Page 58 of The Moonstone Hero
“They are about to play a last waltz. Will you dance with me? We can talk while I twirl you around the floor with magnificent expertise.”
She laughed lightly. “All right.”
Lord Fielding was a gentleman and much admired by her family. He had never married, and she never understood why. He was handsome, honorable, wealthy, titled, and did not appear to have any of the sort of vices that ruined a marriage.
“May I ask you a question that is terribly impolite and intrusive of your privacy?”
He nodded as he led her to the circle of dancers and put his arm around her to begin the waltz. “When you put it that way, how can I say no? Go ahead, ask it.”
“Why have you never married?”
“That, my sweet and lovely Ella, would take an hour to answer. But I think the real question you are asking is whether you should wait for Lord Mersey to come around and ask you to marry him. Do you want me to answer that one?”
Chapter Twelve
Caden stared outhis window as rain struck the panes and fog obscured his view of the beautiful cove and its sparkling waters. The weather suited his foul temperament. Three days had passed since the assembly ball at the Kestrel Inn, and Ella had not come by to see him in all that time.
He was going out of his mind.
Nothing distracted him, not the grueling exercises that had Dr. Hewitt angrily telling him to take it easy or he was going to rip his stitches and damage his healing bones. Nor could hours spent with the wounded soldiers in the common wards take his mind off her. He also spent hours contemplating the speeches he would give while on his tour, but those thoughts always brought him back to Ella and the need to keep her out of the ugly battles certain to arise between his grandfather and him—not to mention those in the House of Lords who were lining their pockets along with his grandfather.
Lining their pockets with the blood of soldiers.
No matter what he did to occupy his mind, everything came back to Ella and how much he wanted her and missed her.
He turned at the sound of a knock at his open door, hoping it would be her. Instead, the hospital’s commander, Major Brennan, strode in. “Ah, Fionn. What can I do for you?”
The major held out an envelope. “I just received this missive from your grandfather.”
Caden arched an eyebrow. “He wrote to you and not me?”
Fionn nodded. “He already knows you are going to tell him to go to hell, so he thought to reason with me instead. He’s coming here with a contingent of generals, government officials, and newspaper reporters. They’ll be arriving tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
Bollocks.
This was not good. Caden still had unfinished business with Ella. Although he had no idea what he was going to say to her.
“Yes. I should have received this letter sooner, but the official pouch it was sent in somehow got delayed. It only reached me this morning. Perhaps it is better this way. Gives you less time to stew about it. Need I remind you how important it is for you to behave like a hero?”
“You mean, be reasonable?” Caden snorted. “No, I do not need the reminder. Where is Ella? Why has she not come to the hospital these past few days?”
“She has come by every day.”
“What?”
“You heard me. She stops by here every day but does not want to see you. Or maybe she was hoping you would come in search of her, or bother to ask about her…which you did not.”
“Bollocks. Now she must hate me.”
Fionn sighed. “She doesn’t hate you.”
“But she is mightily disappointed in me.” Caden crossed to the corner where he had left his crutches leaning against the wall. “I just assumed she would stay home because the weather has been so foul these past few days. Besides, I am asking about her now, aren’t I? And why did Elmer not tell me? That boy blabs about everything.”
“Well, it is too late now. She has returned to Westgate Hall already.”
“Will she be here tomorrow?” Caden felt so frustrated—his own fault for waiting too long to ask about her. Another bloody misstep when dealing with Ella. How hurt she must be, thinking she was not in his thoughts at all when he could think of nothing but her to the point of obsession.
