“I’d be happy to write to Adam,” Artemis said. “He’s grumpy, but he also has a very good head for these things.”
“A good idea,” Mr. Layton said. “And I know a few others who are excellent in matters of business and estates and such. I’ll make a few discreet inquiries.”
Gillian’s eyes were on Scott. “Do you think this could work?”
He shrugged. “I’m not certain. But there’s a chance.”
There were many hurdles left to face, some that might very well prove impossible. But he had a direction and an idea.
He had hope.
Chapter Twenty-four
Gillian’s time at Thimbleby hadcome to an end. She’d arrived unsure if she’d be welcome to stay for even a single afternoon. To have spent five glorious days there had been a joyous surprise. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Scott were making the return journey with her to Houghton Manor or if she were returning with him to his home in Nottinghamshire.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said as they stood in the entryway while Charlie and Artemis’s traveling coach was prepared for the journey.
“And I will miss you.”
She didn’t usually allow herself to make personal requests of people, having been rejected over such things in the past, but Scott was different. “Couldn’t you break your journey at Houghton Manor? Even if you only stayed for one day, that would be one more day before we had to be apart.”
He raised her hand to his lips, something he did with wonderful regularity. “The more direct route to Nottinghamshire will save me two days of travel. The sooner I get back to Sarvol House and implement the retrenchment adjustments, the better my chances of not drowning in my uncle’s debt. And the sooner I manage that, the sooner I can come see you again.”
“Very soon, if fate is kind.”
“Fate seems unlikely to be benevolent for years yet.”
She’d been given a similar timeline before. “But there is a chance?”
“I do hope so.”
“Don’t answer that way.” She took a step back. “That only ever means no.”
“If I had money enough, Gillian, I’d spend the entirety of the Season dancing with you at every ball and sitting with you at the theater. And I’d have you and Mrs. Brownlow to Sarvol House for as many house parties as you could possibly attend. And I’d cross as many counties as necessary to see you in between.” He kept her hand in his. “When I say I hope to visit Houghton on a shorter time frame than years, I mean that I will do literally all I can.”
That wasn’t as reassuring as he likely thought it was. “My father told me that too. Mrs. Brownlow asked me to visit, and my father asked her to keep me. For a year or two, he said. Until he was back on his feet again. A year or two in which he would do all he could. But that was seven years ago.”
“I could never go seven years without seeing you, Gillian. I’d crawl to County Durham if need be.”
A raw surge of emotion burned her throat. She couldn’t have said anything if she’d wanted to. She leaned against him, and he, without hesitation, set his arms around her.
“Did I say something wrong?” he whispered.
“No.” She wrapped her arms around him as well. “Someone once said I was like a stray cat that kept lurking about though no one wanted me. That has felt true for so long.”
He kissed her temple. “I have every confidence that has never been true, Gillian.”
Hewould crawl across counties to be with her. Her father needed only to open his mouth and offer a word of kindness and greeting, and he wouldn’t do even that.
Scott led her down the corridor into the unused and draped sitting room.
“Charlie and Artemis will want to be leaving any moment now,” Gillian reminded him.
“Artemis might be a ‘slayer of men,’ but I will go to battle against her if she runs roughshod over you.” Again, he stoodas her fierce defender, as someone who felt she deserved to be treated well, to be cared about. “So, don’t fret over inconveniencing her by taking the time to tell me what it is that upset you a moment ago.”
“Society whispers every Season their theories about what happened to my father and why he plays no role in my life. Most assume he’s either dead or living in another country or also thinks of me as an unwanted stray cat.”
Scott rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles.