Trevennor’s Will, page 36
She spun round and got another soaking as she stood and stared.
‘’Tis good manners to say goodday to a body.’
She didn’t want to speak. She just wanted to run into his arms and hold him tightly to be certain he was really there.
‘Well, if you won’t speak to me, say hello to my little dog. Cassie, say hello to Miss Isabel Hampton, the lady of Trevennor House.’
Isabel glanced at the dog who was diving at the incoming waves. ‘It’s… it’s a much better name than Gutser.’
‘So you remember that name. Is that all you’ve got to say?’
Isabel blinked, but Nick was still there. She had looked forward to this for so long that now he was here she didn’t know what to say. She felt shy and awkward, the way only a man like Nick Nancarrow can render an otherwise strong and confident woman. She thought she would have seen him trotting up the village or striding towards her, his wild hair spilling behind him. But here he was and she had practically walked backwards into him.
She moved out of the cold water and onto firm sand. ‘Have you been back long?’
‘Not long in Gwithian but I’ve called on Kitty, Mundy and Charlie since I’ve been back round here.’ He lowered his head, stern-faced. ‘Aren’t you pleased to see me?’
‘Oh, y-yes, of course I am. Morenwyn will love to see you, she talks about you a lot. I hope you can stay, Nick.’
‘Do you, Isabel? For how long?’
‘For as long as you like.’ She was still staring at him, as if she believed he wasn’t really there with her.
He loved the warm smokiness of her wonderful eyes but he wasn’t sure how she felt at him being there. ‘I’ll probably stay for a while…’
‘If you haven’t got somewhere to stay you’re welcome to sleep in the stables like you used to do,’ she added quickly lest he think she was playing the lady. ‘You would be very welcome to stay in the house but it wouldn’t be seemly.’
‘I’ll find a place to lay my head if I stay that long. I must say I didn’t expect to come back and find you unmarried.’
‘There was no reason for me to marry Richard Grenville and I would have made him very unhappy eventually.’
‘No reason, Isabel? I find that a curious thing to hear you say.’
‘Will you ever realize that I’ve changed?’ she said almost desperately. ‘That the time we had together gave me different outlooks and values? At the end I saw I didn’t need to marry someone I didn’t love just for position or because he made a desirable husband. Oh, you make me so mad sometimes, Nick Nancarrow!’
His face darkened. ‘I only asked you a simple question. I didn’t come here to be told I’m stupid, Isabel Hampton.’
‘Then why did you come here?’
‘I’m damned if I know!’
‘Oh, that’s definitely the Nick Nancarrow I know. Pig-headed and rude.’
Nick’s patience was on a short fuse. He had not wanted this to happen. A verbal tug-of-war. But then things had never been put right with Isabel from the time Kitty had disturbed them in her kitchen. They had both felt embarrassed and Kitty had added guilt to the feeling. Guilt probably on Isabel’s part that she was betrothed to another man, guilt on his that he was only going to use her. But that wasn’t true. Being with her would have meant the world to him.
He asked softly, ‘When did you decide that you weren’t going to marry Richard Grenville?’
Isabel was feeling crushed at their argument. She frowned. ‘Does it matter, Nick?’
He touched her hair and all her hopes came tumbling back. ‘I think it does, for both of us.’
‘It was from the day I first spoke to Benjamin. He made me see how I really felt.’
‘Then when you agreed to make love with me you didn’t feel you were betraying Grenville?’
‘No, I knew I could never feel anything for Richard. I knew you cared a little for me, you were so kind and attentive in the creek. I wanted to give myself to you and I wanted to take from you too. I had hoped and dreamed that something might have come out of it, but I felt at that moment that I could have lived on the memory for ever.’
Nick put his hands firmly on Isabel’s shoulders and looked right into her. ‘I felt more for you than just caring for you, Isabel. But Kitty came back and made me feel I was about to cheapen you, that I was only looking for a casual encounter with you. Believe me, it would have been more than that.’
Isabel’s eyes were full of hope as she looked back at him. ‘Kitty made me feel underhand and ashamed, as if by behaving that way with you I was somehow being ungrateful to her.’
‘Dear Kitty, she thought at the time she was doing the right thing, bringing up Richard Grenville as an uncrossable bridge between us, but it wasn’t true. I don’t believe we would have come together without there being something wonderful and lasting between us. I love you, Isabel.’
‘Oh, Nick,’ she cried and flung herself into his arms. ‘I’ve spent all this time since you left me longing for you to come back and say that.’
Nick rested his chin on her head and told the ocean, ‘All that wasted time…’ Then he brought his lips to Isabel’s and kissed her as though he was trying to make up for all that lost time in one moment.
They strolled along the shore, holding one another tightly as if they never wanted to let go.
Isabel said, ‘I thought you would have fought to the last breath to stay independent.’
‘That’s not independence, Isabel. Being afraid to love and commit yourself to someone, that’s only running away. Besides,’ and he looked at her, grinning cheekily, ‘I’d be a fool not to marry the woman with the best legs in Cornwall.’
Isabel laughed and reached up to kiss him. ‘I wonder what Uncle Laurence would say? To us falling in love.’
Nick nodded his head in satisfaction. ‘He’d be absolutely delighted, I reckon, and he’d approve of us getting married as soon as possible.’ He picked Isabel up in his arms and whirled her round. ‘We’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for and I want to provide Morenwyn with another garden full of children to play with.’
‘Nick Nancarrow!’ She kissed him, overwhelming him with her passion and urgency. Then let’s hurry up and tell Morenwyn and all the others that you’re staying.’
‘For ever!’
‘For ever…’
First published in the United Kingdom in 1994 by Headline Book Publishing
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
57 Shepherds Lane
Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Gloria Cook, 1994
The moral right of Gloria Cook to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788636445
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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