Stranger in My Arms(99)

Shivering and breathing erratically, they relaxed in a tangle of bedclothes. Lara sank into a peaceful lethargy, turning her face toward Hunter as she felt him stroking her hair. Daylight threatened to intrude in the quiet room, but the heavy curtains kept it at bay.

“Even if you had left me,” Lara said drowsily, “you wouldn’t have been able to stay away for long.”

He made a rueful sound. “Because I need you,” he said, pressing his warm lips to her forehead.

“Not nearly as much as I need you.”

He smiled, his hands moving gently over her body.

But when he spoke, his tone was serious. “How do we go on from here after all that’s happened?”

“I don’t know.” She settled her head in the crook of his shoulder.

“We’ll just start again, that’s all.”

“Every time you look at me,” he said, “you’ll remember that I took his place.”

“No,” she said, laying her fingers over his lips, determined that no ghost from the past would haunt them now. “I suppose I’ll think of him sometimes…

but I never really knew him. He didn’t want a life with me, nor I with him.”

She felt his mouth twist wryly. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” he muttered.

Lara moved her hand to the steady thud of his heart. “When I look at you,” she said, “I see only you.” She nuzzled closer against his side.

“I know you,” she added throatily.

The comment drew an unwilling laugh from him, and Hunter rolled to his side to stare down at her. It was clear that he was prepared to argue the point, but as he gazed at her small face, his expression changed to one of extraordinary tenderness. “Maybe you do,” he said, and gathered her close. Epilogue AftER TOURING THE orphanage and seeing the improvements that had just been completed, Lara was filled with satisfaction. They were ready to admit the new children now, only ten instead of the expected twelve, as two families in Market Hill had become so fond of their temporary guests that they had decided to keep them. It would be easy enough to fill the extra beds at the orphanage, Lara thought. There were always far too many children who were in need of a decent place to live.

As she stepped from the carriage and entered Hawksworth Hall, Lara’s mind was so busy with plans that she scarcely noticed the man who waited for her.

“Lady Hawksworth… forgive me, my lady…”

A gentleman’s cultured voice repeated her name until Lara stopped and turned with an inquiring smile.

The visitor was Lord Tufton, the shy, gentle man who had courted Rachel before her marriage to Lonsdale. He was an intellectual rather than a sportsman, with a kind, earnest manner that Lara had always liked. She had heard recently that Tufton had come into an unexpected fortune at the death of his uncle, which would undoubtedly make him sought after by many ambitious young females.

“Lord Tufton!” Lara exclaimed with sincere pleasure. “‘How nice it is to see you.”

They conversed amiably for a minute, and Tufton gestured lamely to a magnificent arrangement of roses that had been set on the table by the entrance.

“I brought these for your family to enjoy,” he remarked.

“How lovely they are,” Lara said warmly, suppressing a smile as she realized that the flowers were really for her sister. However, it wouldn’t have been proper for Tufton to give them exclusively to Rachel, as she was in mourning. “Thank you. We will all enjoy them-especially my sister. She is quite fond of roses, you know.”

“Yes, I…” He cleared his throat nervously.

“Might I inquire after her health, my lady?”

“She is quite well,” Lara assured him. “Although … she is rather quiet and downcast these days.”

“That is only to be expected,” he remarked gently, “after the tragedy she has experienced.”

Lara surveyed him with a thoughtful smile. Rachel had not received visitors in the two months since Lonsdale’s death, but somehow Lara was certain that Tufton’s face would be a welcome sight. “Lord Tufton, my sister is always out in the garden at this time of day, taking a long stroll. I’m sure she would enjoy walking with a companion.”

He looked both eager and hesitant at the prospect.

“Oh, I shouldn’t like to bother her… if she desires solitude…”

“Come with me,” Lara said, tugging him through the great hall with relentless determination. She led him to the French doors that opened to the garden, and caught a glimpse of Rachel’s black dyed bonnet as she walked among the hedges. “There she is,” Lara said triumphantly. “Go right along and join her, Lord Tufton.”

“But I don’t know if-” “My sister will be delighted, I assure you.”

Lara opened the door and ushered him outside, and watched as he made his way through a flower-strewn parterre.

“Mama!” Hearing Johnny’s voice, Lara turned with a smile. The boy was dressed in miniature breeches and a blue jacket in preparation for a riding lesson.

“Darling, where is the nanny?” she asked.

“She’s coming down from the schoolroom,” Johnny said, slightly breathless. “But she can’t run as fast as me.”

Lara straightened the boy’s cap. “Why are you always in such a hurry?” she asked.