A Baron Worth Loving: A Historical Regency Romance Book

by Bridget Barton

  “I’m so very sorry,” she said, “but I’ve promised a dance in the other room.”

  Mrs Wallace seemed to accept this lie without any particular suspicion and waved her away at once. Passing a hand over her head in weariness, Nora slipped into the other room, fully intending to catch a few minutes of peace on the edge of the dance floor where five couples were already lining up for a waltzing line dance. However, when she had at once taken up her position in the shadow of one of her mother’s well-cared-for ferns, she felt a tug on her arm and turned to see none other than Gerard, in somewhat haphazard apparel, standing just beside her.

  “Lord Colbourne!” she exclaimed softly, her heart leaping within her. He was as handsome as always, even with his long hair somewhat in disarray and what appeared to be a riding habit on at a fine dinner party; his eyes fixed intently on her face.

  “There’s no time,” he said hurriedly. “Please come with me.”

  Before she could protest, he’d pulled her out onto the dance floor, and they were going through the familiar steps of the waltz alongside the other dancers. It was, of all the possible dances, the best for conversation, for the majority of the line allowed them to move in tandem with one another and speak in privacy without interruption. And yet Nora found herself too rattled at first to enjoy the proximity to the man she had been thinking about so constantly since she’d left his side at Holcombe.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, for want of something more appropriate to say.

  He looked over his shoulder. “I don’t know that there is much time for us to talk,” he said softly, “although I do not think that your father with take us from the dance floor. So I suppose I have bought us a few minutes.”

  Nora felt her shock deepening. What could he mean, appearing at an event that was clearly invented to slight the Colbournes, and then speaking about her father as though he was intimately connected with Mr Pembroke’s sentiment on the matter? It was all perplexing, and in addition to that confusion was the heat she felt rising in her own cheeks, and the pounding of her heart. She realised that all her attempts at remaining aloof from her fears about Katherine and Gerard had been for naught, for here she found herself wanting to ask him what had transpired during their visit, after all her attempts to avoid the matter.

  “This is quite irregular,” she said quietly as they turned together and began a forward promenade. “What do you mean by appearing here in this fashion and speaking of my father in such a way?”

  “I came from Holcombe with your brother James,” Gerard said hurriedly, turning her and beginning the box step required at the end of the promenade. “I heard about the dinner party and feared that some insult had been given to your family when my mother invited Lady Katherine and her mother to Holcombe. I came at once to amend whatever confusion there might have been.”

  Nora could see sincerity in his eyes, but she still did not fully understand. “Have you not had a chance yet to meet with my father?” she asked.

  “I met with him but moments ago, in his study.”

  “Surely you were able to clear the matter up then,” she said. “Did he not believe you regarding the visit of Lady Katherine?” She bit her lip. “How was her visit, after all?”

  “Quite well,” he said dismissively, looking a bit distracted as though the matter of the visit had all but slipped from his mind. “But while your father seemed to understand my explanation regarding the Barrington involvement in our courtship, he was wholly taken aback by the news that our agreement began as a ruse. And now he believes me to be wholly after your dowry, and not your person.”

  They had come together for a slow turn, his arm wrapped around Nora’s waist, their hands raised, their eyes locked. She blinked, hating the way moisture had come into her eyes at his words, but refused to break his gaze.

  “Is it true?” she asked softly. “Is that your real purpose in pursuing me now?” She tried to sound calm and at ease. “It is not so bad of a thing to wish the best for your family, Lord Colbourne, and if that was your motive I would understand.”

  They broke apart, taking hands to walk side-by-side in the promenade again. “You are altogether too willing to understand, Miss Pembroke,” Gerard answered softly. “You were understanding when you heard about my mother’s disapproval, you were understanding when Lady Katherine appeared unannounced at my home, and now you are understanding if I proclaim that my affections for you were all a ruse to get your money.” He turned suddenly and took hold of her hands so that she faced him. “You deserve more than that, Miss Pembroke. You think too little of yourself, but you deserve a real love that does not seek to use you in any way.”

  Nora felt her breath catching in her throat at the intensity of his speech. There was something in his eyes that she had never seen before – a vulnerability that outstripped the way he had been in the forest and, before that, in London.

  He leaned down, his forehead only inches from hers. “My intentions are honourable, Miss Pembroke, and my affections are real. Your father wishes you to end our courtship, but I ask you to consider your own heart, and not his wishes, in this matter. Give me time to make things right.”

