Lyn Stone

by The Viscount

  Guy shook his head, marveling at the resilience of youth. Lily, judging by the look she shot him, was about to take Guy to task for involving the boy in his scheme to force a confession out of the Bradshaws. Guy expected the reprimand, but doubted she would issue it in public. Maybe there were advantages to marrying a lady of propriety, after all.

  Who knew? Perhaps she would. Propriety hadn’t stopped her from knocking Bernadette to hell and gone. He tried not to smile.

  “Wait until I get you alone,” she warned him through gritted teeth. Her eyes snapped blue fire. He was damn glad she wasn’t wearing those riding boots she had crowned her guard with that night. Her little fists were lethal enough.

  “I’m waiting,” he said, deciding to take his dressing down with good grace. Quite looked forward to it, in fact. Here was the Lily he loved best. What spirit! He could kiss her senseless, right here in front of everyone.

  She was within her rights to object to what he had done. He’d be the first to admit that his manner of dealing with children probably left a lot to be desired. All the reference he had for that lay in his own boyhood and how he would have liked things to go.

  In his experience, adults invariably underestimated children. At least he wasn’t guilty of that. He knew the mischief boys could get up to and figured they might as well do something constructive with all that energy. He’d had a veritable army of pint-size informants in the streets of Whitechapel.

  He had felt it was important to include Beau in the plot to resolve Lily’s problem. There was nothing more frustrating for a lad than to be left out of things and not able to help his own mother.

  “Why involve Beau?” she rasped, her whisper vehement. “Tell me why!”

  He shrugged. “Clive and Bernadette would never have accepted a glass of sherry from me, and their drinking it was crucial to the outcome.”

  “Just you wait,” she warned again, her voice shaking.

  Guy rocked back and forth, impatient to have done with all this and take her home.

  Galen adjourned the inquiry. The commissioners and witnesses began to disperse, gossip over the events, buzzing loudly as bees in a hive disturbed.

  Galen came from behind the bench and slapped him on the shoulder. “That was a masterful twist you provided, but how could you be certain the old lady would react that way?”

  Guy hadn’t known what Bernadette would do. “Well, the revelation was pure luck,” he admitted. “At the very least, I thought a practical demonstration of the effects of the substance in question were necessary. Thomas’s verbal description seemed too tame. Who better than the guilty party as the subject? I was fairly certain you wouldn’t volunteer to ingest it again.”

  Galen laughed heartily, bade them a speedy goodbye and wished them luck. Smarky would accompany him back to Town now that he was no longer needed.

  Dr. Thomas Snively congratulated Lily on her release. He was to stay on several days to see what he could do for the earl and to interview Bernadette and Clive for his research.

  Others broke away from the crowd to speak with them. Sara Ryan added her congratulations. “It was the coffee, Lily!” she said excitedly. “Lady Bradshaw had the opportunity to slip something in it, remember?” She had been summoned as a witness to Lily’s hysterics at the vicarage, though she had not been included in the limited number actually allowed to speak.

  Guy noted Lily’s keen attention on Sara as she agreed and thanked her. So she was a bit jealous, was she? That boded well.

  Before he knew it, the crowd was gone. Not daring to smile, Guy winked at his coconspirator and Beau winked back. Guy’s heart lifted like a hot-air balloon soaring through a sun-filled sky. Pride filled it. His boy. Or as near as could be.

  Mrs. Prine approached when the servants had cleared away the table of refreshments. “Could I interest any of you in biscuits and milk in the kitchen?” She was looking directly at Beau and smiling. He nodded and scampered off, leaving Guy to his fate.

  Lily closed the door and turned the key. They were alone at last.

  “Ah, poor little chick,” Guy said, taunting her just a bit. “You must have been terrified. That old bat didn’t hurt you, did she?”

  “Hurt me? I should say not!” Lily cried, planting her fisted hands on her hips, shaking with rage. “That beastly cow should be hanged, drawn and quartered along with her stupid calf! How dare they…” She began to pace, gesturing angrily, letting loose with invective Guy would never have expected to hear from her lips. Not exactly profane, but extremely colorful and quite inventive. High marks for that, he thought.

