by Fiona Miers
Warmth engulfed her shoulders and she looked to her companion, surprised. Robert’s body heat and a lovely smell buffeting her senses as she gripped his jacket around her shoulders.
“Thank you, but you’ll be cold now.”
He laughed and leaned back again on his hands; now dressed only in his shirt, cravat and vest. He was a very handsome man.
“I have Scottish blood on my father’s side. The cold doesn’t bother me.”
Ellie held the edges of the jacket around her body tighter, unable to speak for a moment. She was surprised, by both the tender gesture and the man that expected nothing in return.
“I wonder what everyone else is doing.” She looked back at the house, the realisation that she was alone with an unknown gentleman occurring to her quite suddenly. This was a first for her. Father had not said if his friend was married or not.
Robert shrugged, uncaring and obviously unaware of her situation.
“Still asleep.”
Ellie smiled, imagining what Mrs. Nelson would say if she knew where her charge was.
“My chaperone would not approve if she knew I was out here. She is quite strict with me.”
Robert sat up, his eyes widening in shock and comprehension.
“You need a chaperone? Of course you do.”
He jumped to his feet, his movement smooth and fast. Holding out his hand, he smiled down at her.
The butterflies that were threatening to hatch in her belly took flight. Ellie placed her hand in his, knowing that she would never wear gloves again if he continued not to.
Tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow, he began walking her back to the house.
She had to know if she actually did require a chaperone with him or not.
“Are you married Robert?”
He stiffened, the muscles in his arm twitching under her hands.
“I lost my wife five years ago.”
Ellie frowned, sad for her new friend. What a dreadful thing to have to endure. Although, that did explain why he didn’t jump to get her back to the house immediately. Any other unmarried man would have known immediately that she should not be sitting in a field with him alone.
“I’m so sorry. Do you have any children?”
He looked at her, his eyes assessing. Eleanor knew she was abrupt and a little too honest sometimes. However, she wanted to know. This was the first gentleman she had been interested in since her come out. Despite the fact that he was twice her age she found him handsome and easy to be around.
“No. I lost my wife in child birth. The child along with her.”
Ellie heard his words and her own stomach gripped hard. She couldn’t imagine that level of grief.
“I’m so sorry Robert, how horrible.”
He nodded his head in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything else. Ellie usually would have stopped talking, realising that the other person wasn’t reciprocating in conversation, but her comfort level had risen in direct drop of her inhibitions.
“I can’t even imagine how you feel Robert, but I do know how it felt to lose my mother and that was horrible enough.”
Again he nodded but didn’t say anything.
They were almost at the house now and Ellie looked up at him, worried.
“Have I said something wrong Robert? I did not mean to.”
He turned his head to look at her but she could not decipher the look in his eyes. The longer they stood there, the harder her butterflies fluttered.
“I did not realise that you needed a chaperone Miss Sommers, forgive me. I would have escorted you back instantly.”
Ellie frowned. Why had he reverted to formality when she had given him leave to use her given name?
“Robert, you did not answer my question. And my name is Ellie. Did I say something wrong?”
He shook his head and disengaged his arm.
“I’m an old man and had forgotten beautiful young ladies need protection. I think it is best if you do not call me Robert in public Miss Sommers.”
Ellie wasn’t often angry, barely even knew what it felt like. But at this exact moment she had a burning in her gut and an unconscious clenching of her jaw that was almost painful.
“And I think if you feel that way then you should perhaps avoid me entirely while you are here!”
Ellie pulled Robert’s warm jacket from her shoulders and pushed it into his hands. With a glare that she had never once used, let alone knew she possessed, she stalked back into the house.
Robert watched Miss Eleanor Sommers march up the stairs into her home and didn’t know whether to laugh or put his head in his hands. Deciding neither action would make him feel any better, he turned and walked back the way they had just come.
He hadn’t expected William’s daughter to be so… beautiful. Or lovely, or interesting, or interested in what he had to say.
Robert sighed and ran a hand through his shoulder length hair. He was an old man, or so he had thought. He was only two and forty. By most people’s standards, he could remarry and start all over again.
But he didn’t want to do it again. He had done everything that had been expected of him and had ultimately failed.
He had managed his money well and found a beautiful wife. Then he had struggled within that marriage when it turned bitter. Children were absent and his wife had blamed first herself, then him. When a child had finally blessed them and Robert had thought their bad days behind them, he had lost her.
The physical loss of his wife had destroyed all hopes for his future. It had taken him months to leave his estate; his grief had been shattering. He couldn’t risk the possibility of needing to go through that again.
Robert continued walking, his long legs enjoying the stretch as he pushed himself to navigate the hills and hollows on William’s estate.
He smiled to himself as he sat back down by the pond again. The only thorn in his craw was how Miss Sommers, Ellie, made him feel. She didn’t make him feel like an old man that should be hiding in his study or out on a walk by himself.
Or an old widower who had no business enjoying the company of such a lovely young woman. She made him want to step into the sun, hold her hand and try again.
