Mrs Sommersby's Second Chance

by Laurie Benson

  Perhaps he knew what she was thinking since he appeared to suppress a smile and glanced down at the ground...or maybe at Humphrey. She wasn’t certain.

  ‘Goodnight, Clara. Thank you for our walk.’ He tipped his hat at her and held her gaze.

  She liked the sound of her name on his lips. ‘Goodnight, Lane.’

  Their eyes held for a few more heartbeats before she coaxed Humphrey into the house and closed the door. Darby had been waiting at the end of the entrance hall, obviously not certain if he should have remained or disappeared to somewhere else in the house. He normally let her in at night. She always felt that it was his way of making certain that she arrived home safely whenever she went out. However, tonight was the first time she did not find a sense of comfort from his presence.

  ‘Darby, do take Humphrey down to the kitchen to see if they can find a bone for him before bed.’

  ‘Yes, madam.’ He picked her dog up and headed out of the entrance hall.

  Tonight, she would go to bed thinking of Lane’s kiss. Shivers of desire raced through her and before she had a chance to think better of it, she opened her front door to go after him. Only he hadn’t gotten very far. He was standing on the other side of the pavement, looking up at her house. Her appearance seemed to have startled him because there was a sudden stiffening to his posture.

  ‘I forgot something,’ she said, leading him back to her house by his elbow.

  Thankfully, the entrance hall had remained empty when she pulled him inside. Once they both cleared the threshold, she closed the door quietly behind him. Lane remained silent and watchful the entire time, but she could tell he was curious about what she had forgotten. And what she had forgotten was for a way to kiss him goodnight inside her home away from the eyes of the neighbours and her staff.

  Her entire body leaned into his as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. Within seconds his warm hands were cradling her waist and her hands were cupping his cheeks, needing to feel his bare skin. When they finally separated, he seemed pleasantly surprised by her boldness.

  ‘I just wanted to kiss you goodnight,’ she said, feeling the need to explain her actions as she placed her hand on the door handle.

  ‘I’m glad you did. You gave me more to think about when I go to bed tonight. Sweet dreams, Clara.’ His pleasure at this unexpected end to the evening shone in his eyes before he walked out of the door when she opened it for him.

  Chapter Twenty

  The next morning Lane called upon Mr Edwards at precisely ten o’clock in the morning at the man’s office on the first floor of The Fountain Head Hotel, which was the time the gentleman said he would be free to meet. After the night that he’d had with Clara, and knowing that he would be seeing her later in the day, he was in exceptionally good spirits. It was a sharp contrast to the mood he found Mr Edwards in when the man opened his door. Upon shaking his hand, Lane could see that the gentleman was distracted and on edge.

  ‘What is it you wanted to discuss with me, Mr Lane?’ he asked, showing Lane to the chair opposite his desk. ‘I hope you have been finding your room to your satisfaction and you have not been having any problems with the staff?’

  ‘No, my stay here has been exceptional. I’ve been very pleased. As I had mentioned to you the other day, Jack has been especially attentive. I wanted to meet with you because I have a business proposition for you.’

  The moment Mr Edwards crossed his arms over his chest, Lane knew the discussion wasn’t going to go as smoothly as he had hoped.

  ‘What type of proposition?’

  ‘Well, as you are aware I have purchased the coffee house next door and I’ve thought about the possibility of expanding the business. I cannot expand south since the church is there and I was wondering if you would consider selling your hotel?’

  Mr Edwards blinked a few times as if he wasn’t sure if he had heard Lane correctly. ‘We... I... I am not interested in selling.’

  ‘I realise that your hotel must do very well—however, I am prepared to offer you a substantial amount of money for it.’

  ‘That is very generous of you, Mr Lane, however, as I said I will not sell this hotel.’

  ‘But don’t you want to even know the amount I am willing to offer you for it?’

  There was a marked hesitation in his movement before he pressed his thumb along the surface of his large oak partners’ desk and moved his gaze away from Lane. ‘If you would like to present your offer I would be happy to oblige you by reviewing it. However, you should know that I will never sell this hotel.’

  He said that now, but he didn’t know how high Lane was willing to go with his offer. He took a piece of paper out of his waistcoat with the generous offer in writing and slid it across the table to Mr Edwards.

  The man’s eyes opened wider than Lane had ever seen them go as he glanced down at the paper. He swallowed hard and once more he refolded his arms. ‘I am sorry, but as I stated before the hotel is not for sale.’

  Lane took the paper back and crossed out the amount he was willing to offer and wrote a higher amount down. He was prepared to negotiate with the man. In fact, he expected it.

  When he spun the paper around, the man shook his head.

  How well could this hotel be doing if Mr Edwards would not even consider selling it? With the amount of money Lane was offering, the man could buy another hotel and still have money to spare. Once more he took the paper back and wrote a higher offer.

  This time when he spun the paper back around he could tell that Mr Edwards was startled by the number, but he shook his head again.

