‘I don’t have the same freedoms you do,’ she said in a voice no louder than a whisper. Beth knew she was sharing too much with this man she barely knew, but it was as though he had hypnotised her. He was so easy to talk to, to share things with, that she wanted to let all the family secrets spill out. She wanted to tell him of the debts and the more and more frequent refusals of lines of credit, and of course the more personal debt she owed to her sister, the reason Beth had to be the one responsible for all of their futures and not just her own.
‘No,’ he said after a moment of silence, ‘I suppose you don’t.’
Before she could say any more she heard her mother’s voice grow nearer as she and Leonard Ashburton returned inside.
Her mother was beaming, and as she entered the room she lay a featherlight touch on Mr Ashburton’s arm. It seemed the negotiations had gone well.
Beth summoned a smile, feeling sick as she waited to hear her fate.
‘We must be going. Lady Elizabeth, it was a pleasure seeing you again. I look forward to our stroll around the pleasure gardens tomorrow night.’
‘The pleasure gardens?’
‘I suggested the idea to your mother a moment ago—the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens are beautiful at this time of year. Lady Hummingford confirmed you are not otherwise engaged.’
Allowing her innate social manners to take over, she stood and allowed Leonard Ashburton to kiss her hand before he turned and left, leaving her in the dark as to whether they were engaged or not.
She was so shocked she didn’t register Joshua Ashburton until he was right in front of her. He picked up her hand from where it was still held out in front of her and brought it to his lips, brushing the most gentle of kisses on her skin. All the time his eyes didn’t leave her own and she felt a flurry of excitement deep inside. Too soon he had pulled away and Beth was left holding her hand to her chest, feeling the thump of her heart through her skin and trying not to show how flustered one tiny kiss on the hand had made her.
‘What did Mr Ashburton say?’ She tried to pull her focus back on to the important matter in hand as the two men were shown out by the maid.
‘He proposes a courtship, a trial of sorts, to see if you will be suited. He remembers his promise and if all is well between you at the end of six weeks the wedding will be arranged.’
Six weeks. It was no time at all. Six weeks to convince a man she didn’t care for that she would make a perfect wife. Six weeks to convince herself this was for the best.
Chapter Three
The sun was barely up when Josh left Millbrook House. It was cool with the streets in shadow, but the watery light of dawn was already beginning to hint at the glorious day it would soon become.
He loved the early mornings, often choosing a stroll over the hills or down to the beach back home instead of another hour in bed. There was something magical about discovering a place before many people were up and about, something wonderful about walking through an empty street or through quiet countryside whilst everyone else was still abed.
It was only his fourth day in England and he felt as though he had so much to see and do. Three months was no time at all to catch up on a lifetime missed out on with his brother, and he was curious about this country where he had been born too.
Leo was the same as he had been as a child in many ways, although many of his qualities seemed amplified. He had been a serious boy, but now there was a gravity about him that exceeded how he’d been as a child, and Josh sensed a sadness too. He hadn’t probed too deeply but he felt as though his brother didn’t much care about his future happiness and was far too focussed on duty.
Take the example of his proposed marriage. Leo was hardly interested either way. He felt he needed to get married and he was the sort of man to honour a promise made, so Lady Elizabeth would be an adequate solution, but he was going into it without a thought for his or Lady Elizabeth’s future happiness.
Josh found himself pausing at the thought of Lady Elizabeth. She’d looked even more beautiful in the daylight. He’d felt a pull when they were in the same room together, as if he needed to be close to her, even though he knew they should only exchange pleasantries at a suitable distance. The urge to sweep her into his arms for another waltz had been almost overwhelming and he’d felt such sympathy for her as she’d revealed just a little of her frustration at her lack of control over her own future.
‘She’ll make a good wife,’ he murmured.
She was poised and graceful and everything a future viscountess should be. Even if she and Leo were poorly matched. At the thought he felt a surge of disloyalty. It wasn’t his place to feel anything for Lady Elizabeth except perhaps a brotherly regard if she did one day become his sister-in-law. Once again he remembered the vitality and sparkle in her pale blue eyes and had to push away the knowledge that brotherly regard was not what he felt when he thought of her.
Strolling through the wrought-iron gates of Hyde Park, he had to step back a few paces as three young men on horseback came speeding past. They looked like grooms, up and about early exercising their master’s horses. Josh watched them trot down the wide avenue and join a few other young men on horses before he took one of the smaller paths into
