Their Second Chance Season (A Season to Wed #3)

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

S ienna rattled off words as if she was in a contest to speak the most in the shortest time available. If that was indeed her aim then she was winning by a country mile. Ash smiled and asked questions in all the right places, which only set her off again. As the wheels rattled over the uneven road, it struck Amelia that Ash would make a good father. He’d be soft and indulgent and his children would thrive under his care. He would probably want a large family, a son to carry on his family name and to inherit Easton Hall, but Amelia knew that he would love any girls that came along, too.

Amelia would never have children. She’d been married to Marcus long enough, and tried to conceive enough times, to know that part of her didn’t work like other ladies. She’d never have babies of her own. Over the years, she’d cried enough tears to fill a lake. As every month passed and no pregnancy had resulted from her time in the bedroom with Marcus, a small part of her had died. But over time, she’d come to accept it. She had nephews and, God willing, there would be more to come. She would love those children as much as any she could have had herself, and there was some relief in knowing she would not have to lie with a man again.

Ash waved his hand around, demonstrating something to Sienna, who laughed out loud. Goodness, but his hands were beautiful, long and strong. She remembered his fingers sliding into her hair, the way her whole body had felt at his touch. The memory curled in her stomach, urging her to lean over and link her fingers with his. She turned away from them both and watched the scenery rattling past, the houses giving way to majestic trees. This feeling had to be another echo of her past desire; she had to believe that or she’d spiral into panic. Gradually, the carriage slowed before coming to a stop at the start of a pathway.

The park was already crowded with members of the ton strutting through the winding paths, making sure they were seen by anyone who was anyone. Ash helped Sienna down from the carriage and she was off almost before her feet hit the ground. ‘Stay where I can see you,’ Amelia called out.

Sienna waved briefly, showing that she had heard but didn’t slow down her beeline towards a large group of her friends. ‘Oh,’ said Amelia. ‘My mother would not have approved of that. She would have made me walk sedately to my acquaintances but not before I had done a round of the park with her. I do worry that Sienna is turning into a hoyden under my watch.’

She was so busy focusing on her sister that she didn’t even think about descending from the carriage until her gloved hand slipped into Ash’s outstretched one. The shock of his touch whipped through her, sending a charge through to the edges of her body. Sensing her hesitation, Ash tightened his grip, as if to save her from falling. His warmth seeped into her skin and she lost her ability to think about what she was meant to be doing as all of her attention focused on where they touched.

‘Are you well, Melia? I mean, Lady Mortram.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m not calling you that. It’s ridiculous. You’re Melia to me.’

She could protest but as she was holding his hand and not moving down from the carriage, that seemed rather pointless. ‘I’m fine,’ she said instead.

His lips quirked. ‘Are you going to join me?’ His gaze flicked to the ground and then back to her.

Embarrassed, she took the step too quickly and stumbled on her dismount, falling into Ash’s chest.

‘Careful,’ he muttered, his arms coming round her to steady her.

For a brief moment, she was surrounded by his warmth, and the urge to lean against him was almost impossible to resist. The longing was back and this time she could not blame it on the past. She tilted her head up to meet his eyes; he was gazing down at her, his lips slightly parted. Time seemed to slow; he dipped his head infinitesimally. She leapt backwards, out of his arms, and hit her back against the carriage. ‘Ouch.’

Ash frowned. ‘Are you sure you’re fine?’

Amelia should never have gone to Ash’s house and offered her assistance. She shouldn’t be with him now in the park. He was talking to her as if no time had passed since they had lain in a grassy meadow, their fingers entwined as the sun passed high above them. As if, just this morning, he had brushed his lips against hers in between telling her how he could not wait to finish his last year at Oxford when they could finally be together. What a little fool she had been to believe him. And now she was in danger of making a goose of herself again, standing there acting like she wanted to be kissed by him, in the middle of the park of all places. She was as much of a ninny as she had always been when it came to Ash.

‘Melia…’ he said again.

She straightened. ‘I’m fine. Let’s walk where I can keep an eye on Sienna, if you please.’

He paused, lips slightly parted, and she held her breath, willing him to ignore what had passed between them. His mouth closed and he nodded briefly, as if agreeing with her unspoken request.

They began to move at a slow pace, Ash’s arms clasped behind his back. ‘Thank you again for your offer to help me with my investments.’

