A Trace of Roses by Lynne Connolly

Author:Lynne Connolly
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-04-01T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

WHILE SHE DIDN’T visit him every day, the men at the mine grew used to seeing Dorcas crossing their land, a basket slung over her arm. Some even greeted her, but they never stepped out of line. They seemed to accept her as the sweetheart of the man sent by the duke to assess the new seam of coal.

While Grant held her and kissed her, to Dorcas’ great disappointment, he never allowed himself to get as carried away as that one sweet experience under the shadow of the hedge in the field.

If she were a country maid, she could let him go as far as he wished. She didn’t care. She was finding difficulty accepting all this; that she would be a married woman in a month, that Grant wanted her with a desperation that matched her own, that she would be a duchess, for heaven’s sake.

Not her. Never Dorcas Dersingham.

Had Damaris felt like this? She longed for her sisters, so she could learn what they thought, especially Damaris, who had gone through something similar. But Damaris had the love of her husband. Dorcas wasn’t at all sure that was what she and Grant shared. Passion, certainly. Friendship, yes. But love? What was love, anyway?

As usual, his kiss was sweet, but carefully controlled. Dorcas sighed, but accepted it, and turned to put the food she’d brought on the table. They were in his tent, comfortable by the standards of this camp, but this was the home of a steward, so nobody thought it unusual. Or if they did, they kept quiet. She had even become more used to meeting him without a chaperone.

And her family still had no idea. But then, Dorcas had always spent hours with her plants. She had spread her interests from the mysterious seeds to what the gardeners were planning for the next season.

Grant’s smile warmed her, as it always did. She’d be seeing that a lot more in the future. “Did you tell your family?”

“I sent them a letter,” he said. “And asked them to come to the house. Finally, it’s ready to receive them. When they arrive, this idyll will be over. I’ll have to join them and explain the whole. But my mother will not be allowed to interfere again.”

“Finally?”

A slight shrug accompanied his grin. “Finally. My great-aunt was eccentric, right down to the way she ran her house. It was, and parts of it still is, crammed with—things. Everything. She never threw anything away, and according to the servants, she would scream at anyone who tried to get rid of more than household waste. Women!” He hurried to correct himself. “Except for one, of course.”

She couldn’t penetrate the mystery she suspected surrounded his family, especially his guarded references to his brother. He was very protective of them, but apart from describing his brother as “ill”, he didn’t go into more detail. Dorcas hadn’t questioned him too deeply. Besides, she didn’t want to break the delicious connection she had with him.

Time for reality later.

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