Heirs and Graces

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘Keep still and let me worship you,’ he said, tapping her thigh. ‘I have waited too long for this moment to rush it.’

  ‘But you are still dressed. It seems unfair.’

  ‘You must allow a man his moment of victory, Olivia. It is the first time I can recall that I have ever managed to have you obey me without question.’ He laughed at her affronted expression. ‘I mean to make the most of it.’

  But he stood and stripped off his shirt, providing her with her first view of his naked chest. She swallowed as she drank in the sight of powerful muscles shifting and flexing as he moved. She reached up and ran a hand across his torso. He was hers, she reminded herself, at least for now; a dominant and possessive god with a disturbingly poised air of invincibility that made her feel safe and protected in ways that transcended the mere physical. He owned her heart and always would, but he would never hear her admit it. It had taken a long time to break through his defences and she had no intention of frightening him off with declarations he wasn’t ready to hear.

  Might never want to hear.

  She would take as much of him as he was prepared to give her and never allow him to see that what she really wanted was all of him.

  Olivia allowed her mind to run free and gave herself over to Jake’s capable hands. She couldn’t remember the precise order of things afterwards. All she knew was that he was suddenly naked, rampant and then inside her, rousing her passions to previously unimaginable heights again and then again before he took his own pleasure.

  Afterwards she lay cradled in his arms, using his shoulder as a pillow, tangling her fingers idly in the curling hair of his chest. Every bone in her body felt as though it had been liquefied and she was perfectly sure that her legs would never bear her weight if she attempted to stand.

  ‘I had no idea,’ she said dreamily. ‘Absolutely none.’

  ‘I thought you might not,’ he replied, sounding pleased with himself and tightening his grip around her shoulders.

  ‘What happens now?’ she asked.

  ‘I already told you,’ he replied. ‘There is no going back to the way things were, but we have to be very careful. I cannot be seen too often in public with you. You know why.’

  He wasn’t rejecting her, which was all that mattered. ‘Yes, I understand perfectly. I may not agree with you, but I do understand.’

  ‘I shall not work for Thorndike anymore.’

  ‘Well, that is one good thing to come out of this. And in time, memories will fade. It won’t be too long before you can stop constantly worrying about your enemies.’

  ‘I cannot promise that I won’t continue to help people…people like Mabel, if they find their way to my door.’

  ‘I should think less of you if you did. And you know, of course, that I will always work with you.’ She leaned up on one elbow and scowled at him. ‘Just because our relationship has changed, please don’t imagine that you have to be even more protective. I simply won’t stand for it. You are not the only one who enjoys righting wrongs and quite often your activities require a woman’s touch.’

  ‘We shall see.’

  ‘There is nothing to see, Jake. I will permit you to make the decisions in this room.’ She sent him a teasing smile. ‘Well, at least until I gain more knowledge. But I reserve the right to maintain my independence elsewhere.’

  ‘Naturally,’ he said, so smoothly that Olivia narrowed her eyes at him.

  ‘Rest, my sweet,’ he said, pushing her gently back onto the pillows and kissing her brow. ‘I hate to love you and leave you but Fergus and I have an appointment this afternoon with my attorneys and I am probably late for it.’

  ‘They will wait for you.’

  ‘Even so. Rest for a while before you call your maid to help you dress.’ He chucked as he pushed the hair away from her face and regarded her with an adoring look. ‘If she sees that satiated look in your eye she will know what you have been doing and will most likely be shocked into giving notice.’

  Olivia laughed aloud because everything he said seemed incredibly amusing. ‘Very likely,’ she agreed. She sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. ‘Get away with you and do whatever it is that you have to do. I shall see you at dinner.’

  He stood, quickly pulled his clothes on and bent over to give her a final, lingering kiss. ‘Until later,’ he said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jake’s earthy aroma overwhelmed Olivia’s senses long after he left her. She lay between the crumpled sheets, hugging the pillow upon which his head had rested, feeling satiated, drowsy and feminine to her fingertips. She indulged in a languid stretch, wondering how she could have reached the age of twenty-five, experienced so much of life and yet known so little about its fundamentals.