‘But you are going to decline.’ She’d thought as much. It would be better for her in the long run. There should not be a small pang of disappointment at the thought of it, especially given her little speech to herself just now.

‘Quite the contrary.’ Her heart flipped at Ash’s statement, the sensation resembling something like joy. ‘I will take you up on the offer.’ He scratched his neck and she followed the movement of his blunt fingernails. ‘I sold a few paintings and have a small sum to invest.’

He told her the amount, a faint blush stealing over his cheeks. She truly hadn’t expected him to accept her help and she floundered for a moment, trying to find a suitable response that didn’t show her amazement. As she paused, the colour in his cheeks turned a deeper shade of red.

‘Is it not enough?’ he asked quietly.

Amelia was so used to Ash striding around ballrooms without a care in the world, of hearing stories of his bravery on the battlefield, of him leading her around when they were children, that it had not occurred to her that he might feel embarrassed by the admittedly small sum. ‘Goodness me, no,’ she rushed to reassure him. ‘It is more than I started with and I have some excellent leads. I shall add my own amount and we should start to see some good returns very shortly.’

He nodded several times, the lines of his shoulders loosening slightly. ‘How soon do you think the returns will come in?’

‘Oh, I…’ Ash was looking determinedly at a pair of swans gliding across the river to his right, the skin of his neck taut. ‘I believe we should see some dividends by the end of May.’

‘That soon!’ His whole body sagged as if he were a puppet with his strings suddenly cut. The Ashworth finances must be worse than she had realised; she hadn’t been expecting that intensity of relief. Now she knew she had to make it happen for him, that her family’s honour depended on helping out their old friends.

In truth, she was not sure whether they would see much of a profit within such a short period of time, but she could always give him some of her own money and hope that he would not realise what she had done. He was inexperienced with investments but he was a clever man; it would not take him long to catch on to how the whole process worked, so she would need to use all her wits if she was to help him and his family without denting his pride.

She wasn’t worried about herself. She could recoup her loss at a later date, and she had enough money to live in luxury for the rest of her days. And giving Ash money wasn’t because she still had feelings for him, but because it was the right thing to do. It would help out a family she had once regarded as her own, and it would ease the guilt she felt at her father’s hand in their downfall. Besides, the investments she had in mind were going to be profitable, possibly extremely so, and that would benefit her family just as much as his in the long run.

Her brother’s estate was still in the process of being rebuilt after several years of neglect, and relied on the income Marcus had generously endowed on her brother after his death. Her brother had been very surprised to be a beneficiary of the will but perhaps not as taken aback as Marcus would have been had he known about it. He’d also have been shocked to realise just how wealthy he had become. By the time Amelia had begun to reap the rewards of her investments, Marcus’s health had declined to the point that he no longer cared about his estate. Amelia had nursed him and made sure that his every desire was catered for, but she had kept the truth from him. She reasoned that it hadn’t hurt him and so there was no harm, and if she felt a little guilt, well, it was too late now, she could not go back and change her actions. She turned her attention to the present and the man walking next to her.

‘Yes, we should see some money that soon,’ she agreed. She would make it happen regardless now that she realised just how important it was to Ash. ‘And by the end of the summer we should see a steady profit.’ That last bit she was sure of. ‘Once you have the hang of it, I’m sure that you can build your wealth throughout the coming years until all this will be an unpleasant and distant memory.’

She was watching him now and she could see his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed several times. ‘I can’t tell you what this means to me, Melia.’ His voice was raw with emotion. It was the most real they’d been with each other for years, possibly ever.

‘I think I know,’ she said quietly. If he could be genuine, then so could she. ‘I was in the same place six years ago more or less. I don’t know how bad your circumstances are and I’m not going to ask, but it was dire for us. There was a time when I thought we would have no roof over our heads and I had no idea how to remedy that.’

‘Did you not think of turning to my family? Surely my mother would have taken you in.’ Amelia had thought about it a lot, but in the end it had been too painful to turn to the family of the man who had gone off to war and not looked back. Besides, by the time she’d realised just how bad the situation was for her family, the distance between the Smythes and the Ashworths had grown. Ash’s mother had attended Amelia’s mother’s funeral but she had shown little warmth towards Amelia. At that stage, Amelia had known things were bad for her family but not as awful as they had eventually turned out to be. If it hadn’t been for Marcus and his offer of marriage, Amelia would have been destitute.

‘There had been a cooling between our mothers at the time of my mother’s death,’ she said lightly. ‘They had not spoken in almost a year.’

