“I know you have met that rapscallion Cedric. He’s the talk of all Avondale and now you are at the top of his, dance card,” Clarissa pursed her lips, nonplussed.
Ivy shook her head. “But I didn’t mean to. He was beside me. The next thing I knew, he had me clutched in his embrace!”
“Good word, my dear?” Clarissa stared. She leant close. “Tell me, was he as good a pucker-upper as I remember my dear late husband Hubertus to be?”
“Oh, I didn’t know a kiss could feel so decadent or unrestrained. Mm, yes. Cedric’s kisses were simply wonderful,” Ivy smiled in the carriage, replete.
Clarissa blinked. “Decadent..? Unrestrained..? There is nothing in my memory I recall that was simple. Wonderful, yes. Driver, hop, hop,” Clarissa rapped on the cab.
The carriage jockeyed into a quickstep that reminded Ivy of the dance she shared with the handsome Cedric. Ivy wondered who she had seen Cedric taking to...the other gentleman was taller than Cedric, and who was already giant, compared to her 5’6’ frame. He was dark too; his handsome complexion and features made Ivy shiver when she thought of how smartly the black-haired man with the mole on his right check might have kissed.
“Yes, you’ll succeed in impressing the Duke,” said Clarissa. “So your dear, hapless mother will never have to beg for table scraps again. You will, or my lineage will dry up like a spring during the summer equinox. And I won’t have that!”
*****
Ivy Castleberry sat in the immaculate hall of the Greystone Manor. The carriage she rode in departed as speedily as it had arrived. Ivy had never witnessed such exact performance with economy. She had dodged two packs of wolfhounds, learning well that the Duke hosted more than the occasional hunt.
Ivy stabbed a wet thumb at her Godey morning dress, trying to mop up the fur the wolfhounds had rubbed all over her petticoat. She stood when two large gilded doors opened and the servants stepped aside, one announcing an arrival.
“Wolfram Valentine of York and Devon,” Ivy heard.
Wolfram strode across the Tudor and French styled manor, his boots clicking across the tiles with a pitter-patter. Ivy curtsied as Wolfram bowed.
“Miss Ivy Castleberry,” said Wolfram.
Ivy smiled. The connection between them sparked and burned white hot into flame.
“I trust your ride to the Manor was satisfactory,” Wolfram led Ivy to the upstairs rooms above the great hall.
Ivy saw portraits of the Lankenshires from feudal days to the present.
Wolfram turned to stand at a drawing room. Ivy curtsied and she entered a large room with a grand piano, musical instruments, and artist’s easels. “This is the conservatory,” announced Wolfram.
Ivy entered and she was greeted by three young girls. “This is Linnea, Marigold, and Violet.”
The elder girls curtsied followed by the youngest who bowed.
“You are already ladies,” Ivy smiled. The middle child, Marigold, giggled.
“You will tutor the children in the arts, science, and the romantic languages. You do speak French, do you not?” Wolfram said.
“Yes. Also Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese,” said Ivy.
Wolfram’s eyes widened. “I am certain I will discover you are a woman of many talents.”
“Your studies with the girls begins tomorrow. The servants will show you to your room,” Wolfram walked with Ivy until he came to the upstairs library.
Ivy smiled when she peeked inside. The tomes and stacks lining the walls from corner to corner were as elegant as she dreamed a master room would be. “Where can I find you, if I have questions about the girls’ lessons,” asked Ivy.
“You will find me here. The library is also a study. I attend to many of the Lankenshire business here,” Ivy began to curtsey when she saw Wolfram closing the library doors.
Ivy felt Wolfram’s gaze rake over her, and Ivy reacted getting goosebumps from her neck down to her toes.
*****
Ivy was about to be shown her room when she heard a familiar timbre.
It was him!
Ivy rushed around the upstairs of the Greystone Manor, attempting to find a respite. If she didn’t, the rakish Cedric would see her. She pressed through a set of double doors, whipping off her bonnet. Ivy recalled her Aunt Clarissa saying Cedric was the talk of Avondale. What was the rapscallion doing in here, and in the Greystone halls?
“Wolfram? Wolfram Valentine, I’m looking for you—.”
