A Hope Remembered (7 page)

A lad with a fishing pole propped against one shoulder rambled up the road toward Colin. Headed to the north side of the lake, no doubt. The boy threw Colin a funny look as he passed, likely curious as to why the baronet’s son was standing unmoving along the side of the road.

“You’re being daft,” he muttered to himself as he strode up the lane. He had to collect Christian’s dog after all. Perseus would be awaiting their daily walk.

The cottage came into view a few moments later. The disrepair was every bit as visible as it had been the night before, and yet the house held an air of life about it today. Perhaps it was the way the glass panes shone in the sunshine, clear evidence someone had been at work inside.

Colin marched to the front door and knocked. As he waited for Nora to answer, he shifted his weight from one polished shoe to the other, staring at the hard-packed earth.

He caught sight of the door swinging open and lifted his head. Nora wore a faded blue dress beneath her apron, which accentuated the sapphire color in her eyes. Eyes that appeared to brighten with pleasure upon seeing him. Guilt rendered his mouth dry.

“Mr. Ashby.” She smiled, the gesture enhancing the delicate features of her face. A very pretty face.

“I’m here for Perseus,” he announced. Nora’s eyes widened at his slightly curt tone and he stifled a groan of regret. He’d never persuade her to do anything this way.

Clearing his throat, he modified his request. “What I mean is, if you no longer require the use of my dog, I’d like to take him on his walk.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” She stepped back from the door. “Come in, and I’ll find him. He’s out back.”

Colin ducked inside and his jaw slackened with surprise. If not for Nora’s presence, he would have guessed he’d entered the wrong cottage. The sheets had been removed from the furniture and not a speck of dust could be seen anywhere. The two front rooms, though simply furnished, appeared tidy and respectable.

“Look at this.” He waved his hand to encompass the dining room, hallway, and parlor.

“What do you think?” she asked, her question full of anticipation.

“What do I think?” he repeated. “It’s a thousand times improved.” He glanced down to find her earlier smile had deepened at his praise, revealing a tiny dimple beside her full mouth. He hadn’t noticed it last night. A speck of what appeared to be gravy sat next to the bewitching dimple.

“You…have something there.” He pointed at the speck.

Her cheeks turned pink as she swiped at the corner of her mouth with her fingers. Instead of removing the spot, though, she smeared it.

“Allow me.” Colin wet the tip of his thumb and ran it from the corner of her mouth to her chin, wiping away the gravy. Her lips twitched at his touch, but she remained still. He allowed his finger to linger against her smooth, warm skin, his attention caught up in the blue-green recesses of her large eyes. What was it about them that captivated him?

“Must be some of Bess Tuttle’s cottage pie.” She broke free of Colin’s touch to shut the door, disrupting whatever pull of attraction he’d felt.

Colin mentally shook himself. He was supposed to be charming her, not the other way around. “You met Auntie Bess?”

Nora nodded and moved down the hallway toward the kitchen. “She brought me a pie and invited me to supper tomorrow night.”

“All the while conversing with herself without taking a breath,” Colin joked as he followed her into the kitchen.

Nora’s lips pressed together as if she were trying not to laugh. “She was very kind.” Her voice choked with barely hidden amusement. Colin grinned in triumph.

She stepped to the back door and called for Perseus. The dog tramped inside. On seeing Colin, Perseus wagged his tail and came to sit in front of him.

“Ready for your walk, ol’ boy?” Colin scratched behind the dog’s ears.

Nora began putting away the dishes stacked in several neat piles on the counter. “Where do you usually walk?”

“Around the lake or on the fell. Would you care to join us?”

“I would,” she said, looking back over her shoulder, “but I need to buy groceries in the village and order a new windowpane.”

“Right.”

Now what?
Colin thought with mounting frustration. His time with her was moving to a rapid end. Or was it? “Perhaps Perseus and I could walk somewhere else today. We could show you Larksbeck, if you don’t mind us tagging along.” He slipped his hands back into his pockets. Did he sound too eager?

“That would be nice.” She put away the last of the plates into the cupboard and removed her apron. “Give me a minute to fix this hair of mine and I’ll be ready.” She faced the window as she began unpinning her hair.

