Anything but Innocent

by Dayna Quince

  “You are forever in my prayers, Lord Winchester. My deepest thanks for the safety of my daughter and dear Thea.”

  “It was my honor, Lady Heath,” Dean said sheepishly.

  “He rode in a carriage. He didn’t fight off a dragon,” Lucy said impishly.

  “You are a dragon,” Jonathan quipped.

  Lucy grinned. “I shall take that as a compliment.”

  “Lady Lucy, it is a pleasure to see you again. You were sorely missed during the season.” Lady Lisbeth sauntered over to their group.

  Lucy turned to face her, hiding her surprise. “How good of you to visit, Lady Lisbeth. I can’t say I’ve missed the season. The country has been very diverting.”

  “I dare say it has.” Lady Lisbeth’s eyes cut to Dean for a moment and returned. “I’m sorry to intrude on this little family reunion. I only arrived yesterday.”

  “Let’s move to the drawing room where Lady Heath can rest while we chat,” Lord Heath bid them.

  “I should change.” Lucy separated from the group at the stairs. Thea followed her up another flight to their rooms.

  “What on earth is Lady Lisbeth doing here?” Thea whispered aghast.

  “I haven’t the faintest idea. But whatever it is, we’ll soon know the answer. We better hurry and get back downstairs.”

  * * *

  Dean followed the group into the drawing room and took a stance by the mantle. Lisbeth had taken Lady Heath’s arm and led her to a sofa where they sat and chatted like old friends. Dean watched them carefully. He had no misconceptions about why she was here. He had a rat in his employ.

  “What brings you to Yorkshire, Lady Lisbeth?”

  “I was having a post-season tour of the homes of my friends when I suffered a disaster with my carriage. Luckily, I knew Lady Lucy to have a home nearby and sought refuge.”

  With all other eyes tuned to Lisbeth, Dean narrowed his at her. Only she was aware of his skepticism. She raised one brow in challenge. “I had no idea you were acquainted with such an admired family,” she taunted.

  “We’ve known each other since university,” Rigsby spoke for Dean.

  Dean marshalled his anger. It wouldn’t do to cause a scene in front of Rigsby’s family. Lisbeth was a remarkable actress when she needed to be.

  “University? How spectacular. I thought I knew everything about you, Winchester.”

  He bit his cheek. He couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t outright insulting.

  “How goes the carriage repairs, Lady Lisbeth? My man says your steward left to fetch the needed part?” Lord Heath asked.

  “Yes, mine is a very special carriage. He should return within the week.”

  “We’d hate to delay you from friends that are expecting you. You are welcome to our travel coach,” Lady Heath continued.

  “Oh no, I couldn’t. I have a very special coach designed just for me. I can’t travel in any other conveyance. But thank you for your generosity. I hope I can someday repay you in kind.”

  Lucy burst into the drawing room. Coming to a halt and continuing at a reasonable pace.

  “My goodness, that was fast!” Her mother laughed, which turned into a gentle cough.

  Lucy took note of Lady Lisbeth’s companionable place beside her mother and sat on her mother’s other side. Lady Lisbeth never did anything that wasn’t calculated to suit her in some way. In the three seasons Lucy had spent with her, she’d garnered enough impressions of the woman to know this.

  “What brings you to Yorkshire, Lady Lisbeth?”

  “Lord Winchester only just asked that very thing.” Her mother informed her.

  “Oh?” She turned to him.

  He had his back to her. He was pouring himself a drink. She raised a brow at that and turned back toward Lady Lisbeth. She was also watching Winchester and smiling secretly.

  “Lady Lisbeth?” Lucy asked again. “I’d still love to know what has brought you to our little piece of York.”

  Lisbeth’s eyes snapped back to hers. “My carriage broke down. My steward has gone to fetch the piece necessary for its repair.”

  “Oh. What’s wrong with it?”

  Lady Lisbeth’s eyes hardened. “I won’t pretend to understand the workings of my carriage, Lady Lucy. It’s a very special carriage. It is one of a kind.”

  “How interesting. How long do you plan to stay?”