Ivy threw her body against the doors, her breasts heaving. She straightened with a start when she realized she had found herself in the devilishly handsome Wolfram’s bed chambers, and he was staring at her, stark naked!
*****
“Wolfram—?”
Ivy threw her bonnet across her eyes. She peeked under the bonnet and she saw Wolfram was coming nearer. She threw her bonnet to the ground and she pressed out her palms.
“Please, don’t say that I am here—,” Ivy begged, squinting her eyes, fretting what she should do, wondering where she could go.
The tall Wolfram was handsomely built. His large chest and powerful thighs were matted with wisps of dark brown hair. Ivy saw more hair in the middle of his chest and a trail that reached down to his—oh! How did she get herself into these messes?
*****
Wolfram was transfixed by the nymph. She had managed to steal his heart faster than he could plot to save her from his rakish brother.
Now Cedric was near, and Ivy was hiding from his discovery of her, but, to what avail?
Ivy looked at the handle to the door at Wolfram’s room. It turned upward and she stared at Wolfram like a lost doe in the wood.
Wolfram saw the look of panic spread across of Ivy’s beautiful face. He gestured to the closet and Ivy spilled inside, hiding behind Wolfram’s freshly ironed shirts.
Cedric entered the room.
Ivy realized Wolfram hadn’t shut the door to the closet securely. She reached her fingers around the door, and she tried to make it close, but as she did, the door edged to open with a loud squeak.
“Well, now. I heard you liked your day au natural. Didn’t expect the rumors were true—.” Cedric walked toward Wolfram and Ivy could see the two men standing toe to toe. Cedric was donned in a long-sleeved shirt and crème breeches and Wolfram was as bare as the day he was born. Not exactly, thought Ivy. She doubted any baby looked as male and as wonderfully nude as Wolfram Valentine of York and Dale did. Yes, of this, Ivy was sure!
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Wolfram quipped.
“I want to know what your intentions are with the girl.” Cedric closed the space between himself and Wolfram and Ivy gasped. She didn’t want to be the brunt of yet another horrible scandal. She froze when Cedric turned his attention to the closet.
“There’s nothing in there,” Wolfram said reaching for his robe.
Cedric followed. “I think there is something you don’t want me to see!”
Cedric flung open the closet doors and a shocked Ivy spilled onto the carpeted floor.
“Oh, this is rich,” Cedric smiled smugly. “So, you profess to have nothing but the best intentions toward this helpless little waif. A young woman whom you claim father gave you leave to hire as a, governess,” Cedric hissed. “Please. The only thing you have is a girl on the brink who doesn’t know the first thing about love.”
“I do know about love—.” Ivy rose to her feet. She tried her best to ignore the scantily clad Wolfram and his guest, Cedric. Ivy stilled. “You, are the son of the Duke of Lankenshire?”
“I am he.” Cedric turned to Ivy.
“So, you are, here to be the new governess.”
Cedric returned to Wolfram. “Tell me, how is it you and Ivy came to know one another, brother?”
Brother…? Ivy flung herself between Cedric and Wolfram, horrified. “You’re family?”
“Yes.” Wolfram said. “We have the same mother.”
“We don’t share the same father,” said Cedric.
&n
bsp; “Which makes me wonder. What will happen to the Lankenshire printing and family dynasty when the good people of Avondale and London learn of today’s scandal?” Cedric smiled.
“What scandal? Wolfram has been nothing but perfectly respectable. He has not pressed his affections, or his advantage. Unlike another rogue, I have come to know,” Ivy tilted up chin, defiant.
“Rogue, you say?” Cedric circled Ivy.
“Who is it who commanded you come to the halls of Greystone Manor?”
“Don’t be crass. You know it was your father, Cedric,” said Wolfram.
“And, who was it who was sent to arrange to collect the fair maiden, so the Duke would ensure the proper instruction and etiquette for his girls, hmm?
“Make you point man, and get on with it,” said Wolfram.
“What do you think society will do when it learns, the great respectable Wolfram Valentine has soiled the reputation of a young, Ivy, isn’t it?” Cedric said.
