‘Don’t look so surprised,’ Amanda said as Dominic tried to compose himself. ‘I’m not entirely blind as to what’s been going on in this house. I saw the way you looked at her when she was here for the ball and it started to make sense. You’d changed since you came back from your time in London and I don’t just mean because of your injuries. So, I asked my lady’s maid for the gossip from below stairs. You know how the servants know everything. Well, she told me that there was indeed something between the two of you, that you’d actually rushed after her in the early hours of the morning when she left for London.’ Amanda smiled, her eyebrows raised, her eyes shining. ‘You rushed after Nellie Regan, not Cecily Hardgrave. That sounds like there’s definitely something between you and Nellie.’
Dominic released his held breath. Thank goodness his innocent sister hadn’t been told about the intimacy that had taken place in the library and hopefully that was also something that had escaped the notice of the ever-observant servants.
‘All right, now you know I acted like a fool. But fortunately, Miss Regan was more sensible and she rebuffed me. Now, let’s say no more on the matter. What time will Lord Westcliffe be joining us?’
‘Don’t change the subject, Dominic. Nellie rebuffed you because she thought you were still engaged to Cecily. The ending of your engagement changes everything. You’re now free to do what makes you happy, not what you think you’re supposed to do, but what you want to do.’
‘It’s not as simple as that.’ He took a sip of his coffee to underline that the conversation was over.
‘Yes, it is. It’s very simple. You’re sacrificing your happiness because you want to elevate our position in society. You think it will make me and my sisters happy, but it’s not what any of us want. We don’t care about society. We don’t care about making so-called good marriages. We want to marry for love, just like our mother, and be happy. We want that for you as well, Dominic. And you should want it for yourself.’
She smiled at him. ‘Follow your heart, Dominic, do what makes you happy, not what you think society expects you to do.’
He stared at his sister as she continued to smile at him.
Was it really that simple? Could there really be a simple answer to such a complex problem? Follow your heart. It seemed far too easy.
Dominic looked down at his coffee. Had he been making things more complicated than they needed to be? Was his sister right?
He raised his head and nodded. ‘All right, Amanda. I will.’ With those few words it was as if an enormous weight had been lifted off Dominic’s shoulders. He would do something completely outrageous—he would follow his heart back to Nellie Regan.
Once he had spoken to Lord Westcliffe and given his blessing to his courtship of Amanda, he would take the next train up to London.
Chapter Nineteen
Throughout the train journey Dominic rehearsed what he was going to say to convince Nellie that marriage to him would be perfect. She had sounded so resolute at the train station when she had told him there could never be anything between them, but that was when she thought they could never be man and wife. Without that, she had quite rightly said she wanted nothing to do with him. But that was no longer the case. Now they had a future together.
And her actions when he had kissed her in the library had shown him that, despite her words, there was something between them. There was passion, there was fire, there was intense desire that had brushed aside all reason and had consumed them both.
She had also accused him of behaving like so many men of his class before him, of taking advantage of a woman from the servant class, but he knew that, too, wasn’t true. He was certain that Nellie also knew it wasn’t true. He was not the type of man who would do something so despicable. And even if he was, no one would ever take advantage of that lovely little minx. Any man who tried would be taking a mighty risk. He smiled to himself as he remembered her confronting him the first time they had met, with her eyes flashing, her hands defiantly on her hips. That was not a young woman who anyone would be able to take advantage of and he pitied the poor fool who tried.
The fact that he wanted to marry her swept away those objections. He could hardly be accused of taking advantage of her now. Not when he wanted to marry her. Contentment washed through him. Amanda was right—once you followed your heart everything became much more simple, everything started to make sense.
He looked out of the train window and watched as the view turned from green rolling countryside to small villages. The train would soon be entering the edges of London, taking him closer and closer to Nellie.
He smiled to himself. He would soon be marrying Nellie Regan, a former lady’s maid who was now in trade. Who would have ever thought his life would change this much in such a short time? Who would believe that he could change so quickly from being completely opposed to people who let their hearts rule their heads to someone who was more than happy to do exactly that? But it was true. He was now being driven by his passions and throwing all caution to the wind, and all because of Nellie Regan.
He looked back at the empty compartment, pleased that no one could see him smiling to himself like a demented fool. He picked up the folded newspaper he had planned to read on the train, then put it back down again and looked out of the window.
But then, why should he be so surprised at the change
