"Well? How is it?"
Nick pulled his head back inside to face the elderly lady across from him. "As far as I can see at this distance, you have escaped the worst. The chimneys all stand. No windows on this side are damaged."
She bowed her head, then leaned against Nympha. "I was worried I would leave you a heap of rubble."
"Don't you worry about a thing, dearest." Nympha slipped an arm about her great-aunt, patting her gently on her shoulder. "A good cup of tea and you are bound to feel better. Foley will give us a report once we are inside."
Nick almost smiled. A good cup of tea, the British panacea.
The coach came to a halt before the front of the house. The three left the carriage and stood silently inspecting the edifice for obvious damage.
Foley opened the front door and hurried out to assist his employer inside with the gentlest manner imaginable.
Nympha stood, leaning against Nick as they surveyed the house.
"It seems to be all right. How do
you
feel?" She peered up at him, her streaked face all concern.
All at once, Nick felt every ache and pain in his stressed body. He shook his head. "I have had better days."
"You hurt. Come on, Foley will have tea ready, and I will bet he has something stronger for you." She tugged his hand. Nick willingly followed her.
What a disaster this day had been. Not only was the church in shambles, the populace dazed, his plans for Nympha were in abeyance. Until matters were straightened out here, he would have to wait to propose. At least he thought that the best thing to do. He wondered who would tend to Sir Jared's affairs. All that money would do him little good now.
On that thought, he ushered Nympha into the house, meeting Foley at the entrance to the drawing room.
Nick guided Nympha to a chair. He went back to the entry where he found Foley issuing instructions to James and another footman.
When they had departed, Nick gazed about him and didn't see any damage. "How is it here? Mansfield is a shambles. The church isn't usable, and chimneys are thrown down all over town."
"Actually we did not feel it as strongly, from what you describe. There was a strange shaking, a faint rumble. I observed the chandelier swaying gently. Other than that, I could detect little."
Satisfied that the house had likely come off with small damage, if any, Nick returned in time to accept the cup of tea Nympha poured for him. Although he would have appreciated something stronger, oddly enough the tea proved just what he needed.
"Foley says everything is satisfactory," Mrs. Coxmoor said in a subdued voice.
"So he told me. I imagine it is possible that the earthquake is stronger at one place than another."
Nympha swallowed her tea in a gulp. "Do you think it will happen again?"
"I don't know," Nick admitted.
"I shan’t sleep a wink tonight." She gave him an anguished grimace.
"I intend to," Mrs. Coxmoor stated. "I noticed there were a number of older people who were badly shocked. I hope none come to a dire end—like Sir Jared."
Talbot, her devoted abigail, came into the room. She walked up to her employer, frowning in concern. "May I suggest you take a nap now, dear ma'am? This has been a dreadful shock for you."
"Perhaps I shall." Without a word of caution to the two others in the room, she departed at once.
"Dear me, she
must
not be feeling herself," Nympha said. "Else we would have had a lecture on proper behavior."
"I appreciate your effort at normalcy, dear girl. You are sure you have no injuries—other than the bruises I spotted when I carried you to the coach?"
"Oh, I daresay I have a few more. That bully who knocked me down was not a lightweight." She held out her arms to show where her gown had been torn.
Nick shook his head in disbelief. "This isn't really the time or the place, my dearest. But today I realized just how precious you are to me. I want nothing more in this life than to make you mine, so I might guard and protect you the rest of your life."
"You wish to marry me?" Her lips parted with a smile, her eyes held stars shining from their blue depths.
He was thunderstruck that she might think anything else. "Of course." He rose to kneel by her chair, hoping she might accept him, not turn away. "Will you?"
"I had hoped, but did not expect to have a proposal when looking like this!"
He glanced down at his clothes and chuckled. "I never in my life imagined I would propose marriage to the light of my life in such a state, either."
She smiled at that. "We are a pair," she pointed out, gesturing to her own dishevelment.
"True, we are in far more ways than our present clothes. You are my other half, the one for whom I have searched. To think you were under my nose, so to speak, all these years and I didn't know it."
