“I’ve missed you, Mare.” Then, in a stage whisper, Lluvia added, “and I have many questions, but those can be reserved for later.”
Marena shook her head helplessly. Lluvia could always make her smile, even in the direst of circumstances. Then she noticed Delfine and Arlo standing a few feet away, staring at each other with open curiosity.
“Delfi,” she said, pulling out of Lluvia’s arms to embrace the other woman, also a sister by the ties of friendship and family. “Are you ready?” She didn’t have say for what. The man who had brought them together was patiently waiting his turn.
Delfine nodded, a shaky breath escaping her full lips, which Marena noticed bore a keen resemblance to the ones she’d become so fond of in the past few days. That thought was ruthlessly smothered and stored where everything else about Arlo Kenworthy would go. She turned to him and saw too much emotion in those stormy blue eyes. He'd found his sister after so many months searching.
“Your Grace,” she said with formality, as if everyone in the room was not aware she’d let the man bite her neck only minutes ago. “This is Delfine Boncouer, and my sister Lluvia Baine-Torres.” She turned to her friend, whose face was crumpling from the emotion of the moment. “Delfine, this is the Duke of Linley.” To her mortification, she had to choke down tears. “Your brother.”
Delfine was petite, but she cut a stalwart figure. Her arms and back had been made strong from delivering children into the world. Her skin was a deep brown, a contrast to Arlo’s fairness, but their faces gave them away as family. They bore the same proud forehead and stubborn chin, and puzzlingly, identical eyebrows.
“Sister.” Arlo’s voice wobbled, and Delfine’s throat convulsed as if she were trying to speak. After a moment, she gave up and threw her arms around his shoulders.
It was almost too intimate a moment to witness. A whirlwind of conflicting emotions raged through Marena. Longing, yearning, regret. But in the midst of that was gladness. She felt a hand reach for hers and looked up to find Lluvia gazing at the love of her life embracing her brother, a beatific expression on her face. Like she could physically feel Delfine’s joy coursing through her. For the first time in her life Marena yearned to have what Lluvia and Delfine shared.
After a moment, Delfine stepped back from her brother’s embrace and glanced up at him with a bright smile. “Arlo, my brother.”
“I am so glad to have found you.” Arlo smiled widely and nodded, then turned to Marena. “I’m grateful for Marena’s kindness in agreeing to bring me to you, sister.” Their eyes locked, and the naked affection in them made her look away.
Lluvia who had always been the boldest of their trio, stepped forward. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace.” She gave a little curtsey, a bright smile on her lips. “I’m Lluvia.”
“My sister’s companion. It’s my pleasure to meet you.” Marena’s heart thumped in her chest at the revelation that Arlo had known all along the nature of Lluvia and Delfine’s relationship and didn’t think anything of it.
Lluvia and Delfine exchanged a look. After fifteen years of being in love, in a world that repudiated their devotion to each other, they’d learned to have entire conversations without saying a word. And since Marena had been there for a lot of it, she immediately understood they wanted to continue this discussion, and wherever it might lead, in private.
“Your Grace—”
“Arlo, Marena, please.”
She dipped her head in concession as she avoided looking at Lluvia and Delfine. “Arlo, it may be best to move to the study. I can ask Colette to prepare some tea for us? Did you have time to eat?” It was highly inappropriate to give directions to Arlo’s staff, but she desperately needed a moment to compose herself.
“I can always eat.” Lluvia said enthusiastically, to which Arlo responded with an appreciative grunt.
“I very much approve of the Baine-Torres women’s voraciousness.” Their gazes met as he spoke, which only flustered Marena further. She looked down, afraid that if she kept her eyes on him a second longer she would give herself away. She needed to get herself under control, and for the second time and two days she escaped before her feelings for the Duke of Linley finally got the best of her.
