Nellie stared at her, trying to absorb what she was saying.
Lady Cecily blushed slightly. ‘That’s where I had been coming from when I saw the two of you in the library. I’d made up an excuse to talk to him. When I’d become engaged, we’d agreed to have as little to do with each other as possible, but I was always making up silly excuses to see him. I couldn’t keep away from him. It was because of me that he was at the Lockhart Estate that night. I had insisted to Father that the head footman needed to accompany us to the ball. I just had to keep seeing him, despite our agreement to try to avoid each other.’
She smiled coyly. ‘Anyway, when I saw you and Dominic together, I knew that I couldn’t give up on Charlie, that I had to find a way for us to be together. It was then that I remembered what you said to me about America, here in this very room.’
She looked around as if the parlour held some marvellous qualities that could transform people’s lives. ‘So, I rushed back down to the servants’ hall and asked Charlie to run away with me and start a new life in America. He didn’t need much persuading. Especially after I told him how much I loved him, how I couldn’t live without him.’
She smiled at the happy memory. ‘Charlie gave in his notice immediately. We crept away that night. Charlie took our carriage and we drove through the night down to London where we found somewhere to stay and booked our passage to America. We’ve been hiding out in London ever since, pretending to be a newly married couple.’ Her cheeks reddened slightly and she gave a little laugh. ‘It’s been such fun, I can tell you.’
Lady Cecily tried to pull her face into a more serious expression, failed and went back to smiling. ‘Anyway, we leave today for our new life together. We plan to marry as soon as we arrive in America, then we can start our new life as man and wife. But I couldn’t leave before coming to see you and thanking you. If you hadn’t kissed Dominic, I would never have come to my senses. So, thank you, Nellie.’
She stood up, leaned down and kissed the speechless Nellie on her cheek. ‘I have to run now. In a few hours I’ll be on a steamship heading for America and a new life with my future husband, Charlie.’ Her voice softened every time she mentioned Charlie’s name and she continued smiling as if incapable of containing her joy.
‘Goodbye, Nellie.’
She swept out of the parlour, leaving Nellie still sitting in her armchair, staring straight ahead and wondering what Lady Cecily’s revelation would mean for her and Dominic.
Chapter Eighteen
Dominic stared down at his uneaten breakfast. He wasn’t hungry. A few short weeks ago his life was going according to plan. He knew what he wanted and how to get it. Then along came Nellie Regan. She had turned everything upside down and around and about and left him shaken up and disorientated. She had caused him to question everything: who he was, what he wanted and why he wanted it.
Now he was left reeling as if battered by a fierce emotional storm. Kissing her, holding her, caressing her lovely body had felt so right. Then she was gone.
On the night that they had kissed, she had been right to tell him to try to find Cecily. It was the right thing to do, to try to explain what had happened, to try to undo the damage they had done. But would he have done the right thing if he had known that Nellie would not be waiting for him when he returned? Dominic didn’t know. And now he never would.
After he had left Nellie in the library, he had searched Lockhart Estate for Cecily, but she had been nowhere to be found. Finally, when he had all but exhausted his search, he had gone down to the last place he would expect her to run to, the servants’ hall. There he had been told she had left, along with her footman. It had been too late to pursue her back to Hardgrave Estate and, if he was being perfectly honest, he was relieved that she had left. He could talk to her once tempers had settled. In the meantime, he could return to Nellie. After what had happened, he had so much he needed to say to her, so much he wanted to ask her.
He had gone to her room, expecting to find her waiting for him. But she wasn’t there and neither were her bags. Once again, he searched the house. Had she moved to another room? Had she decided to stay in the servants’ quarters after all? He didn’t know. Frantically he had searched the entire house and grounds, but she was nowhere to be found. It was only when he saw his coachman coming up the drive and he had questioned the tired man that he discovered her whereabouts. He was informed that the coachman had taken her to the nearby village and she was staying the night in a local inn.
Dominic had wanted to leave immediately, to follow her. He could not let her go, not like this, not ever. But he had seen the fatigue etched on the coachman’s face. It was the small hours of the morning, the man needed his rest, as did the horses.
Instead he had arranged for a horse to be made ready for him first thing in the morning. After a sleepless night he rode to the inn, only to find she had already left to take the first train to London. With only minutes to spare he had
