Chapter Thirty Five
S he knew from the second she walked into the pub that she had been set up.
The place was buzzing, half the damn village seemed to be there, and it smelled of beer and food and people and Eleanor saw and smelled none of it.
From the moment she saw Danni sitting at the bar, she was the only thing in the entire world that Eleanor could see.
Until she took a step closer and saw Elizabeth leaning against the bar, her arms folded and a look of complete satisfaction on her face.
Eleanor narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is going on?” she said to herself.
She marched across the room, heels clicking, ignoring the curious looks from the villagers who had picked up on the tension in the small pub. Elizabeth looked utterly composed and Danni, Danni looked…
Eleanor had to take a second to get her breath. Danni looked as comfortable and familiar as home, as exotic and unattainable as a rare bird, and… confused. Danni looked confused.
Fully intending to demand an explanation, Eleanor walked up to the two other women. But before she could say anything, Elizabeth brandished two sheets of paper, slapping one down in front of Danni, and handing Eleanor the other .
“Sign these,” she said briskly.
Danni frowned, picking up the document. “What is it?”
Elizabeth exhaled slowly as though she was hanging on to her very last shred of patience.
“This is a legal agreement that waives client confidentiality in the specific cases outlined in the document. You will both sign it or, I swear to all the gods, I will walk out of here and never speak to either one of you again.”
Eleanor folded her arms. “Why should I sign this?”
“Because I’m going to explain exactly what is going on and we’re going to end this ridiculous miscommunication once and for all. Now sign the damn agreement, Lady Eleanor, or I’ll be forced to withdraw my legal services.”
“Why can’t you just tell us?” Danni asked.
“Because rules exist for a reason,” said Elizabeth, enunciating each word very, very clearly. “And I, unlike certain people around here, actually follow them.”
Danni and Eleanor exchanged a look, both equally perplexed. But there was something in Elizabeth’s expression, a weary sort of exasperation, that made Eleanor think that she was being deadly serious right about now.
Silently, they both signed. Elizabeth glanced down at the documents, nodded, folded them neatly and slipped them back into her briefcase with the satisfaction of a woman who had just completed a particularly arduous task.
“Excellent,” she said. “Now listen very carefully, I’ll do this once and once only. I’m not going into details, I’m not accepting questions, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to know, and then you can sort out everything else yourselves.”
Eleanor and Danni both nodded like children in the headmaster’s office.
Elizabeth turned to Eleanor. “Right, Danni sold her farm to the developer on the condition that all claims to your property were rescinded. Which is why there is no longer an offer and you can’t sell the estate. This includes the lawsuit suing for inheritance, which has also been dropped.”
Eleanor’s breath caught in her throat. “She… what? ”
Elizabeth, clearly enjoying her moment, held up her hands.
“No questions,” she reminded her. She turned to Danni.
“Eleanor met with the bank and the trust today, fully intending to sell the estate in order to prove to you that she loved you and wanted a life with you on the farm that was so important to you. The only reason she didn’t sell was that there was no longer an offer. ”
There was a long silence that stretched between all three of them as all the relevant information was digested.
This was it, was all Eleanor could think. This was her time. Danni’s grand gesture had been made, it was her turn. Isabella was right, there was only one shot to get this right, one chance to show that her heart belonged to Danni and always would. And this was no time to be discreet.
She tore her gaze from Elizabeth and looked straight at Danni. There were a thousand words that she wanted to say, but none of them seemed right. None of them cut to the heart of the matter. But perhaps Elizabeth was right too, perhaps the miscommunications had to end.
So she did the only thing she could think of.
She clapped her hands together, loudly, sharply, the sound echoing through the room so that the entire pub fell curiously silent, all eyes turning toward her.
Eleanor Brewster was not one to make a scene. Not until now.
“I have something to say,” she said, loud and clear.
A few murmurs rippled through the crowd, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she turned to Danni, heart hammering in her chest.
“This woman is the most remarkable, wonderful person that I have ever met. I walked out on her. I am an absolute and complete fool for doing so.”
