Page 13 of A Sense of Paradise
Or he had been, until Archie had defended Flora from abduction a few months previously, almost crippling himself in the process. She’d had him taken back to Fox Hollow, ignored his protests and had his clothing stripped off, exposing his scars so that she could place poultices on his swollen knee. He thought she would be appalled, that she wouldn’t be able to look at him with anything other than repulsion.
He hadn’t expected her to crawl onto the bed with him later that night to satisfy herself that he wasn’t running a fever. He had been, but not for the reasons that she supposed. Being anywhere near her, especially in a bed, was the worst sort of torment. But he could not—would not—press home his advantage until they were man and wife. For once in his life, he intended to do things properly.
He sighed as he recalled that particular exquisite agony, longing for the day when he would wake up beside her every morning for the rest of his life.
Name the day, darling.
‘To stand up like a man, I take it you mean.’ Archie’s angry scowl bounced harmlessly off Pawson’s tough hide.
‘And see your rival for the lady’s affections safely married off.’
Archie sent Pawson an assessing look. He was one of the few people who was aware of his secret engagement to Flora. ‘She chose me. God alone knows why.’
‘My thoughts exactly.’
Archie grunted and made his way slowly down to his library. Pawson had hit upon a sore point. He would never admit it for the world, but hehadbeen relieved when Luke didn’t change his mind about matrimony at the eleventh hour. He knew very well that his friend regretted challenging Flora’s beliefs, thereby excluding the possibility of her ever accepting him. He had seen the lingering looks of regret that he had bestowed upon her during the course of the previous day and selfishly blessed Luke’s closed mind on the subject of her second sight.
Would she have taken Luke if he had assured her that he would permit her to remain true to her beliefs and not abandon them? It was a concern that had caused Archie more than one sleepless night. His pride balked at the thought of being a consolation prize.
‘A note’s come from Eloise.’ Pawson breezed into Archie’s library late in the afternoon and handed it to him. ‘Well, more to the point, it was given to me in the village earlier by Louis. We passed one another. He was on his way here to deliver it.’
Archie scowled. ‘They are here, in Felsham?’
‘He and Eloise have put up at the Stag…-
‘In Lyneham?’ Archie glowered at the opposite wall as though he bore it a grudge. ‘On Flora’s doorstep. What the hell are they playing at?’
‘Couldn’t say, but Louis made it clear that she doesn’t intend to leave until she’s seen you about a matter of urgency. I got the impression that he’ll have to go back though, leaving her here alone. It’s coming up to harvest time and he’ll be needed.’
‘What’s so damned important?’ Archie asked crossly.
‘No idea. I asked Louis, obviously, but he said it wasn’t his story to tell.’
Archie sighed and broke open the note. Other than begging an interview as a matter of urgency, it didn’t tell Archie anything new.
‘Get word to her,’ he said. ‘By putting up at Lyneham she has assured herself of my attention. I don’t want Flora tripping over her. Tell her to come here the day after tomorrow, Thursday, and I will see her then. I have estate business all day tomorrow so I can’t see her before that, but I want her gone from the area before Flora hears that she is still here.’
‘Right. Will do. Oh, and by the way, Thompson, the landlord at the Cat and Fiddle stopped me in Felsham. Reckons Baldock has been in his taproom badmouthing you. Thompson threw him out but thinks we haven’t seen the last of him. He bears you a grudge and is out to cause trouble.’
‘Who isn’t?’ Archie asked, rolling his eyes.
Archie dealt with his tenants’ concerns the following day, being a firm believer in listening to those at the sharp end and taking their views into account. It made for a congenial relationship which led to a mutually beneficial partnership. Contented farmers meant profitable farms.
There were always exceptions, though, and Baldock was a case in point. He had been a perpetual thorn in Archie’s side, dishonest and lazy, always in dispute with his fellow tenants and seldom sober. Archie had left his steward, the aptly named Farmer, to deal with him when yet another argument between Baldock and his nearest neighbour erupted over the ownership of a heifer. Farmer had listened to the evidence and found Baldock to be at fault. Since he had committed previous offences, he and his family were ejected from the Felsham estate. Clearly, the man had not left the area and was out to create trouble. Not that there was anything he could do to harm Archie, but the situation still rankled.
Archie spent most of the afternoon thrashing out the details of future crop rotation and animal husbandry with Farmer and was then closeted with his secretary, dealing with correspondence that had waited for too long.
By the time he had caught up with himself, he was obliged to think about the following day, when Eloise would call, at a loss to understand what could be so important that she had gone to such extraordinary lengths to gain his attention. He thought of the two letters he had received from her that had gone unanswered and felt a moment’s guilt for ignoring them, almost sure that she wouldn’t have written without good reason, but thinking that she wouldn’t be above inventing that good reason. Unlike Archie, her feelings had been engaged and she hadn’t wanted him to leave her behind in France.
‘She’s here.’ Pawson put his head round the door, interrupting Archie’s introspective thoughts.
‘Right.’ Archie straightened his shoulders as he walked towards the window and stared out at immaculate gardens bursting with colour. ‘Let’s get this over with. Show her in and stay yourself.’
Pawson chuckled. ‘Afraid she’s after having her wicked way with you?’
Archie sent his man a droll look. ‘Something of that nature.’
She walked into the room, looking as lovely as he remembered. With sparkling blue eyes and features that complimented one another so perfectly that they would inspire the most irascible of artists, she was almost too lovely to be real. In the two years since he had last seen her, her beauty had blossomed with the onset of maturity, yet seeing her again at close quarters engendered no feelings of regret. There was a certain copper-haired female, on the other hand, who could move him to extremes of frustration and passion with just a look, a gesture, or a tilt of her enticing lips.