  She could hardly believe it, and if her feelings had not been so strong, she would have been tempted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It seemed strange that a man she had so respected and revered such as Lord Colbourne, one of the most eligible men in England, should now be asking her, a small and scandalous woman who people preferred to push to the back of their guest list, to hold off judgement. And yet he believed her to be something worthy. He had said as much.

  She looked into his eyes and wanted to believe him.

  “Do you?” he asked, the dance swirling all around them. “Do you think you could care enough to wait for me?”

  She swallowed hard. “It is not a problem of caring,” she said softly; “for that has not wavered in my heart since we first began our agreement, Lord Colbourne.”

  He looked at her for another long moment and then nodded, accepting what she had admitted at last. Then he looked up over her shoulder and she turned to see her father standing in the doorway. He looked around the room and then, catching sight of his daughter standing arm-in-arm with Gerard, took off towards them.

  “You’d best go,” she said softly.

  “Wait for me,” he repeated once more, and then, kissing her hand gently, he was gone.

  Chapter 31

  She had looked so beautiful on the dance floor that it took everything in Gerard’s power to walk away from her. Even with his back to the music, striding down the hall to the outer edge of the mansion, he could still see her in his mind’s eye in her golden dinner gown with hair piled up in ringlets on her head and big eyes looking up at him half full of tears. The curve of her neck, the wave of her lashes against her pale cheeks – it all called to him now, and he wondered how he’d ever been around her before without falling under her spell.

  He wished he could have had more time with her. The few whispered words they’d shared on the dance floor had been his chance to defend himself. But how was he to know that he would ever have another? How was he to know that his defence would stand up against the recommendation of her own father, especially when he now suspected that his letters had been intercepted by that same man, and would likely be intercepted in the future?

  He paused at the doorway, smelling the cool air and feeling torn between where he knew he needed to go and the thought of what he was leaving behind. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder and, turning with a jolt of surprise, saw William standing in the shadow of the doorway.

  “You frightened me.”

  “You’re leaving just like that?” William asked, his face hidden in the shadow cast by the doorway.

  “Would you have me stay, when my presence has been so clearly regretted?” Gerard turned and strode down the steps and out of Dearbrooke. “I am riding back to the village tonight. And you can assure your father that I will be gone fro
m this place tomorrow.”

  “And what of myself?” William asked, following him out. “How am I to reassure myself, when I see that my oldest and dearest friend sees only my father’s hot temper when he looks at me?”

  Gerard slowed his step, allowing William to catch up with him. “I do not mean to hold you accountable for his words,” he said quietly, his own temper cooling, “but I also cannot deny that his fury made me wonder if you felt the same way. You have been so quiet on this matter of your sister since that first night when you convinced me to be her stand in suitor that I no longer have much understanding what it is you think about our arrangement.”

  “Your arrangement? Do you mean the affection you both clearly have for each other?” William asked. There wasn’t a note of teasing in his voice, just straight-forward explanation, and a certain kindness as well.

  Gerard turned and looked at him as they walked along. “Are you worried, now that I might seriously be considering marriage to your sister, that my motives and intentions are as nefarious as your father suspects?”

  “Tell me straight, and I will believe you.”

  Gerard stopped in his tracks and turned to William, fixing him with a serious gaze in the dim light that shone out of the windows of Dearbrooke.

  “I care deeply – nay, with you I will not mince words. I love your sister as I have never loved another, and I have every intention of marrying her.”

  “And Lady Katherine?”

  “Lady Katherine is nothing to me. How could she be, when I have at last seen the charms of Miss Pembroke?” Gerard shook his head with a sad smile. “It is just the way, isn’t it, that when I was not looking for love it found me, and in such a way that no one believes it is true. You know your sister, though, William, perhaps better than anyone – and you must know her worth, you must see beyond that wild exterior and her laughing eyes and know that she is more than just a pretty face. She is everything that could make a man lay down his life for good and justice, and she is kind and gracious in addition. I could wish for no more.”

  “You speak very highly of her,” William said. He smiled and ran his hand along his chin. “In fact, dear Gerard, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard you speak this highly of anyone, except perhaps your dearly departed father – and that was of course in a different vein entirely.”

  Gerard nodded. “But your father suspects, because of the state of Holcombe at present, that I am only interested in Nora as a means to an end. He is rightfully so displeased with me, for he at least sees that she is worth every bit of love that a man could give, and he will not settle for less.”

  “Nora,” William smiled.

  “Pardon.”

