Courting Miss Lancaster (20 page)
Read Courting Miss Lancaster Online
Authors: Sarah M. Eden
“Then you won’t be kidnapping me after all?” Athena asked, her eyes twinkling and alive again. The weight he’d seen there only that afternoon as he’d observed her in the drawing room had vanished, and Harry’s heart sang with relief.
“No. But I would very much like to marry you,” he said. “I have loved you without hope for so long. And now . . . Adam and Persephone approve. All I need to know is if you love me—if you love me enough to marry a man who has absolutely nothing to offer you.”
“You have yourself to offer, Harry,” Athena corrected. “That is what I want.”
“Will you marry me, my love?”
Athena smiled as brightly as Harry ever remembered seeing and nodded.
In an instant she was in his arms, holding tightly to him and laughing joyously. It was music.
“Are you two almost done in there?” Adam’s voice penetrated the cocoon of privacy Harry had felt surrounding them in the same instant the door opened. “You could have gotten married and raised half your family in the amount of time you’ve taken.”
Harry kept Athena in his arms as he chuckled and faced his friend. “We’ve only been in here ten minutes, Adam.”
“Long enough for me to insist you marry her,” Adam pointed out. “I’ll get you a special license. You can be married tonight. We’ll wrap this up, and we can all go home.”
“No, Adam,” Harry said. “Post the banns, we’ll marry at Falstone Chapel. At Christmas.”
“Christmas!” Adam stepped closer to them, his stance defiant. “That is a full month away, you sniveling worm.”
“It will be a very busy month, I assure you.” Harry tightened his hold on Athena, even kissing the top of her head.
Adam’s expression shifted into the seething, bubbling calm that always indicated he was moments from slicing some unsuspecting person’s throat. “
Busy
in what way?” he asked, his eyes pointedly moving to Harry’s arms wrapped very snuggly around Athena.
“Nothing untoward, I assure you. I simply think Athena ought to be courted like any young lady would wish to be.” Adam raised an eyebrow. “Under the watchful eye of her guardian, of course,” Harry added.
“You mean I have to watch this sentimental muck?” Adam looked absolutely repulsed. “For an entire month!”
“I am certain Persephone would take turns with you.” Harry could feel Athena laughing as he spoke.
“I will not have Falstone Castle turned into a monument to romantic nonsense,” Adam declared, spinning back toward the door. “Persephone!”
She slipped in from around the corner, grinning in obvious amusement. “Yes?”
“He wants a month.” Adam pointed at Harry. “A month of
that
.”
“They are courting, dear,” Persephone laughed. “
That
is to be expected.”
“Yes, well, being thrown in the dungeon or hanged in the gibbet is also to be expected,” Adam threatened. “Worthless heap of rubbish,” he ended on a mutter.
“I am certain you can find ample distractions, Adam,” Persephone said.
“I should have thrown him out decades ago.”
“Yes, you probably should have,” Persephone replied. “But now you are stuck with him. It is best you endure until he takes his bride home.”
“And I will not wait around until that pile of rotting timbers on his estate is livable, you hear me?” Adam gave Harry a very pointed look. “Pick any Kielder holding—except the Castle—and take yourselves off as soon as the register is signed. Live there as long as it takes. I will not endure the sight of newlyweds.”
It was an offer of a place to live until Harry’s estate was put to rights. Harry recognized that, as well as the need Adam felt to justify the generosity by cloaking it in a mask of irritation. Life had not been kind to Adam, but Harry was realizing that he, himself, was fortunate indeed. He would never have thought while he was being pummeled by a gang of bullies his first year at Harrow that the beating would prove to be one of the best things that had ever happened to him. Adam had come to the rescue then, and the friendship that followed had changed Harry’s life for the better.
“In the interest of our continued existence, I’ll do just that,” Harry assured Adam, smiling his gratitude, knowing Adam would not appreciate having it spoken out loud.
Adam nodded, precisely the way he always did when acknowledging what Harry had left unspoken.
“I believe if we put our minds to it, we could leave for Falstone Castle in the morning,” Persephone said. “If we pack the essentials and have the staff send up the rest afterward, we could manage it.”
“Perfect,” Adam declared. “First light, Harry.”
Harry nodded. Adam had always taken him to Falstone to save Harry the cost of taking a public conveyance. The trip would be even more appreciated than before with Athena there for company.
“And you can get on with the business of courting your future wife.” Persephone smiled.
“Gladly,” Harry answered.
Persephone and Adam stepped from the room first. Harry lifted Athena’s hand to his lips. With the door open, kissing her as he truly wished to was no longer an option.
“Oh, Harry,” Athena said. “All those years I prayed that I would find a wonderful, loving gentleman. I watched and waited and worried. And all along, the answer was you.”
Harry smiled at her. He rather enjoyed being the answer to a prayer. “Sometimes, I think heaven has to hit us over the head to get our attention. Adam regularly takes on that duty himself.”
“I love you, Harry,” Athena said, touching his face with the hand he was not holding.
“And I love you,” he answered, squeezing her fingers before pulling her arm through his and walking quite properly with her on his arm.
“Are you really going to court me?” Athena asked, smiling at him.
“Quite extensively,” Harry confirmed. “I only hope I meet the requirements on that rather long list of yours.”
“You should,” she answered. “You’re the one who wrote it for me, after all.”
“So I did,” Harry chuckled. “And I believe we ought to work on a few more specific items for that list.”
Athena’s cheeks pinked once more, something Harry thoroughly enjoyed seeing. “Will I like these specifics?”
“You will love these specifics.”
Athena leaned against his arm. “I think we are going to be very happy, Harry.”
“Yes. And we are going to make Adam absolutely miserable for the next few weeks.”
“I think that sounds delightful.”
Harry stopped in the midst of the hallway, checking quickly to see that they were alone. Courting, after all, invariably involved a few stolen kisses. “It will be entirely delightful,” he said and kissed her quite thoroughly.
Life, at times, could be very nearly perfect.
About the Author
Sarah M. Eden read her first Jane Austen novel in elementary school and has been an Austen Addict ever since. Fascinated by the Regency era in English history, Eden became a regular in the Regency section of the reference department at her local library, painstakingly researching this extraordinary chapter in history. Eden is an award-winning author of short stories and was a Whitney Award Finalist for her novel
Seeking Persephone
(2008). You can visit her at www.sarahmeden.com.
Photo by Claire Waite.
Other Books by Sarah M. Eden
THE KISS OF A STRANGER