The Beast and the Baron's Daughter Page 5

  “I can still hardly believe that he agreed to it,” Ariadne whispered into her ear as the two of them made their way arm in arm down the great sweeping staircase into the entrance hall. “He has changed so much in these last weeks. I cannot thank you enough, Jane.”

  Jane, who had been secretly studying Nathaniel as he stood by the door ready to greet his guests, was taken aback.

  “Oh, it is not my doing, My Lady. You have worked tirelessly to arrange each and every one of these events. I have only hovered in the background hoping to help.”

  “I am not talking about the events, my dear.” Ariadne’s whisper became quieter still and Jane struggled to hear her. “Something about you has changed him and changed him for the better.”

  There was not time for Jane to answer for they had reached the bottom of the stairs and Nathaniel was smiling over at them.

  “Are you ready to greet half the county, Nephew?” Ariadne said in a booming voice.

  “Yes, despite the fact that I had declared I would never host a ball here again, I am ready to greet half the county, Aunt, thank you,” he said and bowed with amusing exaggeration.

  “Well, I have no doubt we will see you in the ballroom when you have finished with the pleasantries,” she said and smiled at her nephew, clearly sure that he was now better able to deal with whatever came his way.

  Without a word, Nathaniel smiled at Jane and she nodded in return, hoping that he would understand her wordless encouragement. He really had come a very long way in six short weeks. But she had been changed also in that time, had she not?

  Jane and Ariadne had been in the ballroom for almost an hour before she set eyes on Nathaniel again. It really was well attended, and she had no doubt at all that he was truly exhausted from making more greetings in an hour than he had made in the last eight years.

  He strode into the ballroom straight-backed and proud, more handsome than she had ever seen him. He wore an austere black tailcoat and waistcoat with a crisp white shirt and pale cream breeches. The angry purple skin on his face was nothing more than another way to recognize him, she realized. It neither added nor detracted from the man, it simply was.

  Her heart felt light as she was certain he would spend their last evening almost exclusively in her company. She and Lady Ariadne were due to leave the following afternoon and Jane could hardly think about it without tears springing into her eyes.

  So, when Nathaniel was waylaid by Lady Penhaligon and directed in the direction of her daughter with seeming pleasure, Jane felt her heart sink.

  It was not that she detected any particular fondness on Nathaniel’s part for Lady Penhaligon’s daughter, quite the opposite in fact. But she could see that the evening might not go as she so dearly hoped, and she began to wonder if she would spend any time with him at all. Perhaps it had been foolish to think that she would, for it was the first ball he had hosted in years and it seemed that everybody was key to have a little time with the Earl of Sotheby.

  “Now then, I must have a few words with Mr. Lawton. He is investing a little money for me and I know it is vulgar to speak of such things at a ball, but I have a few guidelines for him that I have been keen to insist he follow. Will you manage for a few minutes without me?”

  “Yes, Lady Ariadne. I had thought to get a little fresh air for a few moments anyway,” Jane said, relieved to have the opportunity to make herself scarce for a little while.

  Keeping to the edges of the ballroom, Jane made her way out through the door and along the corridor to the morning room. She opened the French windows and took just a few steps onto the terrace. Looking up into the dark sky she could see the silvery moon, not quite full, but not far off.

  “It is a fine and clear night, is it not?” Jane gasped and turned to see Nathaniel standing behind her. “Forgive me, I did not mean to startle you.”

  “Not at all, Lord Sotheby. I had just come out for a little air.”

  “And I had just come out to escape Lady Penhaligon’s daughter. It seems that you are not the only one who can quickly become used to a scarred face.”

  “I see,” Jane smiled.

  “I think I understand what it was you were trying to tell me so many weeks ago about acceptance. It is not exactly that people learn to live with the way I look but rather they forget I ever looked any different. It is a more organic sort of acceptance, I suppose; a natural and unthinking acceptance.”

  “Yes, that is it!” Jane said, pleased to finally have the sentiment she had long tried to express put into words perfectly. “The scars are neither here nor there, they just are. They only make a difference if you choose it to be so.”

  “And I have chosen it to be so for far too long,” he said and took a step towards her.

  “But then I suspect that you have chosen to see yourself a certain way for far too long also.”

  “I do not understand,” she said, realizing he was but inches away from her and fighting a most inappropriate urge to reach for him.

  “You are not a servant, Jane,” he said, using her Christian name for the first time. “You are a baron’s daughter and you always will be.”

  “I think that is coming back to me now. Such a change in life comes as something of a shock, I suppose. But then there would be nobody who understands that better than you, I am sure.”

  “I am only glad to be coming out of that shock now. It is nice to find myself on the other side of all my grief.”

  “I am pleased to hear that.”

  “Then perhaps you would care to meet me on the other side of your grief, Jane?”

  “I do not understand,” she said, feeling her heartbeat quicken.

  “Jane, I cannot bear the thought of you leaving tomorrow. I know you must, but I should like to know that you are returning.”

  “I am certain that your aunt will be an ever-present visitor now that things have changed.”

