Miss Goldsleigh's Secret

by Amylynn Bright

Olivia stopped listening as the children and Cassie debated their lesson. In fact, Olivia was so far in her head, she didn’t notice Henry had come into the room until he sat next to her at the table.

  “Not that you aren’t always a vision of loveliness, turtledove,” Henry’s voice rumbled, breaking her concentration, “but, putting it mildly, you and my sister are a mess.”

  A cursory examination with Olivia’s fingers found that her hair had defied the braids and pins and now curls toppled down. She clucked with her tongue and used her napkin to brush absently at the dust that clung to the material. Being mussed was the least of her worries. Oh dear God, if anything happened to Penny…

  “What mischief has Cassie had you doing?” Henry leaned over and plucked a cobweb from her shoulder.

  “It wasn’t me,” Cassie assured her brother. “Olivia thought Penny might have been hiding in the attic like we did when we were young.”

  Henry quirked an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “Penny is missing,” Olivia blurted. She couldn’t quell the panic, the metaphoric storm cloud having now built into an apprehension she could no longer ignore. Reginald had mentioned Penny by name. To dismiss what she’d assumed had been an idle threat was a mistake. It also meant Reginald was crazier than ever.

  Henry gave a one-shoulder shrug. “She’ll turn up,” he said, nonchalant, and tucked into his roast beef.

  “No.” Olivia shook her head, emphatic. “Something’s wrong.”

  Henry stopped chewing and met her gaze.

  Olivia continued, “No one has seen her for hours.” Henry set down his fork and knife and turned to face her. “The longer she’s gone, the more I’m afraid she won’t just turn up.”

  “What are you telling me?” Everything about her fiancé was serious now.

  “No one knows where she is.” How could she ever tell him what she suspected and feared? She should have told him last night. The other conversations in the room had ceased, all attention on Olivia and Henry’s discussion. As frightened as she was to reveal everything, she was much more terrified that she’d allowed something dreadful to happen to her friend.

  Henry addressed the rest of the family. “Who saw Penny at breakfast?”

  His grandmother spoke first. “I ate with her this morning.”

  “Did she mention what she had planned for the day?” Henry asked.

  The older woman thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t think so, but she usually goes for a walk through the park first thing in the morning.”

  Olivia did know Penny liked to take a constitutional early, before the park got crowded, even when it had been a particularly late night. She paled at the memory of her cousin lurking ominously on the fringes of the path, almost in the wooded glen, watching her. How easy it would be for Reginald and his thugs to snatch Penny. She covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head.

  Henry eyed her reaction, his expression hardened into something just short of accusation. “Pair up, and let’s look through the house,” he ordered, rising from the table. “You, come with me.”

  The family removed themselves from the table in confused cooperation, polarized by Olivia’s obvious distress and the fact that Henry now shared her same concerns. As the two of them left the room, the butler was organizing the household servants to join the search.

  Henry led her to his study and closed the door. “Where is my sister?”

  She rushed to get the words out. “I think Reginald has her.”

  Henry’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  Olivia’s hands fluttered at her sides, and she didn’t know what to do with them. “Because he told me if I didn’t go with him, he’d take her.”

  “What?” Henry yelled, his voice mixed with incredulity and anger. “When the hell did this happen?”

  Olivia refused to waver. This was her fault, and she’d take the anger coming at her, but inwardly she cringed. “Yesterday outside the milliner’s.”

  “Oh my Lord, Olivia,” He erupted in words and action, whirling and stomping across the room. He spun back around and demanded, “You didn’t think that bit of information should reach my ears right away? You failed to tell me, me, the one man who has repeatedly tried to protect you from that ass of a cousin of yours. But now it’s not just about you.”

  “I know,” she whispered. She covered her mouth, afraid she’d start weeping—tears of fear for her dear friend, tears she had no right to shed. Not right now. Not while Penny was still missing.