  ‘Mr Edwards, that is quite a lot of money that I have just offered you. Are you certain you would not like to think it over for a day or so? I am happy to wait for your answer.’

  Mr Edwards opened his mouth to reply, but then looked once more to the offer. He appeared to be struggling over what to do. Lane knew it was not in his best interest to rush the man.

  ‘Give me a day,’ he finally said. ‘I shall have an answer for you in a day.’

  ‘Take all the time you need.’

  If he was going to listen to his gut, then Lane already knew that Mr Edwards would not be accepting this offer, no matter what number he placed in front of him. Lane needed this hotel. Without it, he would never be able to build his spa. Without it, he and Hart would just own a coffee house in Bath and there was no need for him to stay. He would be returning to London in less than a week.

  * * *

  It was only two o’clock in the afternoon and already it felt as though an entire day had gone by for Clara. Sleep had eluded her and for most of the night she lay in bed, thinking about kissing Lane. She had stopped thinking she would ever be kissed again, ages ago. But ever since he’d helped her out of the shrubbery and their lips had been mere inches apart, she found she had thought about kissing him a few times each day. And now that she actually knew what it felt like to have his lips against hers, she knew she was going to have a hard time not thinking about it—and thinking about it made her practically giddy. That was completely out of character for her. While she did enjoy finding humour in a situation, no one of her acquaintance would ever accuse her of being giddy. She wasn’t even giddy when she was Harriet’s age.

  When she finally did get out of bed she realised that if she didn’t find a way to occupy herself until Lane arrived at two o’clock, she would go mad. She decided to take his advice and go to see Phillip and find out why he had disregarded her direction to change the menu at the hotel.

  * * *

  By half past eight she was waiting for him in his office at the hotel and when he walked in, she could see by the look in his eye he wasn’t at all happy to see her at such an early hour.

  ‘Why did you lie to me and tell me that you would adjust the breakfast menu?’

  She was familiar with that placating look he
started to give her and he opened his mouth to reply, but she held up her hand. ‘Never you mind. I don’t want your excuses.’

  Because of her diminutive stature, she never liked to have important discussions with Phillip when she was standing up. It felt as if her height reinforced the opinion that she was a delicate woman who needed to be protected from the world. She was no delicate creature. She was a formidable woman who had kept herself and her husband out of debtors’ prison by her cunning and determination. It was time that her cousin realised that about her. It was time that he saw her the way the rest of the world did. She was not a woman to be trifled with.

  This time, she didn’t ask him to sit beside her. She was taking Lane’s advice and letting him see just how infuriated she was with him. She no longer cared if he accused her of being hysterical when she became impassioned and stood up for herself. They never accused men of being so when she witnessed them argue. Instead of asking him to sit, she stood up and marched up to him. ‘This is my hotel. It is best that you remember that. The decisions that are made here are my decisions. If you would like to offer me your opinion as the manager of this establishment, I will take your opinions into consideration—however, I have the final say in what is done in this building. Do I make myself clear?’

  His eyes widened with every increase in volume in her speech. ‘I understand. I was only doing what I thought would be best.’

  ‘Well don’t. If I find that you take it upon yourself to act in direct contradiction to my wishes, I will be looking for someone else to take over managing this establishment.’ Her hands were now balls of fists at her side.

  ‘But you can’t do that. People believe I own this hotel.’

  ‘I can do anything I want.’

  She didn’t wait for him to reply. She didn’t need to. The fear she wanted him to feel was in his eyes.

  For the entire ride home, she had felt liberated and confident that Phillip would not go against her wishes again. He knew how much the hotel meant to her. She had made it clear to him numerous times that she would never consider selling it when they discussed his concerns that, if she did, he would be out of a job. Now she had let him know that just because she would not be selling the hotel it did not mean that his job would be secure no matter his actions. And thanks to Lane she had the satisfaction of seeing how her words had affected him. It was glorious! She had even received a note from Phillip later that morning, but she decided to wait until after Lane left to read what she assumed was a letter of apology from the man.

  Now, as she watched for Lane on the window seat of her sun-drenched drawing room that overlooked the front of the Crescent, she was practically bubbling with her eagerness to tell him that she had taken his bit of brilliant advice and it had felt wonderful to do so. But when Darby had finally escorted Lane into the room at fifteen minutes past the hour it might have been in her best interest to offer him a glass of brandy or ale before she told him about her morning. While she had been having a wonderful day, it appeared that he had not.

  His brow was all furrowed and his movements were stiff as he bowed his greeting to her as she stood. Clara had arranged for tea to be brought up when Lane had arrived, but now she wasn’t certain if he planned to stay long enough to have a cup. Darby, on the other hand, looked as if he was trying his best to contain his pleasure that the man was here to help them deal with her small but energetic puppy.

  ‘I do appreciate you coming here today to help me with Humphrey, but I know you are here in Bath for business. Please do not feel as if you are under any obligation to stay should you have other things that require your attention.’ How she wished he would stay.

  ‘No, I need to be here today more than you will know. It’s nice to get away from my desk.’

