ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13) (14 page)

              “Well we could’ve gone by ourselves. We’re old enough now. We don’t need to be chaperoned everywhere we go.”

              “Julia,” it was her mother’s turn to speak, “you will understand this one day when you have a child of your own. Places like this are not good for young women on their own. It’s good that we went together. Listen to your father and just be grateful that we went. Next time we won’t go at all if you carry on like this. I’m starting to regret taking you in the first place.”

Eloise kept quiet throughout the whole exchange. She understood where her parents were coming from and didn’t want to be ungrateful but at the same time she still wished that they had been given more time to enjoy themselves at the fair. She decided to simply not say a word on the matter and supper finally continued as normal.

Later that night when Eloise was getting ready to go to bed she heard footsteps outside her door. Julia walked in and put a finger to her mouth. There was no reason for Julia to be quiet though because their house was so big that they could easily talk in their normal voices without their parents hearing them. Their room was on the other side of the house and quite secluded from the rest.

              “Julia, what’s going on?” she asked her sister watching as Julia closed the door behind her. She approached her with a huge smile on her face and within an instant Eloise knew that she was up to no good.

              “Mother and father have gone to bed. Come on Eloise; let’s go back to the fair. It runs all night!”

              “Are you crazy? We can’t go by ourselves!”

              “Why not? It’s not even that far from here. We can easily walk there. And nobody needs to know. We’ll be back before the morning and we can simply pretend that all is normal. Oh come on Eloise, it will be fun.”

              “But… oh Julia, I’m not sure. I mean, it
was
fun, but if we get caught we will never get the chance to go again.”

              “Oh stop being so scared of everything. It’s time to enjoy yourself a bit. There is no ways they will catch us. We’ll be quiet going out and we’ll be back way before they get up again. You know mother is not going to take us back again so this is our only chance.”

Eloise considered that, “And we’ll stay for two hours maximum?”

              “Sure, that’s fine Eloise. Now, are you coming or not?”

Eloise sighed. She tried to act upset but she couldn’t hide how excited she was. “I’m in.”

She was still in her dress from before and thankfully had not yet changed into her sleeping clothes. It was night time so she left her parasol behind, and bought a light shawl to wrap around her in case it got cold. Then, the two of them tip toed out of the house, as quiet as possible and skipped down the road. Only when they turned the corner did they dare speak but the only thing that came out of their mouths was giggles.

              “You see, this
is
fun!” Julia told her and took her hand. And Eloise could only laugh back – it really was fun.

It didn’t take them long to get to the fair and they were surprised to see that it was just as busy as it had been in the morning. They made their way through the tents, trying to cram in as much as possible. Soon Eloise forgot about her parents back at home. She was fascinated by one act in a particular – a fire juggler who seemed to have no problems with throwing fire into the air and catching it with his bare hands. She had no idea how it was possible and sat entranced by his act. Julia had rushed off to see something else and the two of them promised to meet at the gate in an hour. An hour passed easily and Eloise was sad when it was time to go back. Soon, though, her nerves at being caught came back and she wanted to make sure she was back in her bed before morning. She also wanted a decent amount of sleep before having to wake up. Thankfully Julia arrived shortly after her and the two of them made their way back home.

              Only five minutes into leaving, however, they were stopped by two men who had cornered them in an alleyway.

              “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two delicious looking ladies without a chaperone. My oh my, it is our lucky day.” It was so dark and they could barely see the men in front of them, but when the one leered forward Eloise could see that he was licking his lips. She wasn’t sure if he was going to steal from them or do something even worse and she found herself trembling. This was why she didn’t like to do anything so risqué and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to be in the safe solitude of her bed.

              “Please, we have nothing to give you. Please just let us go home.” Eloise said. Julia was besides her, gripping her hand.

              “Well, I’m just simply not sure that we can do that.” Came the gruff voice.

Eloise felt tears pushing their way out and she wasn’t sure if she should cry, scream or simply try run away. But thankfully she didn’t have to think for too long because out of nowhere she saw a man walk up to them. He was holding a long baton and was staring at the two men with fierce determination in his eyes.

              “Is there some trouble here?” he asked, never once letting his eyes leave the men. Eloise watched as the men regarded him. There was something about his demeanor that made them immediately back down.

              “Oh, no trouble at all, Sir. Come, let’s get going.” The one man said to the other and the two of them quickly scampered off. The moment they were gone both Eloise and Julia ran forward to embrace the mystery man, both of them whispering thanks while tears now streamed down their faces. Eloise could now get a good look at the man. He was certainly from down town and looked to be a part of the fair as he was wearing a uniform similar to some she had come across that night. He looked to be a few years older than her, with dark hair and even darker eyes and stubble across his face. He was certainly good looking in a very rugged way and not the type of man that she was used to.

              “Are you okay?” he asked them and they both nodded.

              “Well my name is Hudson Talbot. It is a pleasure to meet you. Those ruffians have done things like this before. I wouldn’t worry about them again. Now that they have been caught they won’t trouble you again. They know me well and they know that if I catch them again I will report them. Did you at least enjoy the fair?”

              “We did. I’m Julia and this is my sister Eloise.” Julia came forward to introduce them and Eloise stood back thankful that the darkness was hiding the redness of her face. There was just something about this man. Also, he was staring at her in fascination.

              “Well, I do hope to see you again. The fair will still be here for quite some time.” He tipped his hat and walked off.

Eloise and Julia quickly ran off, desperate to get home. Julia was giggling.

