Page 58 of When She Loved Me
Lady Audley was not above rolling her eyes at her granddaughter. “And, my dear, what is the current state of your marriage? Has he pulled his head out of his—”
“Grandmother!”
“Oh, piffle.Androt. Has he, or has he not, made things right? Or am I to be whisking you away from this too far removed monstrosity of a house, as was my intent in coming here?”
With a curious frown, Nicole challenged, “Grandmother, I’ve written you extensively of the state of my marriage, all the ups and downs, which possibly had you dreading any subsequent missives from me.” Nicole grinned when her grandmother tipped her head, suggesting this might well have been the case. “But I love him, and he loves me, and he’s told me so. And so here we are.”
The reel was announced as the next dance, and while she wanted so very much to join in with her friends, as they’d spent so much time practicing, she couldn’t leave her grandmother. With a pleased smile, she watched Charlie and Henry take their places opposite two pretty local girls, while Ian’s sure hand deposited Lorelei into the line before taking his place next to the lads.
This news softened her grandmother’s stern face, until she frowned, wondering, “Is he to be trusted, though?”
Nicole dragged her gaze away from the dance floor. “Grandmother, if I don’t trust him, then we have no chance.” Then, firmly, because it was true, “But I do.”
“Very well,” said Lady Audley with a sigh. “Go on then, get into that dance line, but send your man over here to me.”
Nicole grinned and quickly pressed a kiss onto her grandmother’s cheek. “I love you, grandmother.”
“Yes, yes. Go on.” She waved a wrinkly hand.
Nicole scooted around the unimaginable crush of people to find Timsby and grab his hand, pulling the laughing valet along with her to where Trevor stood.
“Grandmother has requested your presence,” Nicole whispered at her husband’s ear, as he was speaking with two local farmers. When he turned to look at her, grinning with amusement at her holding Timsby’s hand, she added, “Good luck.”
TREVOR CHUCKLED ASNicole lugged Timsby into the line of almost thirty dancers with only seconds to spare before the music started. Charlie clapped his hands at her near late arrival, and Ian gave a lively hoot for the addition of the countess and the valet. Timsby—God love him, a new man since he’d come to the abbey—made little happy motions with his arms just as the dance began and he and Nicole met across the aisle, the valet’s face flushed with joy.
He’d have like to watch the entire dance, as they’d worked so hard at this one, but excused himself from the gentlemen to whom he’d been speaking, to find the dowager.
She was seated at a small round table, and Trevor took the empty chair opposite her.
“Are you enjoying yourself, my lady?”
“I am now,” she said, with about as much gentleness as Trevor was sure he’d ever noted in her. “Having spoken to my granddaughter, I think I can now enjoy this little spectacle you’re putting on.”
Trevor grinned, but said nothing. The woman, as before, likely had an agenda.
“I won’t apologize for my visit to your home those many months ago.”
Yet, she had the grace to look, or feign, a tinge of embarrassment for her unseemly behavior then.
Trevor leaned across the table, which had the lady leaning forward as well, her brow lifted. He said, “I wouldn’t either, if I were you. It was just the kick in the ass I needed.” Somehow, he was sure the lady would not be offended by his crude language.
Her grin assured him she was not.
“You’d have gotten around to it anyhow, somehow. Am I right?”
He chewed on this query for a moment, before admitting what she likely only wanted confirmed. “No one to blame but myself, but truth be known, I died a little death every day without her. It was only a matter of time, I like to think. I am a better man when she loves me.”
She nodded, digesting this. “So now you’ll stay here, keep her hidden away from true society?”
“We will go and be and live wherever she wants. She’ll not want to be away from the abbey for too long at any given time, but we’ve talked about going into the city for some stretches. And I’ll go where she goes.”
“You’ve got all the right answers, Leven, I’ll give you that.”
He leveled his gaze on her. “Here’s the thing, my lady. The right answers are so easy to give when they are truth.”
Accepting this with a proud nod, she abruptly changed the subject. “And what’s this I hear you’ve sacked your bailiff, that bounder, Percival?”
A smirk found its way to his mouth and eyes. Was there nothing that escaped her? “Turns out, he’d likely been embezzling from the Leven estate for decades. My father was foolish not to have noticed it. Mr. Wendell has replaced him, managing not only the abbey, but all of Leven’s affairs. Between him and me, I think we’ve a fair head for business.”
