Something Old, Rebecca Connolly [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

would react like this, I’d have saved the offer for a more private occasion.”

“Your reserve will have to recover at some other time,” Rosalind shot back as she released him, a brow raising over damp eyes. “Any brother of mine would need to be accustomed to my antics and let me have my way.”

“So be it, then.” He wiped a tear from her cheek then nodded at something behind them. “Your husband saw that, Roz, and he looks concerned. Best settle his fears before he believes you to be distressed.”

Rosalind sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. “You might as well just tell me to leave the two of you to dance, Granger, not concoct stories about my husband. Will knows very well I am never distressed.” She sniffed once and turned, casting another wink at Lily before leaving them.

Thomas chuckled as he watched her go. “I really do like her. In a terrifying, rather intimidating sort of way.”

Lily could not laugh, could not feel anything but overwhelming tenderness and joy. “I love you,” she whispered.

His eyes were immediately on her, dark and warm. He took her hand and brought it to his lips, lingering far longer than was polite. “Dance with me, Lily.”

She nodded quickly, swallowing hard. “Always.”

The look he gave her was a kiss in itself, and he slowly led her out to the dance floor as though this ball was a celebration of their marriage, and no one else’s.

For all Lily felt, it just might have been.

Chapter Twenty-One

It had been some time since Thomas had spent a day occupied with business and nothing else, but being in London tended to bring about meetings for such things, and there was nothing to be done about it.

His solicitor had been first that morning and undoubtedly the most satisfying meeting of the day. The offer he had submitted for Pendrizzick had been accepted, and the Tremellion family had been generous in their terms. It would only require a few additional details and arrangements for him, and then they could close the deal, and the house would be theirs.

The knowledge that Pendrizzick would soon be a true home for him and for Lily was a bolstering thought indeed. He had given her no indication that he had started the process, and he would not tell her that his offer had been accepted. Only when Pendrizzick truly belonged to them would he share the secret with her. Perhaps he would do so with the carriage already loaded so that they might return to the place at once and begin making it as much a home as possible.

He’d instructed his solicitor to also begin the process of arranging a let on their London house, if not an outright sale to interested parties. It said a great deal about the nature of London that his solicitor was neither surprised nor irked by the matter, and that he assured Thomas that he would have all prepared, if not a few offers, before the week was out.

With his solicitor, he had also surveyed the reports from his estate manager at Rainford and made necessary arrangements for the care of his tenants and estate. All was in good order there, as it ever was, and his estate manager could have made any and all decisions regarding care of the place and the finances associated with it without deferring to Thomas at all. It was purely an act of deference and technicality at this point, he was quite certain, but it was still satisfying to be included in the decisions. Most of the time.

His next meetings were with shipping agents from his various investments, each eager to assure him of the security of his funds, as well as to humbly request additional funds in order to further certain interests. But Thomas was no longer one to jump at every chance, and had asked of each man in return that they send him the details and plans requiring his additional investment so that he might make an informed, careful decision about the matter. It was never a popular answer to give, but he refused to manage his business affairs in any other way.

It had served him well before, and it would continue to serve him well.

Gads, he was tired. Sitting here in White’s, waiting for his next meeting, he wished he had spread these meetings out over several days rather than combining them all into one. What had he been thinking?

He knew the answer the moment he had asked himself the question.

He had wanted to spend more time with Lily, and sacrificing one day was better than sacrificing several mornings to these ventures of his. He had spent so long as of late stripping himself of the cares of his businesses and finances, reveling in the stability he had long sought, that he had forgotten there was actual satisfaction in the work itself. Not quite as much as working the land himself in the mine, but he still found the neat lines and numbers of ledgers to be rather gratifying.

It would seem he was born to be a man of occupation and not a man of leisure. Or, at least, a gentleman who truly took an interest in his business affairs. Yet even with those truths, there was nothing in them to compare to the feelings he had experienced in Cornwall with Lily. In the life he had begun to live with her.

His interests in the mine had taken on a more passionate edge in that life. His mind had been more alert and aware of the details all around him. He’d been able to separate the interests of a financial aspect from the interests of his emotions, and that had made all the difference.

For years, he had repressed any personal interests, despite his feelings being the motivation for his actions initially, and focusing entirely on financial and business interests. He had sacrificed his wife and his own happiness for those ends, and it was