“It is fine,” Jane answered in the same way. “She is not the only one who thinks that I should have a lot of suitors.”
“Can I talk to you after dinner?” James suddenly asked. “There is something I have to tell you.”
Jane nodded shyly, and immediately started wondering what he needed to tell her. It seemed that it took hours for the dinner to end, and when it was over, she followed James outside. The Marquess stepped into the garden and stood under a tree, only a few feet away from the house entrance.
“What I am going to say might sound strange to you, but I really like you,” James said straight away, looking directly into her eyes. “We have known each other for a while now, but the last few encounters between us made me realize that I admire you.”
Jane did not answer him immediately, her eyes cast downwards. “I feel the same…” she whispered.
When she looked up, James had a beautiful smile on his face. “I am glad to hear that,” he said. “And I want to say once again, I’m sorry for my mother’s behavior. She is behaving so terribly because she wants me to marry Lady Sarah.”
“I understand,” Jane answered, her heart already gone cold with fear.
“My mother wants me to marry Lady Sarah,” James repeated once again. “I don’t think that I have anything in common with her, and I have no intentions to pursue a relationship with her.”
“Good,” Jane smiled again.
“Good! Is that all you are going to say?” James joked.
“For now,” Jane answered him and together they returned to the house, where no one had noticed their absence.
26
.
.
.
“Do you think that a person can fall in love in the matter of a few hours?”
.
.
.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AN UN-BLESSING
"’I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,’ said Darcy.”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Moreland House
Jane had another sleepless night after her conversation with James. His words were a big surprise, and yet, somewhere deep down she felt they were familiar. There always had been something between the two of them. Jane realized that she had always felt it. They were strongly connected. And Jane was in love for the first time in her life. She spent the entire night musing on what James told her and she found herself growing more and more excited by the fact that he liked her.
The day after that long sleepless night started as a dream for her and Jane couldn’t stop smiling. Her family for once decided not to tease her, and Jane was able to enjoy the feeling of peace. Everything ended, however, when in the early afternoon Marquise Eleanor Bunting appeared unannounced at their door and demanded to see Jane. The loud lady refused to enter the house, and Jane had to escort her to the garden, where Lady Eleanor sat on a wooden bench.
“I came here only to tell you to stop your relationship with my son,” Lady Eleanor said right away, looking at Jane as if she was nothing.
“I…” Jane tried to find something to say.
“I don’t permit you to talk, look, or even think about my son,” the older woman raised her voice. “Who do you think you are?”
Jane quickly realized what it was all about and felt sorry for James for having to deal with his mother every day. It was evident to her that James still refused to see Lady Sarah as a possible match for him, and that was making his mother angry.
“I don’t understand you, Lady Eleanor,” Jane decided to avoid the truth. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to stop trying to pursue my son. James already has someone. Lady Sarah is the perfect woman for him. She is beautiful, wealthy, and accomplished. What do you have to offer to him?”
“I am very sorry, Lady Eleanor, but I don’t see what I have to do with all this,” Jane tried to calm her down.
“I saw how my son was looking at you yesterday, Miss Jane,” Lady Eleanor stood up and walked closer to her. “And I don’t want something so insignificant to ruin his future.”
“In that case, you should talk to your son, my Lady, because I have nothing to do with this,” Jane did not intend to, but she took a few steps back, putting more distance between the two of them. “And I really don’t appreciate the way you are talking to me.”
“Listen to me, young lady,” the Marchioness continued as if Jane hadn’t said anything. “You have no idea what you are doing, and I am getting angry with you. My son is intended for Lady Sarah, and that is that.”
“I am not arguing with you, Lady Eleanor,” Jane concluded. “Your family is your problem, but I will not stay here and listen to you offend my family and me.”
“Miss Jane,” the Marchioness said firmly. “You will not turn your back to me.”
“I am sorry, Lady Eleanor, but you didn’t leave me any choice,” Jane answered, although her hands were trembling. At that point, Jane ran back into the house, leaving the Marchioness alone in the garden.
“Tell me everything,” Emma insisted a moment later, sitting up in her chair and preparing to listen with interest. Jane didn’t hesitate to share all the details with her, anxious to have some friendly advice from someone who had her best interest at heart. “You like him!” Emma exclaimed before Jane could finish her story. “He must be special, that Marquess of yours!”
Jane felt exposed and more disturbed than before, even though she had been dying to share all the details with Emma. “I don’t know what I am feeling, but he certainly is a fascinating man.”
“But, his mother was not very nice to you today,” Emma sounded disappointed. “A real gentleman would have at least tried to stop her.”
“Yes, I noticed that too,” Jane admitted. “But, maybe he had no idea that his mother would come here to threaten me.”
