Page 15 of Meet A Rogue At Midnight
Or the appropriate Will Hastings with his Eton education and impeccable manners?
Cresting the Halsey knoll, he bristled at the sight of six chimneys in the east puffing thin streams of smoke. Hastings Manor, a grand home belonging to a grand family. No Braithwaite darkened their door except to deliver a repaired table at the servant’s entrance.
Childhood flattened Plumtree’s social field until he and all the village boys sprouted chin hairs. That’s when the stark social divide came. The Halsey girls were the bridge.
Up ahead, the familiar rope hung from the tower. The end of it was tied to a modest-sized crate in the snow. Voices drifted from the tower’s open window. Jonas strolled around the tower and pushed the door left ajar. On quiet feet, he made his way up the winding stairs, the voices getting louder.
“I can’t countenance you spending an entire day alone with Jonas Braithwaite.”
Jonas halted his progress.Mrs. Halsey?Her continental accent spun elegantly around each word she said.
“But youcancountenance the eight hundred pounds we’ll get if he repairs the curule chair.” Livvy. Her voice pitched headstrong as ever.
“Do not be impertinent.”
“I am being practical, Mother. Jonas has kindly agreed to restore the chairandkeep quiet about father’s condition.”
Mrs. Halsey sighed. “You should never have let him into the tower.”
“What was I supposed to do? It was Christmas Day. I didn’t expect anyone to come calling and he saved me from scraping the chair up the outer wall.”
“It’s simply not proper. Your father let you have your headstrong ways far too long. He thought it enchanting,” Mrs. Halsey said, her voice a tad weary. “I should’ve hired a governess straightaway and not waited as I did.”
“Elspeth and I turned out fine.”
“You could do with a better sense of decorum.”
“Decorum is highly overrated.” Livvy’s voice gentled with affection. “You and Father gave me the best childhood a girl could want.”
Silence stretched for a heartbeat. There was a sniffle. A murmur of sound.
“And now we lean heavily on you, my girl,” Mrs. Halsey said sadly. “Too much, I fear.”
Shoes scraped the floor as if mother and daughter embraced. Jonas balked at eavesdropping on an intimate moment. The upper floor’s light flooded the top of the stairs. Below him, the tower’s door remained ajar. He tarried in the dark space in between, an interloper. He could escape. Or he could go forward and announce his presence.
One hand on the cold stone wall, he swallowed a hard truth. He was good at hanging in the periphery. Not quite present for those in need. Quick to hold his feelings in check and quick to leave when a storm of emotions kicked up. He’d never mastered the fine art of understanding the outer reaches of feelings. Perhaps that’s why he and Lord Edward, Earl of Greenwich, got on so famously. Neither truly understood women or emotions well.
But, even the reclusive Earl of Greenwich had found love.
Jonas’s fingertips dug into the ancient stone wall. Would he ever find love?
“You don’t need to worry about improprieties, Mother. Everyone thinks Father and I are working here. Jonas visiting the tower will have no social consequence.” Livvy sniffled, her voice a touch amused. “He still regards me as the bothersome girl in braids.”
“You can’t know that,” her mother chided.
A knowing laugh echoed above his head. “Yes, I can. I kissed him yesterday and he didn’t kiss me back. It was awkward.”
“Olivia,” her mother groaned.
“You could have another governess watch over me,” Livvy teased. “But it’s a bit late at my ripe age of twenty-four.”
“You are not a child, my dear, I know this.”
“Then you will trust me working with Jonas.”
“I’d feel better if you called him Mr. Braithwaite.” A tolerant, motherly sigh drifted through the tower. “At least Mr. Haggerty will be here soon. He promises to come once the roads are clear enough for travel.”
Standing in the shadows, a pang of conscience pinched Jonas for eavesdropping. He pushed loudly up the stairs, his boots heavy on each step as he called out, “Good morning to the tower.”