  “I know, but that is not exactly what I meant.” He paused and cleared his throat and seemed a little awkward for the first time in weeks. “Jane, I know we have only known each other these last six weeks, but we have spent more time in each other’s company than most people can ever hope to do before marrying. I suppose I have given myself away a little, but since I do not see you making ready to run away, I shall ask my question. Jane Briars, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

  “Oh, my goodness,” Jane said, finding herself suddenly shaking and crying all at once. “Of all the things, I had not expected that. As much as I have changed in these last weeks, I still would never have believed that a man like you could want a woman of such reduced circumstances as me.”

  “Your circumstances are neither here nor there, Jane, they just are,” he said and smiled at her in the moonlight. “A wise young woman once told me something very similar.” He shrugged, and she laughed. “Just moments ago, in fact.”

  “I can hardly believe it.” She took a step towards him and slid her hands into his.

  “I love you, Jane. I love you very much indeed,” he said and leaned forward to gently kiss her on the lips. “For heaven’s sake, will you give me your answer one way or the other?”

  “Yes! Of course, it is yes,” she said and dabbed at her watery eyes with gloved fingers. “And I love you too, Nathaniel.” How good it felt to say his name. “I love you very much.”

  It felt like a dream to stand there on the terrace, the evening air cool and sweet and the silvery moonlight bathing them as they kissed once again.

  Epilogue

  “I bet your staff have a whale of a time when you are away from Brocket Hall, Aunt Ariadne,” Nathaniel said as the three of them sat down to dinner.

  “Are you suggesting that I spend too much of my time here in your home, Nephew?” Lady Ariadne said as she speared a small potato with frightening speed and accuracy.

  “Not at all, it is always a pleasure.” Nathaniel smiled sensibly.

  “Well, if you had not poached my companion, I would not always be under y
our feet,” she said and smiled over at Jane. “Not that you do not make a wonderful couple, for you do.”

  “Thank you,” Nathaniel said and reached out to take his wife’s hand under the table. “I agree wholeheartedly.”

  “Of course, I always knew that you would make a very fine couple.”

  “What do you mean you always knew, Ariadne?” Jane asked, sensing that a great stretching of the truth was about to take place.

  “My very reason for bringing you here to Sotheby in the first place was because I knew that a young woman as wonderful as you would easily make her way into my nephew’s frozen heart.” Ariadne sat tall and rather grand.

  “I cannot help but think that you are making it up, Aunt, but it is a very nice story to believe,” Nathaniel said and chuckled. “And so, I choose to believe it.”

  “Very wise, my dear boy. Very wise.”

  “Nathaniel, can I not give Ariadne our news now?” Jane said, having been excited all day by the prospect of making Lady Ariadne Milford extremely happy.

  “All right, since it seems you cannot wait a moment longer.” He smiled at her, his pale blue eyes fixing hers as they had done every day of their wonderful, dreamlike year of marriage.

  Nathaniel had been right when he said that they had come to know each other better in six weeks than many courting couples did before marriage. Nothing had changed between them, except that they had grown closer and closer together. Even seeing the rest of his scars as they made their way down the right-hand side of his body did nothing to quell her desire for the most handsome man she had ever met in her life.

  “Well, do not leave me in suspense! Out with it!” Ariadne demanded.

  “Ariadne, you are to be a great aunt.”

  “Oh, Jane, you are with child?” Ariadne dropped her knife and fork onto her plate with a clatter and reached for her serviette, immediately dabbing at her eyes with it. “Oh, Nathaniel, how I prayed for this day for so many years.” Suddenly and quite uncharacteristically, Lady Ariadne Milford was sobbing.

  Jane got up from her seat and raced around the table to throw her arms around Ariadne’s neck.

  “Oh, Ariadne, I cannot thank you enough for everything. Had I never come to you, I would never have met Nathaniel. You have no idea what a wonderful thing you have done in bringing us together. You truly are marvelous, and my child will love you as much as I do,” Jane said, blinking back tears of her own.

  “Yes, it looks as if we shall need you here more and more, Aunt. No doubt your staff are going to have more holidays as you help us look after this child of ours,” Nathaniel said, and Jane looked over at him, seeing his pale blue eyes twinkling in the light of the chandelier.

  “I am so happy,” Jane said in a whisper as she looked over at him.

  “And I am so happy. I had never thought I would be happy again,” he said and, as Ariadne buried her face in her serviette, he mouthed the words I love you to his wife.

  And Jane, her hand resting on her old companion’s back, mouthed the words I love you too back to her handsome husband.

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  Love or Title a Lady’s Choice Preview

  Esme Colchester sat at her dressing table contentedly listening to the chatter of her younger sisters. All three of the young Colchester women were looking forward to the garden party at the home of Lord and Lady Hollerton but for entirely different reasons.

  Whilst Jane Colchester hoped for romance and Verity Colchester hoped to see Mrs. Peron to secure an invite to an evening botany lecture, Esme’s wants were a little more serious.

  At nearly one-and-twenty, Esme was looking for a husband, and not just any man would do. Esme Colchester had done her reading and knew every little thing a man ought to have in order to be considered a good prospect.