              “What’s so funny?” Eloise asked her.

              “Oh there’s nothing funny, but that man was obviously infatuated with you.”

Eloise felt herself blushing again, “What? Don’t be silly. He was just being a gentleman.”

              “Oh he was that indeed. But I know men a lot better than you do Eloise. And that one definitely had eyes only for you. Go on, admit it. He was good looking wasn’t he?”

Finally, Eloise found herself giggling back, “He was VERY good looking.”

That night, in bed, Eloise found herself unable to fall asleep. The adrenaline was still pumping through her veins. And as she closed her eyes all she could see was the face of Hudson Talbot and the way that he had looked at her.

Chapter Three

              “Mother, Mrs. Sedgeway asked me to fetch some medicine for her from the market. I thought I’d take a stroll there this morning and go drop it off. Would you like me to fetch anything for you at the same time?”

              “Oh don’t be silly Eloise. We can get one of the servants to go, or I can get a carriage to come and collect you.”

              “Actually, I’d love to take the walk. It’s such a lovely day outside and I feel like getting a bit of fresh air. I haven’t been feeling myself these days and I think it will do me good.”

              “Well that’s fine then. But make sure you take your parasol. The sun might not be shining brightly but it doesn’t mean you won’t get burnt.”

Eloise thanked her mother and went out to fetch her parasol. As she did so she caught Julia watching her curiously, but quickly looked away. Julia knew her well enough and she didn’t want anyone to know her plan. Eloise had stayed up most of the night thinking about Hudson and decided in the early hours of the morning that she wanted to see him again. Just once. Just to satisfy her curiosity. She wasn’t sure why he had made such an impact on her. She was going to simply sneak off again at night but then she came up with a new plan, one that meant she could see him even sooner. Mrs. Sedgeway was an old lady on the other side of town who often needed help and Eloise had offered on more than one occasion. There was no reason for her mother to suspect a thing and she knew that her mother rarely saw Mrs. Sedgeway these days anyway. Before anyone could change their mind she quickly headed out the door and walked straight to the fair. She walked inside and then realized how badly she had planned this. She had no idea where Hudson worked nor was she sure if he even wanted to see her. She thought of asking someone where he was but she didn’t want to seem too eager, so she decided to walk around and if she didn’t see him she’d simply go home and take it as a sign that it was not meant to be. But barely five minutes into her walk she was stopped with a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and found herself staring face to face with Hudson Talbot.

Hudson looked different during the day. He was even more attractive than she remembered and even more rugged.

              “Eloise?” he asked, and she was surprised and flattered that he remembered her name.

              “Hudson, it’s good to see you again. Thank you again for last night. You saved us.” She tried to keep her voice steady but she was aware of the slight tremor that was coming through.

              “It’s no problem. I hate those guys. It’s good to see you again. Where’s your sister?” Her heart sank the moment he said those words. Perhaps it was Julia that he liked after all.

              “Oh it’s just me today.” She said, wishing the ground with swallow her up.

              “Oh. That’s good.” He said and then looked suitably embarrassed. “I mean… well it’s good to see you. So, can I show you around?”

She said yes and the two of them walked together for the next hour, while he explained what the entire show was about with great enthusiasm. She hadn’t come across someone that was so passionate about life for a very long time and it did something funny to her stomach and her heart. Then the two of them found a place to sit away from the crowd and spent some time getting to know each other. Hudson was easy to talk to and looked at her in a different way to what she was used to.

              “I didn’t think I’d see you again.” He said to her, looking at the crowd instead of at her.

              “I’m glad I came.” She said. Then he spun around and looked at her and she gasped. She had never felt this way about someone so quickly. She didn’t quite understand what was happening to her. When he looked at her in that way she suddenly felt as if she didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. When he looked away again she was snapped back to reality.

              “Oh Hudson. I better go. My mother is going to kill me. She thinks I’m out somewhere else.”

              “She doesn’t know you’re here?”

              “No. To be honest, we’re not allowed to come here or do anything else really without a chaperone. It’s a miracle she allowed me to go out today by myself.”

              “What about last night? She wasn’t here was she?”

              “Oh. No. Well we actually snuck out the house. It was Julia’s idea. It’s not something that I would ever do. Although, here I am doing it again.”

              “Does Julia know you’re here?”

              “No.”  Eloise looked down. She felt her face become flushed and she was suddenly unsure of what to do with her hands. Then, she looked at him again, “I wanted to see you again.”

              “You came back to see me?” he asked, incredulous.

              “Admittedly, yes.”

              “Eloise you’ve made me the happiest man in the world by coming here. Will you come again? Please?”

              “I will. But I’ll have to sneak out at night. Tonight.”

              “Tonight. Best word I’ve heard all day.”

With that Eloise hurried home. When she got home she was worried that her mother would ask her too many questions that she didn’t have answers to or wonder why she had been gone for so long. Instead her mother barely looked up from her book.

              “Have a nice time?” she mumbled when Eloise walked in.

              “Yes, the walk did me wonders.”

              “Well that’s good news. Because I actually have plans for you and your sister tonight. There’s a ball happening at the Raleigh’s tonight. I completely forgot about it but I promised that the two of you would be there. Don’t worry, I set out a dress for you so you can get ready quickly later. A carriage is coming to fetch you early this evening. There’s a man there that I’d like you to meet.”
              “Mother. I don’t need to you introduce me to any man.” She groaned.