Runaway Miss (26 page)

‘Alex will tell you.’

Alex relayed everything that had taken place since he last left that room with the forged vouchers. He was addressing Lady Tasker because it was she who had asked the question, but he was aware that Sir George’s indolent posture had stiffened and he was sitting forward listening intently.

‘Always knew there was something havey-cavey about him,’ he said when the recital was finished.

‘It did not stop you bargaining away your daughter’s happiness, did it?’ Alex could not help the riposte.

‘Didn’t have a choice, did I? The man said he would ruin me.’

‘Better you should be ruined than your wife’s daughter.’

‘Well, I am sorry for it. Can’t say more than that, can I?’

Alex could think of a great deal more he could say, but decided, for the sake of family harmony, not to press matters. ‘There is one thing you can do, Sir George, and that is give your consent to the marriage of your daughter to me.’

‘You are sure Bentwater is safe in custody?’

‘Certain. And those vouchers will be destroyed. I have the Runner’s word for it.’

‘Then I have no objection, if she is agreeable.’

‘Oh, yes,’ breathed Emma. ‘It is what I want most in the world.’

Alex lifted the hand he had never relinquished to his lips, looking at her over their joined fingers and smiling with a promise of more to come, much more. ‘Thank you, my lady.’

Mrs Summers, who had been sitting by the hearth, suddenly jumped up and rang the bell for a servant. When Lizzie arrived, she sent her for champagne and glasses. ‘We must toast the happy couple,’ she said. ‘When and where is the wedding to be?’

Alex looked at Emma. ‘What do you say, my love? London, Pinehill, Buregreen or here, on the shores of Windermere?’

‘Here, among all my new friends,’ she said. ‘But what about your mother?’

‘I will send for her. And Aunt Augusta, too, and anyone else you would like to attend. Shall we say six weeks from now? That isn’t too soon, is it?’

‘Oh, no,’ she said laughing. ‘Not too soon at all.’

‘Oh, wonderful,’ Amelia said, clapping her hands. ‘It will
be a delight to see my sisters again after so long. And you can ask Lady Standon and your friend Harriet and her husband to come up. I am sure we can find room for them.’

‘And Mr Maddox,’ Emma added to the list. ‘And Mrs Yates and her family and Joe Bland, and the Hurleys, and Pettifers, and Mr Dewhurst and his family. Do you think the Reverend Griggs will perform the ceremony? It is not his fault his son is so objectionable. Anyway, I have forgiven him. I cannot be out of sorts with anyone today.’

‘Bless you,’ Mrs Summers said, as the champagne arrived and Alex dispensed it. ‘I wish you both all the happiness in the world. You deserve it.’

And so it came to pass. Lady Emma Lindsay married Viscount Alexander Malvers in the church at Waterhead, attended by Harriet Graysmith and Lizzie Yates, with almost the whole village and many from Ambleside to witness it. She was dressed in a gown of oyster satin trimmed with pearls. About her slender neck was a string of pearls that Alex had bought her to replace those her father had left her. She was given away by her stepfather, who, relieved of his crippling debts, had vowed never to gamble again, which promise was accepted, even though Alex knew he would have to keep a close eye on him in the future to make sure he kept it.

The fact that Fanny Draper was not Fanny Draper but Lady Emma Lindsay was a nine-day wonder in the area, but so many said they knew all along she was an uncommon sort of lady’s companion, they were not in the least surprised she turned out to be someone of Quality.

The plans for the workshops and the school were all progressing satisfactorily and the newly married couple set off for a wedding trip to Paris and then they would make their home at Buregreen and Alex would take his place in the Lords and campaign for his soldiers, aided by Andrew Graysmith
from the Commons. But they would return to the lakes often, they promised, to visit Mrs Summers, whom Emma had come to love, and Annie and her children, and to go walking on the fells hand in hand, to admire the scenery and remember all they had been through and give thanks it had all ended happily.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-3464-6

RUNAWAY MISS

Copyright © 2007 by Mary Nichols

First North American Publication 2009

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