The Cockney Sparrow (47 page)

He grasped her hand and his eyes welled up with tears. ‘Really? Do you mean it?’

She nodded emphatically. ‘I’d most likely have to start at the bottom, but that wouldn’t matter.’

Nancy pulled a face. ‘And what would Mr Stone have to say about you cavorting half naked on the stage with them other hussies?’

‘Oh, Nancy,’ Edith said, frowning. ‘Don’t be such an old stick.’

‘Huh! You’re all touched in the head if you ask me. All this soft talk about love and romance – it makes me want to puke.’ She flounced off into the pantry.

‘She’s just jealous,’ Edith said, cuddling up to Ronnie.

Clemency gazed round at their happy faces. Just a short time ago life had seemed intolerable. She had suffered so much at the hands of Marceau and Hardiman, and she had almost lost the man she adored, and who, amazingly, loved her in return. Now it felt as though the terrible times were at an end. Those whom she loved the most, and who had depended on her, were now settled with partners who would love and care for them, taking her place, and allowing her to live her own life. She left them happily discussing their future while she went upstairs to relieve Lady Skelton.

Within a week, Jared was well on the way to recovering his old strength. Isobel was sporting a
minuscule diamond engagement ring as proudly as if it had been the Koh-i-noor, and she and Nick were planning to marry as soon as he had obtained his fellowship and found a permanent position. Jack and Fancy were looking for accommodation closer to the theatre, and planning a quiet wedding in Holborn Register Office, with Ronnie and Edith booking the same day. It would be cheaper, Edith had said, to have a double celebration in the pub afterwards: and, of course, it had to be the Crown and Anchor. After all, who would make a more fitting best man than Jack’s brother, Ned? Edith confided in Clemency that, during the dreadful time when she was missing and they did not know her fate, she and Nell had made their peace, and renewed their friendship.

It seemed that Nancy was still sulking and pretending that she did not want anything to do with all the fuss, but Clemency smiled secretly when, one afternoon, she saw her poring over a rather old copy of
The Milliner and Dressmaker
with Edith, and chatting as excitedly as a young girl over the possibility of a new hat or perhaps a new dress for the coming nuptials.

She went upstairs to find Jared alone in his study. He was so absorbed in perusing some papers on his desk that he had not heard her enter, and she crept up behind him, covering his eyes with her hands.

‘Clemency.’

‘How did you know it was me?’

He twisted her round with his good arm so that she fell onto his lap with a squeal of protest. ‘I would know you in a crowd of a million women.’ He nuzzled her throat. ‘You smell so good that I could eat you.’

‘I’m not sure you should say such things to me.’ She giggled as he nipped her throat gently with his teeth. ‘You are a wicked man, Jared Stone. Taking advantage of a poor girl.’

His lips claimed her mouth in a kiss that made her senses soar and sent the blood pulsating through her veins. She wrapped her arms round his neck, responding to his embrace with mounting desire. She wanted him more than she would ever have believed possible, but the shadow of Marceau lingered in her memory, and she pulled away.

He stared at her with a dazed expression clouding his eyes. ‘What’s the matter?’

She turned her head away, unable to look him in the face. ‘I’m not the same girl I was before he – before he forced himself on me. I’m tarnished by what he did to me.’

‘It wasn’t your fault.’

She shook her head. ‘I wanted you to be the first man to make love to me. I was yours, body and soul, but he spoilt all that.’

‘Look at me, Clemency.’ Turning her head
slowly, she raised her eyes to his. She saw nothing in them except love and admiration. ‘If there was any fault, apart from that brute who raped you mercilessly, it was mine for introducing him to you in the first place.’ His eyes darkened but he held her gaze. ‘My darling girl. I placed you in danger by playing my own selfish games with the Frenchman. You suffered for my desire for revenge and retribution.’

‘But you didn’t get your family home back.’

‘Damn the family home! You are the only home I need, my love. You are my family, my love and my life. Without you I am nothing. All I want is to make you happy.’ He ran his hand through her hair and drew her into a long and tender embrace, so that it seemed to Clemency that they lived and breathed as one. When at last he released her lips, he looked deeply into her eyes. ‘All the game playing is over. I’m asking you, most humbly, to be my wife.’

She stared at him for a moment and an irrepressible giggle escaped from her lips. ‘Humbly? You?’

His serious expression melted into a smile. ‘Will you, Clemency? Will you marry me?’

‘And make an honest man of you?’

‘I’m not sure I could go that far. Not with a wife to support.’

She twined her arms around his neck, interlacing her fingers behind his head. ‘Of course I’ll
marry you, Jared. But on one condition.’

His eyes widened and then crinkled into laugh lines at the corners. ‘What condition is that, my love?’

‘That we don’t steal any more. I can go back on the stage. I can earn enough money to keep us, especially if we leave this big house and find something smaller. You could still do the charitable fundraising, but without keeping any of it for ourselves.’

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘My God, Clemency. You’ll have me in holy orders next.’

‘Don’t laugh at me. I’m serious.’

He kissed her on the tip of her nose. ‘I’m not laughing at you. I’d already decided that we couldn’t go on as we were. I don’t want my wife to run the risk of arrest every time we go out in public. We’ll be a respectable couple, darling. I’m not sure about you going back on the stage, though.’

‘But I want to, Jared. I want to prove that I can be as good as Dorabella Darling. And anyway, I’ve promised Augustus that he can be my manager. I can’t let him down.’

For a moment, she thought he was going to argue, but he kissed her again, slowly and sensuously, until she was melting with desire. ‘All right, I agree that you can’t let Augustus down. I won’t stand in your way. As long as I have you, my darling, I don’t care if you are La Moineau or
plain Mrs Jared Stone. I will always love you.’

‘And I you.’ Clemency slithered off his lap. She moved towards the door, holding out her hand. ‘I don’t want to shock your grandmother, but I would really like you to make love to me properly – in your – I mean our bed. Even though it is broad daylight.’

Jared rose to his feet and took her hand in his. ‘Grandmama is not easily shocked.’

She was about to open the door but she hesitated, casting a wary glance at his injured arm. ‘Perhaps we ought to wait after all. I don’t want to hurt your bad arm.’

He slipped his arm around her waist. ‘I think I could bear the pain, my love. I could bear anything except the pain of separation from you for one moment longer than necessary.’

Clemency stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips. ‘That sounds like a life sentence, Mr Stone.’

‘In your hands, the future Mrs Stone, I’ll take my punishment like a man.’

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