PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY HOME FREE ON OCTOBER 19, 2018.
By the end of the excerpt below, Richard is feeling as upbeat and free as today’s song choice — and it is all thanks to the lady standing with him. This is a proposal scene, and as you can see from the header below, it happens in chapter 5. That seems a bit soon, now doesn’t it? Let’s just say that by the scene right after this (as in the second half of this chapter) that happy, upbeat, free feeling is about to get burst in a most distressing fashion. But for now, let’s just focus on the happy, ok?
His Inconvenient Choice, Chapter 5
Sometime later that day, after the sun was gone and the darkness of night had fallen, Richard stood before the Gardiners’ home, waiting to be allowed entry. He did not wait long, for the door was opened nearly before the sound of his knock had faded. Giving his name along with his hat and coat to the servant, he again waited, this time in the hall, to be introduced. He took note of his surroundings with an eager eye. This was the home of a well-to-do merchant, and as such, it was the sort of living arrangements he might hope to one day have for himself.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam, a pleasure to see you, sir. A pleasure.” Mr. Gardiner greeted him with a firm handshake and motioned for him to have a seat. “Dinner will be served shortly. Might I offer you a drink while you wait? A bit of wine perhaps?”
“My husband prides himself on his wine selections, Colonel,” said Mrs. Gardiner with a laugh. “It would do you well to enjoy it.”
“Then I shall,” said Richard, taking a seat near Kitty, who smiled and gave a brief greeting.
“My wife and niece tell me that you are thinking of stepping down from the first circles of society to join my realm.” Mr. Gardiner handed Richard a glass of wine. “I shall refill it for your supper. No need to sip like a lady, so to speak,” he said with a wink.
Richard took the glass and after a hearty sip began his explanation of his change in position. “My father is very set in the traditional ways of the aristocracy. I am not, and the difference in our opinions seems destined to lead to a parting of ways.”
Mr. Gardiner nodded. “If not a parting, at least, a lowering of your status through the removal of inheritance or strictures being placed upon that inheritance.”
“Precisely.”
“Bennet faced the same from his father.”
“Papa?” asked Kitty in surprise.
“Aye, your father’s father did not approve of your mother since her father was from trade, and any true gentleman does not have ties to trade,” explained her uncle. “But your father would not hear of breaking off his relationship with your mother, and so, the entail on Longbourn was created.”
“I did not know that,” said Kitty. “I thought it had just always been entailed.”
Her uncle shook his head. “Your grandfather gave him a choice, and your father chose your mother over an unfettered inheritance.” He turned back to Richard. “Your father wishes you to marry well?”
Richard nodded. “That is what he says, although again, our opinions on what that means differ. And so, he has selected a bride for me.” He heard Kitty’s soft intake of air, but he dared not look at her. “I have until the end of next week to accept or refuse his choice.”
“And you are considering refusing?” Mr. Gardiner asked the question of Richard, but his eyes were on his niece.
“I am not considering refusing him, sir. I am determined to refuse him.”
Mr. Gardiner’s eyes shifted back to Richard, and a smile replaced his look of concern. “Am I to assume there is a reason of the feminine variety for this determination?”
“There is.”
“Well, then,” said Mr. Gardiner as he rose to lead them into dinner and the others followed suit, “we shall have to discuss your plans for your business. I am well-established and would do whatever is needed to assist you if it means the happiness of my niece.”
“I beg your pardon, sir?” The comment had taken Richard somewhat by surprise.
“Bennet has told me not to refuse you,” said Mr. Gardiner. “I am correct to assume that my niece is your choice, am I not?”
Richard felt his cheeks grow warm. This was not how he had anticipated the evening progressing. He had expected to discuss his business with Mr. Gardiner over their meal, and then he would discuss Kitty after the meal when they were alone in Mr. Gardiner’s study. With all eyes turned toward him, he nodded. “You are correct. I should very much like to marry Miss Katherine if she will have me.” As he spoke, he felt a small hand slip into his.
Mr. Gardiner smiled at him, nodding to where Kitty stood next to Richard with her hand in his. “I believe you have your answer.” He turned to his wife. “We could hold the meal for a few minutes, could we not?”
“At least five,” she replied as she followed him out of the room and closed the door.
Richard looked at the door for a moment as he gathered his thoughts before he turned to Kitty. “I am not romantic ─.”
“I know.” Kitty lifted his hand and brushed her lips against his knuckles. “A simple question is all that is required.”
“But, what about the pretty words that all women wish to hear?”
She shook her head. “I see your love for me in your eyes and the things you do. You have chosen me ahead of family and fortune. There is no need to put it into words.”
“I would choose you before I would choose myself.” He placed a hand, which had been made rough from working with his men in the militia and the wood he loved, on her cheek. “I do not have the means just yet to support a family,” he began.
“But you will.” She squeezed his hand tightly.
He smiled and nodded. He would gladly face whatever trials might come as he established himself as a tradesman just to have her continue to look at him as she did now with such confidence in his abilities. “Yes, I will, and when I do, I would very much like to create that family with you. Will you marry me when I am established?”
A smile lit her face and eyes as she nodded. “I would like nothing better.”
“It will not be a life of ease,” he cautioned. For a moment, despite his desire to have her as his wife, he doubted whether he was doing the right thing in asking her to share such a life. His thumb caressed her cheek. “You deserve so much more.”
“I love you,” she said, pressing her cheek more firmly against his hand. “I will be happy nowhere else save at your side.”
He knew that he felt the same. It was why he was prepared to defy his father. No matter the money and property he may be losing by choosing her, he knew his life would never be so pleasant with those things as it would be with her at his side. Still, he could not resist asking, “You are certain?”
“Yes.”
“Then, may I ─ ”
“Yes. You must kiss me.”
And he did ─ soft as a butterfly landing on a delicate flower in a garden. But even though it was a brief, gentle kiss, the emotion that passed to her through it ─ to be thought of as so precious, so treasured ─ melted her to her very core. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close so that her head lay on his heart. And so they stood until a soft knock at the door drew them apart and sent them on to dinner.
His Inconvenient Choice is currently enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited Program, but its time in Kindle Unlimited is very limited. It will leave the program on February 15, 2020. So, if you have a KU subscription, make sure you download it or the Choices Series Compilation Bundle before next Saturday.
Oh, heavy sigh. I love a good romantic moment. I have such a TBR pile and yet I want to go back and reread this series. I love our dear Colonel. Any story about him is just fine with me.
This book had a few very sweet moments. 🙂 The colonel and Kitty are so in love with each other and people just keep getting in their way.