  He drew his eyebrows down and forced a frown, nodding in absolute agreement with it all. He locked his hands behind him because it was all he could do not to grab her, swing her around and kiss her till she begged for mercy. That would be forever. His Lily would never beg.

  Here was her passion erupting. Here was that nine-year-old churchman’s imp who had risked life and limb to see life from the top of an oak. Lily was a woman who took fate in her hands, forcing it in the directions she would take. He loved her so much he wanted to shout it to the world.

  When she ran out of words and energy, she simply stopped and turned, apparently confused by her sudden outburst.

  Guy held open his arms then and she ran to him, grasped him around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

  How had he lived with solitude for so long? Why had he not found her years ago? All this was enough to overwhelm a bachelor so set in his ways.

  Lily and Beau had shown him what joys were to be had as a husband and father. He would never have guessed at those. And Galen had underscored the value of friendship. Guy had taken his old friends for granted or not believed in them quite enough. He had mending to do on that front. God, he felt so aware of things, of people, of hope, and especially of Lily at the moment. Warming his heart and heating his blood.

  “Are you still angry with me?” he asked.

  “No,” she whispered. “It wasn’t you. It was…everything.”

  He tipped up her chin. “You are magnificent,” he said, kissing her with all the desperation he had been suppressing.

  When he broke the kiss to let her breathe, he couldn’t stop the words. “I love you, Lily. I think I’ve loved you from the moment you walked into my study in London.”

  She nuzzled his neck where she had torn away his tie and collar. “Remember you thought I was a man at first.”

  He laughed. “Did I? Didn’t seem to matter at the time.”

  He had coaxed a laugh out of her with that.

  “You are far too wicked, you know?” She sighed, releasing some of the pent-up tension of the day. “Devil Duquesne. Now I know how you got the name.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t. But if you’ll let me carry you upstairs, I’ll show you.”

  She met his eyes with a half-lidded look of daring. “All the way upstairs? There’s a perfectly good divan by the window there.”

  He studied her face. Her expression had grown softer after their kiss, sweeter, less combative. “Is this another surrender on your part, Lily?” he teased.

  She laughed again, more easily this time. “A surrender on my part? Hardly, Duquesne. I rather meant it as a demand on yours.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “The truffles are excellent!” Galen remarked with a sly wink and attacked the dish with enthusiasm.

  “If I never see another mushroom of any sort, it will be too soon,” Lily remarked with a shudder.

  Almost two months had passed since the hearing at Sylvana Hall and they had come to London for Bernadette’s trial. The sumptuous dining room of the Regent’s Hotel provided a welcome retreat after the long day in court.

  Neither Galen’s bachelor town house, nor Guy’s shambles of a mansion on the fringe of Mayfair was adequate for a supper of celebration. Instead, they had gathered here at the Regent’s where Thomas Snively resided until his return to Scotland.

  The doctor sighed, sitting back in his chair
and smoothing the edge of his linen napkin. He looked up and smiled at Lily. “Now that everthing’s come right, your lives can begin.” He raised his glass. “Happy days to you both.”

  Lily laughed and raised her own. “If we waited for a perfect future, sir, we should never get on with it.”

  “True enough,” Guy agreed, gesturing to the waiter to refill their glasses. “Even so, dearest, I’m relieved your erstwhile mother-in-law is out of our picture. Broadhurst will be the perfect place for her. I would be happier if her pup were there in an adjacent padded cell, but I suppose we can’t have everything.”

  “She swore Clive was innocent. So did Ephriam, and he had no reason to lie,” Lily reminded him. “At least they are gone.”

  Bernadette had been adjudged criminally insane and would spend the rest of her days under guard. Clive had escaped and disappeared before the trial. Guy’s contacts had traced him to the docks and learned he had taken ship for New South Wales. Dr. Ephriam would languish for years in Newgate for his part in the conspiracy.

