Page 12 of All Roads Lead To Earls (To All The Earls I’ve Loved Before #2)

Chapter Ten

H annah had to keep reminding herself that she’d done the right thing.

It wasn’t fair to try and entrap an earl.

This is what she’d initially set out to do, and it had been wrong.

The dare she’d made that he would fall in love with her?

It felt exciting and thrilling at the time, but that had been wrong as well.

She’d done the right thing in setting him free. If he had actual feelings for her, instead of obligations, he would have told her. He truly had been trying to do the right thing. She was glad she’d done the right thing as well and set him free of his obligations.

So, why did doing the right thing feel so damnably awful?

The Alwyns offered sympathy and a place to sit quietly, brushing the spring bucks like they were small horses, as they stood huddled together in the stables.

She had to mind the horns of the adults, as they scared her a little.

Mrs. Alwyn was grateful to have her help.

“Lloyd has told me I’m not to climb in there like I used to. ”

Hannah creased her brows in confusion.

Mrs. Alwyn rubbed her belly and the penny dropped.

“Congratulations!” she managed through a dry throat. Jealousy did odd things at times, never at convenient ones. “I am happy for you, that’s so lovely.” She would have a private cry later, when there was nobody around.

“We weren’t sure until recently, and we’ve only told their lordships so far.”

Hannah nodded in understanding. She finished her duties in the stables and headed out for a walk as soon as she was able to. A long walk along the Menai to clear her head and wallow in her sorrows and missed opportunities.

But I did the right thing , she wailed to herself.

The sky only had the strength for mist today.

It swirled about, coating her sleeves in tiny pearls of damp.

It matched her confused mood, not doing anything of substance.

The waters rushed by as the tides fought each other from the north and the south.

The sooner they built a bridge over the dangerous crossing, the better.

Fog obscured the path ahead. Hannah tried not to read too much meaning into it, because fog was a usual thing at this time of year.

Before long she reached the farm lets on the edges of Bangor. A man began walking up the road toward her. It looked like Lord Tullamore, but that’s because he filled her thoughts so much every male figure reminded her of him.

She missed her next step and nearly fell. She reached for a fence post to steady herself.

It was Lord Tullamore!

He mustn’t have made the crossing yet, which sent her heart soaring.

At that moment he looked up, and he too stilled.

It took forever yet only half a second as she took in the sight of him.

He had the harder part of it, facing the uphill walk.

Making sure it really was him, she followed her heart and walked closer, her pulse staggering.

There was a chance he was simply walking around Bangor because the unfavorable tides had delayed the crossings.

“I’m sorry,” she said, as she ran to him. At the same time he sped towards her, his face an expression of hope. “I’m so glad you haven’t left yet.”

“I came back,” he said, his eyelashes clumped and damp from the mist.

Her heart almost couldn’t take it. Words would not form properly. He’d come back?

“I never told you my feelings, and that was my failing,” he said before she could come up with anything sensible. At this rate she never would, as all sense fled and she simply gazed into his beautiful face.

He was here, right before her.

“I truly don’t know myself,” he continued. “I am sure though that I cannot live the rest of my life without you in it. I do sincerely hope that is the definition of love, as I have never felt it before.”

“I feel the same way. I kept hoping the feeling would pass, but it would not.”

“It’s rather awful,” he said with something of a laugh.

“Isn’t it just?” Hannah readily agreed. A lock of hair spilled over his eye and this time she lifted her hand to his face and tucked it back. Her heart swelled. “It was making me disagreeable with everyone and I wanted to break things.”

“I ordered the driver to leave me be.”

“I messed everything up,” she confessed. “Wait, you sent the coachman on ahead from Bangor?”

“Not quite. We got as far as Holyhead and I sent him off, then I turned the horses around and came back. Made the crossing back to Bangor first thing this morning before the tides took hold.”

Thank goodness he’d made it safely to this side of the strait.

“I made a mess of things,” she confessed.

He held her face ever so gently and kissed her. Warmth spread through her whole body at the tenderness of it.

When he pulled back, he said, “I believe I messed up more, at least give me that.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Call me Patrick.”

She leaned in and kissed him. The mist swirling about them could not dampen their enthusiasm. It was a magnificent kiss full of promise and love. Of finding their true companion for the rest of their lives.

They laughed at their shared ability to make such a mess of things.

After a while standing together in the mist, Hannah said, “Please call me Hannah, any time you like.”

“Hannah, my love,” he said, his words sending heat through her body, “Tell me, whom do I need to speak to for your hand?”

“Probably Lord Caernarfonshire?”

They walked back slowly to Rosstrevor Hall, stopping to exchange several kisses along the way. Their dawdling pace gave the mist ample time to gather on their clothes, eventually soaking through to the point where they were bedraggled.

“Will Lady Amelia be upset to lose her companion?”

“Possibly, although I wasn’t required most of the time. She gave me far too much liberty.”

The kitchens at Rosstrevor Hall were welcoming and warm, as they dried themselves near the ovens.