Manor for Sale, Baron Included: A Victorian Romance (A Romance of Rank Book 1)

by Esther Hatch

  And he wouldn't even mind.

  Jonathan’s breath came up short, and it had nothing to do Miss Duncan’s blow.

  He wanted Miss Duncan as a wife.

  He was not prepared to feel so…so...whatever it was he was feeling.

  Her hair was still down and it shone in the sunlight behind her. Her eyes glistened with merriment and a hand at her slender waist seemed to embody her confidence and joy in this moment.

  He took a step back.

  He could devote his life to putting that look on her face and he would consider it a life well spent. Miss Duncan was enchanting and their boxing lessons had put him solidly under her spell.

  He undid the button on his jacket.

  “What are you doing?”

  “This match just got very serious. You can’t expect me to spar with such a worthy opponent while wearing a jacket.”

  She narrowed her eyes, but with her hair falling down her back it wasn’t as though she could complain about him being improper. He finished unbuttoning his jacket and pulled it off, one sleeve at a time. Miss Duncan’s eyes followed his every movement. Is that what he had looked like when she had let down her hair?

  The two of them were in very serious trouble.

  “I have enjoyed looking at the vase you gave me every afternoon when I take my tea.”

  “Is it still on the mantel?”

  Jonathan dropped his jacket to the ground next to Miss Duncan’s hat and gloves. “Of course it is. Your taste is impeccable. I wouldn’t go against your decorating advice.”

  She smiled and started circling around him again, her hair trailing behind her back. Taking off his jacket might not have been enough. He tugged on the knot of his cravat. For now he would simply loosen it. If she landed another hit, he would remove it as well.

  “I’m glad to hear you are enjoying it.”

  “I have another gift for you.”

  Miss Duncan stumbled slightly, but he didn’t take advantage of the moment. “Is it another squirrel?”

  “It has been in the back of my wardrobe for three weeks, so I sincerely hope not.”

  “When will I be receiving it? Will it be a parting gift for when you finally leave?”

  “Why, Miss Duncan, when you put it that way it makes me feel as though you don’t want me here.”

  “I didn’t realize when I bought the home a baron would come with it.”

  He stifled a laugh, because...well…she wasn’t far off. At least he hoped so. She noticed his distraction and tried to hit him with her right hand, but he blocked her. “It isn’t a parting gift. I’m just waiting for the right moment to give it to you.”

  “Why does that make me very worried?”

  “I have no idea. Thus far our gifts to one another have been given in extremely good taste.”

  The smile on her face broadened and he took the opportunity to jab his left hand forward and brush it along her chin. Her eyes flashed and she jumped forward and flung out her right hand, but he was already out of reach.

  Boxing, he decided, should be a prescribed method of courting.

  Chapter 15

  With Sally’s hair streaming out behind her, she climbed the back staircase of the manor. She hadn’t been able to land any more punches after her first. Lord Farnsworth was above letting her win, a fact which made landing even one solid strike more pleasurable, even if it had taken her a week to do it. The last time she had felt so exhilarated was when she had managed to convince Henry Poole on Savile Road to buy his fabric exclusively from British Vermillion textile.

  The first order of business, besides putting out a highly superior product, was to always look for preferences in those she was trying to negotiate with. The second was to look for their weaknesses.

  Apparently her hair was both to Lord Farnsworth.

  She reached the balcony and resisted the urge to turn around and see if he was still watching her. Based on the fact that her hair was still down, she assumed he was. She couldn’t go into the house with her hair down to her waist.

  She quickly grabbed a pin and started pulling up sections of it.

  In a few minutes it would be up.

  She smirked. Perhaps she should have asked the baron to help her put it up as well. What would he have thought of her?

  She tore out beautiful stairs, papered walls with disastrous designs, and now asked the man to act as her lady’s maid. She closed her eyes as she put in the last pin. The way he had watched her hair as it fell…

  An odd feeling in her stomach made her eyes flash open. She leaned back against the balustrade and blinked.