"Well, as to that, I must confess I'd no eyes for you, either." Her admission was wary; her eyes watching him were equally so.
"That is in the past, is it not?" He hoped the sigh she gave was one of relief that he understood.
"Indeed, it is far in the past. I cannot imagine what I saw in your brother, if truth be told. He never paid me the slightest attention, other than to be polite."
Nick smiled. "He always was a well-mannered chap."
"So are you. In fact, I think you quite the hero. You saved me. And you rescued my great-aunt as well. I will never be able to thank you enough."
"I think I can find a means. Although I don't intend marriage as a way of saying thank you, it would give me an opportunity to show you just how I accept your appreciation."
She blushed, a delicate blossom pink that spread from her face down as far as he could see.
"Does this mean you will accept my hand, my offer, and my love?"
"What about your family? I am a nobody." Her eyes gleamed with longing.
"You marry me, not my family."
"Oh, I do love you. I will—"
Talbot rushed into the room, wringing her hands in distress, unaware that she was interrupting a proposal of marriage. "Miss Nympha, your great-aunt has collapsed. I cannot seem to rouse her. Please come at once. I think it is her nerves, miss. She always seems so collected. She hides her nerves."
With a backward look at Nick, Nympha hurried off with the abigail.
Nick decided his first order of business was to change from the ruined garments. He would probably find himself charging off to Nottingham in search of Dr. Graham.
As it happened he was precisely correct.
Nympha stood by her great-aunt's bed, holding a limp hand in hers, and praying the dear lady wouldn't expire of shock. As intrepid as she seemed, she wasn't young anymore, and even Nympha had been badly shaken. "Will Lord Nicholas go to Nottingham to fetch Dr. Graham for us?"
The abigail left the room at once, to come back a few minutes later. "He was on his way to the stables. I believe he anticipated your request."
"How like him," Nympha murmured. If she married him she would have a gentleman who truly cared about people. He had been so concerned for her and her great-aunt at the church.
But could she do that? Marry him? He declared he loved her, but she wondered how she would fit in with his life. Should he stand for the Commons, he would move into London for part of the year. He'd want an accomplished hostess, not a girl from a village with no background in politics or entertaining. As far as she could see she was the worst possible wife for him.
Her aunt moved slightly. Nympha devoted her entire attention to her. There would be time enough later to think about marriage.
Around two hours later, with Nympha hovering over her aunt the entire time, Dr. Graham arrived.
He dismissed Nympha from the room at once.
In the hallway, she found Lord Nicholas waiting.
"I have tea for you in the drawing room. There is nothing you can do for your great-aunt at the moment. Talbot will assist Dr. Graham."
She didn't resist when he guided her down the stairs and into the drawing room. A tray set with china, a plate of biscuits, and a large pot of tea awaited them.
"I do not see why I must be banished. There must be something I could do. Oh, Nick, she looks so white, so helpless. I don't wish to lose her when I have only begun to know her!"
His arms were a haven she could not deny if she tried. She nestled against him a few moments, not thinking of any improprieties.
Her earlier thoughts returned, and she drew away.
"What is it?"
He was far too intuitive where she was concerned. "I was mulling over the possibility of our marriage. I cannot see that it would or could work."
He placed a hand over her mouth. "Do not say it. Never say 'no' to me, dear girl. I'll not give up so easily. What do you imagine the problem to be now?"
"We are from such different backgrounds. You should stand for Parliament; you would be so good there. Yet if you do, I know I am not a proper hostess for the dinners, the affairs you will want to give. I've not the proper training. Managing on a tight budget is what I know best. I've no need for that now. I am all at sea. I scarce know what I shall do."
"Would you allow me to help you? We can both learn at management. We could live here part of the time, at my home down south part of the time. As to my standing for Parliament, I'll not do it if it deprives me of you! You come first before all else."
"Oh, Nick," she whispered. "If only I could accept that."
"Ahem."
Nick and Nympha turned to find Dr. Graham standing just inside the door. His gaze was compassionate.