Two
Robert stepped into the breakfast room, his cheeks cool to the touch but flushed from his fast walk. He knew that most gentlemen did not like to sweat, but he enjoyed the feeling of exercise. He felt healthier with his heart pumping faster and his muscles a little sore from the hill climbing.
William greeted him from the breakfast table. “Good morning Robert.”
“Good morning William. I am sorry I am late.”
His friend indicated a seat and Robert pulled out it out and sat.
“You aren’t late Robert, we are casual about our breakfast time and it seems you have been up walking.”
He nodded and fervently hoped Ellie hadn’t said anything about their tête-à-tête.
“Yes, I don’t sleep well once the sun has risen. Never have. This looks lovely.”
He indicated the breakfast fare. Fresh fruit, bread, butter, ham, eggs, roast potatoes.
“Please help yourself.”
Robert reached for his wine glass that was full and stopped. Good manners prohibited him from continuing.
“Shouldn’t we wait for your daughter, William?”
A redundant question of his host as William was already half way through his plate of food.
“Ellie? No, she will come and go as she chooses. You can meet her at dinner, she may be around at luncheon, we shall see.”
Robert began eating. His eagerness to know more about Ellie was fighting for attention within his mind.
“What does she do all day then William? I thought all young ladies like to stay indoors and be waited upon.”
William laughed, a look of joy on his face as he spoke of his daughter. It was both lovely to see and sat badly with Robert.
“Oh my friend, you haven’t met anyone like my daughter. She is head stron
g and soft all at once. She does all traditional lady-like activities, I made sure of that, but she loves to be outside too. And I must confess, I have not tried to curb her enjoyment of it.”
Robert’s stomach clenched, what was he doing being interested in his friend’s daughter? William would be disgusted, he was sure. He best put any thoughts of her out of his mind.
“Do you have estate business today William? Shall I make myself scarce or would you like some company?”
William swallowed what he had been eating and cleared his throat.
“I have nothing to do today at all, old friend. I thought you may like to go for a ride or there is an afternoon tea at a neighbours if you want to socialise.”
Robert shook his head, no. The last thing he wanted to do was socialise and make polite conversation with strangers. A tour of William’s grounds however sounded wonderful.
“I would enjoy a horseback ride.”
His friend nodded and finished his meal.
“I’ll meet you at the stables in an hour?”
Robert nodded and finished his own meal, occasionally looking over to the place that he knew Ellie would occupy. He couldn’t get his mind to stop thinking about her. That smile, the open, wonderful way she had of talking. She had surely captured his interest but he had to get it back.
He dressed quickly for riding, making his way to the stables where several beautiful horses stood. William had wonderful taste in horse flesh and the money to maintain them.
A beautiful black stallion whinnied at him from the last stall and he walked over to stroke his face. The horse tossed his head, then nestled into Robert’s hand. He laughed then sighed. All men were the same really. Tough on the outside but on the inside all they wanted was for the right person to love them.
“You found Storm Cloud.”
William’s booming voice ricocheted off the walls of the stable and Robert jumped, then chuckled.
“Storm Cloud? Who would give a stallion like this, a name like that?”
William chuckled and indicated to the stable hands.
A beautiful bay gelding was brought forward to him. Robert of course had brought his own carriage and team of four horses, but they were not accustomed to a rider.
Robert turned and looked back at the stallion he had been petting, then sighed and turned towards the gelding he was being offered. Why was he lusting after something so beautiful and wild when the horse he was being offered was much more appropriate.
His foot fitted perfectly into the stirrup and he swung up onto the strong horse’s back.
They walked the horses out of the stable and began moving along the path.
“Storm cloud is Eleanor’s horse by the way. She has always named her mounts strange names.”
Robert’s heart thudded against his rib cage and his mouth ran dry as he processed what William had said.
“You must mean she names her pets strange names? She couldn’t possibly ride a stallion that powerful?”
William chuckled and pointed across the wet field. Robert pulled his horse to a stop and watched in fascinated horror as Eleanor raced across the slippery grass on a horse as big and black as Storm Cloud. She jumped a fence and raced further across the paddocks. Her dress billowed out behind her as she leant forward on the horse. It was magnificent to watch, but fear knotted in his belly. She was clearly riding side saddle as was proper for a lady, but how was she able to control an animal at that speed?
He opened his mouth to yell out to her when her hat flew off. Her long brown hair unwound from its arrangement and blew out behind her. His heart stopped at that moment. An area below his waist which he had believed to be well dead, woke up and noticed just how beautiful she was.
“Goodness, Ellie appears to be in a temper. I haven’t seen her ride Black-Birth that hard for a very long time.”
Robert shifted in his seat, conscious of his now hardened body.
“Is that horse related to Storm cloud?” His voice squeaked as he turned away from the view reluctantly and pushed his horse to walk in the opposite direction.
“Yes, his son actually. Storm Cloud may not look it, but he’s almost ten.”
