“That will be shockingly seldom,” he warned. “I am told my days will be spent from morning to night at Lincoln’s Inn. My only time away will be those few hours at night when I am home. There may be a few soirees or balls now and then but very few.”
“I’ll be at all of them you are,” she said. “I will make certain of it.”
“It will never feel like enough,” he said.
She leaned against him. His embrace tightened, and he rested his cheek against the top of her head. Ellie closed her eyes, letting the warmth of him wash over her. He’d held her before, and it had felt just the same: utterly perfect.
“I suppose you could always make questionable late-evening calls like this at the house where I’ll be staying,” Ellie said. “Then I would see you more often.”
“If only that house were—” He stopped quite abruptly but didn’t release her.
“If only that house werewhat?” she asked.
She felt him take a deep, chest-raising breath. “It is too bold, Ellie. I’ll not make so ill-advised a leap as that.”
“A wise person once told me that cowardice is all but guaranteed to cost a person what he truly wants.” Ellie pulled back the tiniest bit and looked up at him. “I believe we would both do best to be brave.”
He slipped free the hand she held and wrapped that arm around her as well. “What if that house wereourhouse? What if, instead of trying to find you for an hour during my brief time away from my studies, you werethere? What if we were together every moment we were able to be?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me to share a flat with your fellow law students?”
“No,” he said quickly and firmly.
She was teasing him, of course, but she also knew better than to leave so crucial a question unspecified. “You had best tell me quite plainly what it is youareasking me.”
Newton stepped back and took her hands in his. “Ellie Napper, I am asking you if you’ll write to me while you’re in Northumberland, and if you’ll allow me to write to you.” Such an arrangement constituted an understanding between a gentleman and a lady. They both knew as much. “And I’m asking if, when you arrive in London, should you find that your heart wishes to build a life with mine, you will begin that life with me.”
She raised up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I would love nothing more.”
He bent his neck swiftly enough to capture her lips before she pulled away. He kissed her gently, tenderly. “When you come to London,” he said. “Once you’ve had time to make certain this is what you want.”
“Andyouhave had time to do the same.” Months of correspondence free of her family’s interference and the confusion of a one-time feigned courtship would do their connection good, would strengthen it.
“In London,” he said. “I will be counting down the days.”
“You could always come visit her here every day for the next two weeks.” Artemis spoke, startling them both. “We don’t leave for Northumberland until then.”
Newton smiled at Ellie. “I would like that.”
“So would I,” she said.
* * *
Newton called at the Lancaster home every day for the next fortnight, delaying his own departure from Bath until after hers. Visiting with her had made the past two weeks an utter joy. She was precisely the person he’d believed her to be based on the glimpses he’d seen of her when not assuming her previous part.
They shared an interest in learning anything and everything. Though Ellie did not object to the possibility of someday traveling, she lit up most when they’d spoken of the hope of family and home and stability. When he spoke of the law, she showed genuine interest and asked insightful questions. When she spoke of her interest in poetry, he found himself delighted to know they had that interest in common. She expressed, with obvious uncertainty at his reaction, a wish to someday write poetry of her own. He told her without hesitation that he truly hoped she wrote mountains of it.
They were more than well suited; they were perfectly matched. He loved her more every time they were together.
The day arrived when Ellie, along with the Lancasters, was to leave Bath. Though Newton’s heart ached at knowing they would be separated for a time, he was far from despondent. He felt in his heart of hearts that when she arrived in London, they would never need to be apart again.
The carriage outside was laden with traveling trunks and awaited the Lancaster passengers. Ellie and Newton had slipped into the drawing room, its furniture draped in cloth. He held her in his arms, cherishing these last moments together before their temporary separation.
“I mean to find a flat somewhere near the Inns of Court but in a respectable area,” Newton said. “Not one for a bachelor but one you needn’t feel the least displeased with.”
“You must be terribly confident that I will still wish to marry you in a few months’ time.” Her tone was too teasing to cause him even the tiniest worry.
“Charlie’s brother is a vicar,” Newton said. “I mean to have him pray over it.”