  Lord Farnsworth was a baron. She could not develop feelings for the man.

  Mr. Harrison had explained to her, very patiently, that a businessman like her grandfather could leave his worldly goods to a granddaughter, for none of it was entailed. It was easy for him to shrug off a lack of sons. But Mr. Harrison would be a baron, and a baron needed heirs; otherwise everything would go to his cousin, and heaven forbid that happened.

  She pushed herself off the balustrade and turned to see Lord Farnsworth still looking at her. She jerked her head around and made her way into the home. It didn’t matter that Lord Farnsworth was a baron. It wasn’t as if he was courting her; he was simply teaching her to box.

  Mrs. Hiddleson was repositioning a vase in the grand drawing room. Blast. Had she seen the boxing lesson? Mrs. Hiddleson turned, her face bland. “Ah, Miss Duncan, were you out with Miss Victoria?”

  “Yes.”

  “And is she enjoying the gardens?”

  “I believe she is, very much so.”

  Mrs. Hiddleson smiled and smoothed down her apron. “It is so good to have a family here again. The home sat empty for far too long.”

  Why, though? Why had Lord Farnsworth spent ten years away from Greenwood Manor only to come here now, when it was no longer his? “Mrs. Hiddleson, I don’t mean to pry, but do you know why the previous owners never visited?”

  “Well, they did come, or rather…” Mrs. Hiddleson stopped and looked about the room as if someone could be listening. “The house was always occupied up until Lady Farnsworth’s death, and after that…” She stopped again, then leaned forward. “I think both Lady Farnsworth and this home were just not grand enough for Lord Farnsworth. He never visited it after she died.”

  Not grand enough? The manor had twenty-four rooms. What did the other Farnsworth estates look like?

  This room, with wall-to-wall windows overlooking a garden and a pond, was not grand enough? Her bedroom with floor-to-ceiling windows was not grand enough? The stunning marble staircase at the front of the home was not grand enough? No wonder Lord Farnsworth had given her such a shocked look when she said she was replacing them with cement.

  If the manor hadn’t been grand enough before, it certainly wouldn’t be now.

  Mrs. Hiddleson must have seen the look of disgust on Sally’s face. “Lady Farnsworth loved this home. It had been in her family for generations. She was always happiest when she was here.”

  “I suppose she didn’t get to live here often, then, with a husband who felt it was beneath him.”

  Mrs. Hiddleson chuckled and shook her head. “Lady Farnsworth wasn’t one to mind what her husband thought. She lived here as much as she pleased. I shouldn’t talk about my previous employers, but both of them were prideful, only in different ways. While Lord Farnsworth still needed Lady Farnsworth, he made efforts. All that stopped, though, once…”

  “Once what?” She shouldn’t be prying. But something had gone on in this house and she needed to know what.

  “Once he had his heir.” Mrs. Hiddleson shook her head. “He didn’t ever need to condescend to apologize after that. Lady Farnsworth never really had her husband back after the young master was born.”

  Sally's stomach twisted.

  Would she never learn? She didn’t belong in this world of heirs, pride and reputations. Mr. Harrison should have taught her that.

  He had ta
ught her that. She’d had a strange moment with Lord Farnsworth during one of their boxing lessons, but nothing more. Perhaps it was time she stopped the lessons. Just until he left for London. She and Victoria could continue them again with Mr. Ashton once Lord Farnsworth was gone. That would be the end of that.

  Whatever that was.

  Chapter 16

  After watching Miss Duncan in all her glory ascend the stairs of Greenwood Manor, Jonathan returned to Mr. Ashton and Victoria. He pretended to watch them work, but in reality there was not much else he could do but relive that moment when Miss Duncan’s last hairpin was released.

  Heavens above, she was beautiful.

  Victoria pulled one of her punches and turned to Jonathan. “Are you thinking about my sister?”

  Thinking about her? He was fantasizing about her. But he couldn’t quite admit that to her little sister. “Should I not be?”

