A Lady Never Tells(159)
The earl’s eyes slid over to his cousins. “Do you think she could … manage this situation?”
“Of course.” Vivan smiled at the Bascombe sisters. “You girls will find her delightful. She will not allow you to stumble into any social pitfalls, but neither will she browbeat you.” She turned back to Stewkesbury. “And you will find her demure and practical. Her reputation has always been of the best. She is the perfect chaperone.”
Stewkesbury hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. “All right. Write her and see if she would be amenable to taking charge of them. How soon could she come? I can send Fitz to escort her.”
Vivian lifted an eyebrow.
The earl sighed. “Very well. Will you write to her, please ?”
“Of course.”
“No ‘please’ for me?” Fitz asked.
Oliver rolled his eyes. “You must be joking. Now that all the excitement’s over, you’ll be bored and into some sort of mischief if you don’t have something to do. Besides, it’s exactly the sort of thing you do well—charm middle-aged ladies.” He turned toward Vivian. “She is not very old, is she?”
“Oh, no, not very old,” Vivian replied. Mary saw a flash of something like amusement in Vivian’s eyes before she lowered them to her plate.
“Before we leave,” Royce said, standing up, “I have an announcement to make.” He turned and looked down at Mary. “Miss Bascombe has done me the honor of agreeing to become my wife.”
“About time,” Fitz commented, and the girls broke into cries of delight.
After that, there was much hugging and laughing, even a few tears before gradually everyone began to disperse. Royce and Mary drifted out onto the terrace and stood looking out over the gardens.
“Well,” he said. “We have the day to ourselves now that you are without anyone to give you lessons all day long.”
“And since there is no one hunting us, we can do whatever we want,” Mary agreed. “We could go riding or walking.”
“Perhaps we might visit the summerhouse.”
Mary chuckled at the glint in his eyes. “Maybe we’ll do just that.”
Royce put his arms around her and bent his head, resting his forehead against hers. “Perhaps we should get a special license and not wait for the banns to be read.”
“Hush. We will wait until after Rose is married. She is going to have her special day first. You and I … will manage.”
“I am sure we will.” He kissed her forehead. “God, I love you.” He bent and kissed her lips gently. As he shifted his mouth to kiss her again, she heard him murmur, “I cannot live without you.”
Mary smiled and gave herself up to his kiss. She had come home at last.
Turn the page
for a special look
at the next sparkling Willowmere romance
from
Candace Camp
A Gentleman Always Remembers
Coming next month from Pocket Books
Chapter 1
In a few days she would be gone. Eve Hawthorne could almost taste freedom.
No more lectures from a stepmother only eight years older than herself. No more tight-lipped frowns at a remark deemed too frivolous. No more having to endure the heavy-handed attempts at matchmaking with whatever widower or bachelor her stepmother hoped might be willing to take Eve off their hands.#p#分页标题#e#
When Eve’s husband died two years ago, he had left her, at twenty-six years of age, not only alone but nearly penniless. The Hawthornes had never been renowned for their ability to keep money in their pockets, and Bruce, the youngest son of a middle son of an earl, had had no income beyond his military commission, which had made it even more difficult for him to stay within his means. Eve used what little money Major Hawthorne had left her to pay off his debts, and even then she had been forced to sell their furniture and many of their belongings in order to satisfy his creditors. She had had no recourse but to return to her father’s home to live.
After almost eight years of marriage and managing her own life and household, it would have been hard in any case to have once more become a dependent child, but since Eve’s father had remarried several years earlier, Eve had found herself living not only on the Reverend Childe’s charity but on that of her stepmother as well. It had not been a welcome situation for either woman.
Eve faced her stepmother now, determined to keep a pleasant smile on her face. Surely these last few days they could manage to get along without their usual subtle struggle.
“It is a beautiful day, Imogene,” Eve observed. “Quite pleasant and warm for September. And Julian has finished all his lessons. Did he tell you how well he did in Latin?”