  “You know, I well understand a mother’s love. But how could a woman go to such lengths, simply to advance her son to a title? Kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, even murder?” She shook her head sadly.

  Guy hummed his agreement. “I am just glad to discover Clive was her only issue and that she’s in no way related to Beau, after all. The poor little fellow would have to suffer the same worry I’ve had all these years.”

  “I wonder why Jonathan never mentioned to me that his mother died in childbirth and his father married again while he was still an infant,” Lily said. They had investigated birth and marriage records after Bernadette’s ravings about her only son.

  “Perhaps he didn’t know it himself,” Galen suggested. “He was sent away to school at seven and never lived at home again until he inherited. Bernadette might have feared to tell him at that time. She and Clive were dependent on his generosity. His death probably instigated her plot.”

  “So she really planned to do away with Beau?” Lily asked Galen.

  He nodded. “And have it seem that he died naturally. As for you, she simply needed you out of the way. There might have been an inquiry if both you and Beau were eliminated.”

  Guy took her hand and gave it a comforting rub. “Let’s not dwell on it any longer,” he suggested. “It’s over and done.”

  “So it is. Well, if you will all excuse me, I shall forgo dessert and coffee and retire so that I may get an early start for home tomorrow,” Snively said as he rose. He nodded to Guy and Galen, who also stood. “I bid you adieu and thank you for the opportunity of furthering my research.”

  “It is we who thank you, Thomas,” Guy answered sincerely. “We owe you more than we can ever say.”

  Thomas smiled and bowed to Lily, taking her hand. “Lady Lillian, I wish you all the best. Perhaps a daughter as bonny as you, or a son as delightful as little Lord Bradshaw.”

  “Thank you,” Lily whispered, tears in her eyes.

  “I’m off, as well,” Galen announced without resuming his seat. “See you tomorrow?”

  “No, we plan to leave for Edgefield at first light,” Guy said, sounding too distracted to take proper leave of their friend.

  “You’ll come for the wedding?” Lily asked, smiling up at him. She and Guy were taking vows at the church in Edgefield to augment their civil ceremony. Neither of them was entirely certain it was legal anyway.

  “I made the first one, didn’t I?” Galen said, laughing. “Be well, both of you.”

  When he had gone, Guy took her hand. With his free one, he brushed away a tear that slid down her cheek. “Forgive Thomas. He had no way of knowing.”

  Lily toyed with her fork. “Knowing what? About children in our future?”

  He nodded.

  “But he does,” she said, placing the utensil on the table and facing him fully. “You see, we discussed it at length while you and Galen were out investigating Clive’s disappearance.”

  “Then why would he say such a thing about babies to you. He’s made you cry!” Guy’s face darkened with anger as he glanced at the door where Thomas had exited, as if he might follow.

  “Can’t you guess why he said it?” Lily asked, rolling her eyes and pretending impatience. “For goodness’ sake, Duquesne! Thomas is first of all a physician.”

  His dark eyes widened, his words a mere whisper. “You are not…?”

  She grinned, nodded and grasped his hands. “I am.”

  “But you were told…”

  “By Ephriam,” she reminded him, “who was under the spell of Bernadette who definitely did not want me to conceive again.”

  “But suppose you had? How would he ever have explained?” Guy asked.

  Lily shrugged. “A miracle, perhaps? But that was highly unlikely to happen since Jonathan was of the opinion that lovemaking was created solely to produce heirs.”

  Guy wore a look of disbelief. “After that you simply…stopped?”

  Lily nodded, then cocked an eyebrow at him. “So, are you game for this little adventure? If not, you’re in trouble, sir, because it’s already under way.” She brushed a hand tenderly over her soon-to-increase waist.

  His gaze followed the motion. Then his mouth snapped shut and he shook his head as if to clear it. When he looked back at her, his dark eyes were shining.

  “We have to go immediately,” he said, his words sounding a bit choked as he pushed back his chair and rose. “Before I cause a scandal. Whoever heard of a viscount kissing his wife in a public dining room?”

