Innocent Cinderella: His Untamed Innocent / Penniless and Purchased / Her Last Night of Innocence

‘Nor have I, darling,’ Jake said softly. ‘Nor have I.’

She decided it would be wise to change the subject. ‘Did—did you speak to your mother?’

‘Yes,’ he said after a pause. ‘We had a fairly frank discussion.’

‘Is she very angry?’

‘She’s certainly disappointed,’ he returned. ‘But she appears to have accepted the situation.’

‘Lucky you,’ Marin said bitterly. ‘I suspect my mother will react rather differently to the news.’

‘Just as well we’re not having the banns called,’he said pleasantly. ‘ She might have forbidden them.’

‘This is not some kind of joke,’ she flared.

‘No,’ he said tersely. ‘It’s not. And I’ve never felt less like laughing in my life. But we have to get through this, Marin, so weeping, wailing and teeth-gnashing will do no good, either.’ He paused. ‘Agreed?’

She looked down at her hands, gripped together in her lap, and nodded silently.

She was never to forget her first glimpse of Harborne Manor.

She’d half-expected something formal and Georgian, on the lines of Queens Barton, not this graceful mass of grey stone topped by tall, eccentric chimneys, its age enhanced by its mullioned windows and wide-arched entrance, which seemed to lift itself from the surrounding grassland as they approached.

She leaned forward. ‘My God.’ Her voice was stunned. ‘It’s beautiful. I never dreamed…’ She swallowed. ‘Is it open to the public?’

‘No, it’s not,’ Jake returned. ‘It is and always will be a private house. Although, we allow visitors in to our Garden Day in June to raise money for the Red Cross.’

‘Garden Day?’ Marin repeated in a hollow tone, and saw his mouth relax into something like genuine amusement.

‘Don’t worry,’he said. ‘It was held three weeks ago. Anyway, you’re not short of organisational skills in your career.’

But not quite to this extent, Marin thought, swallowing.

As he brought the car to a halt on the gravelled sweep in front of the main entrance, a woman emerged and stood on the steps, waiting for them.

She was large, with a round, rosy face, her grey silver-streaked hair drawn back from her face into a loose knot.

‘Well, here she is, Sadie,’ Jake called as they approached the steps. ‘She didn’t escape while she had the chance.’