  Henry’s handsome face was harder than she’d ever seen it. “What did he say exactly? I don’t want to hear any lies or half-truths. We don’t have time.”

  “I would never lie to you, Henry.” She reached out to touch his arm, but he withdrew from her fingers. Olivia crossed her arms over her chest instead.

  Henry raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Really? Starting when?”

  Olivia swallowed. “Not about anything really important.” Except she’d been lying to him one way or another since day one. She thought she’d been protecting him and his family by withholding truths, lies of omission, but she’d managed to do the exact opposite. “I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to Penny.”

  “We don’t have time for this right now.” The blue of his eyes settled into crystal blue fervency. “We need to find my sister.”

  ***

  At that moment he was so angry at Olivia and himself he couldn’t be in the same room with her. If he could have figured out how to separate from himself, he would have.

  After all of his patience, how could she still not trust him with something as important as Penny’s safety? Intellectually, he knew how terrified Olivia must have been of Reginald’s sneak attacks. The man had been stalking her for months. He imagined what the stress of living like that did to a person. She must have been in a near-constant panic. In her defense, he could begrudgingly understand why she thought she could take care of herself. Granted, she hadn’t done very well at it, but he could see why, after her explanations of the abuses she found at the hands of the inhabitants of London who offered to help her, she was reticent in trusting him one hundred percent.

  Henry felt totally and pathetically useless. Still, even understanding the reasons why, his feelings were hurt.

  When Henry got his hands on the bastard, he was going to kill him.

  His long, angry strides ate up the marble floor as he marched back to the foyer. He knew Olivia followed him in the same way he was always aware of her whenever she was near. His senses reached out to her and pulled the essence that was Olivia into him to muddle his mind further. Even when he was furious or fearful as he was now, he longed to drown in the scent of her terminally tousled hair, to run his hands down the length of her petite body, to fit his palm in the curve of her waist or the small of her back where two dimples began the slope of her bottom.

  She sniffled, and his heart broke a little bit more, but he was still too angry to drag her to him and swear to her again how he’d never let anything happen to her.

  First he had to find Penny.

  And, second, find the worthless son of a bitch and kill him with as much relish as possible.

  A small gathering of servants and sisters milled about in the foyer when he marched in at precisely the same instant the front door swung open and his missing sister strolled in.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Henry thundered. Penelope didn’t have time to be surprised at her reception before Olivia burst past him and enveloped Penny in a desperate hug.

  “Omph,” Penny grunted. “Hello.”

  “Are you all right?” Olivia asked as soon as she pulled back from the embrace. She stared into Penny’s face and raked her eyes over Penny’s dress and coiffure. She did look disheveled, but not harmed in any way.

  “Where have you been,” Henry demanded.

  “I met Lady Harrington in the park walking her puppies. We adjourned to her home for tea and to play with them,” Penny looked at Olivia in alarm as s
he clung to Penny’s hand and unabashedly wept. “What happened?”

  “Nothing, duckling,” Henry told her, his voice back to normal. Nothing had happened to her. His sister was safe. Now that he knew the nature of the danger, nothing would.

  Since Penny was home and the events surrounding her disappearance turned out to be so mundane, the crowd in the hall grew bored and shuffled off in various directions, leaving just Henry, Olivia and his two oldest sisters in the hall.

  “You missed the Ladies Auxiliary Meeting,” Cassie told her, eyes wide in a meaningful way.

  “Oh no, I totally forgot.” Penelope grimaced. “Is she home already?”

  “No,” Cassie said, and then added unnecessarily, “Though she was really angry.”

  “Do you suppose I could race over there and still make it?” Penny asked.

  “No!” Henry said with more force than was required. “You’re all staying home.”

  “There’s no need to yell, Henry,” Penny glanced at Olivia. The woman was finally getting control of herself. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Olivia smiled and shook her head, which loosened yet another curl. “I was very worried about you. Let’s get you upstairs and out of this mussed dress.”

