by Ava Stone
“Damn it, Alex.” Staveley jumped to his feet. “I’ve got to get this straightened out.”
“Then straighten it out. But don’t look in my direction.”
As soon as Staveley left, Alex dropped into a chintz chair closer to the window. He was a God damned fool. As soon as he realized she would be at this house party, he should have declined the invitation. It was impossible to be near the girl without lascivious thoughts plaguing his mind. In fact, she was the reason he’d had to resort to tumbling one of The Chase’s maids in the first place.
Livvie had barely turned the corner before she ran into Felicity. “There you are,” her friend said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Everyone’s in the parlor. Did you get the button?”
That cursed button. How she wished she’d never agreed to this ridiculous thing. She didn’t care one whit about the foolish treasure hunt anymore. Livvie she shook her head. “I’ve got to find Caroline.”
“Oh?” Felicity asked as she gleefully linked her arm with Livvie’s. “Well, she’s in the parlor too. After she delivered Staveley’s glasses she wanted to see what else was on the list and what we needed to win.”
To win? The only thing Livvie was certain of was that she had lost everything. Her mind. Her reputation. Her future.
Felicity pulled her along the corridor, down the large staircase, and finally into the blue parlor—where Caroline, Viscountess Staveley, scanned the list with an appreciative grin. Then she shook her head as she handed the list to Cordie. “You girls are silly.”
Phoebe pouted, her pink lips drawn up tight. “My Uncle Simon was simply horrid not to give me one of his epaulettes.”
Caroline laughed. “You should ask your Aunt Madeline. She’s been dying to destroy that uniform for nearly half a decade.” Then she noticed Livvie standing in the doorway and smiled at her. “There you are, darling. You weren’t successful at getting Kelfield to part with one of his buttons, were you?”
Livvie’s lip started to tremble, but she managed to shake her head. “Caroline, I need to speak with you.” If anyone could get her out of this mess it was her cousin.
“Of course.” Caroline crossed the room in just a few strides. “Darling, what is wrong?” she quietly asked.
Livvie grabbed her cousin’s arm and dragged her out into the hallway. “Something awful has happened—”
Before she could continue, Staveley called out to them from the other end of the corridor. “Olivia! I need a word with you.”
Caroline focused on her approaching husband, and a frown formed across her brow. “What has happened, Staveley?”
He forced a smile to his face. “Nothing, my dear. I need to speak with Olivia is all.”
Livvie took a staggering breath as Caroline and her husband eye each other. This was bad, getting worse by the moment, and she couldn’t think of a way out of the situation. Finally, her cousin nodded and ducked back inside the blue salon, leaving Livvie alone with Staveley. Humiliated, she stared at her feet.
“Olivia, what were you doing in Kelfield’s room?” he asked in a hushed voice.
She reached into her pocket and retrieved the gold button, presenting it to him. “We were on a treasure hunt, and I was supposed to get this.”
He took the button from her and stared at it. “He didn’t touch you then?”
“Heavens, no!” she responded and determinedly shook her head.
“Olivia, it is imperative that you tell me the truth.”
Finally, she met his eyes. “I swear to you, Staveley, he didn’t even know I was there until right before you walked in.”
Staveley heaved a huge sigh, though a look of displeasure settled on his face. “I cannot express to you how very disappointed I am. As an unmarried lady, for you to go into his room is completely inappropriate. And now you’ve been compromised, Olivia.”
Her worst fears were coming true, and she clutched his arm desperately. “Please, my lord. Please don’t make me marry him.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I could never be happy with a man of his character—a man so lacking. I was stupid to go in there. But please don’t make me suffer the rest of my days for such a foolish—”
“Shh.” Staveley brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Livvie, pull yourself together. You’ll have Caroline back out here.”
She took a staggering breath and tried to comply.
“You haven’t told her yet, have you?” he asked softly.