  “Would you like to further our friendship? I can stay as long as you wish.” Lisbeth smiled charmingly.

  Lucy was trapped. “Of course. We must take advantage of your time here, however, my mother is still recovering from her illness”

  “If it pleases you, it pleases me, my dear.” Lady Heath patted Lucy’s hand.

  “Wonderful. I will stay the week, and we can truly get to know one another.”

  Lucy grinned, but she really wanted to gag.

  “It will be a miniature house party.” Lady Lisbeth beamed.

  Everyone was forced to happily agree, but there was an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

  “Now that it’s agreed, shall we go for a ride? The weather is lovely and Penny will need the exercise.” Lucy stood. “Do you ride, Lady Lisbeth?”

  “Of course!” She stood. “But only gentle mares. Do you have a suitable horse?”

  “Alexandria will suit you perfectly. Right, Father?”

  “She will suffice for a leisurely rider,” Lord Heath advised. “Rigsby will escort you about the estate.”

  “We’ll return here after changing.”

  “I think I will rest while you ride.” Lady Heath rose with the assistance of her husband.

  “Winchester, will you join us or retire.”

  “I will join you, but I too must change.”

  “We’ll meet here again in a quarter hour.”

  “How lovely! I’m enjoying myself already,” Lady Lisbeth sang.

  The ride was brief. Moments after leaving the stables, Lady Lisbeth claimed cramping in her leg and needed help returning. Lord Winchester had walked her back to the stables. Lucy had fought a jealous urge and continued to ride for another quarter hour before returning.

  “Well, this was a colossal waste of time,” Jonathan fumed.

  “What is she doing here?” Lucy hissed at him as they walked back to the house.

  “She’s chasing Winchester and nursing her battered ego.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucy felt her stomach clench.

  “She’s the woman he came here to escape.”

  “The mistress?” Lucy felt sick now. Winchester and Lady Lisbeth were lovers?

  “Yes. She turns rabid when her affairs end. I tried to warn him, but…” Jonathan shrugged.

  Affairs, plural, Lucy thought. She shared a glance with Thea. Thea grimaced.

  As they climbed the steps, the very steps that he had been climbing when she lost her heart to him, she looked up and saw them on the terrace. They sat beside each other at the table, just as she and Thea had. They were leaning close and talking. Lucy looked down. If the ground below her feet chose to give way and swallow her, she might welcome it.

  “How are you, my love?” Lady Lisbeth purred.

  She reached out to rub his thigh. He caught her hand and pushed it away.

  “I’m not your love. I told you we were done weeks ago.”

  “So coldhearted. Imagine my surprise when I learned you were here at the bosom of Lady Lucy.

  He glared at her with warning. “I’m here to recover from your poison. It is Rigsby I came to visit. His sister’s presence is coincidental and insignificant.”

  “Liar…” She winked at him and sipped her tea.

  “I beg your pardon?” he growled.

  “She reeks of infatuation.”

  “Don’t make trouble, Lisbeth,” he said darkly.

  “Awe, was that so hard? I love how you say my name.”

  Dean moved away as the scuffle of footsteps heralded their return.

  “Here comes the little wife now,” Lisbeth sne
ered.

  “Feeling better, Lady Lisbeth?” Jonathan asked.

  “Much improved, my lord. Winchester took exceptional care of me. Sit and have tea with us, Lady Lucy. You may sit beside me.” She patted the chair.

  Lucy smiled and did so, Thea taking the chair beside her. Jonathan was left standing. He leaned back against the balustrade. “Bring me a cup, will you, Winchester?”

  Dean filled a cup, dropped in a sugar cube, and brought it to Rigsby.

  “How was the ride?” He remained standing and leaned back beside Rigsby.

  “Short. I’ll go again this afternoon. Join me? We’ll ride all the way to the cliffs. It’s a rough ride.”

  “We should join them.” Lady Lisbeth turned to Lucy. “What’s a party if the gentlemen are not present?”

  “You would not like it,” Lucy warned. “The going is rough and chilly.”

  “Oh.” Lady Lisbeth pouted. “Then we shouldn’t let them go.” She twisted to face the gentlemen. “I won’t let you go, Winchester. It sounds dangerous.”

