A Dream Come True (17 page)

The announcement of the engagement to Edward had also brought people flocking to the door of Bingham Hall, some of whom Lucia had never met before.

“When we return home, I will have a nap,” announced her mother. “And then I want to show you some menus for the wedding breakfast. Edward's mother has sent them and has offered us her French chef for the day. I have accepted naturally.”

“Mama, do I have to have a large wedding? I am concerned that all this will place such a strain on you that you will have a relapse.”

Lucia did not explain that she would prefer a smaller wedding, as she wanted as little fuss as possible.

“Nonsense, of course you must have the best that our money can buy. It sounds to me as if you are experiencing pre-wedding nerves.”

“A little.”

“It's only natural,” added her mother soothingly. “I was the same myself before I married your Papa.”

Lucia tried to remember what life had been like when her father was alive and she was finding it increasingly difficult. If it was not for his photograph on the landing, she felt certain she would not be able to visualise his face so clearly.

‘Edward will make a good husband,' she told herself for the umpteenth time that day. ‘I will not want for anything and I shall have a very nice life.'

But how she wished she could convince herself and forget about Lord Winterton!

*

The following day, Lucia drove to Longridge Manor to finish off the arrangements for the unveiling ceremony.

During the afternoon, she visited Shilborough to inspect the monument. It was already in place in the town square covered by tarpaulin and scaffolding.

The stonemason proudly showed her the relief of her father and it brought tears to her eyes.

“Thank you so much” she whispered. “It is a perfect likeness and captures exactly his noble profile.”

She felt sad that she would not be able to attend the ceremony. She would have loved to have been there when the covers came off and the band struck up.

But everything had now been set into motion.

Edward had booked a week in the Swiss Alps and a fortnight at a Black Sea resort. He had said that he had heard it was where the fashionable set was now going.

Lucia liked to travel and was looking forward to seeing new places, but in her heart she still longed to see or hear news of Lord Winterton.

Arriving back at the Manor, Lucia slipped inside to attend to a few items before leaving for the day.

As she passed the oak staircase, she looked up at the painting of Lord Winterton hanging on the landing.

His piercing blue eyes stared out from the canvas and his mouth seemed even more resolute than normal.

‘I miss him so much,' she sighed and then told herself off for having indulged her feelings once more.

‘Is it right that I still pine for another when I am to be married in a few weeks?' she pondered, as she tidied the study. ‘Perhaps this ridiculous fancy will pass once I am a married woman with a home of my own to run.'

Had not her mother often said that the devil makes work for idle hands?

Lucia thought that she would not possibly have time to think about Lord Winterton with both Greensides and the house in Mayfair to occupy her.

Edward had already said that he wanted Greensides redecorated and that, with her wonderful eye for detail, he wanted her to personally oversee the renovations.

And then, there would be the inevitable parties and dinners they would be expected to give once they had returned from honeymoon.

“Good afternoon, Miss Mountford,” came a voice behind her.

“Good afternoon, Jepson. Is there any word from Lord Winterton?”

“We still do not know when to expect him,” he answered, lowering his eyes.

A feeling in her stomach told her that he was withholding information. Did it not stand to reason that Lord Winterton's most faithful servant would be informed of his Master's comings and goings?

‘He knows something,' concluded Lucia.

“I am surprised that Lady Shelley has not been to the Manor,” she probed, hoping to trick him into telling her something.

“Quite, Miss Mountford,” replied Jepson tactfully, leaving the room.

‘Oh, bother,' she cursed to herself, ‘he is so loyal to Lord Winterton, I should not have expected him to divulge anything.'

Feeling sad she locked up the desk and put the cover on the typewriter.

“I shall return on Friday,” she told Jepson. “There are just one or two matters that need my attention and then I shall not be coming back.”

“Your wedding is very soon, I believe, miss?”

“Yes, in three weeks,” she answered, putting on her driving hat and gloves.

She had driven herself in her new motor car that afternoon.

It had been a present from Edward, who would have preferred to have bought her a horse, but she had insisted on a motor car.

“Then may I offer my best wishes and congratulations? I will be sorry not to see you at the Manor again and I am certain that his Lordship will as well.”

It was on the tip of Lucia's tongue to press him further on his observation, but she simply smiled and picked up her bag from the desk.

As he watched her leave, Jepson walked towards the telephone in the study.

Picking up the receiver, he waited until the exchange answered.

“Good afternoon, please put me through to the Athenaeum Club – ah, Athenaeum Club? This is Mr. Jepson, Lord Winterton's butler. I wish to leave an urgent message for him.”

*

 By the time that Friday came, the last thing Lucia wanted to do was to return to Longridge Manor.

Throughout the rest of the week she had given herself a stern talking-to and was doing her best to push Lord Winterton completely out of her mind.

She even had a most pleasant dinner with Edward where she could almost believed herself to be in love with him.

He had made a tremendous effort to have his cook prepare her favourite foods and there was champagne on ice.

He then presented her with a poem he had written about her that had almost melted her heart.

And now she found herself, rather reluctantly, in the Rolls Royce with Briggs at the wheel.

“Would you mind waiting for me?” she told him. “I shall not be that long today. I do not intend to stay for more than a few hours.”

“You take as long as you like, Miss Mountford. I shall miss our little jaunts out once you are married and I shall also miss the delicious teas at the Manor.”

Lucia smiled to herself.

She looked up at the Jacobean exterior as the motor car drew up at the front entrance. She noticed that the roses at the front were beginning to come into bloom and their bright petals stood out starkly against the dark brick of the building.

‘I shall ask Jepson if I might take a few home with me,' she murmured.

Moving quickly inside, she took off her hat and gloves. It was cool inside the hall and she noticed that a large flower arrangement stood on the sideboard.

