The Best-Laid Plans Read online

  Newton closed the small gap between them and slowly set his free arm around her. “I love you, Ellie. I can’t tell you when it started or how it began. We were pretending and putting on a show, and somehow, in the midst of it all, the feelings became real and genuine.”

  “Oh, Newton,” she whispered.

  “I wanted to tell you all of this, but I know perfectly well what my next years will hold. Jason Jonquil was quite clear about it: long days, an overwhelming workload, little time for friends and family, let alone courtship and love.”

  She held her breath. How afraid she’d been that he would not return her regard, when all the while, he already did.

  “I told myself,” he continued, “that I would do best not to say anything. Should you, somehow, not give your heart elsewhere before I was able to at last be the suitor you deserved, I promised myself I would then make my suit in earnest. But, my darling Ellie, I cannot bear the thought of you going to Shropshire without telling you how I feel. My heart would simply wither and die while we were apart.”

  Ellie held ever tighter to his hand, overwhelmed at the sincerity she saw in his face.

  “I expect no return of my regard, and I most certainly don’t expect you to set yourself on a shelf to wait for me, but I—”

  She set her other hand against his heart. “I’m not going to Shropshire.”

  Her answer clearly caught him unawares. He didn’t have a ready response.

  “Artemis has invited me to join her at Falstone Castle until the spring comes. Then we are both going to London for the Season.”

  “You are?” Hope flooded his voice.

  “And I want nothing more during that Season than to see you, as often as you are able.”

  “That will be shockingly seldom,” he warned. “I am told my days will be spent from morning to night at Lincoln’s Inn. My only time away will be those few hours at night when I am home. There may be a few soirees or balls now and then but very few.”

  “I’ll be at all of them you are,” she said. “I will make certain of it.”

  “It will never feel like enough,” he said.

  She leaned against him. His embrace tightened, and he rested his cheek against the top of her head. Ellie closed her eyes, letting the warmth of him wash over her. He’d held her before, and it had felt just the same: utterly perfect.

  “I suppose you could always make questionable late-evening calls like this at the house where I’ll be staying,” Ellie said. “Then I would see you more often.”

  “If only that house were—” He stopped quite abruptly but didn’t release her.

  “If only that house were what?” she asked.

  She felt him take a deep, chest-raising breath. “It is too bold, Ellie. I’ll not make so ill-advised a leap as that.”

  “A wise person once told me that cowardice is all but guaranteed to cost a person what he truly wants.” Ellie pulled back the tiniest bit and looked up at him. “I believe we would both do best to be brave.”

  He slipped free the hand she held and wrapped that arm around her as well. “What if that house were our house? What if, instead of trying to find you for an hour during my brief time away from my studies, you were there? What if we were together every moment we were able to be?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me to share a flat with your fellow law students?”

  “No,” he said quickly and firmly.

  She was teasing him, of course, but she also knew better than to leave so crucial a question unspecified. “You had best tell me quite plainly what it is you are asking me.”

  Newton stepped back and took her hands in his. “Ellie Napper, I am asking you if you’ll write to me while you’re in Northumberland, and if you’ll allow me to write to you.” Such an arrangement constituted an understanding between a gentleman and a lady. They both knew as much. “And I’m asking if, when you arrive in London, should you find that your heart wishes to build a life with mine, you will begin that life with me.”

  She raised up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I would love nothing more.”

  He bent his neck swiftly enough to capture her lips before she pulled away. He kissed her gently, tenderly. “When you come to London,” he said. “Once you’ve had time to make certain this is what you want.”

  “And you have had time to do the same.” Months of correspondence free of her family’s interference and the confusion of a one-time feigned courtship would do their connection good, would strengthen it.

  “In London,” he said. “I will be counting down the days.”

  “You could always come visit her here every day for the next two weeks.” Artemis spoke, startling them both. “We don’t leave for Northumberland until then.”

  Newton smiled at Ellie. “I would like that.”

  “So would I,” she said.

