Regency Romance: Duchess In Distress (Historical Billionaire Military Romance) (19th Century Victorian Romance)

by Sarah Thorn

  She discovered she was right as soon as she placed a foot on the long wooden planks that made up the platform between the train and the building. She was ashamed that her hair and face were wet with sweat and patted herself with a handkerchief again and again. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference. The moment she pulled the cloth away, she felt the drips rise again.

  Olive wondered if it was possible that the inside of the building was cooler. She hoped so. She picked up her carrying bag and her sewing box and went to the door. A man standing next to it, leaning against the wall, stepped in front of her and pushed open the door, allowing her to go through. She lowered her head, looking up with only her eyes and nodding. “Thank you, sir,” she said in a low voice.

  “You’re welcome, miss.”

  As soon as she went in the building, she could see that she was the only woman in the place. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Men were milling all around, talking, walking through, carrying boxes and other items.

  She looked all around the room. Thankfully, the huge stone fireplace deep inside one of the walls was not lit and looked like it hadn’t been for quite a while. She moved to a bench and sat down, smoothing her skirts out in front of her and wishing she could take them off and wear pants like the men all around her. Even if she could just be wearing one skirt, it would be cooler than the layers she had on. She sighed heavily.

  None of the men in the place looked like they were going to take notice of her. She didn’t know what Henry looked like, but she assumed since she was the only woman here, he should be able to find her easily.

  She looked around again and wondered if Henry would look for her outside, see that she wasn’t out there waiting for him and leave. There could be little chance of that unless he were a complete simpleton to think she would stand out there in that heat watching for someone she wouldn’t recognize.

  She sighed again and glanced at each of the men in her line of sight to see if any of them showed any interest in the only woman sitting in the room. They were watching her. They were looking at her. But they weren’t showing the kind of interest she was looking for. They looked curious. There was no real intention behind their glances. They were just as much in the dark who she was as she was them.

  The hour ticked by, then another. Olive had taken to shaking her head and wondering what was going on. The sun was going down rapidly. Soon it would be pitch dark. She wasn’t sure the place would be open much longer.

  She stood up and went to the clerk’s window. He was looking down at a list of names and destinations, running his finger down one at a time. He looked up when she cleared her throat.

  His face was immediately surprised, and he raised his eyebrows. “May I help you, miss?”

  “It looks like my ride forgot about me,” Olive said, her voice coming out smooth and soft. “I don’t know what to do.”

  He tilted his head to the side and glanced behind her at the men milling about the room. “None of these men catch your fancy?”

  Her face flushed, and she felt hot. “Sir, I was supposed to be picked up by a gentleman and taken into town. I am not here for any other purposes. As you can see, I have two bags with me, and I am not exactly dressed for this weather, am I? The man who sent for me paid ahead of time for the ticket. Perhaps he is in the book of yours, and you can find him for me.”

  The surprise on the clerk’s face was renewed. “Pardon me, miss. What is your name? I will look it up.”

  “My name is Olive Kelsey. His name is Henry. Henry Lewis.”

  This time, the look that crossed the clerk’s face was one of recognition. “Oh, I will send a messenger to go find him. Please go ahead and sit back down. I will let you know when we find him.”

  “Thank you.” Olive turned away and walked slowly back to the bench. She had been sitting there for over two hours. She didn’t want to sit down again. She wanted to leave. She would rather have walked to town than sit on that bench for another moment. Instead of sitting, she went to the biggest window she could find and stood in front of it, staring out. As it got darker, she could see people lighting lanterns, and a man was walking down the street, lighting the gas lanterns that dotted the street with a long, lit torch.

  Directly in front of the window, across the street, she could see a very small general store, a place where people could get eggs, sugar, and salt. To the right of the store, there was a grain mill and on the other side, a saddle shop. There were several different shops lining the street, but she couldn’t make out the names or the purpose of the shops in the dim light.

  The town stretched on from there, but she could only see the street in front of her, to the left and to the right. The road was made of dirt and there were horses with riders passing by almost constantly, kicking up the dust. She saw only a few women. From the look of them, she understood why the clerk may have mistaken her for one of them. There didn’t seem to be any women of quality, at least not on this street. Soon the sun was completely down. She continued to watch the flickering lanterns until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  “Miss?”

  She turned and had to look up. The man was at least a foot taller than her, with a broad chest and kind brown eyes. “Yes?”

  “You were brought here by Henry Lewis?” he asked.

  She nodded without answering.

  He gave her a complete look, from her eyes to her shoes and back up. She avoided doing the same. She didn’t want him to think she was rude. “I…I am his brother, Eric. I’m sorry there was confusion and that you had to sit here waiting for so long. It seems…Henry didn’t tell us you were coming. May I see the letter he sent you?”

  Olive kept herself from sighing. She still had the letter in the pocket of her dress, and she pulled it out, handing it to him. She felt like she was having to prove she wasn’t lying. It offended her that she wasn’t just picked up and taken to her destination, as promised.