  She laughed aloud, wondering if she had been wise to behave with such abandon. But having given way to temptation, the deep gravitational pull towards Jake that she had been fighting for so long was simply too strong to continue resisting it. They had wasted too much time already. All she had to do now was convince Jake that they didn’t have to sneak about like thieves in the night. Everyone who cared about her seemed to think there was more between them than had existed before today; or if there was not then there ought to be. Who was she to disoblige her friends?

  Resolved with her conscience, she drifted into a light sleep but was almost immediately awoken again by the sound of a low voice.

  ‘She’s asleep.’

  ‘Is she ill, do you suppose? Mrs Grantley never sleeps during the day.’

  ‘I couldn’t say but I won’t wake her unless it’s urgent.’

  The voices were those of her maid Molly and her son’s nursemaid. She sat up immediately, concerned that something might be wrong with Tom; retribution of the worst kind for the manner in which she had spent her afternoon. Belatedly she recalled her nakedness and hastily pulled the sheet up to her chin, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes as she focused them on the two women.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Is Tom unwell?’

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, ma’am. It’s nothing really. It’s just that I can’t find Tom’s rabbit. He’s getting fractious, what with the excitement of moving here today, and is asking for Mr Rabbit. He will settle better with his favourite toy. You know how attached he is to it.’

  ‘Certainly I do.’ Olivia had made the rabbit for him herself just after he was born. A weird assortment of felt stuffed with oddments of muslin, buttons for eyes and huge floppy ears lined with silk, Tom loved his rabbit. Although now in danger of falling apart from the treatment he had subjected it to, it was still the first thing Tom wanted when tired or upset. ‘Presumably you brought Mr Rabbit with you, Jane.’

  ‘Well yes, ma’am. I’m absolutely sure that I packed him, but I can’t find him anywhere. I wondered if Tom had slipped him into your valise whilst my back was turned. You know what a scamp he can be.’

  ‘Have you looked through my things, Molly?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am, and I was just telling Jane that Mr Rabbit simply isn’t there.’

  ‘Then he must have been left behind.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, ma’am,’ Jane said. ‘I can’t think how the mistake could have happened.’

  ‘Shall I ask Mr Parker to send someone to Chelsea to get him?’ Molly asked.

  Olivia took a moment to consider the difficulty. In spite of the changes in her relationship with Jake, or perhaps because of them, she resented his determination to hold her a virtual prisoner. If he had been over-protective before she suspected that was nothing compared to the way he would be now, and Olivia simply wasn’t prepared to be stifled. This seemed like as good an opportunity as any to make a stand for her independence.

  ‘No, Molly, I shall go myself.’

  ‘Oh, ma’am, do you think that’s wise?’ Her maid’s brow creased with worry. ‘His lordship was most insistent that—’

  ‘What I do is not his lordship’s concern. Go back to Tom, Jane,
and keep him as calm as you can but do not permit him to misbehave. Tell him Mama will bring Mr Rabbit to him very soon but that there will be no cake for tea if he is not a good boy.’

  ‘Very good, ma’am,’ Jane said, leaving the room.

  ‘I shall arrange some warm water,’ Molly said, her back stiff with disapproval as she disappeared to attend to the matter herself rather than ringing to have a footman bring the water. She could probably guess why Olivia was languishing in bed in the middle of the afternoon. Jake’s lingering aroma, Olivia’s dishevelment and her inability to stop smiling like an idiot must have given her away.

  ‘Oh dear!’ Olivia muttered to herself, laughing as she donned her chemise and attacked her tangled hair with a brush.

  Molly returned with a kettle of water and helped Olivia to wash and dress without saying a word, but her mouth seemed to be permanently pinched into a line of disapproval. Whether at Olivia’s activities that afternoon or her determination to return to Chelsea alone, Olivia neither knew nor cared. No one, absolutely no one, could upset her today.

  ‘Thank you, Molly,’ she said, placing her hat on her head at a jaunty angle that precisely matched her mood. ‘That will be all.’