  * * *

  Newton called at the Lancaster home every day for the next fortnight, delaying his own departure from Bath until after hers. Visiting with her had made the past two weeks an utter joy. She was precisely the person he’d believed her to be based on the glimpses he’d seen of her when not assuming her previous part.

  They shared an interest in learning anything and everything. Though Ellie did not object to the possibility of someday traveling, she lit up most when they’d spoken of the hope of family and home and stability. When he spoke of the law, she showed genuine interest and asked insightful questions. When she spoke of her interest in poetry, he found himself delighted to know they had that interest in common. She expressed, with obvious uncertainty at his reaction, a wish to someday write poetry of her own. He told her without hesitation that he truly hoped she wrote mountains of it.

  They were more than well suited; they were perfectly matched. He loved her more every time they were together.

  The day arrived when Ellie, along with the Lancasters, was to leave Bath. Though Newton’s heart ached at knowing they would be separated for a time, he was far from despondent. He felt in his heart of hearts that when she arrived in London, they would never need to be apart again.

  The carriage outside was laden with traveling trunks and awaited the Lancaster passengers. Ellie and Newton had slipped into the drawing room, its furniture draped in cloth. He held her in his arms, cherishing these last moments together before their temporary separation.

  “I mean to find a flat somewhere near the Inns of Court but in a respectable area,” Newton said. “Not one for a bachelor but one you needn’t feel the least displeased with.”

  “You must be terribly confident that I will still wish to marry you in a few months’ time.” Her tone was too teasing to cause him even the tiniest worry.

  “Charlie’s brother is a vicar,” Newton said. “I mean to have him pray over it.”

  She laughed. “How many brothers does he have?”

  “According to him, hundreds.”

  Ellie leaned a little more heavily against him. “I’ll miss you over the winter. Please don’t neglect your promise to write to me.”

  “I will write you so often you will grow weary of my handwriting.”

  She pressed a kiss to his jaw, then leaned her forehead against his cheek. “I do love you, you know.”

  “I know. And I am amazed.”

  “You shouldn’t be. I have excellent taste.”

  Oh, he adored her. “We are going to be the happiest couple in all of England.”

  “I know,” she said. “And I am amazed.”

  This was their last private moment until they were together again in London. He brushed his lips lightly over her cheek, wishing he could slow the march of time and remain as they were.

  “I miss you already,” he whispered.

  “But only for a time,” she answered as softly and quietly as he.

  Newton pressed an almost fragile kiss t
o her lips. She touched his face lightly, returning his affectionate offering. It was reassurance and encouragement and support all contained in a simple, heart-stopping touch.

  He had begun his time in Bath unsure of where his life would take him, browbeaten by his parents, and attempting to avoid miserable entanglements. Fate, in all her magic, had given him a future he had only dreamed of, that his parents approved of, and that he had chosen on his own. He had a future. Soon he would have a home and a wife he loved. He would have Ellie in his life for the rest of his life. A truly magical beginning to a remarkably happy ever after.

  About the Author

  Sarah M. Eden is a USA Today best-selling author of witty and charming historical romances, including 2019’s Foreword Reviews INDIE Awards Gold winner for romance, The Lady and the Highwayman, and 2020 Holt Medallion finalist, Healing Hearts. She is a two-time Best of State Gold Medal winner for fiction and a three-time Whitney Award winner. Combining her obsession with history and her affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting deep characters and heartfelt romances set against rich historical backdrops. She holds a bachelor’s degree in research and happily spends hours perusing the reference shelves of her local library.

  Other Books by Sarah M. Eden

  The Lancaster Family

  Seeking Persephone

  Courting Miss Lancaster

  Romancing Daphne

  Loving Lieutenant Lancaster

  Christmas at Falstone Castle*

  The Jonquil Family

  The Kiss of a Stranger

  Friends and Foes

  Drops of Gold

  As You Are

  A Fine Gentleman

  For Love or Honor

  The Heart of a Vicar

  The Gents

  Forget Me Not

  Stand-Alones

  Glimmer of Hope

  An Unlikely Match

  For Elise

  The Best-Laid Plans*

  *Novella