Page 44 of Courting Miss Lancaster
Harry crossed the silent room and leaned against the window frame. Dalforth’s carriage had already pulled away and was long out of sight. London was always a little sparse in the winter; the trees were bare, society had flocked to the country. Harry had only remained in London for Athena’s sake, forhis ownsake. He’d grasped at what little time he had left with her, and it had slipped through his fingers.
“Harry!” Persephone sounded surprised to see him, as if he hadn’t spent every single day at Falstone House since arriving in London the previous spring. “I should remind you that this is Daphne’s time with Adam. They will both exact rather vicious punishments upon you if you interrupt.”
Harry knew he was meant to laugh at the slight exaggeration. He managed a smile as he turned back from the window to face Persephone. “No... I...” He needed to get away. Harry realized that in a flash of understanding. He couldn’t stay any longer, now knowing Athena was entirely lost to him. “I only came to offer my farewells,” he said, forcing the words to sound premeditated instead of off-the-cuff. “I am leaving London.”
“This is unexpected,” Persephone replied, moving closer to him, her eyes searching his face. “I hope there is nothing wrong, that there isn’t trouble at your estate.”
Harry smiled and even laughed lightly. “There is always trouble at my estate,” he replied. “But as there is little I can do about it, I am seldom informed of the newest disastrous developments.”
Persephone’s look was so full of commiseration that Harry found himself actually smiling genuinely, if not broadly. Persephone well understood the difficulties of financial hardship.
“Actually, I am”—he thought frantically—“going to visit my sister. I have not seen Jane since coming to Town.”
Jane, Harry’s older sister and his only sibling, lived in Lincolnshire, far enough from London to negate the possibility of a day trip up to see her when he was in Town and far enough from Falstone Castle, where Harry spent the rest of the year, to make visits further between than they ought to be. Jane and her husband would take Harry in for a while, until he decided how to go forward. Falstone Castle would not be the welcome abode it had once been.
“Will you be returning to London?” Persephone asked.
“No,” Harry answered.Not a chance.“The Little Season is very nearly at an end.”
“True.” So why did Persephone sound unconvinced by his explanation. “And shall we expect you at Christmas?”
Harry closed his eyes against the memory of the last Christmas he had spent at Falstone Castle. Athena had been there. He’d first realized then that he was growing rather infatuated with her. He hadn’t been top-over-tail in love with her yet, but it had been, by far, the most pleasant holiday he’d spent since before his parents had died. Adam and Persephone had finally found happiness with one another. The youngest Lancaster sister had added the joy only children can bring to a celebration. And Athena had repeatedly taken Harry’s breath away, with both her beauty and her charm, though she seemed entirely unaware that she possessed either one.
“I don’t know that I will make it to Falstone Castle for Christmas this year,” Harry said, his heart sinking as he voiced the bleak future ahead of him. His days at Falstone had ended for all intents and purposes. He couldn’t bear to be there, despised by the lady he loved, or watching her finding her own happiness with someone other than himself.
“You know that you are always welcome,” Persephoneinsisted, concern creasing her forehead.
Harry smiled tightly and nodded. “I will be leaving forthwith, so I really should be on my way back to my rooms to pack.”
“Have you any message for Adam?” Persephone looked very much like she was studying him closely, searching for what he wasn’t saying. Why had Harry never realized how piercing her gaze could be?
“Just tell him I took myself off,” Harry answered, striving for his usual jovial tone. “He’ll say, ‘It’s about time.’”
“And then act very satisfied with himself,” Persephone added with a light laugh. “And for Athena? Have you no parting words for her?”
I am sorry. I never meant to cause you pain. Please forgive me. I love you.“No.”
q
Harry was crammed into the uncomfortable corner of a traveling coach before dinnertime. Not one of his fellow passengers smiled or greeted him. But, then, he had neither smiled nor greeted them. He found he had no desire to make conversation and no reason to smile.
Chapter Eighteen
VW
“If he were still inLondon, I’d kill him,” Adam grumbled. He’d uttered myriad variations on that threat over the week since Harry had left London.
There were moments when Athena wholeheartedly agreed. Those moments, however, were invariably followed by the realization that she missed Harry almost desperately despite the fact that she was hurt and angry with him. Mr. Howard had launched into one of his rambling discourses on trees of northern England only the evening before at a soiree. Athena had, out of habit, turned to smile at Harry, but he hadn’t been beside her as he’d once always been. A moment before she’d been entirely downtrodden with wishing Harry hadn’t left, Athena had reminded herself that Harry had introduced her to Mr. Howard in the first place.
“Harry is certainly entitled to visit his sister, Adam,” Persephone said.
“He has a ridiculous sense of timing,” Adam said, his eyes turned to the dark street outside their moving carriage. “A few more weeks and this abysmal Little Season will be over with. The man couldn’t have waited that long?”
“He probably wanted to make the journey before the roads up north are all but impassable,” Persephone pointed out.
“We are going to have to leave in a fortnight or so as it is,” Adam agreed, “or we’ll never make it to Falstone Castle.”
“Can you endure another two weeks of society?” Persephoneasked, an obvious smile in her tone, though the carriage interior was too dark for Athena to see her clearly.