  Lucy bit her tongue to stop herself from replying for him. How dare she?

  “You are not my mother, Lisbeth,” he said tartly.

  Lucy would have been mollified by his cutting tone, except the use of Lady Lisbeth’s given name only reminded her how acquainted they truly were. She stared into her cup of tea and tried to summon the will to remain unaffected. “We don’t need them. Winchester and Jonathan are boring.”

  “Oh, Winchester is never boring, as long as the activity suits him.” Lady Lisbeth turned back to Lucy and winked.

  Lucy could swear Lady Lisbeth was taunting her. “There you have it. He—I mean—they, would rather ride than spend the afternoon with us. I wouldn’t want to keep someone against their will, would you?”

  “I…if that is their wish, then no.” Lady Lisbeth looked puzzled.

  Lucy smiled. “We don’t need gentlemen to entertain us. Right, Thea?”

  Thea nodded.

  Lady Lisbeth didn’t look pleased at all. “If you say so.”

  “Let’s go shooting!” Lucy offered.

  “No,” Jonathan and Dean said at once.

  “Father sent all the pistols for cleaning,” Jonathan blurted.

  “All of them?” Lucy said in disbelief.

  Jonathan nodded. “Every single one.”

  “Shooting is barbaric,” Lady Lisbeth said.

  “It is not. It’s an important skill and invigorating.” Lucy wasn’t fazed by Lady Lisbeth’s noninterest.

  “We could take a walk or play charades.”

  “Shuttlecock or bowls,” Thea added.

  “Those sound like childish things.” Lady Lisbeth pouted.

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “What would you like to do?”

  “I don’t want the gentlemen to leave.”

  Lucy turned to look at them and shrugged. “Shall we tie them up?” Her brother scowled at her.

  Lady Lisbeth sighed. “I’ve yet to see your village. Perhaps an afternoon of shopping will be an adequate diversion?”

  “If that is what you wish.” Lucy shared a look of annoyance with Thea.

  Chapter 16

  Lucy dressed for dinner and mused over the afternoon. If there was a silver lining, it’s that the village shops earned significant profit from Lady Lisbeth’s shopping expedition. That woman bought everything her eyes touched upon. She’d barely spoken to them as Lucy and Thea followed her from store to store, but she was doted on by every shopkeeper, and my, how Lady Lisbeth loved the attention.

  Lucy hoped she never appeared as such. It reminded her of what Winchester had said about her own need for attention. Lucy hated to think she resembled anything of Lady Lisbeth.

  Lucy shuddered.

  She finished dressing and knocked on Thea’s door. Thea opened it and joined her in the hall.

  “What do you think dinner will be like tonight?” Lucy wondered.

  “Interesting, but I’m not confident if it will be a good interesting or a bad interesting.”

  “Well, we will soon find out.”

  Lucy had a burning question for Winchester. Why hadn’t he left? He’d come here to escape her, and now that she was here, he remained.

  They joined the others in the drawing room, her mother looking thin but well.

  “My appetite has returned with gumption,” her mother said. “I lost one stone and I fear three will return.”

  “I will sorely miss your curves if they don’t return,” Lord Heath said from her side.

  Lucy made a face at her parents. “Stop that right now, or I won’t be able to eat a thing.”

  “What are they doing?” Jonathan joined them.

  “I won’t repeat it.”

  Their parents snickered.

  “Do you think a stork delivered you upon the steps, Lucy?” Jonathan teased.

  Lucy covered her ears and turned away. She could hear her father and brother laughing while her mother scolded Jonathan. She withdrew to where Thea stood by the window conversing with Winchester.

  “What’s going on?” Thea smiled at Lucy’s disgusted face.

  “Nothing.” She focused on Winchester. He raised a brow in question.

  “What are you still doing here?”

  He looked confused. “I’m waiting for dinner to start, just like you.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” She lowered her voice. “You said you were going to leave.”

  “So I did, but I changed my mind.”

  “Because of a certain young widow who used to be your mistress?”

  His eyes narrowed at her. “Who told you that?”

