Chapter 2 #2
As it was, he could not resist.
“David?”
It did not take much movement for David to close the gap between them. Just a shift of a few inches, and his lips were on hers. His hands had moved too, pulled Louisa’s waist towards him.
Oh, heaven. He could never have believed such sweet relief could have been found in finally taking what he so desperately wanted from his friend; a kiss.
Ripples of pleasure rocketed through his body as Louisa sank into his embrace, not fighting him off but instead pulling him closer. Her lips parted, her hands wove into his hair, and they clung to each other, there in the Winter Garden, for…David did not know how long.
Not long enough.
When they eventually broke apart, David was ashamed to find his cheeks were pink. “I-I must apologise – ”
“No.” Louisa spoke firmly, as she always did, but this time her eyes danced with mischief. “Just how long have you wished to kiss me, David Nelson?”
“I…” David swallowed. The truth. That was the only thing he could offer. “A week.”
“A week!” Louisa did not appear impressed. “Only a week?”
His hands were still on her waist, and she was not pulling away from him, despite her apparent displeasure. Then she was laughing, and relief flowed through him.
“You are teasing me,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Damn you, Lou.”
“Oh damn me nothing,” laughed his love. “It has truly taken you that long to realise just how perfect we are for each? Goodness, I thought it would take you forever.”
David did not answer. At least, not with words. His lips had other ways of making her see just how foolish he had been, and how he would never make that mistake again.
Until a month later. A wonderful Advent spent with the Jarrolds, and then…
He should have known the old Marquis would not have accepted his proposal – but to be turned away from the house, sent abroad in disgrace, all for the crime of loving his daughter?
“Archduke? Archduke Nelson?”
It was a cruel punishment, and though he hated being torn away from her, David had vowed that one day, he would return. He would return to claim the woman who was just as enamoured with him as he was with her.
Justice would be done, and he would claim his prize.
“David!”
David blinked. Louisa – the present Louisa, in her drawing room, was staring at him mouth still open, her cheeks now flaming.
Of course, he should not lose himself in reminiscences. He needed to concentrate. This had to be perfect.
“Yes,” he said baldly. “I mean, yes, Louisa. Lady Louisa. I am Archduke Nelson.”
David cringed within his formal dress coat. Could he sound more like a fool if he tried? This was not precisely how he had imagined this reconciliation would go.
Lady Jarrold did not seem concerned he was sounding like a fool. She appeared more upset by his mere presence than his idiotic way of talking. Something David should have expected.
“You,” she said coldly.
David swallowed. Well, he had known this moment was coming.
When he’d had the audacious idea to apply to Lady Jarrold – under his new name, of course – for lodgings during the Advent period, he had never expected his offer to be accepted.
Why on earth would a woman so fashionable and with so many other options for her Yuletide season accept the overtures of an Archduke she had never heard of – purely for money?
That had been before he had heard the gossip.
Penniless. That was the weather that had reached him in Austria. The Jarrolds were penniless. The Marquis had died, unexpectedly it appeared, and the title had gone to some sort of cousin, leaving the two ladies utterly without support.
He had felt angry when he had heard – an anger he had no right to feel.
What were they to him? Lady Jarrold had forced him out of her home, and Louisa had not run after him, had she?
She had not enquired after him, tried to find him.
David swallowed, trying to prevent his heart from hardening.
He expected too much from her. Besides, they were not his family, no matter how much he may wish that.
“Yes,” David said as calmly as he could. If only he had thought to wear his greatcoat over his coat. Then all these shiny brass buttons wouldn’t be distracting him. “You are looking very well, Lady Jarrold.”
He did not look at Louisa. He could not, after the first time he had glanced at her, and made a complete fool of himself by getting lost in his memories of that other Advent period, a time which had been so different to this.
And since then, she had said not a word. Did she wish to see him? Was she being courted by another? Had she already accepted a proposal from a man who would at the very least be acceptable to her parents?
David could hardly bear it. The thought of Louisa becoming the husband to another man…he had no right to challenge it, no right at all, and yet those stolen kisses in the Winter Garden had meant something to him, something powerful.
Was it possible that she still felt it too?
“But…David?”
He turned at that. Louisa’s voice was confused, hurt. There was pain in her tone, and it cut into his heart. If only he had been given the chance to say goodbye. Explain himself. Perhaps gain her promise that she would wait for him.
But all of that was so long ago now.
“If I had known you were the Archduke who had the gall to write to me,” said Lady Jarrold, though David did not turn to look at her, “keeping your true name hidden, knowing what I would say if I had any inkling of who you were! By God, I would have – ”
“David, I – I cannot stay.”
The words were uttered in pain by a Louisa who rushed past him, leaving the room with her face averted, though he could still see the tears in her eyes.
Damn and blast it. This was not what he had intended at all. In a swish of skirts and before David could do anything to stop her, Louisa had disappeared from the room, leaving it far emptier than he had ever wanted.
The door slammed behind him. He was left with Lady Jarrold – not the Jarrold he had hoped for.
“Well, I hope you are happy with yourself,” said the older woman stiffly. “Louisa was going to have a difficult enough Advent without her father. Now you have upset her. Your timing is impeccable.”
“I have not upset her,” David said desperately, hoping he was correct. The idea of paining Louisa was agony to his heart. “She…she is just a little overwhelmed, that is all.”
Lady Jarrold sniffed. “Had I known it was you…Archduke Nelson, indeed. I would certainly have…if I had known – ”
And that was when David, for perhaps the first time in his life, knew precisely what he had to say. Words he should have said a long time ago. “Well, I respectfully would point out that I stopped needing your permission a long time ago.”
He turned on his heels without waiting for a reply and left the room with one thought on his mind – and his heart. Louisa.