She shook her head almost absentmindedly. “No, I’m not marrying.”
“Why?”
She lifted a brow. “I simply don’t wish to.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Why haven’t you?”
He said the first reason that he thought acceptable. “I haven’t looked, honestly. The death of a loved one does that.”
The pain that came over her face was a blow. “I’m sorry. I miss her, too.”
“She was a good woman,” he confessed.
She smiled and nodded in agreement before backing out of his hold. “So, we find my sisters husbands and then you’ll return me to Southampton?”
He nodded. “Can you help me see this done?”
She nodded slowly, and he watched a change come over her. She became the picture of business with her hands folded over her small waist. “Electra will be an easy matter. It’s Alcyone that we’ll have more trouble with.”
“Both have large dowries.”
Taygete glared at him, a look he’d never seen and found he liked very much. “We’re not wedding my sisters off to leeches.”
He smiled. “I simply thought mention of it might help.” He wanted to go back to discussing the reason she’d decided she wouldn’t marry, but he let it go for now. At the moment, they were speaking more than they ever had since their moment in the garden. He liked hearing her talk; he could listen for hours.
And she wasn’t avoiding him as she always had. That was good.
Taygete placed her hands on her hips. “Have you a selection of candidates for them?”
“I’ll need to know more about them before I can say which man would suit them best.”
She smiled. “I’m glad you’re considering that. I want them to be happy.”
Didn’t she want to be happy as well?
He put that question with the million others that were building and decided Taygete’s current mindset suited him. He just needed to get her in the carriage and hours away from home before he said anything else that made her uncomfortable. “Come. I wish to know everything I can about them before we reach London. I'll listen to what they have to say and then your own observations as well.” He opened the door and waited for her.
Taygete hesitated then slipped past him quickly and rushed down the hall. Since it was in the direction of the foyer, he let her go. She was coming to London and he didn’t analyze why it made him so glad.
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CHAPTER SIX
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Taygete quickly regretted agreeing to go on the journey once she took her seat in the carriage.
It smelled like him, and the heat from outside seemed to make it worse. It was as though she’d buried herself inside his spicy manly scent, wrapping it around her body so tightly that the scent would stain her clothes and skin.
Her only saving grace was Electra, who began talking long before the carriage got underway. Her excitement was clear. If she was going to be happy, Taygete thought it would have to be a man who had a sister or mother he adored, someone who’d taught him to brace for girls with chatty spirits. She made a mental note of this as she looked over at her mother.
Her mother sat on the same bench as she and Electra, with Electra between them. Alcyone sat next to the marquess and across from Taygete. Meaning, he was as far from her as she could arrange.
She and her mother had spoken at dinner and again at breakfast that morning, but at the moment, Mary was simply enjoying the scenery with a small smile on her face. Taygete wondered what her mother could be thinking. She doubted it was of her father. There’d been no love lost between them, even though Mary had cried a bit after his death. He’d been a part of her life for so long that Mary confessed to having a sense of being lost. They’d had a respectable marriage. She’d never heard them shout at one another and had known that to avoid conflict. Theodore would give in to whatever Mary wished. Conflict took precious time away from his business.
However, in his own way, he had loved his family.
Taygete remembered the day Alcyone had been born. She’d been eight and her father had been so happy he’d held Alcyone for hours on end, keeping to their mother’s bedside. He was always around during those first few weeks, and then he would return to building his kingdom. Taygete suspected that those fleeting days of tenderness were the true reason her mother had given birth to so many children.
Six children in all. Six periods of gentle adoration.
She looked at her mother again and wondered if she were thinking about those times.
Had their fleetingly happy moments been worth a lifetime of being tied together? Taygete wondered about it often.
She looked at Alcyone next and saw her sister staring into a book, reading one of her novels about ghosts and ghouls. Many years ago, she’d read Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto and since then most books had fueled her dark imagination. Then she’d read Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe. This led her to start hunting for danger and, when she was younger, it was normal to find her dirty or even stuck in a small space that she couldn’t get herself out of.
Taygete found herself laughing at one of the memories, but when Edvoy swung his eyes to meet hers, she stopped.
Electra stopped talking, and Mary and Alcyone looked at her.
Edvoy was staring at her as though he’d never seen her before.
Taygete’s belly flipped.
Electra asked, “All right, Taygete. If you had to describe the perfect gentleman, what would he be like?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Taygete swallowed as her pulse quickened. “Is there truly such thing as the perfect gentleman?” It nearly pained her not to look up at Edvoy, but she managed to keep her head down.
“Taygete makes a practical observation,” Mary said. “There is no perfect gentleman.”
“But there could be someone who is perfect for me,” Electra said. “And Alcyone… and even Taygete.”