Robert smiled, an uncanny resemblance once again.
“Your daughter is beautiful William, why is she not yet married?’
William flushed with pride and a stab of guilt hit Robert’s stomach hard. Why couldn’t he stop asking questions about her?
“She is beautiful, wait until you see her up close. She looks just like her mother did at that age, and I never could resist her. The men in London must be stupid.”
Robert laughed and shook his head. He would usually have put William under the banner of a parent who could see no fault with his child. However, in this case Robert thought William was correct.
“If the men in London have not offered for her, then they are indeed stupid William.”
William smiled in recognition of the compliment and they continued on that path for hours. Talking as they always had and enjoying the fresh air and good company. This was indeed why he had come to visit.
Once back at William’s house, the men went their separate ways for a bath and to dress for dinner.
***
Walking down the stairs to the dining room, Ellie continued the internal fight with herself. She had given in to her desire and worn her most extravagant dinner dress. Not a ball gown, that would have been too obvious, but she needed to feel beautiful.
After she had given Black-Birth a good run and in the process worked out her anger, she had forced herself to think about what she knew about Robert. She knew that she felt more comfortable in his company than any of the hundreds of gentlemen she had met in the past three years. It may have just been their manner of meeting, so informal and relaxed, though she wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth.
She also found him extremely handsome.
The question was, was he what she needed? She had to find out if they could get along in all ways. If he was as kind, generous and loving as she hoped, then she would make him fall in love with her. She wasn’t sure how, but she would.
Ellie slowed as she reached the dining room and smiled to the footman as he opened the door for her. Her breath caught in her throat, her body betraying her worry.
Taking a deep breath, she pinched her cheeks a little and stepped through the door. Her father and Robert stood by the fireplace drinking a sherry before dinner.
They both turned to her when she stopped in front of them. Her heart was beating so loud she couldn’t believe they didn’t hear it. It made her feel sick.
“Here you are, my dear.”
Her father reached out a hand for Ellie and drew her closer to him, turning her to face his friend with practised ease. Robert looked at her, his blue-grey eyes worried. She smiled at him serenely, her best society smile.
“Eleanor, this is my very good friend Mr. Robert Blakely. We know each other from our University days. Robert this is my daughter, Miss Eleanor Sommers.”
Ellie curtseyed and held out her hand. Robert took it, chastely kissed the bare knuckles and dropped it as quickly as possible. Her disappointment was a palpable thing.
“It is lovely to meet you Miss Sommers. Your father has told me so much about you.”
She smiled at his cover up and his manners. Her stomach flipped over when he smiled. He was such a gentleman. But he deserved to feel a little uncomfortable after the way he had dismissed her this morning.
“Oh please, call me Ellie, Mr. Blakely. If you are to spend Christmas with us I cannot be answering to Miss Sommers.”
Robert’s eyes burned with something interesting before he nodded in ascent.
“As you wish Ellie, Robert is fine.”
The door opened again and Mrs. Nelson bustled in. She curtseyed and frowned at Ellie.
“Eleanor, why did you not wait for me? We always come down to dinner together.”
Ellie flushed at being scolded in front of her father and Robert.
She was not a child to be told off in company.
“We are home cousin. I did not think the same rules would apply.”
Mrs. Nelson made disapproving sounds in her throat again.
“Why did you wear that gown tonight? You know it does not look well on you.”
Ellie looked away, mortified and angry. Why did her cousin persist in saying such things? Mrs. Nelson always ridiculed the clothes Ellie wore. Especially when she felt beautiful in a particular costume and everyone said so.
“I must disagree. I believe Ellie looks extremely handsome.”
Robert’s smooth voice cut through the silence after her cousin’s cutting remark and Ellie looked up to see Robert staring in disapproval.
“Oh, well…”
Her father stepped in, finding his tongue finally.
“Mrs. Nelson this is a friend of mine, Robert Blakely. Robert, this is my niece Mrs Eustacia Nelson.”
Robert nodded his head politely but did nothing else.
It was an awkward silence, yet for the first time Ellie felt hope spring in her heart. Robert may have dismissed her after their walk this morning, but he defended her when her own father hadn’t. It had to mean something.
Her father took her arm and led her to her place at the table. She sat down, then watched as the men took their places, her father at the head of the table and Robert on his left, directly opposite Ellie. Her cousin sat besideRobert, looking even more sour than usual.
“I hope you don’t invite all the gentlemen in London to call you Ellie, my daughter.”
Ellie laughed, leaning back so that her full breasts were displayed to best advantage. An older widow had commented on them in the powder room one day and Ellie had thought nothing of their consequence. Now, she did.
Mrs. Nelson shook her head and muttered something to herself. Everyone ignored her.
“Oh father, if I can’t ask an old friend of yours to call me Ellie, who can I? I have told you, I was basically ignored for most of the Season. I don’t think most of the gentlemen even knew my name.”
Robert made some sort of growling noise that was quickly disguised when he picked up his glass of wine and drank half of it in one gulp.