“Maybe he learned about our family’s situation?” Emma said carefully, not wanting to hurt her sister. “You know how people can be. Someone probably told him about our father’s bad financial situation, and now he is looking down on you.”
“If that is true, then he must be thinking that he was right to turn around the first time we met,” Jane used irony to make it hurt less.
“Oh, imagine his surprise when he found out that he had listened to a lady singing in the woods,” Emma laughed. “It must have been very surprising for him.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t give him the right to treat me that way. I might be poor, but I am still a lady.”
“Why do you care so much?” Emma asked. “I thought that you didn’t care about marrying?”
Jane looked at her, desperately looking for an answer to her question. “It is not that I don’t want to get married,” she admitted. “I simply want to marry someone I can love and respect.”
“And you didn’t love and respect Lord James?” Emma wasn’t going to let her off so easily.
“I never told you that, but I heard Henry telling his friends that I was the easiest and fastest option for him. He didn’t love me, Emma. I was just a convenient choice for him.”
“Oh, God,” Emma exclaimed. “Now, I see why you said no to him. I am sorry, Jane. You deserve better. Maybe the Marquis will be the one for you.”
“What are you talking about?” Jane said, feeling a bit confused. “You just said that he must have found about my family problems. How could you even think that a gentleman like the Marquess would even look at someone like me?”
“Stranger things have happened,” Emma argued. “Why do you always have to put yourself down? I am sure that the Marquess finds you attractive.”
Emma had a lot of theories about what was going to happen, but Jane had both of her feet on the ground and knew all too well that it was wishful thinking to believe that a gentleman like the Marquess would look twice at the daughter of a broke Baron, living in the countryside.
“Do you think that a person can fall in love in the matter of a few hours?” Jan
e asked her friend out of the blue. “I mean, I don’t believe it to be possible for someone to fall in love so quickly.”
“I am not an expert, and you know that it took Charlotte a lot of time to admit to herself that she had feelings for George,” Emma sounded serious now, and Jane agreed with her. There was no way for her to know what love felt like, if she didn’t even given a man the chance to show it to her. “But once she let herself accept the truth, she found that she had been in love with him from the very beginning.”
Jane had to agree with Emma on more than one thing. The Marquess was the first gentleman she had met who had actually made an impression on her, and Jane wondered if there was something more, hidden behind the visible.
“I think that you should go and pay a visit to Lady Eleanor and try to get her to see reason,” Emma offered before it was time for them to go down for dinner.
Bunting Manor
It took Jane a lot of effort to convince first herself and then her mother that she needed to visit Lady Eleanor by herself. She was excruciatingly nervous about going to visit Marquise Bunting, as she was so shy. Emma, much more determined than her sister, insisted again that it was the best thing to do. Her father ordered the carriage for her, and Jane did not lose any more time.
Lady Eleanor invited her into her sitting room and acted surprisingly nice towards Jane. She immediately informed her that James was out shooting with George, so it was just the two of them in the house.
“It is fine, as I came to talk to you, my Lady,” Jane said politely. “I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for the way I acted when you came to my house, but you should reconsider your view of the situation because I think that there is a genuine affection between your son and me. And, although, I have no idea where that will lead, I still want to give it a try.”
“You love my son, and he loves you?” Lady Eleanor asked calmly.
“Yes,” Jane answered firmly, although, her face was all red with embarrassment.
Lady Eleanor was genuinely touched by Jane’s plea and agreed to allow James to make his own decisions.
At the same time, James hurried home, willing himself not to think the worst and focusing his thoughts on the happy moments he had shared with Jane. George had just told him about his mother’s visit to Jane’s home, and James was scared of the damage she had done.
When he saw her for the first time months ago, he had felt something he had thought he would never experience. The young and shy woman was affecting him in ways he couldn’t even explain. For him, it had never been just a physical attraction, oh no, it was much bigger than that. It was as if Jane’s whole self was speaking to James’s soul in a language that only he could understand.
She was different, she was gentle, and she was perfect… Her simple gestures and words had him trying to figure her out. She certainly wasn’t the bold type, the one who knew all the tricks and tactics employed to get a man to take a notice of you. Jane was fragile and shy, and her smile held sadness. And that made her special in his eyes.
She was really special, and she longed to love. Jane wanted the same things in life as him, and James loved her even more for it. The realization had startled him back then and in a way had made him accept that something new and wonderful was walking into his life. The appearance of his mother had scared him, but James said nothing because it wasn’t in his character to show too many feelings. If Jane decided to choose another man over him, James probably would just step aside, but as long as there was a chance for him, he was going to fight.