  Lily smiled. “And you can’t wait to tell Beau, can you?”

  He grinned his famous grin. “True, but I’m even more eager to thank his mother properly for turning my life around.”

  “Then kiss me, Duquesne,” Lily suggested, leveling her most seductive smile at him.

  He raised an eyebrow, his reluctance an obvious sham. “My lady! What would that sort of behavior do to our reputation?”

  She pushed her plate away, folded her arms on the table and leaned forward to give him better access. “Enhance yours, I expect. As for mine, rumor has it I’m already mad.”

  He tipped up her chin with one long finger and pressed his lips to hers, parting them just enough to impart the taste of wine. The kiss proved lengthy, teasing and so inviting. “I’m the one who’s mad, you know. Mad for you.”

  She smiled and sat back away from him. “Then I should lock you away for a while. Perhaps in a bedchamber, until you come to your senses. I would tend you constantly, of course.”

  “There are rooms above stairs here that would do. A long, slow attempt at a cure might be just the thing,” he suggested with an enthusiastic nod.

  Lily stood and took his arm, ignoring the pointed stares from other patrons. “I rather thought a hasty shock to the system might suffice.”

  He laughed, his eyes full of deviltry he was known for. “We’ll try that first if you like. Then we shall see.”

  Epilogue

  Edgefield—January 1860

  “Is she still sleeping?”

  “Yes and it’s no wonder.”

  Lily lay in the darkened room, her limbs almost too weak to move. She could do no more than listen as voices outside the door spoke in low tones.

  “Give her this when she wakes.”

  The words chilled her briefly, bringing back the memory of another dark room in what seemed another life. She had been so alone then, so terrified and uncertain. Perhaps that marked the moment when she began to become her true self, the woman she was meant to be.

  A faint mew nearby drew her back to the present. This time she was not alone. Even if she were, the threat she had faced was a thing of the past. She had met her fear head-on and was extremely proud of that.

  Light poured in as Guy entered silently and approached the bed.

  She looked up and smiled. “Aren’t you lucky? No boot to the head for you. I’m too weary.”

  Guy laughed softly, set down the lighted l
amp he carried and took her hand. “I probably deserve it after what I’ve put you through.”

  A sound from the opposite side of the bed seemed to agree. Lily turned her head to look at the high-standing cradle with its lace-frilled canopy.

  “Will you bring her to me?” Lily asked.

  Guy hurried around the bed and gently lifted their daughter, cradling her in his large, capable hands. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he whispered with awe in his voice. “Our Katherine. Our miracle. Wide blue eyes and that nimbus of gold curls. So like you.” He chuckled when the baby yawned.

  He settled the child in the crook of Lily’s waiting arm, then lay down, too, propping his head on one hand so that he could look down at them. He touched the baby’s hand and she grasped his finger. “Four hours old. She’s growing up too fast.”

  Lily laughed. “Where is Beau?”

  “Camped outside the door with Father, both eager to come in as soon as you feel up to it.”

  “Now is fine,” Lily said, and Guy called out to them.

  The door opened wider and the old earl entered, ushering her son with a hand on Beau’s shoulder.

  The two had become fast friends in the months since her father-in-law had recovered. Guy’s father was a quiet man, one given to melancholia at times, but with less evidence of that as the weeks progressed. It seemed that Beau offered him the chance to correct all the missteps he had made with Guy when he was a boy. But wasn’t that the natural order of things for grandparents?

  Lily smiled up at the earl and he returned it full measure, obviously very proud of his new granddaughter, and perhaps of Lily, as well, she thought. He frequently thanked her for loving his son and for helping to restore an old fellow to reality.

  They had restored Edgefield Manor, too, and lived here with him now that it was as it should be. Though they visited Sylvana Hall regularly and managed the property for Beau, this was home.

  Lily beckoned to Beau. He looked very serious. The confident swagger he affected looked so like Guy’s, she had to laugh.