The Colonel's Spinster - Audrey Harrison Page 0,50

made no effort to remove them.

“You brought out the best in her.”

“I think two of us did,” Prudence said, turning to Mr. Huxley. “Her journey north proves how smitten she is with you.”

Fitzwilliam stiffened and took a step away from Prudence. He felt the loss of touching her but needed to dampen down what she was hinting at. “She could have been travelling to you,” he said to Prudence.

“She told Mr. Huxley to come here. She followed him. Yes, she knew she would find a welcome here, but it was not us she was seeking.”

Fitzwilliam looked as if to answer back but instead he turned to Mr. Bamber. “Do you wish me to leave immediately, sir, or am I able to remain until Anne shows further progress?”

“You can stay as long as you wish,” Mr. Bamber said. “I shall leave it up to you to make the decision. You will find no push from me to rid us of your company. It’s only natural you’d want to remain close by for a time.”

“Thank you for your continued hospitality. I would like to make sure Anne is stronger before leaving her,” Fitzwilliam said.

“Why don’t you two accompany Prudence home? I am hardly likely to get any sense out of you for the rest of the day now that you know Miss Anne is improved,” Mr. Bamber said.

As both men were indeed thinking about Anne, they jumped at the chance. Prudence led the way through the factory, acknowledging people as she went. There was no conversation as the noise was too great. Once in the yard their presence caused the same amount of interest as it had when the men had arrived.

“Oooh, Miss Prudence! Found yourself two fine gentlemen, have you? I don’t mind taking one off your hands!” came a cackling cat-call.

“Now, Mary, your Joseph won’t like that, but I will have either of those two,” another responded. “A fine pair. Fancy walking out with a girl who knows how to look after a man, my lovelies? We’ll not be prim and proper, I promise!”

Prudence choked on a laugh as Mr. Huxley and Fitzwilliam both looked abashed.

“Sally, you’re putting them to the blush! Stop your teasing,” Prudence chided.

“I ain’t teasing, Miss Prudence. We don’t often get fine fellows like those two visiting us. I am more than happy to give either of them a friendly welcome.”

“I shall inform Brendon when I next see him, shall I?”

“Ooh, getting territorial, Miss Prudence? Well I can’t blame you. Which one will you choose, or are you yet to make a decision?”

“I am not decided as yet,” Prudence said with a laugh.

“Good on you, girl!” The women laughed and cheered good-naturedly, which although Prudence flushed, she smiled along with them.

Leaving the mill yard, Fitzwilliam sighed. “I did not think we would get out unmauled. They make the women who follow the drum look positively meek and mild.”

“There’s no harm in them,” Prudence assured him.

“Not for you, but for a handsome beast like me…”

Prudence snorted. “Deluded man.”

“But they just pointed out how fine I am. How can you go against those astute women?”

“They say exactly the same to the coal merchant, the waggon boys, and anyone else who has the misfortune of crossing the yard whilst they are outside.”

“I am no better than a waggon boy?”

“Take comfort. She said you were on equal terms,” Mr. Huxley pointed out.

“In that case, I am reassured,” Fitzwilliam said as he climbed into the waiting carriage.

Chapter 17

Anne was still sleeping when the threesome arrived back in Stretford. There was a difference though. It was a natural slumber rather than an unconscious fever. Prudence took up her daily roll of nursemaid on her return and settled in for the afternoon.

Fitzwilliam joined her for a little while. They sat in silence, both watching Anne, but aware of every movement the other made. The atmosphere was not uncomfortable exactly, but there was an unresolved air to it.

After an hour, Prudence leaned forward in her seat. “Anne?” she whispered as a reaction to her cousin’s eyes fluttering slightly.

Both waited, watching and willing the young woman in the bed to awaken. Eventually, she obliged them with a blink and then opened her eyes.

“Prudence?” she croaked.

“Yes, I am here, my dear. Would you like a drop of water?”

Anne nodded slightly, but they could both see that the movement cost her. Prudence wet a cloth and squeezed a drop or two onto the dry, parched lips. “A little at a time,” she soothed when it seemed Anne