Colin moved into the hallway, intent on waiting out front, but he stopped when he caught sight of Nora’s unfettered hair. Free from its pins, it fell in red waves to the middle of her back. He stared, mesmerized, at the beauty of it. Would those tresses feel as soft and silky as they looked, slipping through his fingers?

As Nora began to rearrange her hair into a knot, Colin realized she could turn at any moment and discover him gawking. He beat a hasty and rather silent retreat to the front door, Perseus on his heels.

Outside, Colin took a cleansing breath of fresh air. He needed to clear his head, remain focused on his task, and not succumb to Nora’s beautiful face or hair. It wasn’t just her beauty he was struggling to ignore, though. Nora wasn’t trying to capture his fancy, like Lady Josephine or Lady Sophia. She was simply being herself, and that was a quality he found as attractive as her person. If only the future of Elmthwaite weren’t riding on his getting to know her and persuading her to leave.

Nora exited the cottage, her hair pinned back into place. A sweater covered her shoulders, despite the rare sunshine. She’d acclimate to the weather soon enough. Or perhaps she wouldn’t, if Colin’s father had his way. Regret flourished anew inside him, but Colin had grown rather good at ignoring unpleasant feelings.

“To Larksbeck, m’lady.” He waved her forward with a slight bow.

Perseus bounded ahead of them as they fell into step and turned south toward Larksbeck.

“It’s very beautiful here,” Nora’s appraising gaze roamed from one side of the valley to the other. “Everything is so green.”

“Isn’t Iowa green?”

“Yes, but in a different way.”

For a moment he wondered about this place where she came from, what it must look like, how different it would be from the mountains and lake he’d always known. “Did you enjoy living there?”

Nora nodded. “Very much.”

“Yet you chose to leave it, for the unknown.”

He hadn’t voiced it as a question, but she answered with a soft “yes.”

She didn’t elaborate further, and Colin decided he didn’t want to press her for a confession of what she’d left behind in America or what she might wish to return to. He’d try a different tactic.

“I hope you’ll find the village satisfactory.” He tipped his head in the direction of the rooftops. “Larksbeck has only a few shops, and without the railway at our doorstep, we tend to be a bit isolated from the rest of the country.”

“I don’t mind. My hometown wasn’t very large.”

Colin threw her a tight smile. He’d been foolish to think he could easily dissuade a capable woman like Nora with a few well-placed reminders about her home in the States or the isolation of their tiny valley. Perhaps the villagers, with their typical reticence toward strangers, would succeed in convincing Nora that she didn’t want to stay.

They crossed the bridge at the outskirts of the village a few minutes later. “We have the apothecary ahead on the left,” he informed her. “Then Bagley’s grocery shop. The doctor, blacksmith, and The Blea Crown are all on the opposite side of the street.”

“The Blea Crown?”

Colin pointed to the combination pub and inn. “
Blea
means blue. Up the road, you’ll find the church and the parish priest’s home.”

“It’s very quaint,” Nora said, her eyes showing her pleasure.

Colin tried to see the whitewashed buildings as she did. He and his family had spent little time in Larksbeck the last decade. As a child he’d roamed here often, but once he’d returned from university, his trips to the village became more and more infrequent.

“Where to first, Miss Lewis?”

She studied the shops. “I need food, of course, but I’m also out of soap. Would the grocers or the apothecary be the better choice for that?”

“If I remember right, the apothecary’s wife, Mrs. Smith, used to concoct all sorts of scented fragrances and such.”

“The apothecary it is then.”

Colin and Perseus escorted her to the shop. She opened the door for herself, without waiting for him to do so, giving Colin a whiff of perfume and other chemicals from inside. Telling Perseus to stay, Colin joined Nora in the tiny shop. Mrs. Smith, herself, came bustling in from the back room, where her husband fashioned the needed prescriptions.

“What may I do—” She stopped short when she caught sight of Nora, one hand rising to her heart. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Eleanor Lewis had just stepped into our shop.”

Nora’s face drained of color and her mouth tightened. What about the woman’s reaction bothered her? If anything, she was friendlier than Colin had ever seen. “I’m Nora Lewis. From—”

“America,” Mrs. Smith finished for her. “I heard Henry meant to have someone contact you in the States after he died. I’m glad to see someone did.” Her gaze flicked to Colin and she gave him a pert nod. “Mr. Ashby.” When she turned to Nora again, she was all smiles. “What may I get you today, Miss Lewis? I hope you’re not feeling poorly.”