He paused before resuming his walk. ‘I had no idea.’

‘I didn’t understand the cause of it at the time but now I know that your father followed my father’s advice. It does explain things somewhat. Perhaps they fell out over it.’

‘Perhaps.’ He was frowning again. ‘But my mother should have reached out to you at the deaths of both of your parents. They had been friends for years and my mother must have had some idea that you were in a similar situation to ourselves.’

‘As I said before, my mother was very proud. She would not have told your family of our private struggles. She even kept it from me. I did not find out until after her funeral. It was a devastating blow after what had been a terrible few years.’ Her stomach twisted as she remembered the gut-wrenchingly awful meeting she’d had with the family lawyer after her mother’s funeral. Everything had been laid out in black-and-white. She’d lost Ash, her father and mother all within two years. To find out she was about to lose her home as well had nearly ended her. No one had known how bleak that time had been; she’d been alone and desperate. She would never rely on anyone again; she made her own wealth, her own steadiness and her own happiness. Sometimes, it was lonely but it was not as bad as the alternative. No one would know what her hard-won independence had cost her. Instead, she said, ‘It is terrible to face your family knowing that you are possibly the only one between them and poverty.’

He turned to her, his gaze intense. ‘Yes, that’s exactly how I feel. It reminds me a little of preparing for battle. On the one hand is the enemy, complete and utter bankruptcy, and on the other are the innocents, and I am all that stands between them and utter destruction. It does not help that I cannot get my mother to realise how bad the situation is or rather, she understands but refuses to believe that we may have to sell everything in order to eat.’ His eyes were bleak and her heart went out to him.

‘How much have you explained to her?’ Some men liked to keep things from the women in their lives, a practice to which she had been subjected by Marcus. It was infantilising. She hoped Ash was not like that.

‘She knows everything.’ The frustration was evident in his voice. ‘I have tried reasoning with her and arguing with her but she will not listen. She thinks a quick marriage to a wealthy woman will solve everything.’

Amelia stumbled slightly, shocked at the jealousy that ripped through her. She’d known Ash was looking for a wealthy bride, it wasn’t news, and so his words should have evoked no response at all. Hearing him say it made her want to claw some faceless woman’s eyes out, despite everything that she had told herself.

Ash glanced at her, eyebrows risen in a question.

‘Stone,’ she mumbled, excusing her inability to walk in a straight line.

When she was sure that no emotion would show in her voice, she said, ‘In some instances, marriage can be the answer.’ Not that she wanted Ash to marry to save his family; she wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially him, but her own marriage was proof that it could work if one was prepared to make some sacrifices. Marcus may not have had the vast fortune that the Mortram name now possessed but he was well enough off that their family home had been saved from an uncertain future.

‘Was it worth it? Marrying Mortram?’ Ash stepped closer to her, his gaze raking over her face as if he would find the answers written there.

‘I have to believe so.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Were you happy?’

She shrugged. ‘What does happiness mean?’ Marcus had not made her happy in the day-to-day sense, but he had stopped her family from having to live on the streets and that was worth more than her own personal happiness. She was loyal to Marcus after what he had done for her family, and disparaging him to her first love would not be honourable. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to lie to Ash, either. She made to move away from him but he lightly gripped her arm. It wasn’t a tight hold, but it held her in place as surely as iron chains.

‘I want to know that he treated you well.’ His expression was as hard as flint.

‘Why does it matter?’

‘Because…’ His gaze flickered to the floor and then back up again. ‘I don’t want to think of you suffering.’

She had suffered but not in the way he was referring. She’d gone through pain because the man she had loved with all her heart had gone off to war without a backward glance. She had hurt because he had not written to her. The daily grind of marriage to Marcus was nothing in comparison to that. ‘Marcus was not a loving man but he never made me feel as if the money he gave my family meant that he had bought me. He paid for Stephen to go to university and provided dowries for the girls. Merrimore would have had to be sold if it was not for Mortram.’ Although it was Amelia’s investments that had paid for the repairs her family’s estate had needed, she was the only person in the whole world who knew that and that was the way it would remain. ‘He didn’t get anything in return,’ she finished softly. He wanted a son and she had failed to provide him with any children at all. A crushing pain for both of them.

