The Marquess Who Loved Me - By Sara Ramsey Page 0,96

She opened her mouth, ready to offer it…

But then Nick walked through the door.

He looked disheveled, somehow, despite his perfectly tied cravat and impeccable evening suit. But even the best valet couldn’t prevent a man from shoving his hand through his hair too many times. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all. The corners of his mouth turned down with the weight of the thoughts he carried.

Did he want her? Or was he considering how to say goodbye to her?

* * *

He was a coward. He should have sought her out. He should have told her what he felt. But how could he tell her when even he didn’t know for sure?

So he’d avoided her during the day — not a difficult task, as it turned out, since he heard from one of the footmen that she was in her studio throughout the daylight hours. And at dinner, they were seated at opposite ends of the vast table, with forty or so people and more than that number of dishes spread between them.

But there was something different about her. He could barely see her through the candelabras and epergnes and other interfering decorations, but when he did catch a glimpse of her, she seemed to glow. It couldn’t be with happiness. She was too distracted for happiness. But her occasional smile seemed meant for herself, not for either of the guests next to her.

It was a mystery he wanted the answer to. The answer had to wait. Dinner ended. The company dispersed to gather cloaks and hats for the ride into the village. He thought about avoiding the festivities, but Norbury was the only guest who had declined, after claiming he’d caught a chill. Nick would rather keep Ellie in his sights than spend an hour with his least favorite houseguest.

But Ellie slipped away from him, choosing to share a carriage with Lady Christabel and Percy Pickett. Perhaps it was for the best. Whatever he decided to confess to her, he didn’t want an audience for it.

They reached the village just in time for the fireworks. The Folkestone village was a trim, neat little cluster of shops and houses with an open green in the middle. A church flanked one side of it, but he was more familiar with the pub on the other side of the rectangle. If he planned to stay in England, Nick would need to learn more about the town, the tenants, and everyone else in the neighborhood. He would have to put down roots in soil that he’d always assumed would reject him.

But the villagers who bowed and curtseyed to him seemed genuinely pleased that he was there. And for the first time, Nick thought that perhaps spending parts of his year here, rather than in a warehouse or counting room, might be a worthwhile endeavor.

He found Ellie as the first firework shot up into the sky. She was buried deep in the heart of the group, but she stood out for him under the sparkling shower of light. She still had that glow, the one that made him want to learn her secrets.

She had looked almost the same at Vauxhall a decade ago — lit up under fireworks, not knowing that he watched her from the shadows. But on that night, she had been astonished and delighted by everything around her. Now, fireworks were something she could have whenever she wished. She yawned slightly, stifling it with a gloved hand, and looked out over the crowd rather than up at the sky.

He was sad, suddenly, that neither of them seemed to enjoy such simple things as fireworks, or dancing, or a perfect bit of moonlight. But if some fairy came and gave him a choice, he would stay in this moment, not return to that one. She’d been more easily delighted in that life — but she was more certain in this one.

He was old enough now to see the value in certainty. And it didn’t hurt that her father was dead in this life and couldn’t run Nick off like he had at Vauxhall. Nick strolled up to her, but she didn’t tense when he greeted her — if anything, she relaxed.

“So you’re not avoiding me after all?” she murmured.

He could barely hear her voice under the excited chatter around them. He leaned in to her ear. “No more than you are avoiding me.”

She looked up at him. Another firework lit the sky, and her blue eyes were eerie under the sparks.