Chapter Thirteen
“It’s settled, then.” Arlo’s voice already held genuine affection for Delfine. Marena smiled as she watched them. They’d spent a few hours getting to know each other, sharing details of their lives. In the end it seemed Arlo would fulfill his promises. Delfine, if she wanted it, would be a very wealthy woman.
Lluvia and Marena had not been excluded from the conversation, and Arlo had turned to them for opinions and thoughts on how to handle the return to London, which seemed imminent. Apparently, in the few days she’d been preparing for the trip here, Arlo had retained the best law firm in London to resolve the misunderstanding.
Delfine, not fully convinced the legal issue that had kept her away from home for over a year could be taken care of in such a short time, looked at her brother incredulously. “And you’re sure we can go back without risking me going to gaol?”
Arlo stiffened at the word, his face assuming a mutinous expression. “My solicitor has already been working on investigating what these supposed charges were. None of the Beaton’s claims hold any water.” Fury tinged his voice as he mentioned the family who had caused so much strife for Delfine when she had only helped an innocent girl. “Not to mention that deviant, Richard, has done this before.” He scowled again, and Delfine’s face hardened.
“I suspected as much.”
Arlo sighed. “This morning I received a telegram confirming that in a week’s time everything should be finalized. Which is why I will be here in two weeks to fetch you.” Lluvia and Delfine’s eyes widened and immediately Arlo clicked his tongue, as if he just remembered something important. “Forgive me. I didn’t consider you may both have patients that need you.”
Lluvia spoke first, her hand comfortably holding Delfine’s as they sat opposite Arlo. “Two weeks should be enough time for me to end my rounds at the hospital. How about you, amor?”
Delfine considered for a moment, then smiled at her brother. “I have only a couple of patients in the final trimester, and I can pass them to a midwife I work with. We should be ready to go when you return.”
Arlo dipped his head and smiled brightly at his sister. “I’ll make the arrangements.” After a moment, he stood and turned in Marena’s direction. He sent her the same guarded and concerned expression he’d been giving her through dinner. “I imagine the three of you would like some privacy. Marena, would you still like to return tomorrow? If you want more time here I can—”
She didn’t let him finish. “Yes. Tomorrow.” Her tone was too sharp and her words too terse for the question. She willed herself to sound more normal, certain that Lluvia and Delfine were staring. “Now that I know these two pests will be back in two weeks, I need to enjoy the last bit of peace and quiet in London.”
“Right.” His tone was discomfited, unhappy. “I will instruct Cyrus to confirm your reservation for tomorrow morning.” He turned to Delfine and Lluvia with a warm expression. “I’ll have the carriage ready for you.” After giving them each a kiss on the cheek, he left quietly without looking at her. Her heart constricted as he walked away.
As soon as the door closed behind him, both her sister and her best friend flanked her on the settee. Lluvia was the first to speak. “Marena Baine-Torres, I’m impressed. A duke.” Her sister’s voice was brimming with laughter, and Marena wanted more than anything for the ground to open up and swallow her.
“I’ve no idea what you’re referring to,” she said sternly, attempting to maintain eye contact with her sister.
“Marena dear, the man had his teeth on your neck and both hands on your bottom.”
She was sure her entire face would go up in flames. Neither Delfine nor her sister were above bringing this entire sordid affair to her mother’s attention, or worse, asking Ar
lo about it. “I will say one thing and then will never speak of it again.”
The two bobbed their heads at the same time. “Now that the two of you are going to be associating with London’s high society, you really will need to curb that penchant for gossip.”
Delfine cackled, and Marena sighed in defeat, ready to confess. The truth was, she was desperate to talk to them about it. “I may have engaged in sexual congress with the duke.”
A yelp from Lluvia was joined by a lascivious grin from Delfine. “This is a very favorable development.”
Marena shook her head at the insinuation it would happen again. “There is no development.” Something in her chest squeezed so she could barely breathe as she spoke. “I am not in a position to indulge in fantasies where I can be with Arlo. Women like me cannot afford dalliances with nobles. You both know that. I…” Her denials and protests died in her throat. It was no use to lie to them, it would be like lying to herself.