Ash raised an eyebrow. ‘He got a beautiful, young, intelligent wife. I’d say that he got the better end of the bargain.’ He dropped her arm and began to move off before she could respond. It was just as well, she thought after a moment’s reflection; she did not want to start up a flirtation with Ash; that way heartbreak lay as she’d found out once before.

Instead, she caught up with him and started a conversation on the way the financial arrangement between them would have to work. By the time they had made one lap of the park they had managed a whole half an hour in one another’s company without any emotion or reminiscing about past times. She was also incredibly proud of the way she had managed to explain the next steps. Even to her own ears, she’d sounded as if she knew exactly what she was doing, which she did but this was the first time she had ever shown anyone else of what she was capable. Ash asked insightful and intelligent questions, and she knew that it would not be long before he was able to invest on his own. Their agreement need not stretch into years and she would be able to fade from his life once more. The thought did not make her feel as good as it should have done.

They were just embarking on their second lap of the park when a loud, masculine laugh reached them. They both turned to find the source of the noise and spotted a well-dressed gentleman engaged in conversation with Sienna. The man appeared to have separated her from her group of friends, not far enough to cause alarm, but Amelia did not feel comfortable by the positioning.

‘Strawbridge,’ muttered Ash when he spotted in which direction she was looking.

‘Do you know him?’

A low rumble sounded from Ash’s chest. ‘Not personally.’ He was frowning in the direction of the man. ‘But I know of his reputation. He is not the man for Sienna.’ That settled it. Amelia made to step in her sister’s direction but Ash stopped her by getting in her way. ‘Do not interfere yet. If he tries to take her farther away from her group of friends I will step in and prevent it. I may not understand investments yet, but much to my eternal annoyance, I do have something of a reputation now that the war is over. Although it can be irritating, I have found the misguided belief that I am some sort of hero useful when dealing with less reputable people.’ The look on his face left her in no doubt how he felt about that.

‘But…’

‘It is better that Sienna realises Strawbridge is not the man for her without interference from us.’

Amelia tried to sidestep him. ‘She is my younger sister. I have every right to meddle in her affairs.’

Ash annoyed her by laughing. She glared at him but managed to stop herself from stamping her foot.

‘How well does that normally go for you?’

She paused. ‘Not well,’ she admitted. ‘But this is different. I cannot let her fall in love with some man who is definitely going to break her heart.’ It was one of the worst feelings in the world and she would not wish it on anyone, least of all her youngest sister. She tried to step around Ash in the other direction.

Ash easily deflected her. ‘If you leave them talking for a few minutes, hopefully she will see him for what he is without your sage advice.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Surely that’s better than stomping over there and putting your sister on edge. Turning her against you might push her into the very arms you want to avoid.’

‘I…’ Irritatingly, Ash had a point; she wasn’t used to having someone else advising her. ‘Fine.’ She crossed her arms under her chest. ‘I will give her five minutes to come up with the realisation that he is not the man for her before I approach.’ She tapped her foot on the ground. ‘What is wrong with him anyway?’

‘He’s a loud-mouthed fortune-hunter who has an unfortunate gambling habit.’

Amelia groaned. It couldn’t be worse. ‘He’s after her for her dowry.’

‘We are hardly ones to cast aspersions on that,’ he said softly.

She turned her gaze from her sister and up to meet Ash’s eyes. It was unfair how blue they were; they really were quite arresting, damn him. ‘But the gambling, though… He will take her dowry and dispense with it in a short period of time and then she will be like me, scrabbling around to find money and…’

‘Amelia, they are only talking in the park. He has not asked permission to marry her or even to court her. Calm down.’

She relaxed her arms, folding her hands in front of her. ‘You’re right, I suppose.’ She watched them for a moment. Sienna didn’t seem to be talking or smiling as much as she normally did. Perhaps Ash’s strategy was the right one to follow but it was hard to stand by and do nothing when the happiness of someone you loved was potentially at stake. ‘You wait until your sisters come out next year,’ she told him. ‘Then you’ll see just how traumatic fending off suitors is while hoping for a good one. You’ll wish you had a stick handy at all times. In fact, I would suggest investing in one of those fancy canes now, so it’s less suspicious next year.’

‘What will I be doing with it? I fear stabbing young men with a cane may be beyond the pale.’

‘Not for a war hero.’ His lips twitched and she experienced a visceral thrill at amusing him. ‘Besides, you don’t have to use it as a deadly weapon. It could come in handy for tripping up unsavoury characters as they make a beeline for your sisters or, you know, just prodding them if they become too much.’

