root here?

And if so, what role would he end up playing?

He looked to his wife, to the woman who had given him the freedom to say what he believed...

She was gone.

The phaeton was still there with young Boyd holding Oscar's harness. But his wife was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Eighteen.

Rosalyn was beside herself. If she didn't catch up with her patrons, Lord and Lady Loftus, Colin was

going to lose the Commons seat. She knew she could make them see right.It would have been impossible for her to drive the phaeton out of the crowd. She'd asked her husband'snephew Boyd to watch Oscar, and then she'd made her way up to the top of the hill by the Normankeep, where Covey, John, and Cook waited.

"John, you must take me to Downham Manor," Rosalyn said.

Covey asked, "Is that wise? Lord Loftus is not pleased."

"But I can calm him down," Rosalyn said. "He must see that Colin speaks what people are thinking. He

must understand that Colin didn't direct his comments at him."

"He certainly did," John said stoutly. "And about time. I say the colonel is a rum one. He should be in the Commons seat."

Rosalyn was taken aback by her usually reserved gardener being so forthcoming.

Covey stepped in. "Yes, John, you drive her. Cook and I will find a ride home with friends."

John had no choice then but to do Rosalyn's bidding. In the end, it was all for naught. The pony cart

could never catch up with a carriage, and at Downham Manor both Lord and Lady Loftus refused to see

her.

Rosalyn stood on the step, slightly stunned. She had expected her cachet with the two of them to carry some weight. She had wanted to protect Colin.

And she couldn't.She came down off the steps and walked to the cart. "I think we'd best go home, John."He grumbled something about the rude manners of the gentry. Rosalyn barely heard him. Instead, she was struggling with her own doubts.

Had Colin gone too far? Had she encouraged him?

However, for the first time in their acquaintance, John talked all the way back to Maiden Hill. He

discussed the parish and the people he felt needed more concern.

Rosalyn was surprised, to say the least. When the house was in sight, she gathered her wits enough to place her hand on his arm. "John, why are you telling me this?"

"Because you are the colonel's wife. You are the one who can see justice done."

See justice done.

The words didn't make sense to her. "But I founded the Borough Charity League."

"That's nothing, my lady. What good did they do except pay a pittance and sit around preening for each other? I and most of the lads at the pub, lads who had families with mouths to feed, thought that your Charity League was more for planning dances for Lady Loftus and her kind. That's all the gentry want- opportunities to la-di-da over each other. They pay you a pittance, expect your hard work, and look right through you as if you don't even exist. I thought you were one of them, but now I know you are different." He looked her in the eye. "I'm proud to be working for you, Mrs. Mandland."

"Why, thank you, John," Rosalyn said uncertainly. Had she been that selfish?

Well, of course she had. She knew firsthand how John felt because it had been the way her father's family had made her feel. And so she had brought her knowledge of social order to the Valley, which was not to say it hadn't already existed; she'd just managed to escalate the stakes a bit and had been very proud of herself-until now.

John brought the cart to a halt. "Here you are, Mrs. Mandland. I'll take the cart to the stable." "Thank you," she murmured and stepped out. John drove off, but Rosalyn stood in the drive looking at the house. By right of marriage, this was her house now. Maiden Hill. She wondered if her husband waited inside and what she would tell him. He must know that Lord Loftus would never give him the Commons seat.

She entered the house. Colin was not in the sitting room, although the desk still had papers and the inkwell and pens from last night. She walked to the back of the house. Cook was busy with dinner. Covey was sitting in a chair in the kitchen doing her needlework.

"Have you seen my husband?" Rosalyn asked.

"No," Covey answered. "I'm not certain he has returned yet. There was quite a celebration going on atthe White Lion. Apparently there were gentlemen there who wished Colin to go into politics.""What does that mean?" Rosalyn said, removing her straw hat."I don't know," Covey answered. "How were Lord and Lady Loftus?""They refused to see me," she confessed."It is not such a great loss, Rosalyn," Covey answered. "They are not your friends."No, but they were of her class. Where did one go when one threw off all that was expected and accepted?

The front door opened. "Excuse me," she murmured and went down the hall. She took only a few steps, however, before she stopped.

Colin was there, standing in the doorway, and she was reminded of the first moment they'd met.

Only, he was no longer a stranger... or the confident man who had come to take over her home. He

removed his hat. "Did I go too far, Rosalyn?""You won't have the Commons seat.""I don't want the damn thing."

She nodded, and then, taking courage in hand, said, "It means we will be here together." She glanced

around the hallway. "No separate lives, you in London, and I in Clitheroe."