‘How lovely,' she thought. ‘I wonder if Jepson had them brought in as he knew this would be my last day here? I must thank him.'

She set about writing the last few letters and checking the arrangements for the ceremony. She knew that Jepson would be expecting her to leave a long list for Lord Winterton plus a schedule for the day.

‘Now for the schedule,' mumbled Lucia, feeling quite sad that her duties were almost complete.

She typed up a list of events for the day accompanied by precise instructions.

Next she wrote to the bandmaster, the Mayor and the King's private secretary, leaving copies of the letters for Lord Winterton.

“I can see that you haven't missed me!”

Lucia let out a gasp as there, standing in the doorway, was Lord Winterton.

He looked devastatingly handsome with a bloom of rude health on him. His skin glowed and his eyes shone brightly.

He was obviously delighted to see her.

“Richard!”

She blushed deeply the moment she had let his Christian name slip from her lips. She realised that perhaps she should not have addressed him so familiarly.

“Yes, I have returned,” he murmured and then, moving towards her with his hand outstretched, he added, “and may I add my belated congratulations on your forthcoming marriage? I read about it when I was in Vienna – in
The
Times
.”

Lucia bowed her head as he shook her hand.

“Yes, I assumed you would see the announcement,” she muttered, feeling overcome with emotion. “You are not angry with me?”

“For breaking the deal I had forged with your stepfather? No, I had expected such a thing might come to pass in my absence. Now, I am glad I have caught you – we should get down to work at once. Shall I ask Jepson to make certain that your driver is made comfortable? He may be here longer than you had anticipated.”

There was a different air about Lord Winterton – something Lucia could not quite explain.

He seemed quieter and less brash. Even his body movements were slower and less strident.

‘Something has happened to him, but what?' she thought, as she tried to still her beating heart.

It was immensely difficult having him so close to her, when all she wanted to do was have him take her in his arms.

“Your mother – she is better?”

“Almost completely recovered,” replied Lucia.

“Thanks to your doctor. I am afraid that I will be on honeymoon when the ceremony happens, but Mama has said that she will gladly take my place.”

“And I was heartened, too, to hear of your stepfather's good fortune. Diamond mines in South Africa, is it not? It was very good of him to repay the debt so promptly and with interest. There was no need for him to do that.”

“Stepfather likes to do things in a business-like fashion,” commented Lucia, trying not to meet his burning blue gaze.

‘It is as if another man has inhabited his body!' conjectured Lucia, as they went through the schedule together.

An hour later, they had come to the end of their tasks and Lord Winterton rose from his chair.

“Thank you for everything,” he said in a low voice. “It was a great deal of work to leave you with and I am sorry that I ran off like that.”

“It was nothing and you forget that I have a vested interest in the project as Papa is also being commemorated.”

“I trust that the stonemason has done us proud?”

“Yes, very much so. The likeness is incredible and so very dignified.”

“Good, I am so pleased. Look, Lucia – ”

“Sir, please – ” she protested.

Her heart was now beating incredibly fast as he had moved closer to her.

His expression was both intense and earnest as he towered over her.

“No, let me explain. I owe you an apology,” he began. “I ran off to Austria without leaving word, but I could not tell a soul what I was doing as I was acting on behalf of the King.

“As I am sure you know, there is trouble in that part of the world and my mission was highly secret. I know that there was all kind of wild speculation about my sudden disappearance and the meddling of a certain lady of my acquaintance only served as a convenient distraction to what was really going on.”

Lucia looked at him. What she wanted to say to him dried on her lips as hope sprang anew in her heart.

“Do you mean that you were not with Lady Shelley – and that the story I read in the
Westminster Gazette
– was false?” she stuttered.

Lord Winterton sighed heavily and moved even nearer. So close, in fact, that Lucia could feel his warmth.

How she longed to reach out to him and to touch him!

“It was,” he replied, “and I have cut off all dealings with her as a result. She mistakenly thought I would marry her and so contacted the paper in question with the story in order to push me into a proposal.”

“How devious!” gasped Lucia. “But she always did give the impression that she was a woman who was used to getting whatever she wanted.”

“Quite so, but on this occasion, she failed. She should have known me better than to try to entrap me. The truth is – ”

“I am sorry to interrupt, my Lord, but there is an urgent telephone call for you.”

Lucia saw a surge of anger light up Lord Winterton's eyes. He seemed highly irritated that he had been interrupted.

“Dammit, man, tell them I will call them back!”

“But it is His Majesty's Office at Buckingham Palace,”replied Jepson in an insistent tone.

“Lucia, I am sorry, we shall have to continue this conversation another time. But continue it we shall, I promise you. And before it's too late – ”

With that, he threw her a look that made her tremble.

‘Oh, curse Jepson and curse the King! Why did he have to come in at that precise moment?' she muttered, as she left the Manor. ‘What was he going to say to me? I cannot bear it! I know what I desire in my heart, but am I simply fooling myself?'

She stared out of the window of the Rolls Royce as it sped down the drive.

‘Please say that you love me,' she cried, as she imagined him on the telephone behind the walls of Longridge Manor.

‘Rescue me! Come and get me, I beg you!'

The next few weeks were a blur for Lucia. There was so much to do and she felt as if her head was constantly spinning.

She also found herself becoming increasingly irritated by Edward as the days sped by and still there was no word from Lord Winterton.

‘What did I expect?' she told herself, crossly, as she gazed out of the window of the drawing room.

She was awaiting the arrival of the dressmaker who was coming all the way from Bond Street for the final fitting of her wedding dress.

“If that girl sticks pins in me, I shall scream at the top of my voice!” threatened Lucia, as her mother entered the room.

“Darling, I wanted to have a word with you as you seem so very tense. I know we have spoken before about pre-wedding nerves, but last night you really upset Edward.”