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. ‘You’re so dramatic.’

‘Maybe so, but I speak the truth, as you will find out soon enough. I wish I’d thought up this cane idea years ago. When Rose was courting I swear I had a thousand heart attacks a day and at that point, I had Marcus to scare away the bad suitors. One look at his growling face and the worst ones ran in the opposite direction. Now Sienna has to rely on me and I don’t think I could scare a badger.’

Ash’s grin was wide as he no longer tried to hide his amusement. ‘Badgers are notoriously frightened of red-headed women, so I think you are fine. But…if it would help you, I can ask around and find out who are the suitable men on the marriage mart this season.’

‘You’d do that?’

‘I still think Sienna is too young to be contemplating marriage but yes, I would be happy to help you find a suitable match. I remember her in leading strings and I do not want her to fall prey to a bad egg, either.’

Something inside her loosened; the idea of Ash helping her sift through suitors already a weight off her mind. ‘If you put it that way, I cannot refuse, especially as that is a marvellous offer. I cannot thank you enough. If there is anything you need in return…’ She’d offer to take his sisters under her wing next season but he had his mother for that and did not need her.

Besides, he was shaking his head. ‘You are helping me enough as it is. This is the least I can do.’

‘But me helping you is beneficial for me, too.’ It was important that she made this clear; she did not want him to think that her actions were something special, that she was doing this because deep down she still had feelings for him. ‘This favour only benefits Sienna and me.’

‘I cannot have you having a thousand heart attacks a day. It would be grossly inconvenient as you are helping me claw my way out of destitution.’ The laughter in his voice belied his words, before his gaze softened. ‘Amelia, your help outweighs mine significantly.’

‘No, I…’

He tilted his head to one side. ‘Were you always this argumentative?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t remember it.’

‘Perhaps I wasn’t with you because…’ She stopped herself. She hadn’t been argumentative with him because she had desperately adored him, but she was not going to tell him that. Aside from that, they were getting close to reminiscing again, something she had promised herself she would not do only a short while ago. Instead, she leaned around Ash to check on Sienna. Surely it had been more than a few minutes now since she last looked. ‘He’s gone,’ she said with delight. ‘Sienna is back with her friends and they are all in cahoots about something.’

‘Let’s hope they are laughing at Strawbridge. It will save you the lecture you have undoubtedly planned for later.’

She didn’t deign that with a response.

Now that the danger had passed, she and Ash carried on with their second lap of the park. Amelia had covered everything in her plan to move forward and she should suggest that they return to the carriage; there was no other reason for them to continue to be together. For some reason, she was reluctant to ask to return home quite yet. Perhaps it was because of the weather. It had rained solidly every day last week, and to be out in the fresh air was lovely and it was always good to stretch one’s legs after being cooped up for a long time. Her desire to continue with the walk was nothing to do with the man who strolled along next to her; she could have been by herself for all that she cared about the company she kept.

Conversation between them petered out but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, at least not to begin with. As they continued onwards, she became acutely aware of his body and the way he moved. His stride had changed since he was younger; there was a force to his movement, an urgency that hadn’t been there before. Even though they were merely ambling, it was as if his movement had purpose and direction. Every few steps he had to moderate his pace because her shorter legs couldn’t keep up, and he shot her a small grin every time. She wasn’t a tiny woman but he made her feel petite walking next to him, a sensation she couldn’t remember feeling previously. ‘Have you grown?’ she asked after the tenth time he had to slow down for her.

He glanced down at her, his eyes full of amusement. ‘Not in recent years, no.’

‘I don’t recall you being this big.’

He laughed. ‘That’s what every man wants to hear.’

A surprised giggle burst out of her and she stared around guiltily as if expecting someone to know what she was laughing about. There was a freedom to being a widow but even after three years, she was still not quite used to it.

‘In answer to your question, I haven’t grown in height but I have probably become broader over the years, which may make me appear bigger. Being a soldier is not the same as studying at university. It’s a lot harder physical work for a start, and I noticed that my shape changed after a few months.’

‘What was being a soldier like?’

The amusement in his eyes slowly died, only to be replaced by a haunted look full of shadows. ‘Like I would imagine hell.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s not something to share with an innocent woman.’

‘What makes you think I am innocent?’ She may not have lived through bloodshed but she had been through some experiences that were not for the faint-hearted.