  Victoria pursed her lips together and tilted her head to one side, then the other. “I suppose I will allow it.”

  Jonathan tried to hide his grin at this young woman’s blessing, but he couldn’t. “Does she ever speak about me?”

  “Yes, she says we should prepare for our boxing lesson, and when she is really feeling talkative, she mentions that you never let her hit you.”

  “I mean besides speaking of boxing. What about before we started our lessons?”

  “I didn’t even know who you truly were until Sally started coming to the boxing lessons. Suffice it to say, she never mentioned you.”

  Victoria was a mean young lady. She could have pretended that they had spoken of him, and spoken of him positively at that. It wouldn't be hard. That wasn’t Victoria’s way though. She was honest to a fault and it was one of the reasons he admired her.

  “She never spoke of the man she bought the manor from?”

  “Him? Yes, I suppose she did mention him once.”

  “That him is me.”

  “Yes, I know that now.”

  “And did she mention the man living in the hunting lodge?”

  “Yes, she did mention him.”

  “Also me.”

  “I see your point.”

  “And what did she say?”

  “She said she bought the manor from a baron named Farnsworth, and she wanted to give a vase to the unattractive gentleman who lived in the hunting lodge...”

  That unattractive comment still stung. “That is all?”

  Victoria simply nodded. Did Miss Duncan feel nothing for him?

  Would she take boxing lessons from a man she felt nothing for? Would she allow him to touch her hair? He needed to bring Victoria with him for their next lesson so she could see that Miss Duncan was not indifferent. She felt something for him. He was certain of it.

  “However,” Victoria said. Jonathan leaned forward, his heart in his throat. One positive word from this little miss and he would offer marriage to Miss Duncan now. He had come here with that intent, and other than the few times he had misunderstood what exactly she was trying to do with the manor, he had never been disappointed in his choice of spouse. Every interaction with her had solidified in his mind that he had made the correct choice. “Sally was nearly engaged before, and she almost never talked about him. So perhaps she doesn’t talk about men she likes.”

  She was nearly engaged? His mind went blank and then exploded with hope. “Wait, you think she likes me?”

  Mr. Ashton chuckled behind his hand.

  Victoria smiled. “We saw you two. You weren’t so far away that we couldn’t see your lesson. Tell me, why exactly did my sister’s hair end up loose?”

  “It was a distraction. A good one.” It was still a distraction.

  “And why did she need a distraction?” Mr. Ashton asked.

  “So she could land a punch in my abdomen.”

  Victoria laughed. “She likes you, John. I think she likes you quite a lot.”

  He turned to Mr. Ashton. “What do you think?”

  “Well, I’m inclined to agree with this young lady. She either likes you or…”

  “Or what?”

  “Or she really wanted to hit you.”

  Oh, she had certainly wanted to hit him. The look of joy on her face when she succeeded was something he would never forget. He tipped his head to one side. “You don’t think it could be both?” Mr. Ashton and Victoria threw back their heads and laughed. “What? It could be both, couldn’t it?” This was his life on the line, his mother’s manor on the line. He needed to know if he had any hope.

  Victoria settled. “I think you are right. And that is what’s so funny. I think she does like you, and I also think she was very happy to have landed a punch.” She grinned. “I must admit I relish any chance I get to have the upper hand on either of you. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you. It simply means I respect your skill and I like the feeling of proving myself to you.”

  “Are you certain?” Jonathan’s chest started to tighten in anticipation. He was ready. If he proposed now, they could be married in a few short weeks. He would be able to move out of the hunting lodge and into Greenwood Manor, the only place that had ever felt like home. And together he and Miss Duncan would make it even more their home.

  Children, laughter, boxing lessons...they would have it all.

  “I wouldn’t say I was certain,” Victoria said. “But I am quite confident, and not just because of your boxing lesson.”

  Confident. That was enough for Jonathan. It was time to start a new life, this time with Sally Duncan in it. “What else makes you think she might like me?”