  “You called her ‘Nora’ instead of ‘Miss Pembroke’ as is your wont,” he went on. “You have lost some of your propriety and civility have you, Gerard?”

  Gerard felt the heat rise in his face. He hadn’t even realised that it was possible to have such a slip overtake him, and yet he had been calling her by her Christian name in his own head for weeks now, unconscious that such a quiet pleasure might escape his lips.

  “I meant no disrespect.”

  “Come,” William said with a laugh, clapping his friend on the shoulder. “You have always been the greater in our social circles, with your title and your lands, and I could hardly be offended by any familiarity.” The laugh faded on his lips. “Beyond that, you have shown a real love for my sister, and I believe that your intentions are pure. I will ask for no further proof, and I will have you know that you have my continued support going forward.”

  “I could not ask you for such a thing,” Gerard said quietly. “It is not my wish to put you in a position where you must go against the wishes and desires of your father. I have already caused the Pembroke family much confusion, and I do not wish to further divide it.”

  “You did not ask me, I gave you my support willingly,” William corrected him. “Or do you forget whose idea this whole thing was in the first place? It was my haphazard plan that launched you into my sister’s arms, and it was my meddling that kept you there. No, I shall see to the close of this as I saw to its beginning, and I will help correct the ways that we have gone astray. This, I promise you.”

  Gerard nodded. “I confess that you have filled me with great courage, friend.”

  “Watch the post for news of the goings on here at Dearbrooke,” William continued, “and keep me apprised of any new developments on your side.”

  “I will,” Gerard said quietly. “Although I fear you will need to keep a close eye on the post on this end, for I believe that in an effort to protect his family from undue Colbourne influence, your father has been intercepting letters that he believes are intended for your sister, and I’m not convinced he won’t do the same in your case.”

  “You extend to him a kindness he may not deserve,” William said, “by crediting his actions with protective acts rather than temper, as they might well be.”

  “In the past I have known him to be a just and reasonable man,” Gerard assured his friend, “and if he has lost some of that justice in the face of his daughter’s possible malignment and injury. I do not blame him and, in fact, would have done the same.”

  The two friends exchanged a few more brief words and then Gerard picked up his horse from the livery and made his way down the moonlit, silent road back to town to put up at the inn for the night. As he rode, he tried to keep his hopes up, although his mind was mostly occupied with the memory of Nora in his arms on the dance floor, and the way her beautiful eyes had filled with unshed tears.

  Chapter 32

  Nora slept fitfully, and woke the next morning before the sun. She dressed in a simple brown day dress and, buttoning on a walking jacket and tying on a bonnet, took to the hills behind Dearbrooke for a morning walk to shake off the cobwebs that were clouding her brain.

  She walked to the edge of the property, not even caring that she was unaccompanied as early as it was and as familiar as she was with the land around her childhood home. She marched up to the edge of the woods and then cut along them, so close some branches tugged at her jacket, walking fast until the cool air filled her lungs.

  Still, no matter how quickly she walked or how the air began to stir against her face, she couldn’t escape the memory of his hand around her waist, or the intensity of his eyes on hers. When she arrived back at the house at the breaking of the sun full and bright over the horizon, it was Gerard’s eyes that filled her thoughts, not the landscape.

  She broke her fast before the rest of the family had come down. William was the first to enter the dining room. He lit up when he saw her and made for the table as though he intended to speak with her at once about a pressing matter, but before he could Nora saw her father and David come in as well, sitting down in their usual places. William, who had been in the very act of breaking the silence, sat down again just as quickly with his mouth closed and his eyes on Mr Pembroke.

  “Good morning, Father,” Nora said quietly, looking up from her untouched meal.

  “Nora,” he answered with a half-smile in her direction.

  James came in and sat down serenely across from her, serving up his plate alongside David and William. There were a few quiet moments of eating without conversation, and then Nora’s father spoke again.

  “Nora, what are your plans for the day?”

  “I will be here,” she said slowly. “I don’t have any intention of going into town, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Then I hope that you might make some time for me,” he said, looking at the paper he was holding instead of meeting her eyes directly. “Please step into my study after you finish eating, and we can have a few moments to talk.”

  “Certainly,” she answered, but even as she did so she felt a chill of nerves run over her. He would be wanting to speak about the events of the night before. After Gerard had found her on the dance floor and her father had seen them, she had managed to steer clear of her father for the few minutes requ
ired to excuse herself from the party and slip away to her own quarters. Such evasive methods, however, were hardly expected to endure.