Earl of Billington and Miss Lyndon

Chapter 09

"Of course" said Mr. Tibbetts. "I just need your father to come here alone to melt his funds."

Ellie gasps. "I'm sorry?"

"At Tibbett & Hurley, we uphold thoroughness in our business practices. I can't disburse funds into the hands of anyone but your father."

"But we've been working together for years" Ellie protested. "My name is also written as a fundraiser."

"Yes, the maid's fundraiser, but your father is the main fundraiser."

Ellie gulped in tension. "My father was a loner. You know it. He never left the house. How could I bring him here?"

Mr. Tibbett shrugged his shoulders. "It is with pleasure that I will visit him."

"No, it's impossible" said Ellie, aware that her voice was shaking. "He becomes very restless when he is around strangers. Very restless. The heart, you know. I can't take any chances."

"Then I need his written instructions, of course with his signature."

Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. He can fake his father's signature with his eyes closed.

"This signature will be witnessed by the most trusted citizens." Mr's Eyes. Tibbett squinted suspiciously. "You're not qualified to be a witness."

"All right, I'll look for..."

"I know the judge at Bellfield. You can include his signature as a witness."

Ellie's heart sank. He also knew the judge, and knew that there was no way he could get his signature on the important piece of paper unless the judge actually watched his father write his instructions. "Alright, Mr. Tibbett," said Ellie, his voice suffocating in the throat. "I will. I will work on it."

Ellie rushed out of the office, pressing her face with a handkerchief to hide the tears of vexation. He feels cornered. There's no way he can get that money from Mr. Tibbetts. And Victoria has not returned in a few months from her European holiday. Ellie thought that she could ask for mercy from Victoria's in-law, the Marquess of Castleford, but she was also not sure that her presence would bring a commotion. The Marquess doesn't like Victoria very much, so Ellie can only imagine how she feels about Ellie.

And now he's stuck in Faversham, thirty kilos away from home, and he doesn't even want to go back. Except...

Ellie shook her head. He will not consider the Earl of Billington's offer.

Then her mind filled with the shadow of Sally Foxglove. Then his ugly face started talking about the chimney, and the old maid who should have been able to be more accepting of what it was. Then the Earl of Billington looks a lot better than it all is.

It's not that the man was ever ugly, I'm Ellie at heart, if anyone really wants to interpret the word 'see' in the real sense. Because the Earl of Billington is actually very handsome, and Ellie has a feeling that he is aware of his good looks. That, Ellie thought, was not a good thing, because it meant that she was a proud person. The kind of man who might count how many mistresses he has. Ellie could not imagine that she was having trouble attracting the attention of women, honorable or not.

"Well!" ellie exclaimed to herself, then looked around to check if anyone heard her. The cruel man proposed by his future stepmother would probably hit the woman with a stick. Really, Ellie doesn't want to deal with a husband who has "problems" like that.

But that doesn't mean Ellie's in love with the earl. Maybe later he can accept the reality of an unfaithful husband. Although it's something she's always opposed to, the choice of living with Sally Foxglove is far more dire to deal with.

Ellie thought as she tapped her feet. Wycombe Abbey is not too far from here. If he does not remember wrong, it is located around the eastern part of the Kent coastline, about three kilometers from where it stands now. Ellie can walk there. Not that he intended to take the man's proposal for granted, but maybe they could discuss about it. Perhaps they could reach an agreement where Ellie also did not feel disadvantaged.

Round decision. Ellie raised her chin and started walking towards the north. He tried to occupy his brain by guessing the number of steps he would do in the place in front of him. Fifty steps to the big tree. Seventy-two steps to an empty house. Forty steps to the

What was that? Rainwater? Ellie removed a drop of water from her nose and poked. The clouds began to roll, and if Ellie was not a logical woman, she swore that she had just seen the clouds gather on her head.

He let out a snarling-like sound and continued to walk forward, trying not to swear when a drop of rain hit his cheek. Then his shoulders, his hands, and---

Ellie clenched her hands towards the sky. "Someone was angry with me up there," he shouted, "and I wonder why!"

The answer he got was a splash of water that immediately made him drenched.

"Remind me to never again question Your actions again" Ellie grumbled insolently, showing absolutely no fear of God, something her father had always taught her. "Obviously you don't like to be asked."

Lightning struck across the sky, followed by the deafening sound of thunder. Ellie jumped almost a meter. What did her husband say a few years ago? the closer the distance between lightning and thunder, the closer the distance of lightning is to ourselves? Robert had always been talented in scientific matters; for the time being Ellie preferred to believe him.