  “If it were a secret, you never should have told Jonathan. His mouth is like a sieve.”

  Dean growled. “I’m here because I know she is only here to make trouble. She is vindictive.”

  “I gathered as much.”

  “She will cause trouble.”

  “Also a possibility.” Lucy folded her arms. “What is it she wants?”

  “Me,” he grumbled.

  “She’s playing the part of a scorned lover?”

  “I did not scorn her. I—I’m not going to divulge the details to you. The sooner she departs, the better for all of us.”

  “I have to agree.”

  As if summoned by their discussion, the woman appeared in the doorway. She wore a vibrantly red dress cut dangerously low. Lucy pretended not to notice her and instead, turned to Winchester. He apparently had done the same, which left them staring at each other.

  Lucy swallowed uncomfortably.

  “There is something else I should tell you. It’s more of a warning.”

  “Yes?”

  “She’s taken it into her head that we… that I am courting you.”

  “Well, that’s absurd,” Lucy scoffed, but then inspiration struck. “Would that drive her away?”

  “A stake through the heart wouldn’t drive her away,” he quipped.

  Lady Lisbeth was greeting her parents first, but she was talking inordinately loud and shooting looks their way.

  “I’m serious.”

  He pinned her with his gaze. “Only a fool would agree to such a thing.”

  “It is a good plan, my lord,” Thea spoke up.

  Lucy had forgotten she was even there. “You see? Thea is far more intelligent than I. If she says the plan has merit, then it does.”

  Dean wanted to curse. Court Lucy? Openly? That was the worst idea he’d ever heard. He didn’t need to be put in any closer proximity to her than he already was. He’d been a bloody saint since that afternoon in the stable and he meant to keep it that way.

  Rigsby appeared at his side. Lisbeth still sat with Lady Heath, but her eyes sharply investigated their small group.

  “Tell Winchester how pretending to court me to drive Lady Lisbeth away is a brilliant idea,” Lucy pleaded to her brother.

  “That is brilliant.” Jonathan brightened.

  “You want me to court your sister?” Dean said in a
larm.

  “It wouldn’t be real, Winchester. And it would drive the vermin from the house.”

  This time, he did curse. He strode away from them and poured himself a drink. It was only a second before said vermin appeared at his side and waited for him to pour her a drink.

  “You know exactly what I like, don’t you?”

  He poured her a sherry and shoved it into her hand.

  “What’s the matter, Chester?” She moved closer to him, brushing her bosom against his arm.

  “You know I hate that name. Only you dared to call me that.”

  “It’s my pet name for you,” she purred.

  Dean wanted to snarl at her. He’d had his fill of conniving women, but she took the medal for worst of them all. Compared to—no, he stopped himself. He would not compare them. There was no reason to. She was his former mistress and Lucy the sister of his friend. The two should have never crossed paths, but here they were the room rife with tension as they all pretended to enjoy each other’s company. Perhaps he should leave. He would if he was certain Lisbeth wouldn’t punish Lucy out of sheer vindictiveness. That was the crux of things. She wanted revenge, and she believed Lucy to be the new target of his affections. It was laughable.

  Lisbeth never had his affection. It was only sex, but when Lisbeth wasn’t ready to let go, it was hell on earth for her lover.

  “You’re wasting your time here,” he said to her.

  “Why do you say that? I’m having a lovely time, aren’t you?”

  “I would if you weren’t here.”

  “That isn’t very nice,” she hissed at him.

  “Then leave.”

  “No. I’ll either have you or enjoy the misery on your little wife’s face.”

  Dean turned to face her with a growl. “If you so much as make her frown as a result of your venomous presence, words, or behavior, you will regret it.”

  “How?” She smiled at him gleefully.

  He narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Use your imagination, Lisbeth. What do I know about you that will ruin you?”

  She dropped her cheerful façade. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Only if you make me.”

  “We’ll see about that. Why do you care what I do or say to the chit? She’s no meek mouse fresh from the nursery. Lady Lucy reminds me of myself during my best years. She can handle a little competition, can’t she?” Lisbeth pouted prettily.