  Henry had forgotten about Lady Francesca’s puppies from hell. They would certainly explain his sister’s roughshod appearance.

  “Have you seen those puppies?” Penny asked Olivia and Cassie. “They are so adorable.”

  “No,” Henry said firmly.

  “No what?” Penny’s expression was innocence and light as if he didn’t know exactly where the conversation was heading.

  “You may not have one of those demon dogs. Do not ask.”

  Penny looked abashed as if the thought never occurred to her. “I never asked for a puppy, Henry.” His sister turned from him with a haughty twist of her head. “I will tell you all about them,” she told the ladies. “They are perfectly precious.”

  “Um-hmmmm.” Henry knew better. He snagged his sister’s arm before she got away and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you’re all right, petunia.”

  His sisters and fiancée turned for the stairs, already chattering away.

  “Olivia.” He said her name low. She turned back from the group, the resignation and regret in her eyes almost melting his resolve, but no. He’d had enough of the hiding and half-truths and deception—no matter what the reason. “Not you. Come with me.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Sit.” Henry pointed at the leather sofa in his study. Olivia perched at the edge of the seat, too nervous to make herself comfortable. Henry paced a bit before he paused in front of her, his feet planted firmly apart on the Turkish carpet, projecting power and authority. “Start from the beginning,” he instructed.

  “I want to,” she admitted, “and I will, but may I have a drink first?”

  Henry eyed her with purpose before turning to the sideboard and pouring a snifter of brandy for each of them. When he handed the glass to Olivia, she glanced at it with distaste.

  “Do you have any water?” His look of keen annoyance told her without words that he did not. “Thank you,” she said anyway when her shaking hands took the glass and raised the liquid to her lips. One tentative sip started a fire down her throat, but it settled pleasantly in her stomach after a short cough, and some of her anxiety left after the second and third sips.

  “I haven’t lied to you about much, really.” Olivia stared at his feet and knew that wasn’t true. “Or rather, I didn’t want to lie to you at all. Everything I’ve told you about us up to when you found us on Bond Street was true except for one large piece.” She looked up at him then redirected her gaze below his knees. “Warren and I weren’t running from my cousin. We were running from the magistrate. Our escape from Reginald ended somewhat differently than I had led you to believe.”

  Olivia fidgeted on the cushion and fingered the stem of her glass, stalling while she got up the courage to tell her fiancée she had thought herself a murderess all that time. His stoic silence while he waited for her to continue with her tale was almost as awful as any yelling she anticipated when he learned the truth.

  She took a deep breath and continued. “Everything we’ve said about Reginald and his cruelty is true and more. He’s an awful, horrible man, and he terrifies me. The night we left my home, he was wholly intent on inflicting great harm to Warren and me. I clobbered him on the head with a frying pan, and we thought that would be enough to allow us to escape. We’d already packed small bags, and we were going to leave through the woods. Except the pan didn’t knock him unconscious as we’d thought.” This time Olivia took a longer drought of brandy to fortify herself. The next words were the worst. Still, Henry stood tall and silent.

  “Warren had packed my father’s gun in case of danger in the woods.”

  She couldn’t finish it. Murderess was too horrible to say. Henry would never want her around his family, to be his wife, once the words left her mouth. She couldn’t blame him. If the roles were reversed, she wouldn’t want a liar of her ilk living in his house and influencing his sisters.

  “Did you shoot him, Livvy?”

  Olivia sighed. “Warren shot him to stop him from raping me, but I’ll never allow any harm to come to him because of it. He’s just a child, and he was protecting me. I’ll tell everyone it was me.”

  “That explains his threats of prosecuting you for attempted murder. I had thought it was only another nasty way to terrorize you.” How Henry could be so calm and composed was beyond her. “But your cousin’s not dead.”

  She choked out a rueful laugh. “No one was more surprised than me when he showed up at that ball. All this time, I’ve been running from a ghost.”

