Page 30 of A Lady’s Fairytale Come True
Finally, he worked up the courage. He knocked again, firmly, as if he had only just arrived.
“Who could be coming?” he heard from within.
“I’ve no idea, perhaps a visitor for Father,” came the reply, which he recognised to be the voice of Miss Digby.
“Father’s not at home,” said the other.
“Well, they must not know that. Either way, I’ll get the door,” she replied.
His stomach felt as though it might drop at any moment, there was such an anxiety within it. Her footsteps grew closer and finally he saw her through the crack that he had left open.
Miss Digby swung the door open and the smile on her face fell immediately.
Eyes widened before turning to slits. Her mouth, a toothy grin before, became a thin line. The pert little nose suddenly began to flare wide.
Instantly, Nathaniel felt quite certain that this was not going to go very well.
Chapter 16
“Good morning, Miss Digby,” he said politely.
Olivia could feel her blood boiling within her. What was he thinking? Who did this man believe himself to be that he should come here? What was she supposed to do? Welcome him?
With an exhale that did not hide her disdain, Olivia managed to say, “My lord,” and give an obligatory curtsey. The Earl of Glauston was the real fool if he thought he deserved any kindness from her.
She saw the way his face showed with regret, however. Good. Let him regret it. He had treated her as less than nothing and now he could see that she was very much that. He saw her home, and now he was probably just there to humiliate her further.
“Forgive me for being so forward in coming to your home, Miss Digby. I had no intention of causing issues of any sort or of making you feel uncomfortable. But I had to come,” he said.
“I’m certain that you did,” she replied coldly, placing a hand on her hip. “And I am quite certain that it was not of your own will that you have come here but rather that of your grandmother, who has the sense of propriety that might force one to do such a thing as apologise for atrocious behaviour.”
These words were rather daring for her to say to a man in his position, but Olivia simply could not help herself. She was still brutally enraged at him and he was the last person she might have expected to find on her doorstep.
She pushed aside the fact that his freckles were even more charming when he blushed. She ignored the way his hair fell fashionably over his forehead and drew further attention to his eyes.
She had to ignore these things or she might find herself distracted by his features and forget about his heart, which had proven to be so ugly.
“You are correct. It was at my grandmother’s urging that I came,” he confessed.
Olivia opened her mouth, ready to tell him that he ought to leave and never return or dream of coming near her home again. She had every intention of being rid of him that she might never have to feel something for this man anymore and she could be rid of all the embarrassment and strangeness of the past week.
But before Olivia was able to speak, the Earl of Glauston took a step forward. Was he trying to enter her home? She had given him no leave to do such a thing, and yet he was doing just that.
In shock, Olivia took a step back, allowing him to come through the door.
From the corner of her eye, Olivia noted that her sisters were peering around the corner, wanting to know exactly what was occurring. She turned her head to glare at them and they departed quickly.
The earl had seen them as well and Olivia noted that this only furthered his own regret that he was seen in this humble position. Once more, she was glad that he was forced into this.
And yet, there was something in his eyes that hinted at a desire he had. Olivia noticed it in the expression of weariness on his face. Something humbling.
Lowering himself to his knees, an unheard-of position for a nobleman, the earl cast his eyes down and allowed himself the humiliation of a servant’s posture.
“Miss Digby, I have imposed a great wound upon you. It was not done out of any intention to hurt you, but it was rather out of my own desperation. I beg of you, as any man might beg for a morsel of bread in times of despair, to allow me to tell you the reason for my behaviour,” he requested.
Completely taken aback and in shock at this display, Olivia opened her mouth to speak and stuttered syllables that wished to be words. Yet nothing of clarity came out.
He looked up at her with those eyes and she managed to form a brief sentence and an invitation, then.
