mary, of course. Please, come join my sister and I for some tea.”

“She is soon to be the Lady Heyer,” Elizabeth informed him gaily.

“Well, then great congratulations are in order,” Richard smiled, leading them into an airy room where Lady Margaret sat already in front of the teapot.

Elizabeth allowed them to talk together about Mary’s engagement, it being the new topic at hand, and sat a little back from the conversation. She observed Richard, how he was kind and graceful. He knew exactly what to say, and kept the talk flowing freely. She found that she wanted to dance with him again, very much.

At length they decided to walk in the gardens, and Elizabeth found herself walking alongside Richard while Mary chattered to Margaret ahead of them.

“I am much in your debt, Lady Elizabeth,” Richard said. “Margaret is cheered greatly to see your both, and my heart also sings to see this house full of laughter again.”

“I only feel so foolish,” Elizabeth sighed. “All of this time, and my own love for him did not allow me to see the truth of my brother’s end. Somehow I had him raised up as an innocent, and you the blackest devil.”

“It is natural only,” Richard replied, smiling wryly. “I myself confess that I thought my sister the purest angel, lead astray by a scheming ruffian. But I know she is keen for romance, and engagement, and all of the rest of it. I blame the novels she reads. Some of them are quite more than I am comfortable with.”

“Are you, sir?” Elizabeth asked, before instantly regretting how forward the question was.

“Am I…?” Richard repeated.

“Keen for romance… forgive me, I spoke out of turn.”

Richard paused, and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I think I am keen for romance, Lady Elizabeth. Perhaps while we are out of earshot of the others, you will forgive my slip of manners if I say that I have always admired your beauty.”

Elizabeth was breathless for a moment. “I could forgive that entirely,” she finally managed.

“And if I went on to say that you have been, for these years, the dearest object of my admiration?” Richard added quietly. “That it has burned my heart the strongest that your gaze turned away from mine, out of all those who did so?”

Elizabeth stopped walking for a pace, then gathered herself and carried on. “Lord Richard…” she began, heart hammering in her chest. She looked up and met his eyes, and saw that she had no need to finish what she was saying.

“Lady Elizabeth, let me be clear,” Richard said ardently. “I am no scoundrel, ruffian, or cad. I am a man who makes his word and keeps it. Though I know that our families are at odds, it has been my wish for some time to pursue your hand in marriage. It was, I know, my dear late mother’s wish that our houses would join, and I fear that is why she encourage friendship between Lord Arthur and my sister. I make no proposal now, for I know I must seek and win the approval of your father. For that I may need some help, and also some time. Still, I am determined to do it.”

“Lord Richard,” Elizabeth said breathlessly, clutching his hand. “I know now you are a good man. My father can be merciless, but he does not know how my brother acted in his final moments. If everything is made clear to him, perhaps then…”

Margaret turned her head to check that the two of them were still following, and they let go of one another’s hands abruptly. Until they were truly engaged, of course, it was not proper. They walked in silence for a few minutes, listening to the idle chatter ahead of them and contemplating the confessions they had made.

“I will say nothing more,” Richard told her. “I know our situation is a difficult one. I only hope that we can resolve it to the good of both our hearts. I hope you will write me when you feel your father may entertain my visit – or at least before then, just to converse.”

Elizabeth returned home with a singing in her whole body, feeling light as air. As soon as she came through the door, however, she was met with a rather different scene to the one that she had left.

Her father was home again, and this time his rage would not be stoppered. He pulled her into his study and railed at her there, holding forth at length on his disappointment and shock.

He knew everything: the dance, the secret letters, the meeting. Everything but the truth that she had understood. He shouted until he was half-hoarse, even while Elizabeth’s mother pulled at his arm. He denounced everything: her indecorous behaviour at meeting with him in secret, her betrayal of the family name, her liaison with a man who would never be accepted into the house. Elizabeth merely sank to the floor in tears, trying to explain herself in-between great gasping breaths. He would not hear a word of it. The longer he shouted, the more she understood that Richard’s offer of marriage would never be heard. Lord Shelley banished her upstairs to her bedroom, and warned her that she would not be leaving the house or writing to anyone without supervision.

“Oh, Papa,” she cried, sinking onto her bed in utter despair. “Oh, if only I could help you to understand!”

Chapter 5

It was two days later when Richard arrived at the door of the Shelley house, requesting an audience with Lord Shelley. Elizabeth had been kept under lock and key, and he had grown worried when he did not hear from her. A messenger had been turned away, and at last he had made up his mind to see for himself what was going on.

She had tried to make herself heard, but none would listen. Her father was in such a rage that even her mother would not dare to hear her complaints. Whenever she tried to tell them the truth about Arthur, she was met only with wailing or denouncing, and not a word would be accepted. She was beginning to despair, particularly without the ability to so much as write to Richard.

From her bedroom window, Elizabeth looked out over the courtyard in front of the house, her heart soaring to see Richard arrive on horseback. She was overjoyed to see him, thinking perhaps that this would be the time for everything to be resolved. Her heart rose to her mouth when she saw her father rush out to meet him, shouting and gesturing with his hands – and soon she despaired once more.

“The audacity! – to come here!” she made out, but it was difficult to hear Richard’s reply. She wanted to open the window, but it was bolted shut. The only thing she could do was strain with all her might through the glass.

Richard was gesturing with his hands out in front of him, palms open, and he had swept off his hat in a gesture of respect. Lord Shelley seemed to be done with his tirade, and was turning on his heel to go back inside the house.

“Please, Lord Shelley!” Richard finally shouted, and Elizabeth watched with a hand over her mouth. “I came to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

That was all she could take. Knowing she would be chastised, Elizabeth all the same ran for the door of her room, bounding down the stairs as fast as she could so that she could get down to them.

Lord Shelley strode back inside the house as she approached the bottom of the stairs, and Richard followed him, the three of them joined by Lady Shelley wearing a look of shock.

“I don’t know who you think you are!” Lord Shelley bellowed. “Coming to my daughter with nothing to offer her – a paltry living no doubt – and you the killer of her own brother!”

“I can offer her much,” Richard insisted. His words were frantic, desperate. “My father has suffered a short illness, and passed away not two days ago. I stand before you as Duke Spencer. I can provide for her fully.”

Lord Shelley turned on him again in a rage. “You shall provide nothing, sir,
nothing!
No daughter of mine shall ever be a Spencer!”

“Father, please!” Elizabeth burst out, running forward from her position.

“What is this?” Lord Shelley demanded, spitting out each word as if it were made of the purest poison. “You are smitten with him? You? You design to be his wife?”

“Father, please, he is not what you think,” Elizabeth begged. “He is a good man!”

“You will make your choice, Elizabeth,” her father shouted, cursing roundly. “Either your family and the memory of your brother, or this Duke Spencer!”

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment; behind her, her mother choked out a sob of horror. They stood there a moment – Richard with his black jacket of mourning and his eyes revealed to her now as they really always had been; her father, bristling and shaking with rage, his face red and contorted; and Elizabeth, clad only in a simple day dress and with no more belongings to hand than a small bonnet she had snatched up on her way out of her bedroom.

“Come with me now, Elizabeth,” Richard said, into the silence. “We shall be married before the week is out, and you my Duchess.”

Elizabeth knew in her heart what she had to do. She turned all of a sudden and clutched her mother’s hands, planting a kiss on her cheek – a farewell. Then she gathered her skirts and ran past her father’s outstretched arm, taking Richard’s hand as they ran together to the waiting horse.