  Olivia slipped from her room shortly after Molly left it, expecting to be challenged by Parker at any moment, but to her astonishment he didn’t appear. Presumably he had gone with Jake and Fergus to their meeting. Then, as she reached the ground floor, she heard voices coming from behind the closed door to Jake’s library and realised that the meeting was taking place in there. Of course it was! People waited upon Jake; not the other way around.

  Taking advantage of Jake’s preoccupation, Olivia left the house by a side door, aware that she wouldn’t be seen from the windows of the library if she took that route. Part of her was annoyed that she felt the need to sneak out but she reminded herself that she had a point to make and a child in urgent need of his comforter. It would be better to argue with Jake about what he would perceive as disobedience after the event, at which time she would be able to point out that no harm had actually come to her.

  Asking for her carriage would take too long; the risk of being found out before it was prepared too great. She would simply hail a Hansom; there were always plenty plying for trade in this area. She reached the street without, as far as she could tell, being noticed and found a cab without trouble. She settled back on seat, feeling mildly euphoric to have got this far. She chuckled as she thought about how angry Jake would be. He was unaccustomed to people disobeying him.

  ‘Get used to it,’ she muttered, a small smile playing about her lips as she thought about all the things she could do to coax him back into a congenial frame of mind. Having struck this blow for her independence first, naturally.

  She had the cab drop her a short distance away from her residence. An unnecessary precaution but by taking it she could demonstrate to Jake that she had been…well, cautious. Once the cab moved away she walked to her house, enjoying the mild weather, watching everyone she passed on the way. She saw nothing to excite her suspicions. As far as she could tell, there was nothing out of the ordinary and no one paid any attention to her.

  Green opened the door to her and looked surprised to see her.

  ‘Madam, is everything all right?’

  ‘Perfectly so, thank you, Green. It is just that we have a small emergency in Grosvenor Square. We cannot find Mr Rabbit.’

  ‘Oh dear. I dare say Master Tom is upset about that.’

  ‘The nursery is in uproar and so I came to look for him in the hope of saving the day.’

  ‘I shall arrange for some tea and then look for the recalcitrant rabbit myself.’

  ‘Thank you, Green.’

  Olivia removed her hat and went through to her drawing room. A maid brought her tea shortly before Green returned, waving the rather bedraggled Mr Rabbit in the air.

  ‘Well done, Green. Where was he?’

  ‘He had slipped down between Master Tom’s bed and the floor, ma’am. That must be how he came to be left behind.’

  Olivia sipped her tea. ‘Crisis averted then. Thank you, Green.’

  ‘You are welcome, madam. I assume you came by Hansom,’ he added, peering out of the window as though expecting her carriage to magically appear. ‘Shall I hail one to take you back to Grosvenor Square?’

  ‘No need, Green. I shall walk down to Sloane Square and take one from there.’

  ‘Far be it from me to suggest otherwise—’

  ‘Then don’t!’

  ‘It is just that Lord Torbay gave specific instructions—’

  ‘Lord Torbay does not pay your wages. I do and—’

  The sound of the doorbell startled Olivia, which was probably just as well. Green was a faithful servant, had previously risked his life to protect her and had her best interests at heart. She would be well advised to remember that instead of losing patience with him for taking Jake’s part.

  ‘You had best see who it is, Green,’ she said curtly.

  He left the room at a stately pace and opened the front door.

  ‘Is Mrs Grantley at home?’ Olivia heard a male voice she didn’t recognise ask.

  ‘No, she is not.’

  The lack of politeness and his failure to address the caller as sir was not lost on Olivia.

  ‘Damnation! When will she be home? I must speak with her. It is a matter of the greatest urgency.’

  ‘She is away for an extended period.’

  ‘My business cannot wait. Where can she be found?’

  ‘I am not at liberty to release that information, but if you would care to leave your name and state the nature of your business, I will endeavour to get a message to her.’

  ‘My name?’ The man sounded as though it ought to be obvious. Olivia felt apprehensive. This could not be a coincidence, surely? A stranger calling and demanding to see her when she just happened to have returned home…alone. All her senses told her the caller had something to do with Armitage and that Green ought to send him packing. And yet… ‘My name is Armitage. Henry Armitage.’