  “You look a little serious, Esme,” Jane said as she and their maid tried to weave dried flowers through a struggling Verity’s hair. “Oh Verity! Do sit still.”

  “I am not at all serious,” Esme replied reassuringly. “I am very much looking forward to the day. I do so love a garden party, especially when the summer is just beginning.”

  “As do I,” Jane continued. “But I still think you look a little serious; after all, parties of any kind are for fun.”

  “I suppose my thoughts drift to my prospects now and again,” Esme said with a sigh. “Or lack thereof.”

  “How on earth does a beautiful young woman of good breeding lack prospects?” Jane asked incredulously. “There is many a young man in the world who would trip over his own feet to get to you. The problem is, you will not allow them an opportunity. You do not get to know them.”

  “What is the point when they are not suitable?” Esme said a little defensively.

  Her sister, Jane, was a hopeless romantic who would gladly see Esme married to an impoverished poet as long as she loved him.

  “Oh, here we go,” Verity said with an amused laugh in an aside to the maid, Violet, who smiled but wisely remained silent.

  Esme sighed; Jane would never understand her need for such stability when the truth was that she hardly understood it herself. But the fact was that Esme had a very determined view of what a good match looked like, and she had yet to find that most elusive thing for herself.

  “Oh, Esme, I do wish you would give this up. There are many fine young men out there, they do not need to have everything on your list of wants,” Jane said gently. “What is title and privilege against the more important things; character, kindness, and mostly, love?”

  “But I am the eldest daughter, Jane. I really must make a good marriage to give you and Verity the very best advantages. Where one good marriage falls within a family, others are bound to follow. It sets a precedent and it tells society at large that the Colchester family are still very fine. They are still worth marrying.”

  “Of course, we are a very fine family, my dear. And as for myself and Verity, you need not worry. Truly, I would much rather see you marry for love than marry for our prospects. You agree with me, do you not, Verity?” Jane asked and took the opportunity to thread another flower through her younger sister’s hair whilst she was suitably diverted by the question.

  “I wish you would not even think of such things, Esme. I for one want never to marry, it would not suit me at all. And so, you see, you would do me no favors by marrying a man just because he is everything that society finds acceptable. As far as I can see, he need only be acceptable to you.” Verity, just seventeen-years-old, was extraordinarily intelligent. “Enough flowers, Jane. There will be more flowers in my hair than in Lord and Lady Hollerton’s garden.”

  “It is not just for the sake of my sisters, I must admit. There are so many considerations when choosing a husband. And I should so like to find a man who has everything that I have always wished for. Is it really so wrong to want such things? To aspire to a good marriage, even a little title, such fine prospects for my children when I have them?” Esme smiled at her sisters, wondering how it was that three young women brought up so close together could be so very different.

  Jane shook her head. “Of course, it is not wrong to want those things. Forgive me, my dear, I should never have made you feel that it was. You know how I am, you know I am a romantic. I am just worried that you would marry a man for all the things that society sees as good instead of questioning your own heart for your own standards of goodness.” Jane gave up with Verity’s hair and dropped the last of the flowers into her sister’s lap before scowling at her. “You really are a dreadful fidget!”

  “And you are terribly bossy,” Verity complained. “I did not want flowers in my hair, you did!”

  “If I do not marry soon, I will be forced to listen to the pair of you arguing until I am an old maid.” Esme laughed, enjoying the camaraderie which had always existed between them.

  Despite there being three, they never split or formed alliances of two. They were as close as it was possible for sisters to be, wha
tever their differences, and Esme knew that she would miss them dreadfully when the time really did come for her to marry.

  “Is there really such a hurry for you to marry?” Verity said sensibly. “Not to escape your sisters, you understand.” She laughed. “I suppose I do not understand the urgency.”

  “My age, for one thing,” Esme said.

  “But you are still only twenty.” Verity shrugged.

  “There are many young ladies married by my age.”

  “Yes, but when you have time and exceedingly good parents, you have the opportunity to make a good choice. Papa has never put any pressure on any of us to make the sort of marriage that you are hoping for. But my dear, you speak as if you will be an old maid and living here forever. If anyone is going to do that, it is going to be me. And by choice, I might add,” Verity said vehemently. “Dear Amos, he said that I might stay here with him forever when he finally inherits Papa’s estate.”

  “It is true, we are very fortunate in terms of both our parents and our brother. Dear Amos, he would keep all three of us here forever given the opportunity.” Esme smiled. “I wonder if he ever feels left out having three sisters,” she mused, changing the subject for a moment to give herself some respite.

  “I think he considers himself to have the best of both worlds.” Jane laughed. “He can be in our company if he wants and claim us to be silly females and make himself scarce without causing too much offense when he wants to be rid of us. But he is a dear, Verity, just as you say.”

  “But to get back to the original topic of conversation,” Verity said in a most determined manner. “I think you should be very careful not to rush into anything, Esme. You are very beautiful and very clever, and you need not settle upon any man who is not suitable, even if he is titled and will raise our status a little. For having a title or great wealth does not necessarily ensure that sense, intelligence, or any type of interesting character-filled personality at all comes along with it.”