Page 82 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

He almost laughed with relief. He grabbed both her hands. ‘There’s no “but”,’ he said. ‘You love me! And you know I love you. That’s all that matters. We are both free to marry now. Will you marry me?’

Now a faint smile passed across her pale, drawn face like a gleam of sunshine on a winter’s day. ‘What would people say? What would your family say?’

‘You can have no idea,’ he said, ‘of the depth of indifference there is towards me and my affairs.’

‘I don’t believe that for a minute. Can you really imagine me entering the main door of Ashmore Castle as your wife, when I’ve always gone in by the kitchen yard as a servant?’

He hunched his shoulders a little. ‘My wife can enter by any door she pleases. But we needn’t bother much with Ashmore Castle. I have a house of my own, and no-one in Henley knows you.’

‘Your servants do,’ she pointed out.

‘I’ll get new servants,’ he said largely, ‘if you can’t deal with them. But if you’re half the woman I think you are, you’ll manage them all right. So? You haven’t given me an answer. Will you marry me?’

‘I want to—’

‘Then do!’ He lifted her hands to his lips, one after the other, and kissed them. ‘Say yes!’

The rigidness went out of her. ‘Yes,’ she said, on an outgoing breath.

‘With all your heart?’ he insisted.

‘With all my heart. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you, but if you really want me—’

‘You know I do.’ He couldn’t kiss her in this public space, so he kissed her hands again.

They looked at each other for a little while. Then she said, ‘What happens now?’

He thought for a moment. ‘Where have you been staying?’

‘The last two nights at the Ship, across the river.’

‘I don’t know it.’

‘It’s a common alehouse.’

He frowned. ‘That won’t do. We must—’

‘You’re thinking of moving me into the best hotel in Henley, aren’t you?’

He was startled. ‘How did you know?’

‘If you take me there, tongues will wag. And I don’t have the right clothes.’

He thought again. ‘We’ll take the train to Wallingford. No-one knows me there. The Coach and Horses is a decent place, not too fine. And there are shops in Wallingford. You can buy yourself new clothes, just enough for now, until we can get you fitted out properly.’

‘And where will we marry?’

‘In London. The most anonymous place of all. And then you must decide where you would like to go for your honeymoon.’

She looked startled. ‘Honeymoon? You mean like a holiday? I’ve never had a holiday.’

He blinked back tears. ‘Oh, Dory, there’s so much I want to give you.’

‘Well, you can. But not all at once, or I shall be overwhelmed.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Rose was just passing Harriot’s feed and seed store when Michael Woodrow came out and almost bumped into her. He pulled off his hat and said, ‘Good afternoon, Miss Hawkins. And where are you heading this fine day?’