“You looked happy, Mare.” The sympathy in Delfine’s voice was almost unbearable. Marena pressed a hand to her breastbone, willing her heart to stop galloping.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you giggle.” Of course, her sister had to make her laugh even when she felt overcome with regret and frustration. She shook her head after a moment, still stubbornly rejecting that this thing with Arlo could be more than what had happened between them, yet knowing it already was so much more. “It’s too complicated. He’s your brother, Delfine. And what if people start talking?”
“You’re not serious? You’re talking to two women who are in a committed companionship that most of society has deemed either an abomination, a mental disturbance, or both. No one understands more about complicated love affairs than we do.” Marena’s face heated with shame. How could she suggest Lluvia and Delfine didn’t comprehend her dilemma when they had faced so many obstacles and still were not able to freely let the world see their love?
“I’m sorry, hermana. That was so thoughtless of me.”
“It’s all right. It’s not like you weren’t there for most of it. Without you we would not have had a soul to turn to in those first years when we were afraid of telling anyone,” Lluvia reminded her, some of the humor gone from her voice now. “You know what it was like for us.”
“And I’d do it all over again,” said Delfine, reaching for Lluvia’s hand.
“Me too.” Lluvia said, her voice so gentle it cracked Marena’s heart. “Some things, some people, come into your life and force you to reimagine the dreams you had for yourself.” Marena wasn’t quite certain who Lluvia was speaking to, but the message was clear all the same.
“All right, all right, you two. I am aware your undying love is the stuff of myth and legend, but could we focus on my deeply injudicious entanglement.” That broke the heaviness, and Delfine and Lluvia took each of Marena’s hands in one of theirs.
“Is it an injudicious entanglement you’d like to see end?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? The instant answer should have been a resounding yes. That would be the sensible response, the typical Marena approach, and yet yearning burned in her belly like a roaring fire. “He’s asked me to continue seeing him in London.” She shivered at the possibility of having him longer. “He said I could set the conditions.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Then why don’t you ask him? You deserve to be happy, Marena.” Lluvia had always been the risk taker, but maybe she was right.
“I don’t want to have my heart broken.” She thought of the liberties so many in the ton already took with her when they frequented her shop, and felt wary of what would happen once people found out she was involved with Arlo. “I don’t want men coming to my shop thinking they can have me too.”
This time Lluvia put her arms around Marena and sighed. “I wish men didn’t behave like utter prigs, but even after only knowing him for three hours, I have the feeling Arlo would not let that happen.”
“They’d still talk.”
“Hermana,” Lluvia said, tightening her arms until Marena was close enough to kiss her on the cheek. “Mamí and Da did not raise us to let other people’s opinions keep us from reaching for what should be ours. If he wants you, and you want him, why not see where it goes?”
“He wants me now, but once tongues start wagging, he’ll reconsider, and I’ll be blamed for the whole sordid ordeal.”
Delfine inhaled sharply, her hand patting Marena’s. “I’d give him a bit more credit than that. The man barely batted an eye about the fact that your sister and I are practically married, and”—she pointed a finger at her own chest—“may I remind you that he in no uncertain terms asked us to come to live in his big mansion in Mayfair with seemingly no caveats about our relationship.”
This was true. He had taken it all in stride, like he did everything. The unflappable Duke of Linley.
Except, when it came to her, she had seen some cracks in that calm demeanor. For her, Arlo had lost his composure more than once. The man had carried a basket through the Marais, been stung by a bee, and today she’d seen the hurt in his eyes when she rejected his touch.
“The way he looks at you, Mare, that’s not something to walk away from.”
“But—”
“Was it unfulfilling?” Lluvia asked, as if only now realizing that could be the reason for Marena’s discomfort. She once again felt grateful for the family she was born into. “Maybe you don’t want hi—”
“No, that is not the issue. On the contrary, it was too fulfilling,” she said in a mortified whisper.