Livvie shook her head. “I was just about to tell her. I know she’ll find a way I don’t have to marry that beast. And—”
“Not a word to her. Do you understand?”
No. Not at all. Livvie had always depended on Caroline to get her out of scrapes—nothing ever like this—but certainly her inventive cousin could find a way around these unfortunate circumstances. She shook her head.
Staveley pursed his lips. “My lovely wife has been trying, unsuccessfully, for more years than I can remember to marry Alex off. If she knew of this situation, she would make sure you were the Duchess of Kelfield in the blink of an eye.”
Which meant that Staveley had a plan that would prevent that fate for her. She’d never felt so relieved. “Then you won’t make me…”
He frowned and leaned in close. “Olivia, did anyone else see or hear you?”
“No.” At least she hoped not. She certainly hadn’t seen anyone.
“Then I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Her heart leapt with joy. She would never have been able to explain the situation to Philip. He would have been crushed.
“But,” Staveley continued, “if I hear the tiniest rumbling about this, or if anyone else discovers you were in his room, I’ll be powerless to help you. Do you understand?”
Livvie threw her arms around Staveley’s neck and hugged him tight. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“You’re a damned lucky bastard,” Staveley remarked as he opened Alex’s door. Then the viscount knocked loudly and waited a few seconds before he stepped over the threshold. “Is it safe to enter?”
“You’ve acquired quite the sense of humor, Staveley.” Alex motioned for his friend to shut the door and take a seat in one of the chintz chairs near the window. “Did she tell you why she was in here?”
Staveley reached into his pocket and then tossed a small, golden object at Alex. He caught the item and turned it over in his hand. One of his buttons? That didn’t make one bit of sense.
“She was on a treasure hunt and needed that for her list.”
All of this over a bloody button? Alex ran a hand through his hair. “Good God.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Staveley replied as he dropped into one of the chairs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The good news for you, my friend, is that I stopped Livvie from confessing to Caroline. So you’re safe. And since Livvie has no desire to marry you, and I’m the only one who witnessed anything, I’ll just—”
“What do you mean since she has no desire to marry me?” He didn’t want to be leg-shackled—and certainly not like this—but he knew that women wanted to marry him. The idea of being a duchess made most women giddy.
Staveley smirked. “Apparently, she finds you ‘lacking’—her words, not mine, old friend.”
Lacking? What the devil was that suppose to mean? Women didn’t find him lacking. How dare she say such a thing! After all, she was the one in the wrong in all this. Alex hadn’t brought her into his room, much as he would have liked to. And Alex hadn’t asked her to spy on his intimate liaisons. She had done that all on her own.
Lacking!
His face grew taut and he abruptly stood up. “Where is she?”
Staveley reluctantly stood up as well. “I thought you’d be happy to be off the hook, you ungrateful sod.”
“Where is she?” he ground out through clenched teeth.
Staveley shrugged. “Livvie is now enjoying a picnic with her friends on the west lawn.”
He stormed towards the door, but was stopped by S
taveley’s next words. “Caroline is with them as well, Alex. I urge you watch what you say in front of my wife. If she thinks you’ve got an interest in her cousin, she’ll plot and meddle and be an overall nuisance until you’re leg-shackled to the chit.”
“Point taken.” Caroline Staveley could be a bane to any single man. He’d borne witness to that himself on more than one occasion. Her list of achievements in finding matches was well on its way to becoming legendary. But still, Olivia Danbury had some questions to answer, and he was going to see that she did so. Besides, he and Caroline had an agreement which prevented her from meddling in his life, though he didn’t think Staveley was privy to that information.
“Oh, and, Alex,” Staveley said, interrupting his thoughts, “friend or not, if I hear the slightest whisper about any of this, you will marry her.”
He didn’t really have a choice. He would never dishonor Staveley. Alex met his friend’s gaze with resignation. After a curt nod, he went in search of the troublesome Olivia.