Ivy nodded slowly, panicked. She dreaded the proposal she feared Cedric was about to make.
“Why don’t I tell father and all of London and Paris, what you have done to corrupt the young Ivy of 17?”
“I am not 17!” Ivy yelled. “I turned 18 this dawn. At the beginning of the morn.”
Cedric and Wolfram stared at Ivy.
“I am sorry,” said Wolfram. “Please accept my apologies for not learning that this is a very important day.”
“Indeed,” said Cedric.
Cedric smiled at Ivy.
“What do you want?” Wolfram demanded.
“Only this. You, Wolfram, will allow me to sleep with the now corrupted Ivy,” said Cedric.
“I’ll rip your heart out before that happens,” snarled Wolfram.
“I believe that you won’t,” said Cedric.
“You see, Ivy is ready for her own schooling in affections. If you interfere, I’ll see to it you lose your rightful claim to the dukedom. I think I will have Ivy right here, right now, and there is nothing you Wolfram, can do, to stop me.”
Wolfram grabbed Cedric by the shirt. “I will wipe the halls with your carcass before I’m through—.”
“No, don’t hurt him, not because of me—,” Ivy begged.
“The same way you planned to steal Ivy away from me the moment you had the same opportunity?” Cedric said.
Ivy stared.
Wolfram released Cedric.
“What Cedric says is true. I planned to expose him for the rake his is. Now he has discovered my intention. A secret that would ruin your family and soil your name throughout Europe. I am, truly sorry, Ivy.”
“There is a simple solution,” said Cedric.
Ivy knew she must choose. She must agree to do whatever the dastardly Cedric concocted.
“I will do everything within my power to protect you,” Wolfram promised.
“I believe you,” said Ivy. She turned to Cedric.
Ivy had spent her life trying to do the respectable thing. Now she was caught up in a web of deceit and much of it, not from, her own designs. Ivy knew she must provide for her mother and her sisters. If the gossip from the rumor mills were true, Ivy’s sisters Marguerite and Minerva would become spinsters before they turned 25.
Ivy straightened her shoulders. “I am ready to hear your terms.”
“No,” warned Wolfram.
“My terms are simple. You will become mine and Wolfram’s lover. You will perform your daily duties as a governess. You will have other duties, for which your family will be well provided.”
Cedric held up a hand when Wolfram lunged at him.
“You will agree Ivy, or I will tell everyone Wolfram pressed his advantage upon you. Your family will be ruined, and you will never know which of us truly loves you. Is it not what you want? Love, at any cost..?
Cedric bent to kiss Ivy.
Ivy felt her blood turn cold.
“Yes, I do what to know if true love is possible. How would I learn that from you?” Ivy lifted her head higher in defiance.
“Simple. Let us love you. However we choose.”
Ivy saw the rise tenting beneath Cedric’s pants. She noticed the same happening under Wolfram’s robe.
In life there was always an adventure. Ivy squared her soldiers, hoping this day would be the first of many when she would decide how to forge her own life.
“All right,” Ivy said, “with one condition.”
Wolfram stared at Ivy along with Cedric.
“I’ll do what you ask. One of you shall make an offer of marriage...The two of you, will ensure I become a Duchess in society…”
Wolfram blinked. It seemed the Castleberrys were far more resourceful a clan than he first believed.
Cedric smiled.
“Done...” He turned to Wolfram. “Brother..?
“Stepbrother,” Wolfram corrected.
Wolfram stared at Ivy. He would loathe to admit it aloud, but the nymph had captured his heart and his soul. He knew there was not anything he would not do for her.
Wolfram reached for Ivy. “I will always do what I can to take care of you,” he held out his hand.
Ivy smiled brightly. “Very well. Then I am yours,” Ivy took Wolfram’s hand.
“Both of yours.” Ivy reached for Cedric.
“Brilliant.” Cedric began to undress.
Wolfram gazed at Ivy, his love shining for his nymph in his eyes.
Ivy saw his eyes promise that there would be many days to share, if, she would have him.
“Done,” Ivy quietly said.
She’s my desire, Wolfram’s eyes promised.
“Done…” Wolfram whispered.
*****
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