“No.” Taygete straightened and looked at everyone in the carriage, everyone but Edvoy. “This trip is not for me. Only Electra and Alcyone will be courting. I’m only here to help.” Yet if there were to be three weddings, Taygete had decided the third would be Edvoy’s.
When he’d confessed that he hadn't looked for a wife in all these years, Taygete had decided that she would help in that matter. It was the least she could do. For Maia. Maia would not have wanted him to be alone all these years, and Taygete would help him.
Then maybe her heart would finally be put to rest and her feelings for him would fade.
He’d nearly had her cornered with his questions about why she’d not married. She could never tell him the truth. She could never confess it to him. It was best to let it go and to go on as she’d been for years. She liked her work in the hospital and was content.
“Perhaps we should have invited Commander Nicholson to come along.” Electra’s tone was suggestive. “I’m sure he’d have enjoyed seeing you in all your London finery.”
Taygete had to hold back a groan. She’d discovered after she’d made her decision to come to London that her mother had commissioned for Taygete to have an entire new wardrobe made without her ever being aware of it. Taygete recalled having measurements done for a simple Sunday dress a few months ago, but had she known her mother would be buying her gowns and morning dresses, she’d never have gone near the tailor.
Now, she was prepared for a Season like some young woman in need of courting.
She was not and had told her family that she planned to remain out of sight during every event.
She glanced at Edvoy accidentally and found him watching her. “You know Commander Nicholson?”
Taygete had to clear her throat before she could speak. “We’ve met.”
“He came for dinner last evening.” Mary smiled at the marquess. “He is quite fond of our Taygete. I say,
if she’d have stayed in Southampton, she’d have been married before the Banns could be read once.” She laughed.
“Mother, please.” Taygete placed a hand on her knee to silence her.
Mary would not be silenced. “Do you know the commander, my lord?”
“I don’t,” Edvoy said. “But I know his brother, and I’ve heard many tales about the man. He’s a good man from what I hear.”
Taygete wondered if he’d also heard that the man was relentless when he wanted something. She’d received a letter that morning that had made her blush so hard she’d feared her cheeks forever reddened.
It had been more of what he’d said to her in the hallway, words that were both possessive and sweet and left her slightly dizzy from just reading it. A letter like that, if it had been found by her mother or even Titan, would have sealed her fate. Like her mother had said, she’d have been married before the Banns could be read.
By special license.
Which was perhaps what he’d hoped for. He’d all but sealed her fate for heading to London. She couldn’t risk staying anywhere near the man. Even London she thought too close, and yet London was safer because the man she wanted to avoid there didn’t threaten the rest of her life, only the next few months.
Edvoy would never ask her to marry him. It would be scandalous. Had he not been titled then perhaps…
But even still, Taygete could not have him. She could never have him or anyone else.
She didn’t deserve happiness.
“Let us pray that Nicholson finds himself a wife before I return,” Taygete said. “For I have no desire to marry him or anyone else.” It was not a secret in her family, and she’d already told Edvoy that very morning. “This time is about Electra and Alcyone, and we should focus our attention on that.” She turned to Alcyone then and asked, “What do you want in a husband?”
Alcyone had been staring at her with blank gray eyes, but then she shut her book. “I don’t know, Taygete, why don’t you tell me? Shall he be a man who enjoys books and adores me?”
Taygete lifted her brow at the challenge and nodded. “Oh, yes, I believe he should be, but most importantly, I think he should make you want to put a book down.” A man who threw her off and captured her heart, was what Taygete wished to add, but such things didn’t always happen. But a companion who managed to pull Alcyone’s attention and hold it would work well.
Alcyone smiled and whispered, “I like him.” Then she went back to her book.
“Tay Tay is good at reading people, and I think she’s only gotten better since helping at the hospital,” Electra said to Edvoy, and it was likely that she was right.
Taygete couldn’t help but remember the moment she’d decided to pretend she was Maia so that she could read the marquess. She’d never forget the words they’d shared at the pond or the kiss that followed.
Perhaps if she’d not been so determined to protect Maia, she’d never have felt the way she did about the marquess.
Though she did recall that at first glance she thought him the most beautiful person to ever live. When he’d crouched down next to her, it was as though he’d fallen from the sky to descend next to her on the grass. Those dark blue eyes were like midnight skies with stars dancing in them, and his smile had the power to make her forget everything.
Just as it had when she’d seen him in her foyer.
He’d been smiling, and Taygete had stopped thinking. She’d stopped worrying about tomorrow. Her fears of seeing him and staying at his house for the Season had vanished.
Electra broke her from her thoughts. “Why, Taygete might even be able to help you find a wife, my lord. Tay, tell the marquess what sort of woman would best fit him.”
Taygete’s heart raced, and she looked at her sister as she fisted her skirts.
Thankfully, Mary cut in. “Electra, don’t intrude on the marquess’ privacy in such a way.”