Alex spotted Miss Danbury on The Chase’s soft lawn, chatting with three silly chits and, of course, Caroline. Not that he was paying the others any attention at all. He was focused solely on the blushing, auburn-haired Olivia who had just noticed his approach.
Since the night he’d first met her, he had tried not to give Caroline Staveley’s little cousin any thought. He had tried to be honorable. Though now that he saw the sun reflecting off the soft red highlights in her dark hair, his resolve weakened on both fronts. She had twinkling, hazel eyes, a dimple in her left cheek that was strangely just as endearing as it was innocent, and a pair of luscious, rose-colored lips. Olivia Danbury was enchanting, and he ached to touch her, to show her in a very intimate way that he wasn’t lacking a thing.
Alex had to remind himself, as he approached her, that the chit remained under Staveley’s care. Even the most ruthless rogues had standards.
Still, it ate him up inside. What exactly did she find lacking in him? He scoffed lightly to himself when her blush deepened as he neared her.
“Miss Danbury,” he began as his booted foot reached her blanket. He didn’t spare a glance for anyone else—not even Caroline, which was probably a mistake he’d pay for later. “I’d like a word with you.”
Olivia’s hazel eyes rounded in fear. Alex watched the movement of her slender throat as she swallowed nervously. And she should be nervous, if she had any idea of the images of her that were currently filtering through his mind.
“M-me?” she asked with a quiver in her voice.
The other girls all seemed to take the same deep intake of air at the same time, but Olivia bit her plump bottom lip with her teeth as she tentatively met his eyes.
Alex stared back at her with a deep intensity. “Unless you’d rather talk here in the open.”
She was on her feet in the blink of an eye, and Alex reached out his arm to her. Caroline rose to her feet as well and narrowed her eyes on him. “Alex, darling, is something amiss?”
He turned a charming smile on the vivacious viscountess, a woman he had admired for years. A woman who had promised, after securing his assistance two years earlier with one of her schemes, not to interfere in his personal life anymore. “Of course not, Caro.”
“But—” she began.
He leveled a hard, ducal stare on her. “Do you recall our bargain, Lady Staveley?”
Caroline’s eyes widened and she looked first at Alex then to Olivia and back. “Indeed.”
“Good.” Alex turned his attention back to Miss Danbury, his arm still outstretched, and raised his brow expectantly. She seemed to steel herself for the interview, nodded slightly, and then placed her delicate, gloved hand on his forearm.
Desire shot through Alex straight to his loins, which should have still been sated, but strangely were not. Just as they were out of earshot of the others, Olivia turned her face up to look at him. She frowned, and her very kissable lips pursed angrily. “What are you trying to do? Ruin me?”
“I don’t need to try. You’ve done a magnificent job of that all by yourself, sweetheart.”
She snorted. “Staveley said no harm was done. So, let’s just forget this little incident ever occurred. I’ll go my way, and you can… Well, you can do whatever it is that you do.”
Which is what he should do. But now that he had a reason to talk to her, Alex wouldn’t give it up. “I don’t think it will be that easy, Olivia.”
Her pretty hazel eyes widened at the use of her first name, and Alex had to bite back a smile. Would her eyes widen even more the first time he thrust inside her? Because there was not a doubt in his mind that he would soon have her in his bed—Staveley be damned. And he was enjoying the idea more and more as she sputtered for an answer.
“In what way, Olivia, do you find me lacking?” he asked. “I’d very much like to dispel your thoughts on the subject.”
She seemed to recover her composure and she looked away from him, out towards a copse of trees in the distance. “I don’t think that will be possible, Your Grace.”
Alex stopped mid-step and swung her to face him. “I think I’m owed at least an explanation, don’t you?”
Olivia blushed slightly at that and then met his eyes once more. “Very well. I find you lacking morally, Your Grace. I doubt very seriously that you can reverse my thoughts in that regard.”
Well, she had him there. He dipped his head down so that his eyes were level with hers. “Ah, but I make up for it in many different ways, sweetheart. I’m certain you’ll come to appreciate those ways much more than you’ll miss my lack of moral fiber.”