  Her face must have betrayed her thoughts because the look on his changed and he leaned forward a little. “The clerk has already verified that Henry really did send for you. I would just like to see the letter he sent you because, as I said, we were all surprised to hear that he did this.”

  He opened the letter and read it quickly. She couldn’t tell what he thought by the look on his face. Then he refolded it and handed it back to her without a word about it.

  “I will take you to the family house so we can decide what to do.”

  It was Olive’s turn to look surprised. She tilted her head and bunched her skirt up in one hand. “What to do? I don’t understand. I was supposed to be picked up and taken back to the home where I would be married and stay with Henry. What is going on?”

  Eric looked down, pressing his cheek out with his tongue and then licking his lips, nervously. “I’m afraid there’s been an accident.”

  Olive frowned and tilted her head to the side. “An accident? What kind of accident? What do you mean? Is Henry all right?”

  He hesitated before answering, glancing over her shoulder and out the window. She wondered what he was thinking and what had happened.

  “I’m afraid not,” Eric answered, finally, dropping his eyes back to her face. “He’s been killed.”

  Chapter Two

  Olive didn’t know how to feel. She followed Eric to the wagon in silence. She hadn’t known Henry other than from the letters. He’d sounded like a decent man, a good man. But Eric didn’t seem too broken up about the loss of his brother. He was, in fact, quite complacent, helping her into the wagon and snapping the horses into action with a whistle and a flick of the reins.

  “I’m sorry you’ve been shocked by this, Olive,” Eric said once they were on the road. “I am afraid he didn’t tell anyone that you were coming.”

  “Why would he do that? Why didn’t he tell you? You’re his brother.”

  Eric nodded. She looked at him with narrow eyes, scanning his face closely. He had a strong profile, and she thought he was very good-looking. She w
ondered what Henry had looked like and if they had shared any traits.

  “Yes, but we aren’t a close family. We don’t have a lot of time we spend together. We all do our own thing.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Henry is the oldest brother. Then there’s me. We have a younger brother and three younger sisters.”

  Olive’s heart sank. “You have a big family.”

  Eric shrugged. “Not too big. It’s about regular size, I’d say.”

  Olive thought about her family back in Virginia. There were too many people in that house. No matter how big the house got, there still seemed to be too many people in it. She wondered if that’s what it would be like where she was going, too. It made her want to jump out of the wagon and throw herself in front of the horses.

  She realized Eric was looking at her and lowered her head, blushing.

  “Don’t look so horrified, Olive,” Eric said, gently. “We are good people. You don’t have to worry about not being accepted.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not that. My family in Virginia was large, as well. I was praying to get away from that.”

  Looking at her, Eric was surprised that she mentioned praying. She didn’t look like the type that would consult God to help her. She looked like she relied on herself more than anything else. “What is your family in Virginia like? Do you have a lot of brothers and sisters?”

  She nodded. “I have four brothers older than me and three sisters younger. Not to mention my aunt and uncle moved in last year and brought their four children with them. They are all hellions. Little ones, 6, 8, 10 and 12.”

  Eric raised his eyebrows and whistled. “That’s a lot of people in the house.”

  “Yes,” Olive said simply, her voice cold. “It was.”

  “Our family isn’t that big.” Eric consoled her. “And we don’t have any little children around anymore. We’re all grown.”

  “Your sisters don’t have children?”

  “Not yet.”

  “So they are married?”

  “My sister Helen is. My other sister Jane isn’t, and we don’t expect that any time soon. My youngest sister is only sixteen and not ready for those thoughts.”

  “They don’t live in the family home anymore?”

  “Helen and Matthew have a home. My brother William and his wife Cynthia also have a home. But neither have children.”

  Olive thought for a moment, her heart calming down a bit. That eliminated a lot of her grievance. “Where are you taking me?”

  “I will take you back to the family home, where me and my brothers and sisters grew up. You can stay in one of the rooms until we…” He stopped. He’d been about to say “figure out what to do with you” but that sounded rude and harsh. His heart was soft for Olive. He felt sorry for her because she was in a strange place with people she didn’t know very far away from her home. But he also felt a little relief for her. Henry had not been the best character in the world. It didn’t come as much of a surprise to find he had ordered a bride from the East. It was more of a surprise that anyone had responded.

  The letter he’d written to Olive didn’t sound like him at all. Eric had been taken aback by the letter but hadn’t mentioned it to her. Best to let her think his brother had been a good man than to reveal the truth, even if she realized how closely she had dodged a bullet. Plus, she was a beautiful woman and in his heart, he knew Henry would never have treated her well, even with her beauty. He was impressed by her long black hair and smooth pale skin. Her lips were small but full and stood out in her features. She had light green eyes, another aspect that had surprised him. Dark hair and light green eyes were a rare combination that Eric wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before. He liked it.

