the back of beyond for too long. Hiding away, I suppose.”
“You don’t have to hide from anyone now.”
Eleanor looked doubtful. “I don’t think I could face all those reporters the way you and Ted have. I’d be tongue-tied and embarrass both of you.”
“You couldn’t possibly embarrass either of us. I bet it would be a huge relief to come forward and get it over with. Why don’t you come back to the States with me at the end of the week? I’m leaving on Friday and I can probably get you a ticket on the same plane if I call in a favor or two.”
Eleanor’s hand stiffened. “I…I’m not ready for that.” Once again she felt her mother shrinking away from her. “But I’d very much like to stay in touch with you by phone, and maybe I’ll gradually pluck up the courage to at least come visit you there. And maybe take a trip up to Montana to see all the old friends I’ve avoided for so long. I never told a single soul there about my pregnancy and I’m sure they all wondered what happened when I just disappeared. I stayed in a special home for unwed mothers way outside of town until I was due, and then I took all my saved pennies and left for Chicago after the birth. I couldn’t face any of them knowing I’d given away my own child. Ted’s child. I met Greg there. He’d come from Ireland for the summer to work as a roofer and he swept me off my feet.” Her sad eyes sparkled a little when she spoke about him. “With him I started a new chapter of my life. I never looked back. I felt that if I did I’d fall off some cliff and get swallowed by all the emotion I tried so hard not to feel during that time.” Her pale eyes grew glassy with tears again.
“It’s not good to avoid your true feelings. Sooner or later they’ll come back to bite you. I learned that after my adoptive parents were killed. All that pain is scary, but once you come to terms with it you can move forward. Until then you’re stuck in a place of fear.” She squeezed her mother’s hands, which had softened again.
“You’re very wise, Ariella.”
“I wish I was. I just try to handle one crisis at a time. In my job there’s always another one coming so there’s no point in getting ahead of yourself.”
They laughed, and, taking a cue from the sudden intimacy, Ariella hugged her birth mother for the very first time.
* * *
Simon refused to let Ariella leave England without visiting his home. He promised that he wouldn’t stalk her around London or corner her in private drawing rooms as long as she’d agree to postpone her return flight until the following Monday so she could spend the weekend with him at Whist Castle. He insisted that, in her line of work, staying at one of England’s great country houses counted as research and client cultivation. After a little persuasion, and a conversation with her business partner, Scarlet, she agreed.
He had the staff prepare his mother’s favorite bedroom for Ariella, ostensibly because it had such beautiful views over the lake, but mostly because it had a door connecting it with his own bedroom. It had taken all his gentlemanly self-control to keep all their activities above the neck so far, and he intended to steer them both into unexplored territory this weekend.
His driver brought Ariella up from London on Thursday evening. He had a full schedule of activities planned to keep her entertained and give her a slice of English country life, and he intended to introduce her to the family at a charity polo match taking place nearby on Sunday. This weekend would be an excellent taste of the pleasures and realities of life in the royal family.
The realities, of course, might scare her. There was no denying that his family had rather fixed ideas about whom he should marry. Someone British, with aristocratic heritage and a featureless past that could not draw comment in the press. Of course he’d informed them that he would marry for no reason other than love, but he wasn’t entirely sure they’d listened. He’d been raised to believe that duty trumped all other considerations, including happiness. So far he’d managed to find his own happiness within the confines of his duty, creating opportunities where he saw them. There was no