Saving Her Mysterious Soldier by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-10-13T14:59:14+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Edward waited for Dr Peverett to say something. He’d shared his interest in the cottage as they sipped their port in the quiet of the dining room after supper, the ladies already gone to the music room. He tried to read the doctor’s face and couldn’t. Dr Peverett was a master of the carefully cultivated neutral expression. He did not take that neutrality for apathy. Alfred Peverett was devoted to his children.

‘There are some who might find your enquiries about leasing a cottage illogical, given that you could be leaving us in two weeks,’ Peverett replied, raising a grey brow in question.

‘It’s a fair question, sir.’ Edward wasn’t surprised by the query. Peverett was an intelligent, thoughtful man and he’d sat across the chessboard from him often enough to know Peverett was not precipitate or impulsive. He drew a breath and met the older man’s gaze with the strength of his own. Dr Peverett would not appreciate hesitancy. ‘Leaving is not a foregone conclusion, of which there are three. First, my memories, should they return, might show that I have no reason to leave, that I am free to stay, or they might mean that I need to leave to settle immediate affairs and to apprise a family of my well-being, but that I would be free to return. Only the third option would preclude me from being able to remain in Haberstock.’ The third option tacitly acknowledged the potential existence of a wife.

Peverett’s brow knitted. ‘Remaining in Haberstock is your dearest desire? A small village in the middle of nowhere?’

The man was going to make him say it. ‘I stay for you daughter, sir. I want to court her, but I cannot do that while remaining beneath your roof, nor will my conscience allow me to court her empty-handed. I want her and her family to know that I can provide for her.’

Peverett took time refilling their glasses. ‘This cannot wait another two weeks, once Dr Tresham visits?’

When you might have a name and memories, when we might be more aware of the consequences surrounding a courtship.

‘I am a man who has stared death in the face, sir. I do not want to wait, especially since, as I have laid out above, two chances out of three suggest there is no need to do so.’

‘You are gambling with my daughter’s reputation,’ Peverett said bluntly. ‘I would not like your intentions made public, only to have it revealed that you have a wife and children somewhere.’

Edward fingered his tumbler. Peverett had a point. ‘I think that’s all the more reason I should take the cottage. If that were to be the case, to be out from under your roof would preserve her reputation. I think, either way, taking the cottage is the honourable route now I am healthy and able to live independently.’ He was thinking, too, of Donnatt’s cruel words that he was sponging off the Peveretts’ generosity. He would not want it to be said that he’d married Thea for her settlements, whatever they were.

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