  “When she was giving you the vase, there was this look in her eye—happiness, joy, excitement, I’m not sure what exactly, but when she told me you weren’t handsome, I had the very distinct impression she was lying. Why would she lie about that if she weren’t at least a little bit interested in you?”

  Miss Duncan thought him handsome. He spun on his heel and marched toward his lodge.

  “Where are you going?” Victoria called after him.

  He turned at the waist but didn’t stop walking. “I’m going to ask your sister if I can become your brother.”

  Victoria’s face wrinkled for a moment and then realization dawned. “Now?”

  Jonathan threw his hands in the air. “Yes, now!”

  “The manor is that way,” Mr. Ashton blurted out.

  “I have something I need to fetch from the lodge.”

  “But I wasn’t certain.” Victoria’s voice had a squeak in it he didn’t recognize, as if she was fearful for the first time since she had met him.

  Jonathan shrugged as he turned back to the lodge. “I am,” he called out behind him.

  He had never been more certain of anything in his life.

  Chapter 17

  Sally’s hand hovered above the handle to the drawing room door.

  What on earth could Lord Farnsworth want now? She had only just left him in the garden. Perhaps he was finally returning to London and had come to take his leave. She would be able to continue renovations without his interruptions. A twinge of regret spiked in her chest but she pushed it down. She had grown accustomed to having him nearby, but all along she had been hoping he would leave soon.

  Hadn’t she?

  Victoria would be sad to see him go, but she could continue her lessons with Mr. Ashton. Sally would continue to join her. Her few lessons had proved quite entertaining, and she might have a talent for it.

  She wouldn't take advantage of her hair the next time, though. That had been a silly mistake.

  She pulled open the door to find Lord Farnsworth pacing in front of the fireplace, a small package in his hand. Oh dear, had he brought her a gift? What would it be this time? What exactly had he told her about it? Only that it had been sitting in his wardrobe for weeks, which meant it couldn’t be in response to the vase.

  That could have been disastrous.

  He turned at the sound of her footsteps and stepped toward her. Something was different. His eyes scanne
d her face, stopping as they often did at the curls at the nape of her neck. There were likely more of them than usual since she had pinned her hair up on her own.

  She had left the door open behind them, but the room suddenly felt confining. She could leave. She could jump out the door and call out that she had forgotten something and could he please come back when Victoria was done with her boxing lesson.

  But she didn’t.

  “Would you like some tea?”

  He stepped closer, making the room grow even smaller. He chuckled low and quietly. “Now you ask me that? No, I haven’t come for tea.” He eyed the door behind her, as if willing her to close it.

  Not likely.

  What in the world did he want?

  “Did I forget something in the garden? Or does Victoria need something?”

  “No, Victoria is still outside. I am certain she will return shortly.”

  “Would you like to wait for her so we can all have tea together?”

  “I didn’t come here for tea.”

  Oh.

  She was done beating about the bush. Whatever Lord Farnsworth wanted, he should come right out and say it and not just stand there looking at her as if she was some sort of Viking warrior ready to behead him at any moment. “Then, what did you come here for?”

  “You.”

  What? She put a hand to her middle. Did he realize what he sounded like when he said something like that? If a servant were walking by, they might misunderstand him. “You mean you came here to speak to me?”

  “Yes.” He threw back his shoulders and stood like a soldier. “And no.”

  Something deep inside Sally woke up—a demon of fear she had buried since breaking off her engagement to Mr. Harrison. She had agreed too readily and too soon to that engagement and she would never do that again. Perhaps that was not why Lord Farnsworth was here, but his choice of words and the way he eyed the door sent her scrambling to find a place of safety. She couldn’t marry Lord Farnsworth. She barely knew the man. She wouldn’t marry any man until she knew not only from his words, but also from his character, that her daughters would not feel like disappointments in the eyes of their father because he wished for sons. It might take years for her to trust a man enough for that, and Lord Farnsworth had the deck stacked against him, for he was a baron. How could a baron not care about producing heirs? His father certainly had.