Page 39 of To Follow her Heart

Harriet huffed, her shoulders slumping. “No, I’m not. I’m not the least bit funny, I’m dull and boring and… bookish,” she added, her lip curling a little with distaste. “There’s no pretending that I’m not, but I can’t help it.” She folded her arms, her eyebrows drawing together as she stared at her feet. “Books are easy to understand, even ones that most people think perfectly dreary and incomprehensible. It’s people that get me all in a muddle. I don’t understand how you can know you’re so terribly in love with Mr Baxter that you’d risk everything, your entire future, just for the chance to be with him. What if it’s merely an infatuation? What if you change your mind? What if you marry him and discover he isn’t the man you thought he was?”

Kitty slid her arm through Harriet’s and rested her chin on her shoulder. “It’s easy, Harry,” she said, her voice soothing. “At least it is for me. When you love someone, you do just know. It’s not a mystery, there’s no complex algorithm to work out, no hieroglyphs to decipher. It’s such a powerful feeling that there’s no mistaking it. I’ve loved him for so long, and I know it will never go away. What else should I do but risk everything? Living the rest of my days without him is a far greater risk than anything else.”

Harriet returned a sceptical expression but said nothing for a moment. When she spoke, her words were not at all what Kitty expected.

“Does that mean you’ll elope with him?”

Kitty stared back at her, wide-eyed. “What?”

Harriet shrugged, pushing a brown curl out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. “Well, it’s the logical solution, isn’t it?” she said, as though it were perfectly obvious. “If you stay here Mr Derby will ruin you before polite society, and Mr Baxter’s decision to marry you instead of Lady Frances becomes even more outrageous. Once you’re Mrs Baxter, there’s nothing anyone can do, and it’s not as though there will be a vast scandal about Trevick’s heir eloping with you, because hardly anyone knows that’s who he is.” Harriet looked up and raised her eyebrows as she caught Kitty’s expression. “What?” she said. “Ooof!”

Kitty threw her arms about her neck with such enthusiasm that she tumbled Harriet backwards on the bed. “Oh, Harry, you absolute darling genius. You’re right! Of course, we must elope!”

“Yes,” Harry mumbled, fighting her way out from Kitty’s embrace. “Certainly,” she added. “But do you think you might not smother me to death before you go?”

Chapter 11

Dear Nate,

I am so delighted by your delightful news! How marvellous to be an aunt. Please give darling Alice my best love and assure her I will indeed spread the lovely news among our friends. I’m so happy for you, Nate. What a wonderful father you will be.

―Excerpt of a letter from Miss Matilda Hunt to her brother, Mr Nathanial Hunt.

23rd August 1814, Holbrooke House, Sussex.

Luke had spent a convivial evening with Jasper planning his elopement with Kitty. He was very much looking forward to breaking the news to her.

They would leave—assuming he’d not completely misjudged her, and she refused the idea—the day after tomorrow.

With help from the countess as chaperone, Jasper would arrange a trip for himself and Luke, Kitty, Miss Stanhope, and Miss Hunt. The rest of the guests would be occupied with various entertainments and would not notice Kitty and Luke’s belongings being packed and taken away.

Their bags would go to the nearest good-sized town where they could hire a carriage without drawing too much attention. Whilst Jasper was all willingness to help, he could not be seen to be aiding an elopement, and so a hired vehicle must do for the first leg of the journey.

They would leave Jasper and company early that morning, not for Scotland as Luke had first thought obvious, but for Warwickshire. Jasper and the others would carry on with their day trip, returning to the house too late to dine. Therefore, it would be the next morning before anyone noticed Luke and Kitty were missing, and there would be no chance of Mr Derby intercepting them before they reached Stratford-upon-Avon.

Stratford was the parish in which Luke had been born. That meant, as both he and Kitty were of age, they need only buy a common license and they could be married at once, a golden nugget of information that had not occurred to Luke in his distraction, but which Jasper had been quick to point out.

Stratford was also not a very great distance from Trevick Castle, where the earl ruled his own little fiefdom like a big fat spider on a vast web.

Although it was under the earl’s nose, which was certainly audacious, the old buzzard seldom left his estate and Luke knew they would not be remarked upon. The tenacious old devil had kept Luke on such a tight rein that he had rarely been allowed out and about in the local area.

No one would know him from Adam.

For once, Trevick and Derby’s Machiavellian plans had worked against them.

This plan would leave them with one overnight stay at Aylesbury, where Jasper had recently inherited a property. The house was undergoing a restoration project but was not so badly arranged that a comfortable night’s lodging couldn’t be provided both on the journey there and the return. Here Jasper would provide them with a private carriage to take them the final distance to Stratford, where they would be married.

To Jasper’s surprise, Luke had informed him they would return to Holbrooke House almost at once, so that Kitty could celebrate with her friends, and so that Luke might face Mr Derby. He’d much rather get that over with as soon as possible.

Such a dismal prospect as Derby’s ire could not dampen his spirits, however. They would be married in a very short time, and Luke could feel nothing but impatience for their lives to begin. It would be like it was when they were children again, but with no going home at the end of the day.

How he would endure a night alone with Kitty before they married and act like a gentleman, he had no idea, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. He’d defended Kitty to Mr Derby and Lady Frances, ensuring them both that she was every inch a lady, and he was damned if he would treat her with any less than the respect she deserved. The problem was, he rather doubted Kitty would give a fig for such things when they were about to be married. He’d not think on that… yet.

He didn’t join the others once their plans had been finalised and—for the first time since… well, since Mr Derby had announced the impending betrothal to Lady Frances—Luke slept soundly and woke in good spirits. He was heading for the breakfast room when Kitty accosted him.

“Luke!” she exclaimed, hurrying to him and grabbing his hand.

“Kitty,” Luke remonstrated, glancing around to ensure they were not being observed.