“Why not?” Electra asked. “He is our brother, is he not?” She looked at Edvoy, and Taygete envied how boldly she could do so. “This is what it is like to have sisters, my lord. Ask Titan.”
Edvoy chuckled. “It’s all right, Mrs. Bellenger, I’d like to hear Taygete’s assessment.”
The carriage fell quiet, and Taygete took a breath before she looked at Edvoy, doing it just as boldly at Electra had. “I can’t assess you, my lord, for I don’t know you well.”
“Well, we will all have months to do just that,” Mary said with a smile. “Because after all, we are all family and should be closer. Now, my lord, tell us about London. Anything we should know that the gossip rags failed to mention?”
Edvoy was pulled into conversation Taygete thought far more pleasant and took that time to right her mind.
As her mother had said, they were family.
He was her brother.
He could never be more.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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They’d changed horses once before stopping at an inn that night. At their current rate of travel, they would reach London in two days. Hugh spoke to the innkeeper and settled the women with rooms before seeing to his staff. He would join the family later for dinner.
He’d tried to ignore the stirring in his gut that he’d felt at hearing about the family’s last meal. He’d heard many things about Commander Nicholson. Though he was said to be ruthless on the battlefield, there were stories about the man’s charm as well.
Hugh’s friend, Sir William Tift, had been a major general in the army but had formed a few connections with the navy over the last few years, which was how Hugh had known about Nicholson.
Nicholson had been one of their contacts to find their friend Alice Wilkin’s father when he’d been forced to join the navy. Though Mr. Wilkins had been on a different ship, Nicholson had not disappointed them in getting the answers they sought.
With the war dying down, Mr. Wilkins had returned to London and was running the gentlemen’s club he’d left behind as though he were a captain on a ship.
But never had Hugh thought he’d hear Commander Nicholson’s name again.
In the carriage, he’d tried to read Taygete’s reaction to the man’s name and had seen the hint of a flush before she’d turned away. Did she want the naval commander?
Obviously not, or she’d not have left Southampton.
Was she running from the man?
He wanted to ask her but felt he had little right. Even if he posed the question as though he were simply a curious relative, they both knew that neither saw the other as blood. Instead, Hugh’s blood became quite easily inflamed whenever Taygete was near.
He’d not wanted her like this since the first moment they’d met, because once he’d begun to court her sister, he’d put her out of his mind. Maia was the girl his mother had wanted him to marry, and he’d have done anything to bring his mother happiness. She’d held on to see him wed and recalling how she’d smiled on his wedding day— a smile she’d not given him in years— he’d was sure he’d done the right thing at the time.
And Maia had been sweet, so he’d never wished to hurt her with thoughts of her sister, so he’d put Taygete away from his mind.
Until Titan sent that letter. Her name hadn’t even been mentioned, and still he’d thought of her more than anyone else who had been mentioned.
If laws were different, he’d go after her and court her, if she allowed it. Since things were as they were, he knew he had to find a way to once again push her out of his mind.
Perhaps it was time he married.
Five of his closest friends had married in the last year. The Earl of Ashwick, the Duke of Valdeston, the Duke of Cort, Mr. Calvin Lockwood, and Mr. Rollo Kerry, leaving only five of the brotherhood left unattached.
Hugh often watched the couples and admitted some measure of jealousy because he didn’t
have what they had. Even with Maia, he’d not had it, for while he loved her in his own way, there had been something missing. He feared that even Maia had noticed it, though she’d tried to hide it.
Hugh only had to recall a look one of his friends would make at the mention of their wife. They were not ashamed to have their hearts so fully possessed by another and, as a man who’d seen that sort of love between his parents, Hugh feared he’d never have what the rest did.
Like many of the ton, he’d settled and would likely settle again.
He returned to the inn and climbed the stairs to the top floor where the rooms he’d procured were. He heard laughter through one of the rooms and knew it was Electra’s. She was likely speaking to her sisters. She was eager to get to London, and Hugh hoped he didn’t disappoint. As he’d told Taygete, he’d not make arrangements for men to call without knowing which sort of men the women would like, but he did plan to introduce them all to his friends’ wives. Lorena and her pack of women would be good assets in getting the task done and done well.
And giving Lorena something to do would also keep her and the rest out of danger.
Between the five women who'd married his friends, Hugh was sure he’d seen enough guns, kidnappings, and death to last him a lifetime.
The door opened just as he stepped away from it and Taygete came out, still smiling, a laugh on her lips as she closed the door. She didn’t see him until the door was in place and then he noticed how she clung to the door handle for a moment before letting it go.
“My lord,” she said. “I was just going to my room.”
Her formality irritated him. “Do you call your brother Mr. Bellenger?”
Her eyes widened. “Of course not.”
“Then call me Hugh,” he told her. “After all, we’re kin.”
Miss Taygete’s Sweet Sister’s Society Page 5