This blasted ball at the assembly room couldn't happen soon enough to satisfy him. He rushed Parker through the chore of readying him for the event and was pacing the floor of his parlor two hours earlier than necessary.
Will peeked inside the room, grinning ear to ear. "Ready, are you?"
His blasted brother wasn't even dressed to go. "Why aren't you?"
"It's hardly time," Will responded, dropping onto a light blue settee. "Relax."
"Get dressed," Simon ordered.
Will simply chuckled. "For God's sake, Simon, you're wound more tightly than a child's top. Have a drink or something to calm your nerves."
Simon glowered at him. "You could just meet me there."
"Or I could stay away completely," his brother suggested with a grin.
"That's a fabulous idea," Simon replied, starting for the door. Then he threw over his shoulder, "I wish you'd declined the invitation to begin with. I'd much rather have Lily here tonight."
"You are a man besotted."
"Just anxious. I want to discuss a proposition with her."
"A proposition?" Will echoed. "Down on one knee and the whole bit?"
Simon stopped short. Marriage. He wished it could be that. It wasn't even safe to keep her in Hampshire, but to live with him day in and day out, to be his wife… He couldn't put her in that sort of danger. If anything ever happened to her, he'd never forgive himself. "I didn't say 'proposal.'"#p#分页标题#e#
Will's blue eyes seemed to stare right into him. "You're making a mistake."
"You keep saying that, and I have yet to ask for your advice." Simon quit the room and headed out of the house.
He stepped lightly down the steps, anxious to be inside the coach, on his way to Lily.
"Your Grace." His coachman bowed, then opened the door of his carriage.
"Langley Downs," Simon instructed him.
He had a good twenty minutes before he reached the Hawthornes' estate, and he leaned his head back against the squabs, closing his eyes. Lily hadn't made any comments about wanting to marry him, just that she didn't want him to send her away. Everything would be fine, if he could just see her again.
When he arrived at Langley Downs, Simon nearly bowled the old butler over on his way inside. "Y-your Grace," the man stuttered, righting himself.
"I'd like to see Miss Rutledge," Simon announced.
The butler shook his head. "Miss Rutledge and Miss Hawthorne are preparing for the ball. Would you like to wait for them in the parlor?"
He'd like to stomp right up the Hawthornes' stairs, knock down Prisca's door, and throw Lily over his shoulder… Though he didn't really have a choice. "The parlor?"
The Hawthornes' butler nodded. "We have a full house today, Your Grace."
"Indeed?" Simon soon found himself at the threshold of Langley Downs' yellow parlor. One, two, three, four… Every Hawthorne brother was in attendance, save one. "Where's Blaine?" he asked in way of greeting.
Emory looked up from his perusal of The Times. "Still at Cambridge. How are you, Simon?" He stood, crossed the room, and offered his hand, which Simon clasped.
Every other Hawthorne brother offered his welcome and then went back to his previous activity. Garrick and Pierce returned to their game of chess, and Darius focused his attention on a piece of foolscap.
"Brandy?" Emory asked him, as he headed for a decanter.
Simon nodded. What were they all doing here? Emory was generally the only one in residence. "What brought everyone home?"
Emory handed him a tumbler and shrugged. "Prisca, it seems, is intent on finding a husband for your Miss Rutledge, and she thought to start with us."
Simon nearly broke the glass in his hands. He had to rein in his control to keep from doing so. "She what?"
Emory smiled. "Did you really bestow a grotesquely large dowry on the chit? That doesn't seem like you."
They'd never discussed amounts. Although Lily said she wouldn't accept even a farthing from him. Simon's vision got bleary. Lily wouldn't do this. How many times had she told him she wanted to stay?
"You all right, Blackmoor?" Emory asked, concern in his voice.
Simon nodded. "I'm, uh, just surprised she told anyone, is all." Why would she have told Prisca Hawthorne, of all people? He would strangle any Hawthorne brother who thought he could take Lily from him.
"So it is true?"
"I said it, yes." Could he take it back? March up the stairs and demand she forget any man except him? That idea had promise. "I would like to see Miss Rutledge."