by Owner
Nodding in agreement, Lily stuck her head out once more and grinned as
she was blasted with fresh air. "Canter home, John. Canter home!” she
shouted.
Swiftly, she shut the door with a bang and felt the lurch of the carriage as
the horses picked up speed. Her excitement kept her nausea at bay, just,
and before it could overcome her, the horses were finally pulling to a halt
outside the front entrance.
Lily jumped out without the aid of a footman and spun around in a circle of
glee. “It's marvelous to be here!” she cried out and watched as the butler,
Carter, rushed down the stairs with a pleased smile on his face.
“May I say, your ladyship, that it's marvelous to have you home, even if you
didn't write to let us know you were arriving today!” he commented and with
that, and a comical click to his heels, he snapped into order, charging the
footman with unloading the cases and directing the coachman to the stables.
She left Janie amongst the litter of luggage for with the butler, she would
coordinate the moving of all Lily's possessions to her apartment in the
house. Excitement bubbled through her and she rushed away from the
carriage and towards the front entrance to her family home.
Over four hundred years old, Grantlake had been the home of the Mercer
family for that entire period. Each Marquess had, like many a familial
property, added his own segment to the house and so, it was a melting pot
of times and styles, from Elizabethan aspects to Georgian.
It was a large house and almost C-shaped. Three floors high and so wide
that if one were to walk the entire breadth of the ground floor, it could take
one almost forty five minutes!
As she rushed up the ten carved steps, her eyes absorbed each marvelous
foot and with relish, she leapt through the fifteen feet high, carved wooden
doorway and into the front hall. In the very center of the large chamber, lay
the foot of the central arterial staircase and knowing that her mother was
more than likely in her salon, she rushed up the carpeted stairs and turned
to the left. After passing three doors, she opened the door without a knock
and almost ran into the room.
The jolting of the door being opened had her mother practically jumping out
of her seat and upon spying her beloved visage, Lily cried out. "Mama!” she
yelled, her face almost crumbling as the desire to cry overcame her.
She ran over, threw herself at her mother's feet and tucked her arms around
her mama's waist. The position was awkward and hardly comfortable but it
felt far too good to at last be with her wonderful parent to complain.
“Lily?” Julia Mercer asked in a slightly dazed voice.
“Yes, mama, it is I.”
For the first time in a very long while, Julia gurgled with laughter and freed
herself from Lily's hold to fall to the floor and embrace her only daughter
with a ferocity that Lily had truly mourned. Her mama had always been so
exuberant, so energetic and to see her once more like this was a gift from
God.
“What are you doing here?” Julia asked as she squeezed Lily within her
arms.
“I had to come home, mama.”
“Did London not suit?” Julia asked in a wry voice full of understanding. “Now
you can understand why your father and I stayed at Grantlake for the most
part, can't you?”
Lily paused, surprised at her mother's blasé mentioning of her father but
perhaps time had healed that particular wound somewhat. She hesitated
over mentioning her papa herself and bit her lip as she pondered her next
words. "Indeed. The air is quite revolting, mama. I hated it. I detested the
balls and the people. They're all so mean and vicious!”
“I know. But you understand that you had to see that for yourself, don't you,
my sweet? I couldn't deprive you of your Season. Even though it appears
that you have cut it quite short?”
“Indeed, I told Aunt Millie that I was leaving last week and she was not best
pleased.”
“I can imagine,” came the wry reply. “Your aunt was always one for the ton.
I could never really find a place within that kind of society. As you say,
there's a vicious side to it and it is a side that has never appealed to me.
Your aunt, however, has always been able to see the best in people, even
when there was very little to be found!”
“Yes, she has a very kind heart and I've been quite appreciative, but it was
time for home.”
“Is something wrong, my dear?” Julia eventually replied, having paused for a
good two minutes at least to study her youngest child with the rapier sharp
gaze of a mother lioness out to protect her, admittedly grown, cub.
“No! Why, of course not!” Lily swiftly answered, desperate to keep her
mother in such high spirits.
“You know . . . ,” Julie murmured conversationally, her hands stroking the
smooth locks of her daughter's hair. “I have always been able to discern
when you are lying.”
Lily stilled and sighed. Her mama was right, she had always known if Devlin
or Lily were lying. Even if their papa hadn't!
“Why are you truly come home?”
“You don't particularly want to know, mama,” Lily promised, her voice tired.
“If it involves my daughter, then naturally, it is of gross import to me,” she
replied staunchly.
“Can you ever forgive me . . . ,” Lily started, then broke off and buried her
face against her mama's shoulder.