"No." He was watching her closely now, and there was something in his expression that was different from the way he had looked at her even this morning.

Rosalyn feared to hope. He'd been so quiet this morning..."A great deal has changed," she admitted."Yes." He drew a breath and released it. "Rosalyn, I've made a muddle of everything. I don't believe we will be on anyone's guest list."She understood that by "anyone" he referred to the gentry."Even my brother is in danger of being ostracized," he continued."Val will like that."Her words sparked a reluctant smile. "Yes, she will. She's a bit of a republican.""I expect the sermons will be fiery from the pulpit from now on.""They may be," he said. "He was proud of me, Rosalyn. He told me so."There was a wealth of unspoken emotion in his last sentence. She, who had no family that cared, understood what he meant."The question is," he continued, "can you live with what I've done?"For a second, Rosalyn was stunned. Now she understood her husband's quiet mood. "You fear I disapprove?"

No one had truly ever cared what she thought about anything other than a dinner invitation or a dress hem. The significance of his question set her heart beating in her chest.

"You left," he said. "I looked and you were gone."

"I went after Lord Loftus." Rosalyn caught her breath, fearful that he might not mean what she thought. "I

wanted the Commons seat because I believed that was what you wanted. I thought I could help, but hewill have nothing to do with me."

A muscle hardened in Colin's jaw. "How dare he refuse my wife."Rosalyn hurried to his side. She placed her hand on his chest lest he turn and walk out the door to avengeher honor. His heart beat as rapidly as hers. He looked down at her. Their faces were mere inches apart."Colin, I don't care about him."

"You don't understand. He may never speak to you again."

"Then it will be his loss." She dared to move closer, feeling the familiar pattern of his body, which fit sowell with hers. "I was proud of you today. Yes, I'm fearful. The crowd, their reaction... Lord Loftus..."He covered her hand with his. "I'm no radical, but I can't stay silent any longer. I used to believe that I had to join their ranks. The truth be known, I'm worse at pretending to be a snob than I am at singing."

Dear God, she loved him so much. "I was the snob," she confessed. "I'd worked so hard to becomesomeone of importance, I'd forgotten what is important. You are important."

"Rosalyn, are you saying-?" he started cautiously."Yes, Colin, I love you to distraction." There, she'd said it. She'd taken all of her pride and placed it infront of him.

It was not misplaced.

Colin gave a glad whoop, swept her up in his arms, and twirled her right there in the front hall until she

was dizzy. "And I love you," he practically crowed. He spun her around again. "Ah, Rosalyn, you have made me the happiest of men."

When she could gather her wits, she dared to ask, "When did you know?"

"That I loved you? I don't recall. It seems to have been living inside me, a constant companion waiting

for me to notice." He kissed her hand joined with his. "Last night, when you stood in the doorway, I realized my one fear in speaking what I truly felt was of losing you. When I looked out in the crowd and you were gone..." He shook his head. "But I knew you hadn't left. Deep in my soul, I knew."

"I could never leave you," she said. "And I think I started to love you from the moment you butted your head into my life."

His eyes danced with mock offense. "I never butted into your life."

"You walked right into my house."

"Whose house?" he dared to ask, and she laughed.Colin swung her up in his arms and started up the stairs. "It will be time for dinner soon," she weaklyprotested.

"I'm not hungry," he answered. "At least not for food."She didn't argue. She couldn't. Her appetite was for something decidedly different too.Colin carried her into their room so no demons could follow... and none did.Oh, no, none at all.

Matt insisted that they remarry "decently," as he put it.

Colin and Rosalyn made no protest. They even went through the formalities of having the banns announced. Everyone in the congregation took great delight in teasing them. Everyone, that is, save for the Lovejoyces and Lord and Lady Loftus. They no longer patronized St. Mary Magdalene's Church.

Neither did Mrs. Sheffield and her husband, although Mr. and Mrs. Blair still came.

Mr. and Mrs. Shellsworth left in a month's time for London, so they didn't have the opportunity to wish Colin and Rosalyn happiness.

The wedding itself was held on a Tuesday afternoon with the wedding "breakfast" at the White Lion.

Colin spared no expense, and Rosalyn found herself married to a wealthy man. No more worrying about

candle stubs.She'd discovered over the past few weeks he'd been talking to John about improvements to MaidenHill. What she learned at the wedding was that she wasn't the only one who had noticed. Their farming neighbors had been wondering what "Young Mandland" was up to, and they had questions about new farming methods.

They drove home in the phaeton, which Matt's children had decorated with colorful bits of paper and