‘Lady Elizabeth,’ Mr Leonard Ashburton said, giving her a stiff, formal bow. ‘It seems you have met my brother.’
‘Indeed,’ she managed to utter.
‘I didn’t want to disturb your ball,’ Mr Joshua Ashburton said, clapping his brother on the back. ‘My ship got in earlier than expected and I couldn’t wait for our reunion, but when I saw you were entertaining I thought I wouldn’t burst in on your evening.’
‘Instead you thought you’d dance with Lady Elizabeth in the garden.’ The words were delivered without much emotion but Beth felt the heat flood to her cheeks. She’d hoped he hadn’t seen anything more than two people standing together in the garden innocently conversing, but it was apparent he had caught at least a little of her indiscretion.
‘I should leave you to get reacquainted with your brother,’ Beth said, stepping quickly away.
‘Thank you for the dance, Lady Elizabeth.’
She swivelled, catching Mr Joshua Ashburton’s eye, and felt the undeniable pull of attraction.
Unable to do anything more than nod, she picked up her skirts and moved as quickly as she could without actually breaking out into a run.
Chapter Two
‘You truly wish to accompany me?’
Joshua threw his head back and laughed at his brother’s quizzical expression. It had only been a day and a half since his reunion with his brother after twenty-five years but already it felt as though he knew the man sitting across from him as well as if they’d never been parted. He had been six years old when they’d lost their parents, with Leo eight, and the serious, pensive little boy had grown into a serious, pensive man.
‘I’ve got three months in England,’ Josh said, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. ‘Then who knows how long it will be before I can come back again? I don’t want to waste a minute.’
‘It won’t be a fun afternoon.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘It is tea with the mother of the girl I promised to marry and then have dragged my feet ever since. It is not going to be fun.’
‘Who is this girl?’
Leo regarded him for a second before answering. ‘You’ve met her. Lady Elizabeth.’
The image of her swaying closer to him, blue eyes locked on his, lips parted in that way that hinted she wanted to be kissed, flashed into his mind.
‘Lady Elizabeth,’ he murmured, savouring the memory. ‘She seemed pleasant enough, why the delay in marrying her?’ Pleasant was an understatement. Everything about her had been alluring: the sweet scent of roses in her hair, the feel of the curve of her waist under his hand as they danced, the way her cheeks had flushed every time he’d looked at her.
His brother sighed, running a hand through his thick hair, the same gesture Josh knew he himself favoured when he felt stressed.
‘I haven’t even asked the girl. It was an arrangement between myself and her father. I owed him a debt of gratitude for a...favour he performed for me. In return for his service I promised to marry his daughter when she was of an appropriate age.’
Josh was intrigued about the favour but knew not to push his brother on something he seemed so protective of. ‘You must be quite the catch, for him to arrange the marriage like that.’
Leo shrugged. ‘When Lord Abbingdon dies I become the ninth Viscount Abbingdon and inherit all the land and money that accompanies the title.’
‘And Lady Elizabeth is the daughter of an earl?’
‘Indeed. But an impoverished one. Her father was concerned she might be forced to marry someone in trade, someone wealthy but not titled, who could prop up the flailing family fortunes. In me he saw money and a title—the best he could hope for.’
‘You sell yourself short. So why the delay?’
Leo closed his eyes for a moment. ‘In truth I do not know. I need to marry, it is a stipulation of Lord Abbingdon’s will. Of course the title and property will come to me no matter what, but he has threatened to give whatever money he can away if I am not married by the time he dies.’
‘A little unreasonable.’
‘He tells me it is bad enough that he hasn’t got a son of his own to inherit, but after you and I there is no one even slightly suitable to inherit the title, or so he says. Hence the stipulation I must be married.’
‘Is there someone else you wish to marry?’
‘No. And I’m sure Lady Elizabeth will make a good enough wife. It is just I barely know her.’
‘Then we must remedy that.’
Ten minutes later they were strolling through the streets, enjoying the sun on their faces and the warm breeze that reminded Josh of the days just before the monsoon back home.
‘What about you?’ Leo asked as he lifted his hat to a group of young women who all chorused good afternoon when they passed.
‘What about me?’
‘Is there someone you plan to marry, someone you hold in high regard in India, or are you looking for a wife here?’
‘Good Lord, no. I love India, I can’t imagine living anywhere else, but I am well aware it is not the life a well-brought-up Englishwoman would necessarily wish for. I fear I’m destined to be a bachelor my entire life.’
‘You have to go back?’
‘Yes. I have to go back.’ He had to, but he also wanted to. England was a pleasant diversion, the chance to get to know the man walking next to him in person rather than through the letters they had exchanged throughout their lives, but it was a short interlude, nothing more. His real life was waiting for him back in India, the shipping business, the transport lines, the hustle and bustle of the docks.
‘Very well.’ Josh was beginning to become accustomed to his brother’s stoic acceptance of everything he was faced with. He couldn’t imagine Leo becoming incensed or enraged, instead just nodding in that calm way of his and moving on.
They paused outside a
