Lady In Disguise (The Langley Sisters) (29 page)

Both Phoebe and Livvy stiffened at his words, shooting frantic glances across the carriage; Phoebe was elected to reply to his question.

“Of course the role is new to him, my lord, but he is doing as we expected of him.”

That, of course, could mean anything Will realized as he watched Phoebe cross her fingers before tucking them under her skirts. So Lord Langley was not providing for the sisters. He would be very interested to hear what Freddy had to say about the man when he returned, and if Will didn’t like it then he would be next to visit Langley. It would be no social occasion and if he found that the man had mistreated Livvy or her sisters in any way there would be hell to pay. He remembered the marks on her breasts then, how had they happened? Dear God, if he found out a man had inflicted them upon her he would tear him apart with his bare hands.

“I find it stifling when I’m living here yet when one returns to Twoaks it is a wonderful feeling is it not, Livvy?”

“Yes, Phoebe, wonderful,” Livvy said in a tone that held no emotion.

“Coming home is not something I will ever again take for granted,” Will said as the carriage climbed the last rise to Willow Hall and came to a stop.

“I can understand that,” Phoebe added as he opened the door and then turned to help her down. “I sometimes think leaving your home makes you appreciate it more.”

“That it does and now I want to speak with your sister, Phoebe, so if you could give me a few minutes alone with her I would appreciate it. Luke will bring your luggage into the house.”

“I have nothing to say to you,” Olivia said, trying to get out of the carriage which was impossible as he was standing in the doorway.
 

“However I have something to say to you,” Will said as he waited for Phoebe and Luke to walk up the path away from the carriage. Bracing his hands on either side of the doorway he looked at her perched on the edge of the seat.
 

“If I didn’t know you better I would say you were a woman who likes to tease men, Livvy Langley.” Will placed two fingers beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. “But I do know you and know you do not have that behavior in you, therefore it is something that has been forced upon you.”

“Leave it alone, Will, please.”

“No,” he whispered, kissing her softly. “I will not leave it alone and after what we shared you cannot ask that of me.”

“I can offer you nothing,” she said, her eyes holding his, begging him to understand.

“You love me, Olivia Langley, otherwise last night would never have happened.”

“No, you are mistaken, my lord, I—I love no one.”

“Your eyes say the opposite to your lips, my love, and when I return to Willow Hall tomorrow we will talk, Livvy, and you will tell me what troubles you. And while you lay in your cold bed tonight remember one thing. You are mine now and I will never let you go.”

Leaning forward Will kissed her softly, their lips clinging and holding until he eased away leaving them both breathless. He then helped her from the carriage, his hands steadying her as she stumbled when her feet touched the ground.

“Tomorrow, my love,” he added before climbing back inside.
 

Minutes later Livvy stood at the edge of the path and watched Will’s carriage until it had gone from her sight. She shouldn’t feel the rush of joy at his words, it was wrong; they could have no future because of her cousin. Yet when he told her that she was now his, Livvy had wanted to yell that he was now hers too.
 

“I saw that kiss, Olivia Langley!”

“Hello, Bella,” Livvy said to the youngest Langley who was waiting inside the front door as she arrived. “Have you had a nice time since I was away?”

“Yes, Jenny’s sister Helen is such fun.”

“Well, now that you have greeted me perhaps we could step inside and close the front door so all the heat does not escape.”

“Luke told me the weather was terrible in London and he was glad to be out of it when I enquired after his trip. He seems to be continually cross at the moment and I’m not sure why, Livvy.”

“He’s been away for five years, Bella, I should imagine it will take time for him to adjust,” Livvy stated, stomping her feet on the mat.

“Perhaps you’re right, and now I want to know why Lord Ryder was kissing you.”

“Leave it be, Miss Bella, your sister should be allowed her secrets,” Jenny said arriving in the hallway in time to shut the door.

Livvy looked at Phoebe and they shared a nod. They had both decided to tell Jenny and Bella everything; there would be no more secrets between them.

“Will you and Bella come into the parlour, Jenny? Phoebe and I have some things we need to discuss with you both.”

They were soon all settled in the chairs and Phoebe handed out the gifts to
 

oohs and ahhs of delight and then the copy of ‘La Belle Assemblée’ was produced which actually got a round of applause. Livvy did not want to dampen the excited mood but knew what she had to say could not wait because she would probably run out of courage.

