Nellie's Heartbreak by Rosie Clarke

Author:Rosie Clarke [Clarke, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2021-05-04T22:00:00+00:00

There was going to be a storm; it had been stiflingly hot all day and I’d been baking for hours. Now I felt that I must go outside in the air for a few minutes or I would die.

‘I’m going for a walk,’ I said to Mrs Jermyns. ‘I need a breath of air.’

‘You have looked a bit peaky for a couple of days,’ she replied. ‘I hope you aren’t sickening for anything.’

I shook my head. I knew exactly what was wrong. It was two days since I’d run away from Lucas and since then my heart had felt as if it were breaking. We had met once or twice as he came from his father’s room but he’d passed me without speaking, averting his eyes as if he could hardly bear to look at me.

But perhaps it was best that way. Lucas couldn’t have been thinking clearly when he’d asked me to marry him. He was a rebel and spent his life so wrapped up in his work that perhaps the differences between our worlds meant little to him. In his lordly arrogance he might even believe that he could step over the divide and carry me back with him, but in my heart I knew better.

It was much cooler outside than in the stuffy kitchen. I stood breathing in the sweet night air, then decided I would go for a walk to ease the tension which had been building inside me for the past two days.

I had the key to the wild garden in my pocket. My fingers reached for it, rubbing the smooth metal. Why shouldn’t I go there? It was my favourite place, somewhere I could be alone. I unlocked the gate, leaving it on the latch after I’d gone through; there was no point in locking it at this time of night, the gardeners had finished hours ago and no one else was likely to be about.

As always the peace of the old garden relaxed me. It was my fault that Lucas was angry with me. I’d been too quick to accuse him of dishonesty, but his suggestion that we should marry had aroused a sharp longing and hope: a hope that was dashed by the chill of reality all too soon.

Lucas had spoken on impulse. We were both very aware of the strong physical pull between us, but he knew that I would resist all attempts at seduction. His declaration had been a desperate measure and one he must already have come to regret.

I had been thinking of him when I’d said everyone would be against a marriage between us, but my family also would find it difficult to accept. Even Alice – who was my friend – would be shocked.

I had been walking for some minutes when the smell of cigarette smoke suddenly alerted me to the fact that I was not alone. It was that odd smell I’d noticed in the kitchen after I came back from the dance with Tom: an exotic, scented smell.

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