His lips twisted in what should have been a smile but somehow wasn’t. ‘Melia, you will never, and I thank God for this, know what it is like to stand on a battlefield. Fine, so you are not some debutante just out of the schoolroom but you have seen nothing like the horrors I have witnessed. You will never know…’

‘Because you won’t tell me.’

He shook his head, exasperated. ‘You don’t want to know.’

‘But I do.’ She wanted to know everything that had happened to him because perhaps then she could understand why he had stopped communicating with her. Perhaps then she would understand why the man whom she had loved with all her heart had changed so dramatically.

He shook his head again, this time with a weighted sadness. ‘No. You don’t.’

She turned from him then. If he did not want to tell her then she would not press. She did not want to build her relationship with him back up. She had told herself enough times that she could believe it was the truth. It was better if she did not know personal details about him because then she could keep her distance, a distance she was determined to hold on to. She supposed the ache in her chest was because she was a little put out that he wouldn’t confide in her, but she would get over it.

She strode on, calling on her years of practice of seeming fine while dealing with an inner turmoil. She spoke about the people she could see, sharing little titbits of harmless gossip. This would be their last lap of the park and then she would ask him to take her home. They had conducted all the business they needed to today and she had nothing else of importance to add. Spending more time was as pointless as it was dangerous.

Across an open area of grassland, she spotted Lord Stanmere talking and laughing with a group of women. She felt no jealousy at the sight; there was no dart of awareness or appreciation of his shoulders, which was exactly how she liked it. Her involvement with Stanmere was all on the surface. If he walked away from their flirtation tomorrow, there would be no endless despair, no tears and certainly no ripples from it over seven years later. There would not be a yawning pit in her stomach if she took a brief walk with him around the park in years to come. In short, he was perfect.

‘You should end things with him,’ said Ash, his voice like steel as his gaze followed hers.

‘First of all, what things?’ One did not refer to a flirtation between a widow and a gentleman; it wasn’t done. ‘And second, since when did I ask for your advice about what I should or shouldn’t do in my private life?’

Ash turned his gaze back to her, the look in his eyes sharp enough to cut through swathes of invading armies. ‘I do not want to see you hurt by this false courtship. He has no intention of marrying you.’

Anger, sharp and jagged, whipped through her. ‘Not that it is any concern of yours, but I have no intention of ever marrying again. A fact which the gentleman to whom you are referring is perfectly aware.’

‘Then why…’ He trailed off, his eyes widening. His gaze flickered down her body and very quickly back up to her eyes, his shocked look giving her no doubt as to what he was thinking.

Her skin burned. How dare he! He had no right to make judgements of her behaviour; no right to even ask her about her private life. He had lost the privilege of knowing anything about her when he’d vanished from her life when she had needed him the most. It didn’t matter that whatever he was thinking was false because he had already made a judgement and she had not come out favourably. She straightened her spine and looked him dead in the eye. ‘I should like to return home now, if you please.’

He stared at her for a long moment. She held her position; she had nothing to be ashamed of. Her private and public behaviours were impeccable. ‘Very well,’ he said eventually. ‘Let us collect Sienna and be on our way.’

The journey home was twice as long as the carriage ride to the park. Sienna was full of news and, just as Ash had suggested, was scathing about her assessment of Mr Strawbridge. Ash and Amelia murmured words of agreement but neither of them spoke a sentence of their own until the carriage drew up outside Amelia’s townhouse. Sienna whisked off inside but Amelia hung back, aware that some sort of thank-you for the trip out was required of her but quite unable to form the words to do so.

‘I apologise if I have caused you any offence,’ said Ash before she could come up with something suitable, and something inside her softened until he said, ‘I do hope I have not given you cause to rescind your offer of help.’

Of course her offer of financial assistance was all he was interested in. ‘Please do not concern yourself, Mr Ashworth.’ She was petty enough to relish his wince at her formal use of his title. ‘I shall write the letters and have them sent round to you this afternoon. If you could share any return correspondence with me in a timely manner, that would be much appreciated. Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to my…’ Her mind went blank. She could not bring forth any thoughts about what she normally did at this time of the day. ‘Sewing,’ she finished lamely.

It was as well that Ash hadn’t known her for the past few years because he would know that was the last thing she would dash off to do. He seemed to take her comment at face value and merely bowed to her as she turned and climbed the steps to her front door.

As Daniels stood aside to let her in, she couldn’t help but reflect that her plan for not allowing Ash to have any impact on her feelings was not going well.