  “I know you must be nervous and upset about this but please don’t be. We will make things all right for you. We won’t ship you back to your…huge family.” He smiled at her, and she felt a wash of warmth flow through her when she looked at him. He was being so nice to her. How could she stay in a sour mood?

  “I appreciate you not sending me back.” She jostled into him when the wagon went over a hole in the road. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” She looked up at him fearfully, righting herself in the seat and pressing her hands together in her lap as if that would keep her steady.

  He laughed. “You nearly knocked me off the wagon, woman!” He said in a teasing tone.

  She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.

  “It’s okay, Olive.” He continued to smile at her.

  She pulled in a silent breath and held it for a moment, letting it out slowly. She was trying very hard not to be nervous. She was truly surrounded by strangers now. Henry was her only contact, and he was apparently dead.

  “So what happened to Henry?” She asked and then was terrified she had overstepped by asking the question.

  “He was thrown from his horse this afternoon and landed in the creek behind the house. Hit his head on a rock. He was gone before anyone got to him.”

  “I hope he didn’t suffer much.”

  Eric shook his head. “Not likely. From the size of that rock and the way he was…laying there, I don’t think he was conscious at all. Probably went like that.” He snapped his fingers. He looked at her again with worried eyes, his smile gone. He didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was. “How long did you correspond with him?” He asked the question to distract from the current topic. He didn’t want to see his brother in his mind lying in the creek bed any more than he wanted to talk about it.

  “We exchanged letters for several months. I wrote four to him, the first being the initial response to his ad.”

  “So he put an ad in a newspaper in the East? Where exactly are you from again?”

  “I was living in a little town in Virginia.”

  “Virginia is a long way from here. You must not be used to the scenery or the weather here at all.”

  “No.”

  “You will find that things are very different here, where that’s concerned. Most of the women who are here dress…” He eyed her. “Very differently. I see you have a lot of…clothes on. You must be hot.”

  “I am surprised you could not already see that.” Once the words were out, she regretted them. It seemed she was just putting her foot in her mouth every time it opened. She would have to learn to keep quiet and not burst out with her comments willy-nilly. It was inappropriate for her to speak to him that way and she knew it. All he had to do was turn around and take her back to the train station and send her back.

  When she looked up at him, however, she didn’t think he would do that. He didn’t seem at all bothered by her constant verbal flubs. Back home, she’d had to blurt out what was on her mind if she expected ever to be heard from. If one person wasn’t talking, someone else usually was. She’d never been the girl to stand in the back of the room, pressed up against the wall with her mouth shut. She tried to be polite and respectful the way her parents had trained her to be. But typically she failed at that and just spoke whenever she thought someone might be listening.

  Eric was watching her face change as she thought to herself. She was quite the mystery. One moment, she looked serene and at peace. The next, her brow was furrowed, and she looked like she might become sick. He wished he could read her mind, just for a moment.

  Instead, he prayed quickly for guidance. She’s a nervous sort, it seems, Lord, he thought, and I don’t want to frighten her. Let me speak the right words to comfort her and relieve her of her nervousness.

  “Do you want me to tell you about my family?” He asked, keeping his voice as gentle as possible.

  “That would be nice, thank you,” Olive responded.

  “Well…” He began. “I was born in a stable because my ma and pa didn’t…”

  He stopped when Olive started giggling and looked down at her with wide eyes. “What did I say?”

  “You don’t have to go that far back.” She couldn’t help giggling while she
said it and she wondered if he even understood her.

  “Oh.” He started to laugh with her. “I thought you wanted the complete story.”

  They both laughed.

  “But seriously…” Eric finally continued when she was reduced to giggling again. “My brothers and sisters and I never had a lot when growing up, just the house we lived in. We have had to work for a long time, real hard, on the farm and in the shops to keep food on the table. My ma stayed home and taught us all to read and write. My pa worked in the grain mill for as long as I can remember. He still works there. He’s a strong, healthy man and I hope to be that way when I’m his age. In the last ten years, though, he started adding on to the family house. You would think we were wealthy.” He looked down at her. “But we’re not really.”

  “Wealth means very little if you aren’t leading a good healthy life,” she responded without thinking first. “That’s good to hear, your pa is a strong man. My papa is an engineer. He works for North Eastern Trains. He develops new techniques for making trains safer for passengers and to transport goods across America.”

  “That sounds like a very prestigious job. He must make a lot of money doing that.”

  “He does.” Olive said bluntly. “But the rest of my family doesn’t do anything. So he’s supporting everyone.”

  “Your uncle doesn’t work?”

  “No. He was injured in the war and can’t walk. My aunt pushes him around in a rolling chair, and he complains almost constantly. It’s not fun to listen to him nor to be around him any more than necessary.”

  Eric saw her good mood vanishing. He began to regale her with a tale of a time when he, his brothers and sisters had all gone swimming in the creek behind their house in one of the deepest holes and how a frog had jumped up on his sister’s back, scaring her so badly she screamed and almost drowned.