Oliver swallowed down a lump in his throat. “Honestly, Grace, she looks so much better now than she did when we reached her at Waring Hall. Doctor Robertson confided in me that he couldn’t believe she was still alive. I’m not sure how long her recovery will be.”
Grace sucked in a breath. “Doctor Campion is in residence at Highfield. I’m certain he’d be happy to look in on her while he’s in Buckinghamshire.”
Campion was in residence for Grace’s impending nuptials. His heart twisted at the thought. Oliver winced as they stepped out onto the veranda, though it had nothing to do with the brightness of the sun. “That’s kind, but we do have Doctor Allen nearby.”
“Yes,” Grace agreed. “But he’s ancient, Oliver. Campion was at the top of his class in Edinburgh. Why do you think Danby hired him? Nothing but the best for His Grace. And—”
“Whatisthis about Danby?” Oliver asked. “Why did you ride from Highfield to ask me about him?”
The breath whooshed out of her as they reached the edge of the veranda. She gripped the balustrade as though it was some sort of lifeline and then she looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes. “Because I’m foolish.” One tear began to trickle down her cheek, and Oliver’ s heart stopped.
Grace never cried. Never, not even on that awful day so many years ago when he told her they could never be together. She always faced things head on like the most valiant of knights, stronger than many men he knew. To see a tear streak down her face now was almost his undoing.
“You’re the least foolish person I know.” He tugged a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at her traitorous tear.
Her green gaze held his, and Oliver’s soul ached to see her so miserable.
She shook her head like she was shaking an errant thought away. “He skillfully manipulated the situations with Patience and Hope as though their marriages to Campion and Kilworth were part of some master plan of his. They didn’t even know what he was about until it was all over. And…”
“And?” he urged.
“Well, he summonedyouto Danby Castle. Why would he do that? What reason could he possibly have? You’re not a relation of his. You’d had no dealings with him until then. And he doesnothingwithout reason, Oliver. So I’d hoped…”
“That bringing me to Yorkshire was part of his plan foryou?” How he wished it had been.
Grace swiped at another tear before it could trail down her cheek. “What did he want with you?”
Nothing that meant much of anything aside from an odd investment opportunity. The whole interview had been the strangest of his life. “He asked me questions about Prestwood Place, but I got the feeling he already knew the answers. It was like he was sizing me up. Then he asked me to invest in a gaming hell he had some connection to. But he didn’t mention you. He didn’t mention Hambleton. He—”
Danby hadn’t mentioned Hambleton at Christmas, but hehadmentioned the man in his letter, hadn’t he? That first letter he’d sent to Oliver at Waring Hall. The one where he said he’d give Oliver’s regards to the earl and his daughter. In fact, Danby was the only one who sent him any correspondence in Westmorland. Everything else had come to Prestwood Place and was still piled high on Oliver’s desk.
“He?” Grace prodded.
But he had nothing to tell her, nothing of merit. Still, something in the pit of his stomach told Oliver that Grace was on to something. “Don’t marry Lacy, Grace.”
“What other choice do I have?” she breathed out. “ He’s decent, Oliver. He’ll treat me well.”
“You loveme,” he tried to keep the growl from his voice. And even though it would be better if she didn’t love him, he prayed she still did. In all these years, she’d never given him any indication that she did anything other than hate him, but…She had raced to Prestwood Place, hadn’t she?
“But I can’thaveyou,” she whispered, the admission he’d ached to hear. She loved him. She still did. “Even still, I raced over here thinking if Danby…”
“And if he had?” Oliver asked, emotions coursing through his veins. “If he’d sorted out a way through this mess we’re in, would you have had me then? Would you marry me? Even after everything?”
“I’ve never stopped loving you, Oliver,” she said softly, and his heart both twisted and soared at the same time. “But there is no way out of this mess we’re in. You and I both know that.”
He did. He knew it as well as she did. Still, her admission was the first time in years she’d said she loved him. Kissing her the night before was one thing, an amazing thing to be sure, but hearing those words from her lips…
“I can’t see you again,” she added hastily. “If you ever loved me you won’t make this more painful than it already is. Please don’t come back to Highfield, not until I’m gone. And I won’t come here again. It was unfair of me to do so today.”
“Grace—”
“Please, Oliver? Promise me.”
His heart breaking all over again, he nodded. “Then this is goodbye.”
“This is goodbye,” she said and turned to leave.
But Oliver grasped her hand and pulled her back to him. “If I can’t ever see you again, at least leave me a proper goodbye, Grace.” And then he lowered his head and captured her lips the very same way he once did, the very same way he’d done the night before. She tasted the same as she always did--like sweetness, summer berries and everything he ever wanted in life.