A few people laughed, Indi let out a whoop from behind the bar. But Eleanor was not done.
Taking a deep breath, she dropped to one knee, the entire crowd watching her every move. Her skin itched from all the attention, but she wasn’t going to stop now.
“You are the only thing that matters to me in the entire world. My heart is, and always will be, yours, and I can think of nothing in this universe that I want more than for you to be my wife. Marry me.”
For a moment, Danni just stared at her, dumbfounded. Then, the pub erupted into cheers and applause, people clapping and whistling, Indi jumping up and down with excitement behind the bar.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes.
Danni finally shook off the shock, laughing as she reached down and pulled Eleanor to her feet. “I thought you hated scenes,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did,” said Eleanor. “It needed to be said, and it needed to be witnessed.” She turned to Indi. “Champagne for everyone.”
“No, no, no,” Elizabeth said. “You two need to actually talk before celebrating anything.” She grabbed Hector by the arm. “This handsome young man and I are going to have a quiet drink. I suggest that the two of you have a quiet chat.”
They stalked off, leaving Eleanor and Danni alone.
“You were really going to sell the estate?” Danni asked softly. “I thought the house defined you?”
“I define me,” Eleanor said. “But I’d like you to define me, too. I’d like to be your wife. And anyway, you sold your farm.”
“I’d sell a hundred farms for you, Princess.”
“I’d sell a hundred estates for you,” Eleanor said. “Although, currently, no one even wants to buy one.”
“Probably for the best,” Danni said thoughtfully. “It’d be nice to have somewhere to live.”
“Ah, yes,” Eleanor said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bundle of paperwork. “About that. I have something here.”
Danni flipped through the papers, frowning. “What is this?”
“An agreement to buy a section of the estate,” Eleanor said. “I cleared it with the trust. It’ll be yours. Farm it. You’ll buy it at a fair market price, this isn’t a gift, it’s dependent on nothing. You get to keep your independence. I get to keep you in my life.”
For a second, Danni’s expression was unreadable, then a slow grin spread across her face. “Pen. ”
Eleanor handed her one.
“You know, romance involves an awful lot more paperwork than I was really expecting,” she mused as she signed the papers. “I thought it was all supposed to be flowers and wining and dining. Didn’t realize it was mostly contracts and agreements.”
“Speaking of which,” Eleanor said, heart still beating painfully fast. “You, um, didn’t answer my question.”
“Which question is that?” asked Danni.
Eleanor cleared her throat. “The, um, the one where I asked you to be my wife.”
“Ah, yes, that one.” Danni raised an eyebrow. “You see, there’s a small problem with that.”
Oh God. Eleanor felt like she might fall through the floor, like she might melt away into nothingness, like the world might end just right there and then. “What’s that then?” she managed to ask.
Danni grinned. “See, I’m already married,” she said. “And my wife, well, she’s the most wonderful person I’ve ever met. She’s prissy and correct, she drinks tea with her little finger sticking out, and she never gets her shoes dirty.”
“She sounds terrible,” Eleanor said, taking a step closer and feeling Danni’s warmth.
“No, no, she’s incredible,” Danni said. “She can cook and arrange flowers, she can run an entire estate.” She leaned in, lowering her voice. “She can make me explode in a second with one touch of her fingers.”
Eleanor felt a deep heat spreading through her core.
“And she’s funny and clever and caring,” Danni said, taking one more step forward. “She’s a princess, you see.”
“I see,” Eleanor said, quite seriously. “Well, I’m not sure I can compete with that.”
“I’m not sure anyone could,” Danni said, looking up at her with dark eyes. “I don’t think I ever stood a chance.”
“I’m not sure either of us did, to be honest,” said Eleanor, as she took Danni’s face into her hands. “Just as well we ended up together, I suppose. Stops either of us wandering around heartbroken for the rest of our lives.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Princess,” Danni said. “Forever is a very long time.”
“I’m not sure it’s going to be long enough,” Eleanor murmured, as her lips caught Danni’s in a kiss.