“Of course, I can, but I can't tell you imperatively if I do not know what I'm
forgiving you for, now can I?” Julia said lightly. “And, my sweet, nothing can
be as bad as you believe it to be. After these months without your papa, I
can attest to that.
"I'm pregnant,” Lily whispered, her lower lip wobbling at the sordidness of
the entire situation.
Julia sighed. “I thought it would be something like that.”
Pulling away, Lily stared with surprise at her mother's easy acceptance. "You
did?”
“Yes. You've always been a difficult child.”
Lily scowled at her mama's swift and sure retort, but how could she deny it?
"I wish I could argue with you about that, but I can't. I was difficult and it
appears that little has changed,” she whispered miserably.
“Perhaps, but all is not lost. Will the father not marry you?”
“I-I do not know. Until today, when Janie said that I had missed my
monthly, I was not certain.”
“Well then, you must tell him. Write him and inform him he is to be a father.
He is . . . a gentleman?”
Lily nodded miserably. She stared over her mother's shoulder and looked out
on to the pleasant environs of her mama's salon. The wall opposite her was
painted a light duck-egg blue, it was paneled and in the center of the panel,
rested an authentic Roman urn. Roman antiquities had always been a
passion of Julia's and Lily's papa had indulged her. On each of the four walls,
in the center of a gilded panel, rested an authentic object from that period.
A small, stone deity.
An urn.
A large gold pendant of Hera, the Queen of the Gods a
nd wife of Zeus, that
was framed.
And finally, a small bust of one of the Goddesses, Persephone.
In the center of the room was a large table, upon which lay a myriad
selection of her mother's books, complete with messy papers and an ink
blotter and pen, and a tea tray which had been severely depleted of biscuits
and tea. A matching gilt and mahogany chair was perched beneath the
table. Then, clustered around these central items of furniture, were two
armchairs in a rich navy blue linen at opposite ends of the room, which
looked on to the table. Before the hearth, was a settle, which her mother
had been sitting at before Lily had accosted her.
She stared miserably at the urn and sighed. “He is an Earl.”
“That is something, at least,” her mama replied gently. “Is he . . . is he a
good man?”
“I thought he was.”
“That is not so good. What is his name, dearest?”
“I can't tell you mama. You'll tell Devlin and he'll ride hotfoot to London and
challenge him. I love him, mama. I don't want him to be hurt.”
“I'm sure you do love him, my sweet! Indeed, I doubt you would have gifted
him with so precious a gift if you hadn't!” Julia hesitated. “Do you care to
know a secret, darling?” At Lily's slight nod, her lips twitched slightly. "Your father and I . . . we were rather precipitous of our wedding vows. It was
quite fortunate that Devlin . . . well, it was quite fortunate that he arrived
later than he should have.”
Despite her misery, laughter escaped Lily's lips. “Papa was your soul mate
though, mama. And father had at least proposed! I have no such promise
and, in fairness, I did not ask it of him.” Lily's smile disappeared, and, for a
moment, she hesitated over whether or not to inform her mama of the
reasons behind her folly and decided not to. Her mama was quite obviously
recuperating from her grief and Lily did not want to give her another reason
to mourn. Rather than reveal the entire truth, she settled on a kinder
version of events. "I fell for him as he . . . he was still mourning his wife's
death. There was a poignancy about him that struck me. I did not realize
until later that it was not a grief for her death but for what might have been.
She had betrayed him.”
“They say that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at
all, but it is a statement I quite often ponder and question. I was quite
fortunate. Your father was a wonderful man and not once, did he force me to
question whether he loved me and whether I could or should trust him. But
not many spouses are so fortunate. Perhaps, with time, he could come
around?”
“I am sure that he would, but there is a deadline, is there not?” she
murmured with a cold laugh. “I cannot regret this babe, mama. I will not.”
“I did not ask you to, my love. I am thinking. That is all.”
“I am simply glad that you do not hate me, mama. I had feared that you
would.”
“How could I hate my little girl?” Julia asked quietly. “Many a mama might,
but not this one. We have always been an odd family, always out of touch
with the ton and I can't help but believe that is a good thing.” She sighed
and silence reigned between them for a moment or two. The only sounds
came from the flickering fire and ticking of the clock. “Come,” Julia
whispered. “You need to rest. You have had a long journey, and, if your
early days are anything as mine were, you will be in need of some sleep!”
With a faint smile, Lily climbed to her feet and helped her mother to a
standing position. Together, they clasped arms and walked to the opposite
end of the house and to Lily's chambers.
****
Where was she?
Damn her hide!