  “You didn’t shoot him.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Olivia started to take another calming sip of brandy, but the glass was empty. “He knows that I’ll take the blame. Nothing will ever happen to Warren if I have anything to say about it.”

  “’Tis neither here nor there,” Dalton told her matter-of-factly. “My title will protect you once we’re married. Nothing will ever happen to you or Warren. I assure you.”

  Olivia inhaled slowly, filling her lungs for the first time in what seemed like hours. He knew the absolute worst of it and he didn’t even flinch. In fact, he showed no emotion at all, which was equally disconcerting.

  “He’ll never allow me to marry you before I reach my majority. Never.”

  “Your birthday is only days away,” he reminded her. She’d feel so much better if he didn’t stand so far away, if he didn’t sound so detached. Henry was usually so affectionate and demonstrative.

  Olivia shook her head adamantly. “You don’t know what kind of man you’re dealing with. It sounds like I’m exaggerating when I say it out loud, but Reginald is evil. He’s demanding I come back with him.”

  “Why couldn’t you trust me enough to tell me?”

  Dammit all, she knew the tears were coming. Olivia buried her face in one hand, the other dangled the empty glass. Her stupid hair hung in her eyes. “I was so afraid. Afraid you’d throw us out of your house, and we have nowhere to go. I never wanted to spend your money. I’ve kept an accounting so I can repay you.”

  Henry grunted. “I don’t care about any of that.”

  “The first time he came to the garden after…” She ducked her head to the side, too shy to say the words out loud. “He told me he would drag me back. He promised me he would hurt me so badly you’d never want me.”

  “Has he done…? Did he…?” Henry’s expression was explosive.

  “No, he shoved me and, well, you saw.”

  Henry nodded, his lips set in a grim line. “Yet you lied to me when I showed concern.”

  “I was so afraid, afraid of Reginald and, most of all, what you would think of me.” Olivia struggled to keep her voice even and under control. “He was trying to scare me, terrorize me into complying with what he wanted.”

 
“But yesterday was different? How?”

  “Because he knew Penny’s name.” She thought back to Reginald’s face and shuddered. “I thought all along I could protect everyone from him. The first time I didn’t tell you because I was certain he didn’t mean it. It was wrong of me to put your family in jeopardy.” Olivia stood and tilted her head to meet Henry’s dubious gaze. “In the beginning, I thought I could take care of him and never have to bother you with any more of my calamities. Now, I’m afraid for you.”

  Henry didn’t reply. Both hands scrubbed through his hair in a gesture Olivia was beginning to recognize as frustration. “How? How did you think you could fix this? You more than anyone know what he’s like.”

  “I still have my father’s gun.”

  Henry laughed a loud, mirthless guffaw.

  “Well, it turns out I wasn’t able to do anything with it anyway.” Her lips formed a weak, embarrassed smile. “I did hit him pretty hard with it inside my reticule though.”

  Henry shook his head and didn’t smile at her attempt at a jest. “Did you have any practical solutions at all? I have a hard time seeing you gun down a man in the street.”

  “You’re right. I was stupid, and my defense is pitifully weak. Regardless of what happened in the garden or since, you barely know me.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” he said through a clenched jaw.

  “What was to keep you, what’s still keeping you, from throwing me out of your house? I’m way too much trouble than I’m worth.” Olivia sat heavily on the sofa. If the idea hadn’t occurred to him before, her stupidly suggesting it would certainly put it in his head now.

  “Because I gave my word, dammit. What kind of a man do you think I am?”

  A very good, very decent, very honorable man. “I didn’t know what to do.” She set the glass on the carpet and used both hands to wipe at her cheeks. “I’m so afraid, Henry. I warred with myself—to leave here in order to protect your family or to stay here, with you, someone I’ve come to care about a great deal.”

  Henry was still so far away, across the room, across a vast, emotional divide. Did he hate her now? She guessed that was fair since she hated herself, too. She had been so close to happy.