She stared at him quietly for a long moment. Then finally, she spoke again. “I don’t think I’ll come to appreciate anything about you, Your Grace. Staveley said there was nothing to worry about. No one saw anything. We can both go our separate ways.”
“But what if I want to go your way?” When her delightful pink lips pursed again, Alex could almost taste them.
“Y-you can’t go my way. I’m betrothed, and my fiancé wouldn’t appreciate this conversation.”
Fiancé? Staveley had been remiss in mentioning that. He found himself frowning at the idea. “Who is he?” Not that it mattered overmuch. He’d still have Miss Danbury.
She swallowed again, and Alex wanted desperately to run his fingers down the base of her neck—her lovely slender neck, whose languorous movements were making his mouth go dry.
“Major Philip Moore of the 45th Foot. Now if that is all, Your Grace, I should like very much to return to my friends.”
He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. “For now, sweetheart. But I don’t believe I’m through with you yet.” And he wasn’t. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that his interactions with Miss Olivia Danbury were just beginning.
Livvie blinked up at him, uncertain what she saw simmering in his silver eyes, but it made shivers dance up her spine. Then she turned and made her way directly back to where Caroline and her friends sat watching her. She couldn’t say a word to anyone about anything, as Staveley’s warning still echoed in her mind.
Once she reached the picnic blanket, Livvie reclaimed her vacant spot and lifted a glass of wine to her lips so she wouldn’t have to speak. They were all staring at her. Cordie, Phoebe and Felicity in awe, and Caroline with concern.
“Is everything all right, Livvie?” Caroline asked softly.
Livvie nodded her head and forced a smile to her lips. “Of course.” She took a steadying breath. “Kelfield was simply informing me that he didn’t wish to part with any of his buttons.”
No one would believe that explanation. The longer she stayed with her friends, the harder they would press for the truth. Kelfield had vanished, as he’d probably spotted another maid in heat. Livvie handed her goblet to Cordie and rose to her feet. “It’s so very hot and I think that wine went right to my head. I’m going to lie down for a while.”
Before anyone could stop her, she started back
for the manor house and did not stop until she reached her room. She kicked off her slippers and dropped like a heap onto her bed, still not quite sure how this whole situation had spun out of her control.
Horrid house party. Stupid treasure hunt. Insufferable duke! Until today he’d always scowled in her direction when their paths crossed, and now he seemed to relish the opportunity to make her suffer for her tiny error in judgment.
Livvie rolled to her side and opened a drawer in her bedside table. She retrieved a note which had been folded and refolded so many times she’d lost count. The edges were frayed and foolscap had yellowed. Even though she knew the words by heart, seeing Philip’s handwriting made her miss him less. She rested her head on a pillow and once again opened the letter.
April 5, 1814
My dearest Olivia,
As I sit here in my tent tonight, images of you fill my mind, and I find that I miss you more dreadfully with each passing day. You are not even aware of it, my sweetest darling, but my thoughts of you are all that have kept me sane in this insane world.
Has it actually been two years since I touched you? Since I kissed you? Has it truly been that terribly long? I pray that the war will soon be over so that I may return to you.Though my duty is here, sweetest Olivia, my heart is always with you. So
be patient, my love, for when I do return home I swear to never leave you again.
Yours Always,
Maj. Philip Moore
Livvie ran her fingers over his signature and sighed. War had ended, but he still hadn’t returned. Along with Cordie’s older brothers, Philip’s regiment remained in Toulouse, keeping the city secure. Philip was doing his duty, as always, but it seemed wholly unfair that even with the war over he should still be kept from her.
Each passing day found her more anxious for his return. They’d waited so long to marry and this final duty in Toulouse didn’t seem as though it would ever end. If he’d already returned, they’d be living a quiet existence in Nottinghamshire and reacquainting themselves.