She came to him, unsure of whether or not she was pregnant, didn't have
the decency to try and force him to legalize their union and then simply
vanished?
He gritted his teeth and slammed down the book he'd been reading.
Well, he conceded, she had hardly vanished. He had a good idea where she
was and he wasn't best pleased about having to hotfoot it to Grantlake and
face her brother with the unpleasant truth.
Grimacing at the thought, he shrugged his shoulders. He was no weakling,
had no fear for Devlin's retribution, but he rather liked his nose in the
position it was and the least he deserved was a broken appendage for
despoiling Devlin's little sis.
Knowing that he would have to rush after her had had him in bad spirits this
last week. At first, he'd contemplated drink but had swiftly realized that it
would not ease the ache that Lily had left behind. And quickly after he had
come to that realization, he had pondered her words, assimilated their
meaning and come to conclusions that had frustrated him all the more!
The first task he had undertaken upon realizing that Lily had disappeared
was to send for Hague. Together they had deduced that a recently employed
footman by the name of Geoffrey was the likely culprit who had gifted Lily's
blackmailer with a key to the house. And who had also enabled Lily to gain
entrance.
When the man had been interviewed and had broken down with guilt, he
had confessed that William Wright had employed him to infiltrate Dorian's
household. Not that Dorian had needed that confirmation. He'd known,
instinctively, that this was William's work, and, had he had his wits about
him when Lily had come to him with this news, he would have instantly put
two and two together.
Rather than dismissing Geoffrey, who, according to Hague, had been a good
worker, Dorian had decided to keep him on. On pains that were anything like
this to ever occur again, Geoffrey would be out on his hide faster than the
speed of light! The footman had been relieved beyond word and Dorian knew
that he had a loyal servant for life! He had thus sent him around to seek
William and invite him around for dinner.
Unfortunately for Dorian's temper, William had traveled up to his hunting
box and Dorian was still impatiently waiting for him to return.
The second had been to hire an investigator to look into William's spending
habits . . . . He'd known that the way to hurt William was through his pocket
and Dorian had not been wrong.
He knew damned well that he had to find Lily, that he had to make her his
wife and legalize the child she could very well be carrying, but he also knew
that there was a score to settle with William, if not with fists, then simply so
that he could understand.
William had always been jealous. Not a moment had passed throughout the
duration of their lives, when Will hadn't been envious of something that
Dorian had. It had only worsened, when he'd inherited the title and William
had become his heir.
Why he hadn't remembered that, William's bitterness, when his cousin had
been slandering Lily, Dorian didn't know. It infuriated him that his mind had
been quite willing to allow William to defame Lily and that he'd simply
accepted it angered him all the more.
Why hadn't he defended her? Why had he believ
ed the nonsense that
William had been spouting? When he knew for a fact that it was William with
whom Camille had betrayed him?
Staring into the fire, Dorian sighed heavily. He had spent an angry few days
stomping around and it had only worsened as he'd had Geoffrey on the
prowl for William's whereabouts. When ultimately, his cousin had been
'found', it had soothed his temper somewhat.
The only thing that had remained was to ascertain how William would be
punished.
Dorian had pondered the prospect and had finally discovered the best way to
rid the world, well if not the world, the country of William's presence and he
was glad to have come to the right conclusion. While he would have loved to
kill the bastard, his morals would not allow him. The punishment he had
thought up was quite befitting and the end result rested on William's own
shoulders.
He smirked into the flames then stalked over to the drinks table. He poured
a short glass of ratafia and sunk it back. It tasted foul, but then, so did the
majority of liqueurs upon this table! It did the job though. Sent fire shooting
through his belly and with the upcoming . . . argument with William, it
merely spurned him on.
Dorian retreated to an armchair and sat there to wait for his cousin to finally
appear. It was a moment he was most looking forward to, indeed had been
playing out the scene in his mind for the last few days.
It would be with relish that he destroyed William's life, the same relish that
William would have felt when he had attempted to do the same with
Dorian's.
It was a shame, but he could almost forgive William for his blunder with
Camille but not with Lily.
A part of him wondered why and then another part, demanded that he never
question it. That it simply was. And that was that.
It had not taken much for her to get through to him, for her to penetrate his
walls, his shields. And when she had walked into his office, he had worked
so hard to remain calm and to swat away her words, a part of him wanting
to believe William's word regardless of his cousin's earlier betrayal. For the
most part, William had succeeded and then Dorian had seen her fall. A slight
stumble and that was it.
His heart had leapt into his chest and he'd known that even if William had
been speaking the truth, she loved him. His belief had only been confirmed,