Mr. Christopher Jupp visited the shop on the third day of waiting. They spoke quickly and quietly, and she told him the truth. She was in love with someone else and could not go against her heart. She was not meant for society, and so she would stay here and make jewelry in secret. And when their conversation was over, she passed him a list of women she thought would please him better. She had met a few who were not spiteful. Ones who might understand his artistic soul.
And she waited through another day and night.
By the fourth day, the women in the Lyon’s Den were giving her pitying looks. As many stories as there were of women who became mistresses, there were five times that number of girls being tricked by a man’s promise. Of women who languished in wait because the man they trusted had lied.
But that wouldn’t happen to her. She knew Elliott. He was simply busy. He was arranging things. He would not abandon her because he loved her. Hadn’t he said so on the night she had given him her virginity?
He loved her.
Or perhaps he had gotten what he wanted and now had disappeared when it came time to pay for what she wanted. A home of her own was expensive. Perhaps with distance, he had realized she wasn’t that special after all. Perhaps his mother had found the perfect wife for him, and he was busy courting that paragon.
Such fears ran through her mind. She dismissed them as best she could. Elliott would come for her. She only had to wait a little longer.
On the fifth day, Mrs. Dove-Lyon invited her to tea. Amber went and listened for an entire hour to stories of women who had been fooled by clever men. Amber was not alone, declared the den owner. Many a girl—Mrs. Dove-Lyon included—had come out stronger and smarter after being swindled. The woman meant well, but her words did not help Amber. Elliott would come for her. She declared it loudly and believed it with all her heart. It was only her mind that disagreed.
It didn’t help that the weather continued to be abominable. Drizzle at the beginning of the week, storms in the middle, and now more rain, such as must have been seen by Noah in his ark. Anyone who ventured outside became drenched in what felt like the displeasure of an angry god. Everyone’s mood was terrible because no one liked hunkering down in their homes. Those that ventured out were soaked to the skin and terrified of illness.
And still, Amber waited while her father paced and glowered at the sky. No customers came in such weather and no Elliott either. Until the night when the sky was pitch black, the roads were more water than mud, and someone banged hard on the den door.
Amber was bringing her grandfather tea in the cage. If she had been locked inside, she would not have heard the prodigious male sneeze that accompanied the gust of bitter wind that blew in from the open door. But she was heading back upstairs, and so she did hear it, and she heard a voice, too. A male voice, dominant and filled with irritation. “Where is Amber Gohar? Or Thisbe Gold?”
Elliott!
He was here! On a night fit for only the devil, Elliott had finally come.
“Wherever she is,” grumbled Lysander from the door. “She ain’t willing to see you.”
“Yes, I am!” she cried as she started to rush forward. But she was holding her grandfather’s tea and sloshed it as she moved. Cursing, she handed the tray to the nearest person—many had looked up at the noise, and she rushed forward. Fortunately, she didn’t have to go far. Elliott was mounting the steps three at a time, and they came face to face at the top.
“Amber,” he breathed as he brushed water out of his eyes.
“Elliott!” she said as she stepped back a bit from the wet splash of his clothes. “You’re soaked through.”
“I am. It’s beastly out there, but I was tired of waiting. Though I fear my horse will never forgive me.”
What was she to say to that? He was standing there looking large and half-drowned while talking about his horse. She wanted to touch him. She wanted to wrap him in dry things before he fell ill. But it had been six long days without word from him. What was she supposed to think?
“I meant to send a message, but everything went crazy. Gwen is in trouble.”
“Oh no!”
“It’s all right for now, but I couldn’t get away to see you. Not when she was in such a state.”
“And your resolution passed.”
He frowned as if he were just remembering it. “Oh, yes. It did.” He rubbed the water off his face with a self-conscious laugh. “That was so important to me, but I barely remember it now.”
Really? She had no idea what to say about that. “But your sister is well now?”
“Yes. She brought it on herself. That’s Gwen through and through. And the whole time, I wanted to talk with you about it. I wanted to know what you thought and if you knew what could be done to help. If…any of a thousand things.”
“I was right here.” She couldn’t keep the note of accusation out of her voice. She’d been waiting for him.
“I know. I know. But…” He took her hands in his icy ones. “I needed to think. I needed to…” He shrugged. “I went to another of those horrible Almack’s evenings.”
So he had been looking for a wife. She had guessed as much. Indeed, she knew she would always come in second to the woman he eventually married. But it hurt to know she had been waiting on him, that she had defended him to all those people who said he had betrayed her, and all the while, he had been looking for his wife.
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she tried to move away. She didn’t want him to see her cry. Not when she chose this. Not when she’d known all along and yet, still the ache in her chest was too much. The pain of holding back her tears burned like fire in her throat.
“I couldn’t do it, Amber. I hated looking at them. They are nothing like you, and I couldn’t stand the idea of marrying a single one.”
It took a moment for his words to penetrate her fight to hold in her tears. But when she finally repeated his words in her head, she blinked and frowned at him. “But you will have to marry one of them eventually.” The words came out in an anguished whisper, but he heard her nonetheless.
“That’s what my mother said, but it’s not true. It’s not.” He tugged her closer to him, and she took a stumbling step forward. “If I want to lead the government as Prime Minister, then yes, I would have to marry one of them.”
“But you do want that.”
He shook his head. “I did want that. But Amber, I want you more.”
Her breath choked off. He wanted her. He loved her. The tears spilled from her eyes, and she pushed forward despite his wet state. He stopped her, holding her back until she looked at him in surprise. “Elliott?”
“You don’t understand. I don’t want those other ladies as a wife. I want you.”
“Yes, you said that.”
“I hate the idea of not being able to see you whenever I want, of not having you by my side for everything. For when my mother has one of her problems, for when Gwen gets into trouble. And that doesn’t even begin to address Diana or Lilah.”
“I will do whatever I can. You know that.”
“Yes, I do. Which is why I had to leave in this beastly weather.”
“What?”
“I had to ride all the way to Kent to the family estate. It’s a mess, I tell you. I’m doing everything I can there, and you’ll hate it if you ever go there.”