One Night for Love by Mary Balogh

Author:Mary Balogh [Balogh, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-79609-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

15

The afternoon’s post had brought the rest of the replies Neville had awaited. But Lily had been nowhere to be found. She had returned from the village with his mother but had not come down for tea. He was not surprised after he had heard his mother’s account of the afternoon. Being stranded at the vicarage for two hours had severely embarrassed her. He did not doubt that Lily had been gently scolded on the way home.

He would have found the thought of her lengthy absence in the lower village amusing if he had not been feeling so agitated. He had stayed in the drawing room for a scant half hour and had been pacing in the library ever since. It was impossible to settle to any task.

At last there was a tap on the door, it opened, and Lily came past the footman in a rush, it seemed, until she came to a sudden stop before him, flushed and smiling. He held out both hands and she set her own in them.

“Lily.” He raised both hands to his lips and then leaned forward to kiss her lips. But he paused as he was lifting his head away and searched her eyes with his own. “What is the matter?”

She hesitated and her hands gripped his own more tightly. “Nothing,” she said breathlessly. “It was just foolishness.”

“More shadows?” he asked. He had hoped last night would have banished them forever. But he must not expect that it would have solved every problem.

She shook her head and smiled. “You wished to see me?”

“Yes. Come and sit down.” He kept hold of one of her hands and led her to one of the leather chairs that flanked the fireplace. He took the other chair after she had seated herself. “Did my mother upset you? Is that it? Did she scold you?”

“Oh.” She bit her lip. “No, not really. She meant to be kind. She believes I should make more of an effort to behave as the Countess of Kilbourne ought, and of course she is right. I kept her waiting for—oh, for a very long time. I suppose it did not occur to her that I could have walked home.”

No, it would not have. “I would wager,” he said, “that a couple of my tenants were quite delighted with you this afternoon. You have a gift for delighting people.” Himself included.

She gazed at him but did not reply. He felt suddenly nervous and leaned back in his chair. He had not asked her here to discuss the afternoon’s events. He just did not know how to broach what he had to say. He must just say it, he supposed.

“We will be leaving for London in the morning,” he said. “Just you and I, Lily. I thought at first of going alone, but when I gave the matter more careful consideration, I realized it would be better to take you with me.”

“To London?”

He nodded. “I need to procure a special license,” he told her. “I could get it in London and bring it back here and we could marry in the village church.

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