Colin remained near the door as Nora, once more composed, explained her need for some soap. He told himself it didn’t matter if Mrs. Smith had instantly warmed to her. The grocer, Mr. Bagley, was a shrewd businessman and not inclined to friendliness where strangers were concerned. There was still time—and people—to persuade Nora that Larksbeck and her sheep farm, in particular, weren’t right for her.

After today, Colin wouldn’t need to do more than suggest the idea of leaving before Nora would be gone and Elmthwaite would be saved. Why then did he feel less than satisfied with keeping his promise to Christian?

“Ready?” he asked when Nora approached the door with a wrapped package and a loaf of bread.

“Yes.” Over her shoulder, she called out, “Thank you, Mrs. Smith. It was nice to meet you.”

“Lovely to meet you, too.”

Before Colin could get the door for her, Nora let herself outside. He swallowed a frown as he followed, reminding himself of how independent American women could be. Or perhaps Nora had been doing things on her own for so long, she didn’t realize there were others who might want to help.

“The grocers next?” he asked.

“Yes. Can you believe she gave me some of her freshly baked bread?” She sniffed the wrapped loaf as they headed toward the grocers. “Mmm. Smell this,” she murmured, extending the loaf to him.

Colin didn’t want to, not in the middle of the village street, but her enthusiastic expression wasn’t easily ignored. What sort of woman didn’t bat an eye at a rickety old cottage and hard work and yet became almost giddy at the scent of fresh bread? Colin had the sudden sense he wasn’t the only one hiding behind a façade. He suspected a wellspring of feeling and passion lay beneath Nora’s pragmatic personality.

To please her, he lowered his nose and inhaled the bread’s scent. The smell immediately conjured up memories of slipping below stairs, to the kitchen, where Mrs. Quincy would let him sneak bits of raw dough for him and Christian. His brother, of course, would never do something so sly himself, but he didn’t mind if Colin shared the spoils.

“It smells delicious,” he admitted.

“I’ve tried to make bread as well as my mother did, but it never turns out like hers. But this.” She inhaled the bread’s aroma again. “I may have to ask Mrs. Smith her secret.”

Colin edged ahead as they neared the grocers so he could hold the door open for her. Nora looked momentarily surprised by the chivalrous act, but then she smiled in gratitude and entered the shop. Her smile, and dimple, stirred a strange sensation in Colin’s gut and filled him with a strong desire to help her again, and again.

With a frown, he dismissed the feeling. Being polite was the least he could do for Nora before she had to face the crotchety Mr. Bagley.

Colin trailed Nora to the long counter, where the grocer sat reading a newspaper. It all but hid the old man’s face. Only his gray hair and wrinkled forehead poked above the top of the paper.

“If you will note the time on the clock above the door,” Mr. Bagley stated in a harsh voice, “you will see I close the shop in ten minutes and not a minute later. And before you ask, I do not have any ladies’ shoes and cannot say when the next shipment will come.”

“I don’t need shoes.” Nora set her bread and soap on the counter. “I do need…” She withdrew a list from her dress pocket and began naming off the items. The paper sagged lower with each one. “Lastly, I’m wondering if you might be able to order me a new windowpane. One of mine is cracked.”

Mr. Bagley threw down his paper, his mouth open. Colin waited for the man’s biting retort to Nora’s long list of requests at such a late hour, but it never came. The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Eleanor?”

Colin looked from the grocer to Nora and found her face growing white again. The references to Henry’s daughter made her uncomfortable. Colin had been too little to know Eleanor himself, but those who did clearly thought Nora looked very much like her. He hadn’t counted on the distant family connection to work against his father’s plans.

“No. My name is Nora. I’m Henry Lewis’s gr—”

“I’m Nathaniel Bagley, miss. At your service.” He reached out to take her list. “Let’s see if we can’t find you those things you need.”

“What about the time?” Nora threw a glance at the clock. Her tone sounded sincere enough, but Colin detected a glint of teasing in her eyes. He bit back a smile.

“Never mind that.” Mr. Bagley came around the counter. “If you’ll take that basket there, and follow me, Miss Lewis.”