“What? The stars? Of course! I can’t wait for such a day.”
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing,” she quietly agreed.
Anthony’s eyes immediately lit up, “Then shall we get married, Mere? Shall we get married so that we can explore them together? We could get away from this estate, just for a bit, and we could go wherever we want. We’ll take Cecilia and the cats, we’ll take a few months and some of our best clothes, we’ll ride and sail and climb and run. What do you say, Mere? Shall we do it?”
Meredith brushed away a part of his hair that had fallen over his face in his excitement. She gently stroked his face—a bit bruised and cut up, but handsome all the same. She looked at his lips, which spoke of wonderful adventures and beautiful sights yet to be seen. And she looked into his eyes, bright and green as though carved out of the most precious emeralds by the angels themselves.
She looked at all of these things and said a word. It was a deceptively small word, and of all the words, it was by far the most painful.
She whispered it so as to minimize the harm it would cause. She looked the man that she loved in his eyes and said, “No.”
Chapter 29
“Tony, pull yourself together, old boy. Have a bit of this brandy Mr. Fletcher retrieved on my behalf, you’ll feel better.”
Hugh assisted Lord Farellshire in pouring the brandy. But when Lord Farellshire attempted to pass the glass to His Grace, he was met with a wall.
“Come now, Tony. Have a little, just enough to restore color to your face and regain your strength.”
But His Grace continued to lie facing away from them in a manner reminiscent of the fits and tantrums he would throw when he was younger.
So Hugh politely offered, “Perhaps it would be better if I gave you both some privacy, Your Grace.”
But even this was met with resistance.
Without turning to face him, His Grace called out, “No, Fletcher. Please stay.”
While still holding the glass of brandy in one hand, Lord Farellshire gestured to the chair with the other.
“Indeed, Mr. Fletcher, please do not go yet. Have a seat. Today’s excitement almost made me forget that you were lying in bed ill just this morning.”
Hugh expressed his gratitude and quietly sat down.
Together, both men patiently waited for His Grace to open up. And after about ten minutes of total silence, Hugh began to worry that this would turn into an all-night affair—under normal circumstances, he would be up to such a task.
But whatever blasted sedative Lord Gillinghamshire laced our drinks with has only served to remind me of my age.
He knew this all had something to do with Miss Meyer, but that was the extent of his knowledge regarding the situation.
He had been cleaning up the dining room after dinner when His Grace stormed into the house and wordlessly made his way up to his bedroom.
Shortly thereafter, Miss Meyer also entered. But when questioned by Mr. Lockhart and Lord Farellshire as to what had happened, she apologetically shook her head and replied that it was not her place to disclose that information.
Lord Farellshire alone had gone upstairs to investigate but then shortly returned instructing Hugh to fetch a bottle of brandy and a glass. Now here they were, sitting in silence next to His Grace’s bed.
Without any warning, Lord Farellshire suddenly spoke up, “Anthony, you better not have fallen asleep on us after causing a scene and making us fuss over you.”
As was probably intended, this provoked an immediate reaction from His Grace, who promptly sat up and glared, “Of course I haven’t, you halfwit! Can’t you see I’m in far too much pain?”
“Not really. From where I’m sitting, all I can see is your backside and frankly, I’m growing quite tired of it.”
Hugh suppressed a smile. He was worried that Lord Gillinghamshire’s actions would have repercussions even between His Grace and Lord Farellshire. But he was now relieved to see that evidently not much had changed between them.
“At any rate, now that you’re speaking again, could you possibly give us more details about what Miss Meyer said? Did she give you an explanation or a reason?”
His Grace dropped his head into his hands.
“She said that she wanted to prove to herself that she was worthy of being with me.”
