Page 10 of The Spring Promise
Now his mind drifted back to Molly. The way Hunter had looked at her, and how well they seemed to get on. What if Hunter proposed to Molly? What if that rakeseducedMolly?
Will found his heart was beating hard and fast. His fists clenched on the horse’s reins. Perhaps he should have stayed and kept watch over her? He hesitated, about to turn back, until it occurred to him that Molly was far too sensible to fall for Hunter’s tricks.
Still full of questions and doubts, Will made his way home to Starling Hall. His low spirits lifted at the sight of his home. It may not be a Tudor manor like Sir Reginald’s, or a Georgian palace like the Norris’s, but he loved it. He belonged here. He knew every nook and cranny within its walls, and he could never imagine living anywhere else.
And he just knew that if Celeste married him, she would come to love it too.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Molly hadn’t seen Will for several days. She had assumed he was at the Morton’s, but when Sir Reginald’s parlourmaid, who was a friend of their dairymaid, had called yesterday, Molly had questioned her in a roundabout way. It seemed he had not visited the manor for some time. Celeste was still in residence, but there was talk of her returning to Shropshire.
It seemed strange that Will wasn’t making the most of the time left to him to win her over.
Grace suggested that Will was probably busy. Spring was always a busy season in the country, what with crops to plant and animals having babies. Molly knew that as the heir to Starling Hall, Will never stinted his time when it came to his duties.
Will was serious and responsible, and Molly had always loved that about him.
She sighed, wondering what the point was of loving a man who was so determined to throw himself away on a pretty face.
Was she being unfair? She supposed she was, a little. Celeste was vivacious and charming, and she wasverypretty. But after giving it due consideration, Molly concluded that Will married to Celeste would be miserable. Celeste would probably be miserable, too. She didn’t seem the type to stick it out in the country for long. From what Molly had gathered from her conversation with Celeste, she was already dying to move on.
“Not that I haven’t enjoyed my stay,” she had added hastily, “because I have. Very much. But a cousin has asked me to visit her in London, and once one has seen one cow, one has seen them all.”
Molly had smiled dutifully but thought to herself,Poor Will. Unless he could convince Celeste of the joys of Starling Hall, or Celeste grew so in love with him she was willing to forego London, he was doomed to heartbreak.
Perhaps Molly should pay a visit to Starling Hall?
After all, it was what she would have done—before Celeste arrived. It was what any friend would do, and she hoped she and Will were still friends. She wondered if Will had already asked Celeste for her hand, and maybe the Starlings were celebrating, but somehow Molly did not believe that. Will could never keep such a thing to himself, and if he was tying the knot with Celeste Morton, everyone in Barton Lacey would know by now.
With a sigh, Molly changed into one of her better dresses, before she went to the stables and set off on her mare.
Once she reached the Hall, she could see that the children were involved in a game of croquet on the front lawn, while their governess tried to keep order. The rules appeared to have gone out of the window, with the younger children refusing to do as they were told. A couple of the boys were wrestling, and a dog ran barking in circles.
As soon as the children saw Molly, they all gathered around her, everyone speaking at once. Although Molly didn’t usually mind all this attention, she was relieved when Lady Meg Starling came to see what all the noise was about.
“Molly, my dear! It has been ages. We have missed you.”
Molly hastily blinked back tears. If Will succeeded in wooing Celeste her visits would be few indeed. The thought of seeing him with someone else would simply be too much to bear. She would have to stay away for a year or so. Maybe a decade.
Possibly forever.
“I am sorry, Lady Meg. I have been rather busy.”
Lady Meg raised her auburn eyebrows over her blue eyes, and suddenly looked very much like her eldest son. “Will seems to think you have an admirer.”
Molly stared. “An admirer?” She raised a hand to tuck back a strand of fair hair. “Then he knows more than I do. By chance, did he say who this admirer might be?”
“Mr Hunter, I am told.” Lady Meg watched her curiously. “Do you mean to say it is not true? Will seemed sure that it was.”
“I think I need to speak to Will,” Molly said with a forced smile. “But I assure you I have not seen Mr Hunter since that day at the Morton’s.”
Will’s mother looked a little confused, but said she would find her son. However, someone called to her from somewhere inside the hall, and she gave Molly a harried look. “I’m sorry, I must attend to this first.”
Molly smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll find him.”
As expected, she found him in the barn. She had heard that one of their ewes had died, and Will had been bottle feeding it with limited success. But it seemed another ewe’s lamb had died, and he’d taken the opportunity to pair the two together. Both ewe and lamb were happy now.
Will looked up from the shadows of the stall, his blue eyes weary but relieved. “I was beginning to wonder if the poor thing would survive,” he said. “Or maybe I was wondering ifIwould survive, getting up at all hours to feed the creature.”
