FOR THE DOZENTH time, Ford turned over in his bed. Though his project was finished, for some exasperating reason he still found himself sleepless in the wee hours of the morning. Or perhaps it was because his project was finished.
It was time to leave Lakefield.
Tabitha’s elopement was behind him. Far behind him. So far behind him, he wondered what he’d ever seen in her—on the rare occasions he thought of her at all.
His watch was completed, and although he had another idea to add a chime to wake the watch’s owner at a certain time of the day, he could work on that at Cainewood, or even in London. With the Royal Society settled back in its old home, the meetings would be more regular. He wanted to attend them.
But though he knew he’d ruined things with Violet—though she’d made it perfectly clear in the woods this afternoon that she neither welcomed nor returned his feelings—he still found himself irrationally reluctant to leave. The very thought seemed to cause a painful squeezing sensation in his chest.
So he decided not to think.
Instead he climbed from the bed and wrapped himself in a robe. As long as he couldn’t sleep, he might as well start designing the wake-up bell.
On his way up to the laboratory, he bumped into Harry coming down. “Pardon, my lord.” Holding a candle in one hand, Harry scratched his bald head with the other. “I was just sneaking down for a midnight raid. I wouldn’t be averse to some company.”
“Midnight raid?”
“On the kitchen.” The houseman patted his round belly. “Hilda is always nagging me not to eat, so I don’t much. Not so she can see it.” He grinned. “She baked bread before retiring.”
As usual, Hilda’s offerings this evening had been less than enticing. Feeling his own stomach rumble, Ford followed Harry downstairs and drew a stool up to the big table in the cavernous kitchen.
Harry swiped a fresh loaf off the counter and reached for a knife. “Quiet around here since Lady Jewel left, if I may say so.”
“It is.” Ford watched him slice the coarse brown bread. “She’s a charmer.”
Scooping butter from a crock, Harry slathered it onto a piece. “She is that. And Lady Violet, too.”
“Lady Violet?”
“Don’t pretend there’s nothing between you two.”
Ford accepted the buttered bread. “Criminy, you’re as meddling as your wife.” But unlike Hilda, Harry managed to probe without asking a single question. “What business is that of yours?”
The houseman didn’t so much as bristle. “Just wondering how long you’ll stick around here is all, my lord.”
“As I’ve no excuse to stay, most likely I’ll be heading to London soon.” He bit into the chewy bread. “Or not,” he added around the mouthful.
“Just as I thought,” Harry said, buttering his own hunk of loaf. He took a hearty bite. “Those Ashcrofts have made you feel right welcome.”
“They have,” Ford admitted. In a few short weeks, he’d begun to feel like Violet’s family belonged in his life. Even her parents, which surprised him.
His oldest brother had been fairly simple to manipulate, and he’d always imagined real parents would be a nuisance. But Violet’s were rather amusing.
He swallowed and nodded. “I find myself shouting at Lord Trentingham with the rest of them now. And earlier today, I helped Lady Trentingham make essential oil.”
Harry drew a pitcher of ale and grabbed two goblets off a shelf. “Sounds like a messy business.”
“Not particularly, although she has a disaster of a distillery.” Ford watched while the man poured. “Perhaps I ought to make her a new one,” he mused. After all, Lady Trentingham had been the soul of kindness and had even tolerated Ford’s pursuit of her daughter, never mind that Violet had ultimately rejected him. He owed the woman a world of thanks—and a new, sophisticated distillery would be just the thing.
“Sounds like a good enough excuse to stick around,” Harry observed.
Ford raked back his hair. “It has nothing to do with that. Lady Trentingham deserves it, as a token of my thanks for her hospitality.”
“Of course.” Harry’s brown eyes twinkled as he raised his cup. “Drink up, my lord.”
Ford did, his mind already occupied by how to best arrange the copper tubing.