That elicited a knowing laugh from the other two. “Then see where it leads. Let yourself have this. You know how to take care of yourself, and no matter what happens, we will be home to support you.” Delfine’s strong voice made Marena almost believe this could be true.
“And we have him to thank for that.” That was Lluvia, always the truth teller.
“And don’t forget, I’m his sister. I can give him a piece of my mind if he steps out of line.” That made them all smile again.
“He does say he believes in the equality of the genders,” Marena offered, already feeling like a massive boulder had been plucked off her shoulders.
“We will test that particular pronouncement until we have confirmed its veracity,” Delfine stated imperiously, already moving to stand. “We should return home. We are both exhausted from too much excitement and not enough sleep.”
Marena stood and looked at the two women who had always been by her side, each so familiar that they were practically extensions of herself. “I’m so glad you’re both coming home.”
“You and Arlo did this for us—together.” Lluvia was never one to take the subtle approach. “Now see us off so you can mend things with the man.”
Marena walked with them to the door of the study. “I don’t know if I can continue a liaison with Arlo in London, but I will at least make things right with him tonight.”
Lluvia and Delfine exchanged frustrated looks at that, but didn’t press her on it again.
Within moments the two women were in a carriage and heading home, and Arlo and Marena were on their own once more. She stood on the front walk for a minute, then another, still unsure of what she would say to him. He’d been with her as they saw their sisters off, but when she came back inside, he was nowhere to be found. He’d left her there without saying a word, and he knew she would be leaving in the morning. She was being unfair and unreasonable, but she was incensed that he would not even say goodbye.
She walked back into the study only to find Cyrus placidly looking at her. “Would you be so kind to tell me where His Grace has gone?”
“He’s in his bedroom, miss.”
“Thank you,” she said, turning on her toes and heading up the ridiculously large marble staircase, not caring that the valet knew she was headed to Arlo’s private rooms. She stopped in her room for a moment to find and insert her cervical cap. She was angry, not foolish.
Or at least not that kind of fool.
It took her exactly ten footsteps to reach his door, and before she had a chance to really think about what she was doing, she was pounding on it. She should have expected he’d answer it bare-chested…and scowling.
Chapter Fourteen
“May I help you, Marena?” Arlo was not sure what outcome he was aiming for, but he could not stop himself from acting like an arse.
“Were you really going to let me go without saying goodbye?” she asked without preamble, a wounded expression on her face.
The truth was that he’d been hurt too. They’d come back from the gardens, and things had seemed to shift on their day out. He’d thought that, like he, Marena had seen something worth pursuing, but as soon as Delfine and Lluvia arrived, she’d acted like he was a total stranger, and though he understood why she’d been so startled, he’d hoped she could trust him more.
“I came to say goodnight.” She was irritable and a bit disheveled and he wanted more than anything to take her into his arms and make love to her until the tension melted off her body. And he could either keep his pride from stealing the last chance he had to tell her how he felt, or he could let her go back to London and lose the best thing that would ever happen to him.
“I was coming to see you,” he confessed.
“With no shirt?” she asked as she glared in the direction of his upper torso.
“I thought you enjoyed seeing me in a shirtless state,” he said provokingly, unable to help himself.
She growled, eyes still locked on the area where his chest hair was most prominent. He ran a hand over it and was rewarded with an audible hitch of her breath.
“I know how much you enjoy my pectoral area. I wanted to offer you one last look as a parting gift.” She looked positively indignant and again, every base instinct in him bubbled to the surface. He wanted to pick her up and kiss her senseless. Make her laugh until she dissolved into a pile of giggles, then lay her on his bed and make love to her all night. But she wasn’t laughing. She looked miserable, and he wished with a disquieting ferocity that he could make every one of her worries disappear. But if he tried, she’d just push him away.
Duke I’d Like to F… Page 42