“The first night at Brighmor, I was determined to leave. After evening meal I went out for a walk to start plotting my escape. I had planned to take a horse from your stables and somehow get to Boston where my father has friends.” He reached over and took my hand. Uncurling my fingers, he laced them in between his own. “But I couldn’t get you out of my mind. We had barely known each other two days, and I was already falling in love. I returned to Brighmor that night under the pretense of needing more time to prepare, when in truth I wanted to see you again.”
“I suspected something was up. That’s why I locked you in your room.”
Henry laughed. “I was so angry, but the next night I still couldn’t leave. Then Nathan paid a visit to Brighmor, and I convinced myself that you needed me, that it was my duty to stay and help.”
“You’ve been here for six weeks. You should have told me sooner.”
“I already knew your opinion of the titled class. If you found out, I was sure you would have decided against me without ever knowing my character.”
He was probably right. I had no love for the English peerage. It was hard-earned family tradition.
“I know you’ve good reason to hate the nobility,” he said. “But I hope this doesn’t change your feelings for me.”
My mind was a jumble of thoughts. For all I knew, Henry’s family had been directly involved in stealing my father’s land and forcing him into exile. It didn’t matter that Henry wasn’t even alive during the last Rebellion, as a titled Englishman he was guilty by association. A transported criminal would have been preferable.
Oh, why couldn’t you have just been a convicted highwayman or a pirate like Nora’s grandfather?
I should have hated Henry to my very core—I owed it to my ancestors after all they suffered at the hands of the English. But I couldn’t. My heart was already his.
Henry held fast to my hand, anxious for an answer.
“I love you, Henry. That will never change.” Everything else had changed though, the moment James Roth stepped foot in Brighmor. There remained one way for us to be together, and Henry would never consent to renounce his former life and remain in the Colonies.
His face relaxed as he let out a deep breath. “Promise you’ll marry me.”
Tears stung the back of my eyes from the inevitable course of our conversation. “I can promise all I like, but it means nothing. The King isn’t going to let you out of the contract with his daughter.”
“He will once I explain how my father signed it without my consent—”
“I’m Irish Catholic!” I cried. “It’s against the law for us to marry in England!”
“You’re only half Catholic,” he reminded me. “Popery laws have always been a matter of convenience. The King has discretion to grant exceptions, especially for his favorite nephew.”
I looked at him warily. There was more than one law in need of the King’s exception. “Have you considered that I’m a commoner in your world?” I asked, cringing slightly from the repugnant designation. Never before had I thought of myself in this way.
Henry smiled at me. “A lady once told me that titles are nothing more than manmade conventions, created only to divide the classes and place one person above another.”
He had the uncanny ability of recalling my words at the most inconvenient times to make his point.
“Besides,” he continued, “you are the direct descendant of a goddess. Not even the King can make such a claim.”
“We would both be locked away if you ever told him.”
“I’ve no intention of telling him anything other than how I feel about you. He’ll agree when he’s heard my case.”
The final judgment loomed before us. A week ago I had nearly given up my birthright to be with Henry. Standing face-to-face, my chest tightened while I waited to hear if he would do the same for me. “And what if he doesn’t?”
Henry remained silent for a moment while he considered the possibility. “Then I will renounce my title and leave England for good.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You would do that for me?”
He pressed my hand to his chest, directly over his heart. “On my honor, I’ll do whatever it takes to have you.” The tenderness in his eyes was suddenly overshadowed by uncertainty. “That is, if you’ll still have me.”
My own heart felt as though it would burst. “Yes, Henry. I’ll have you.”
He looked at me in earnest. “Even if I’m stripped of rank and fortune and forced to beg my bread in the streets?”
“Those things mean nothing to me.” Feeling light as air, I rose up onto my tiptoes and kissed him.
In truth, I would have loved him all the more for it.
Chapter Nineteen
Judgment by Fire
Following evening meal, James joined Henry and me in the small sitting room to discuss some last minute details before they left to meet Nathan and Teme in the forest. A trusted friend and Henry’s private secretary, he had already been told all that had occurred during the past six weeks. Or nearly all.