  Olivia froze. What the devil? How had he found her? Damn it, Jake would never let her hear the end of this!

  ‘Why do you wish to see Mrs Grantley? I don’t believe she is acquainted with you.’

  ‘I think…that is, I very much hope she might be able to help me find my sister.’

  Olivia’s mind whirled with a jumble of unpalatable possibilities. The only male servant in the house was Green. Armitage was young and presumably strong. If he tried to force his way past Green, he would most likely succeed and Green could be seriously hurt—or worse. Olivia, on the other hand, was well able to defend herself. Far better than most people knew because they did not expect a female to be versed in the art of hand-to-hand combat. Jake had insisted upon giving her instruction in that skill when she started to work for him, as well as teaching her fencing and how to fire a pistol. As a consequence she knew how to attack a much larger and stronger opponent’s weak points.

  ‘I do not mean Mrs Grantley any harm; on that point you can rest assured. I merely wish to speak with her.’

  ‘It’s all right, Green.’ Olivia stepped into the vestibule. ‘I will receive Mr Armitage.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure, ma’am?’

  ‘Quite sure.’

  Olivia watched as Mr Armitage stepped through the door and handed his hat to Green. He was of average height with a countenance that might be handsome, were he not quite so obviously preoccupied. Olivia could see the resemblance to his sister; there was a gentleness about his demeanour that helped to settle her nerves. Her instincts told her that he would not willingly harm anyone but still, she knew better than to relax her guard. Appearances could be deceptive. She ensured the hatpin that she had hastily removed from her discarded headwear was still inserted in the folds of her sleeve. Considerable damage could be done with a simple pin, strategically placed. Certainly enough to give Olivia the upper hand, should the need arise. />
  ‘Thank you, ma’am,’ Mr Armitage said, following her into the drawing room and taking the seat Olivia ushered him towards. ‘I am sorry to intrude upon you in such a fashion, but I am at my wits end.’

  ‘I heard you tell my servant that you thought I might know your sister.’ Olivia fixed him with a probing look, trying to decide how much he actually knew. ‘Why you should reach that conclusion is less obvious to me.’

  ‘She disappeared a few days ago, after an argument with my father.’ He ran a hand through his hair abstractedly. ‘Oh, pardon me. I ought to explain that my family owns the Armitage Glassworks in Limehouse.’

  ‘I know of the establishment by reputation.’

  ‘My sister received an advantageous offer of marriage, which she declined.’

  ‘Then perhaps she did not think the offer was to her advantage,’ Olivia replied with a negligent shrug.

  ‘She did not. My father insisted that she accept it and a violent argument ensued. I think Father was surprised by Amelia’s stubborn determination not to accept her suitor. She had never before defied him, you see, or given the least trouble.’ He shook his head. ‘Neither of us have ever gone against his wishes. He does not tolerate disobedience in his children.’

  ‘This is very interesting, Mr Armitage, but I still fail to understand how I can help.’

  ‘We have been searching London for Amelia but can find neither hide nor hair of her. Father is demented; I scarcely less so. She has few friends and none of them have seen her so, naturally, we are becoming increasingly concerned. A young girl alone in London…you do not need me to tell you what pitfalls await one as unworldly as Amelia.’

  ‘Indeed you do not.’ But Olivia had yet to satisfy herself that Henry Armitage’s apparent concern was for Amelia and that he was not acting at his father’s behest.

  ‘Anyway, out of desperation, I took another look through her room, even though it had already been searched for clues, and I found this hidden away inside the pages of a book.’ He held out the crumpled invitation Olivia had arranged to have sent to Amelia so that they could meet by chance. ‘I was received by a Mrs Mansell who recalled seeing a young woman answering Amelia’s description at this event, although she did not actually speak to her or learn her name. However, she seems to recall that Amelia left in your company.’ He lifted hopeful, puppy dog eyes to her face and Olivia’s doubts about his sincerity evaporated. ‘I wonder if you recall the occasion.’