Page 16 of The Widower Without a Will
She was not asleep.She studied a letter with her chin bent and her left hand clasped to her mouth, as if someone had died.
Martin’s stomach flipped.Someone could have died.
“Have you had bad news?”he asked, forgetting that she did not know he had entered the room.She let out a strangled scream.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you.”Rushing to unburden himself first of the plate of food and the heavy committee report, Martin sank to his knees beside her chair and put his two hands on her arm to calm her.“Forgive me.I should have knocked at the door.”
“Knocked at the door of your own study?”Her spare hand landed on top of his fingers, and she let out a shaky breath, clearly trying to paste over her emotions.“I should have removed to my room when you left.I remembered this letter that your daughter delivered and thought I would read it first, and since then, I forgot myself.”
Caroline had said the letter was from Mr.Sebright—which couldn’t mean that anyone had died, or Caroline would have shared that news, too.Unless Mrs.Bellamy’s niece had finally written and the note had gone to her old address.Still holding onto her arm, Martin asked, “Is it news from your family?”
Shaking her head, she removed her fingers from his to hold the letter again.“A bill of dilapidations for the rectory.”
Anger surged through Martin.Of course, it was not irregular for a new rector to ask the previous family to cover the cost of repairs to the parish house—yet he thought it in extremely poor taste considering Mr.Sebright counted Lord Harewood as a relation while Mrs.Bellamy didn’t even have anywhere to live.
Besides, it had only been Mr.and Mrs.Bellamy living in the rectory for this past decade, with no children or grandchildren to wreak havoc.There couldn’t be a great need for repairs.
“Are they asking for very much?”
For a moment, she seemed unable to answer, her eyes glued to the letter, her mouth stuck open on a word that would not come.At last, she said, “Whether it is very much or very little, I am afraid I cannot pay it.”
She blushed—as if it were some stain upon her honor that she did not have the funds for such a bill!
Martin wanted to take her in his arms, and yes, he would kiss her, but more importantly, he would erase the shame from her being.
He settled for taking the letter from her.Moving into the chair beside hers—his knees could not bear to kneel for much longer—he read over its charges.New wallpaper to replace a patch in the living room.New thatching for the roof to fix a leak in the main bedroom.New tiling for the hearth in the kitchen.
This was not a good faith bill asking to share the burden of updating a rectory.This was highway robbery of a poor widow.
“This must be negotiated, Mrs.Bellamy.You do not bear the burden for all of these repairs.”
She stared down at her feet, which were dainty in a pair of silk slippers she had probably bought as a bride.“I shouldn’t like to cause trouble in the village over it.Perhaps I can pay in installments.I had planned to help my niece with her household, but I could take in sewing as well to pay off my debt.”
Not for a second would Martin allow her to accept such a responsibility.“It shall not be so bad as all that.We’ll talk with Mr.Sebright to sort this out.I promise you it shall not cause any trouble in the village.”
She shook her head.“This is my challenge, not yours.”
“Why should it be yours alone when I am ready and willing to help?”
With the same strength she had displayed in accepting his invitation to live at Northfield Hall, she lifted her chin and met his gaze directly.“You have already taken me in as a houseguest with no termination date.I will not turn into a leech, sir.”
All questions ofshouldsorshouldn’ts, all reasoning of why he felt this way or that, disappeared.Martin reached across the space between their chairs to touch her again, this time threading his fingers through hers.“I invited you to live here as a part of my duty.Now, I offer you my help as your friend.My dear Mrs.Bellamy, please, won’t you allow me to be your knight in shining armor?”
How thrilling it was to even call her that:my dear Mrs.Bellamy.The words echoed in the air as she looked down at their intertwined hands, then back into his eyes.Martin couldn’t breathe as he waited for her answer.
Her fingers tightened ever so slightly around his as she nodded.“If you so wish it, my lord.”
“I do,” he said, and though he knew he should let go of her hand, he didn’t.
LordPrestonarrangedforthem to ride to Thatcham the very next day in the family’s carriage.As opposed to the gig, which was so well-used that it could have belonged to any prospering farmer in the neighborhood, the carriage could only be that of a lord.It boasted four wooden wheels with spokes painted to match the black lacquer of its body.The door bore the family crest in gold and red.When Boyle, the coachman, drove it round the sweep to fetch them, he wore a linen livery that Martha hadn’t yet seen on the household servants.
“The gig is perfectly comfortable,” Martha said to Lord Preston as he led her down the marble steps to the carriage.“I don’t need such pampering as a coach-and-four.”
“The horses need to stay in shape,” Lord Preston replied, but from the way amusement crinkled around his eyes, Martha didn’t believe him.This was a display of power—unusual in a man who spent most of his life trying to diffuse that power.
Inside, the carriage was even grander than Martha had imagined.The benches and walls alike were upholstered in fine wool—with a detailed pattern that depicted the façade of Northfield Hall—and cushioned so that she barely noticed when they started moving.From underneath the bench, Lord Preston withdrew a gleaming wooden box upon which she could rest her feet, as they didn’t quite reach the floor.She discovered that it opened to hold a warming brick for winter rides.
As they rode to Thatcham, they discussed his recent correspondence with the Anti-Slavery Society about how to get votes for a bill to make slave trading piracy and why it would allow Britain to take even swifter action against the foreign ships they encountered carrying shipments of people to the Americas.