  ‘Is anything wrong? You do not quite appear like yourself.’

  When she motioned towards her sofa that was along the wall opposite the three long windows, he joined her there and they took a seat beside each other.

  He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head. ‘Forgive me. I have recently received some disappointing news.’

  ‘I hope the news isn’t too distressing.’ She reached out and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

  He looked down at her hand as if he was surprised at the gesture. ‘I fear it is about to get worse. I feel it deep in my gut. I will know soon enough.’

  ‘You do not have to stay. We can do this another time.’

  His features softened a bit with affection and there was almost a look of sadness in his eyes. ‘No, I think it best if we don’t delay this for another day.’

  It almost sounded as if his time in Bath was coming to a close. It was something that on a day that had gone so well, she didn’t wish to consider. They had never talked about when he was leaving. She had almost convinced herself that he would decide to leave London and take up residence here.

  The tea tray was brought in and immediately she removed her hand from his before the footman lowered the tray to the table in front of them. The silver pot shone in the afternoon sun that streamed in from the windows.

  ‘I thought I was here to train your dog.’

  ‘You are, but you’ll need to fortify yourself with tea before you start. Nothing is better than tea.’

  ‘I beg to differ.’

  He leaned forward and met her in a kiss. She had been hoping all day that he would kiss her again and she was contemplating kissing him first. The feel of his lips on hers sent a delicious sensation through her body and it didn’t take long before she opened to him completely. Within seconds of deepening the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and savoured the feel of his warm hands on her back and the silken waves of his thick blond hair against her fingers.

  When he pulled his head back there was a devilish look in his eyes. ‘Now that was better than tea.’

  It warmed her heart to see him smile again.

  ‘My mother always said that a good cup of tea can fix anything. There is magic in tea.’

  With his warm fingers, he pushed away a tendril of hair by her neck, caressing her skin as he went. ‘There was magic in that kiss.’ As if to prove his point, he leaned forward and planted a provocative kiss on the hollow of her neck.

  There was magic there because even though his lips were on a small spot on her neck, she felt his touch throughout her body. ‘I thought you were here to train my dog,’ she was just able to utter breathlessly.

  He continued to trace a line of kisses along her neck. ‘We can call this anything you like.’

  His teasing comment made her laugh. What she would like would be for him to lay her down on the sofa and kiss the rest of her. Whatever he was doing to her neck had her imagining him doing it while he was lying on top of her with nothing between them. She could practically feel his bare skin against hers. She could just imagine what it would feel like to have him inside her. Just as Lane’s hand settled on her breast, Humphrey came charging into the room as if he were a child who had heard his favourite relative had arrived. He ran right to Lane, spun in circles before him, then let out a series of barks accompanied by quite a bit of jumping up on to the man’s boots.

  ‘Stay, Humphrey,’ Lane said rather firmly as they broke apart.

  It didn’t work. At least Clara didn’t now feel too bad about her inability to get the dog to do what she wanted.

  Lane stood up, giving her a lovely view of his muscular legs encased in black breeches that were tucked into his shiny black boots. Her attention travelled to the back of his burgundy tailcoat that covered his bottom.

  ‘Down.’ Lane’s voice rumbled more firmly this time before pointing his finger at Humphrey and the dog melted into the floor with his head resting on his front paws. When the man had looked back at Clara and arched his brow, she realised her mouth had opened watching him.

  ‘How did you manage to do that?’

 
‘He needs to understand that you are not equals—that you are the mistress of this house. He is not the master.’

  ‘But I’ve done that.’

  Lane sat back down. ‘You are too soft with him. You try to cajole him. I have seen it.’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ she replied, filling his teacup and handing it to him with just a splash of milk as he specified. She was about to fix her own cup when Humphrey jumped up on to the sofa and snuggled in between them. Clara rubbed his little furry back while she poured milk into her tea.

  ‘See, that is your problem. You are treating him like an equal.’

  ‘I am simply rubbing his back.’

  ‘On the sofa.’

  ‘Well, that is where we are sitting.’

  ‘He doesn’t belong on the sofa. The sofa is for humans. The floor is for a dog.’

  ‘But we cuddle up here.’

  ‘Then cuddle with him down there.’

  ‘On the floor?’ He was mad.

  ‘If you want him to understand that he needs to defer to you, you have to show him that you have certain privileges in this house that he does not. What else do you allow him to climb on? Do you allow him to sit at the dining-room table with you?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘Do you let him crawl into bed with you?’

  They were cosy that way. She liked how he would snuggle up beside her and rest his head under her chin while he fell asleep.

  ‘You do, don’t you?’

  ‘What I do in my bed at night is of no concern of yours.’ But deep down she wished it were.

  ‘You do.’ He let out a sigh. ‘You must show him that you are the head of this household. You cannot do that if you are sleeping in the same bed.’

  She picked Humphrey up and placed him on her lap to cuddle with him. ‘Where is he supposed to sleep? And do not say the floor. It is much too hard down there for him to sleep there all night long.’