The horse passed over a broken branch and interrupted his thoughts. It seemed that the storm had slowed a little, but James didn’t let himself relax. James looked carefully around, searching for signs of other people. He saw a few horses left by the road, but no living soul was to be seen. Two times the young man stopped the horse and debated if he should go back.
He was almost home, when a carriage came his way, coming from the Bunting Manor. James recognized crest, as that of Baron Roberts and quickly approached it.
“Thank God,” a woman’s voice called from inside, and it was Jane, who came to the window.
“Jane!”
“James!”
They both called in happy surprise. The man offered her hand to get her out of the carriage and carefully accompanied her to the side of the road. “You went to my house,” the man said gently and pointed at the imposing structure of the Manor on the horizon.
“James… I… thank you…” Jane stuttered through quivering lips.
“No problem,” the man averted his eyes. “I heard that my mother came to see you…” Feeling dead inside, James smiled sadly and offered her a hand to get to the side road.
“Yes…” Jane answered and then took pity on him. “Everything is fine between us. It was just a misunderstanding.”
Their eyes met once again across the little space that separated them and neither spoke for a time, both lost in thoughts. Jane debated about what she could possibly say after the conversation with his mother, but nothing came to mind. The Marquess seemed lost for words too, looking at her and then at the house, as if trying to choose what to do next.
“I think I should return home,” Jane finally said. “My parents will be looking for me.”
“You are right, my Lady,” the gentleman agreed. “Allow me to escort you back to your carriage.”
It was unusual. It wasn’t like anything that had ever happened to her, and Jane didn’t have any idea how to deal with the situation. Her mother was going to ask her where she had been, and her father would be greatly disappointed if he ever learned that his daughter had been alone with a man for such long a period. And yet, Jane was not sorry, as the last hour had taught her a lot about the Marquis, his family, and about her own self.
It became obvious that there was more to him than what met the eye. The gentleman was both the fashionable man you would expect to meet in the London salons, and the practical person who looks at the frivolity around him with distaste. Jane found it impossible to separate one from the other. He had said that his mother was superficial, and at the same time had insisted that she was also right about some things.
The Marquess intrigued her more than ever, and Jane spent the rest of the ride home studying him. She not only started seeing the people around her in a different way but also started reconsidering her own view of the world, because if someone like the Marquess could see both the good and bad in the same situation, she could do it too. An inner conflict blossomed inside of her and for the first time in her life, Jane looked at a man with thoughts of marriage in her mind.
27
.
.
.
“And because I don’t love you that way, I cannot propose to you,”
.
.
.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE PROPOSAL
"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Jane Austen
Bunting Manor
James returned home from his shooting trip and his encounter with Jane to find Lady Sarah waiting for him. She looked so serious that James almost got scared of what was going to happen next.
“Good evening, Sarah,” he said carefully, hoping that her expression would change.
“All I demand to know is whether or not you are going to propose to me?” she asked in such a forceful way that James got really confused.
“James, Lady Sarah,” both of them heard the Marchioness speak from the door.
“Mother, what is going on?” James turned towards her, refusing to answer Lady Sarah.
“It is my entire fault, James,” Lady Eleanor admitted, when she made sure that the door behind her was closed. “I let Lady Sarah believe that she was going to be your wife, but now, I want to tell you that you have my blessing no matter what you decide to do.”
“I never said that I am going
to marry Lady Sarah,” James said, still very confused. “And because I don’t love you that way, I cannot propose to you,” he added, after turning towards her.
“I cannot believe that,” Lady Sarah stood up, looking outraged. “I wasted so much time here with you, and now this is how you repay me?”
“I am not responsible for any promises my mother made to you, my Lady, and I am sorry if I caused you any pain,” James answered, disgusted by the way she responded to him, without any grace or dignity, and with that only cementing his decision further. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have something important to do.”
Lady Sarah Rochester walked out of the room in a fury, leaving the mother and son alone.
“Mother?” James asked tentatively.
“I am sorry if I made you feel that I don’t care for your feelings,” the Marchioness said slowly. “All I want is for you to be happy, and Miss Jane Roberts seems to be able to make you happy.”
“Thank you, Mother,” James smiled. “I am going to go to pay a visit to Jane now.”
“Wait,” Lady Eleanor said and offered him a small box. “I have something for you. This is the engagement ring your father gave me when he asked for my hand in marriage. I want you to give it to the woman you love.”
James arrived at Jane’s house and found her in the garden alone. Without losing any more time, he joined her and together they started to walk side by side. His behavior made Jane more confused than before. He had come to her home, saying that he wanted to spend some time together away from their families. Jane was pleasantly excited and happily dressed in her warm coat and put on her gloves. The walk in the garden was refreshing, and Jane really enjoyed their conversation.
Regency Romance: To Love A Viscount (CLEAN Historical Romance) Page 15