Nympha hurried to his side. "How is she?"
"Badly shocked. This shake-up at the church was hard for her to take. I have given her something to calm her. Only time will tell if she recovers. There is little else I can do. I'm sorry."
Nympha buried her face in her hands, sobbing quietly into them. She had tried to be brave, as she knew that dear lady would want her to be, but it was very difficult when everything seemed to bleak.
Nick wrapped her in his arms. He spoke to the doctor in quiet tones, trying to learn all he could. It did not look good.
The doctor promised to look in tomorrow, then left.
"Why don't you change your dress, then come back here? I'll have fresh tea waiting, and you will feel better, I swear."
Since she didn't seem able to reply, Nick picked her up, carrying her to her room. Annie was there, shocked at the state of her mistress when she was set on her feet.
"Help her to change. I'll carry her back down if needs be."
Nympha gave him a watery chuckle. She submitted to Annie's tender care at once.
Nick did as promised. Foley refreshed the tea. The cook added a bit of cake as well as sandwiches, knowing that no one would feel like a Sunday dinner today.
"I guess I am not as strong as I always thought," Nympha confessed when she rejoined him. Annie had put her into the blush sarcenet gown and fixed her tangled curls. With a clean face and hands, her gown presentable, she looked good enough to eat.
"You will do well enough. Think of Letitia Coxmoor's age and all she has seen in her lifetime. She will recover;
I feel it. A thing like this won't put her down."
"I hope that is true."
Neither of them went to bed that night. They sat in the drawing room, checking on Nympha's great-aunt from time to time, otherwise simply talking. Nympha dosed for a bit. Nick watched over her with tender regard. His poor little darling had endured an impossible day. Yet she hadn't succumbed to a fit of the vapors as so many women might. She thought she wasn't strong? She was a tower. He just knew her fervent prayers would be granted.
Along about dawn her great-aunt stirred, becoming restless. Talbot fetched Nympha at once.
"Great-Aunt Letitia, I am here. Please say you know me." Nympha was out of breath from her dash up the stairs.
Eyes nearly as blue as her young relative's opened. "Why all this fuss? It must be the middle of the night. Let a body get some sleep." She sounded cross, but to Nympha it was as though she sang praise to the heavens.
"We will. Sleep well." Nympha dropped a kiss on her forehead, then joined Nick in the hall. "I do believe she will be all right. What an amazing woman."
"Come to think of it, you are as well. I am convinced that you could handle anything that comes your way. Consider today. Any other woman would have fainted or had hysterics like Lady Anne. Not you."
"I think I was too frightened to faint."
He touched her chin, raising her face so he could look her in the eyes. "Say yes, Nympha. Say you will marry me."
"That sounds suspiciously like an order," she countered with a bit of her usual spirit back.
"Perhaps it is. I want you for my wife."
"You ought to ask my father."
"I did better than that—I asked Mrs. Coxmoor, and she heartily agreed that we would make a fine couple."
"I do not know." She gazed deeply into his eyes and was apparently pleased with what she saw there. "Yes, I do. I love you dearly, and I will marry you, whenever and wherever you please. Once my great-aunt is restored, that is."
"I can wait. I'd wait however long it takes. But dearest, I do hope it isn't long."
Epilogue
A little over three months later on a lovely June day, Lord Nicholas Stanhope and Miss Nympha Herbert, heiress to the great Coxmoor fortune, were married at the Pailthorpe chapel, since the Mansfield church was not quite restored. She was given in marriage by her father, who then proceeded to perform the ceremony. Her mother, along with two of her sisters and her brother, Adam, sat in the front pews. Mrs. Coxmoor also sat in the front pew, a contented twinkle in her eyes, quite as if she had concocted the entire affair.
Priscilla Herbert attended her sister, and the Earl of Stanhope attended his brother at the altar. The Countess of Stanhope remained at their home with their infant son.
It must be confessed that the couple, now Lord Nicholas and Lady Nicholas Stanhope, had eyes for no one but each other.