“I need to tell you both something, and it is not pleasant, however both Phoebe and I believe you should hear it.”

Phoebe sat on the arm of Bella’s chair in case their little sister should need her support.

“What is it, Livvy, you look so serious?”

“It is serious, Bella.”

She nodded but said nothing further.

Livvy started with the death of their father and how he had taken his life.
 

“Poor Papa, he never was the same after Mother died,” Bella said when Livvy had finished.

“Are you not angry with him, Bella? I was furious knowing he had left us alone with no support, especially after you also suffered in the accident,” Phoebe said.

“I’m angry that you shouldered this alone, Livvy, and sad that he did not think to leave us with financial support, but I saw how he withdrew without Mother. His mind was not the same after her death and he left us long before he took his life. We have memories of what he meant to us and those are the ones I will hold on to.”

Livvy had misjudged Bella as she had Phoebe; the youngest Langley was a lot tougher than she appeared.

“But there is more isn’t there, Livvy?”

Nodding, Livvy told the rest of her story explaining about her visit to their cousin and his blackmail threats.

“Why that scoundrel! How dare he treat you that way when we welcomed him here and I made him my special bread and butter pudding?”

Livvy had to laugh when Jenny jumped to her feet, indignation and fury evident in every quivering inch of her ample body. “I escaped before he could do me any permanent damage, Jenny, and left him with a swollen jaw and a large bite mark on his hand.”

“What shall we do, Livvy?”

“Run, Bella. Run as far as necessary, because there is no way I will ever let that man touch any of us again,” Livvy stated. “If he is to blacken our names then he can do so, but we will not be here to listen to it. I am saddened that the good man our father was will be forgotten but there is nothing we can do to change what will inevitably happen when Lord Langley starts his campaign to discredit us.”
 

“Livvy and I sent Lord Langley a note before leaving London, and told him we would welcome his intentions and asked that he visit in January instead of December, therefore we have a bit of time before we need to flee,” Phoebe said.

“That is if he believes us, Phoebe, and is not harboring a deep anger over my treatment of him.”

“He will believe it, Livvy,” Bella said. “He believes he has us trapped, furthermore we are women without means, what could we possibly do but yield to his demands.”

“Exactly what I said,” Phoebe said with a smug look on her face.
 

“However if anyone can think of another plan we are open to all suggestions,” Livvy added, thinking of leaving Will and how much it would hurt.

They all spoke at once, questions were asked and answered and then Jenny said. “I say we kidnap him and send him on a long voyage. My cousin could organize that if we had enough money. He has his own boat which he smuggles goods from France to England on, I’m sure he would be able to take Lord Langley on a long journey somewhere.”

The Langley sisters looked at Jenny, all wearing differing expressions. Livvy was thinking, Phoebe was in awe and Bella was nodding.

“What kind of goods does he smuggle?” Phoebe questioned, looking more interested than she should.

“It matters not what he smuggles just that he can help us if we need him,” Jenny said, giving Phoebe a look that indicated she was not happy discussing her nefarious cousin any more than was necessary.

Bella clapped her hands together. “I like the idea of that vile man being at the mercy of a wicked ship’s captain.”

“We don’t have enough money surely?” Livvy said, hardly daring to believe she was considering Jenny’s words seriously. “And what if he returns?”

“When he is gone then we do to him what he was to do to us, we start spreading stories around about him, blackening his name so that by the time he returns no one will believe a word he says,” Bella said with a calculating look on her face.
 

“It may just work,” Phoebe said, looking out the window. “It has not snowed for a few days here by the looks of things and that means the roads will be passable by horseback. If we go out for a couple of nights this close to Christmas we should be able to steal enough money to pay for his long voyage.”

“I can’t believe I’m considering this,” Livvy whispered, feeling hope flutter inside her. “It is surely too farfetched and we have no hope of pulling it off.”

“Dire times call for dire actions, sister,” Phoebe stated.

“We do need more money for whatever we choose to do,” Livvy agreed. “For now we will concentrate of obtaining that before deciding upon the drastic step of kidnapping a peer. And what if we fail,” she warned. “He could have us clapped in irons.

“We will not need to worry about his return because you will have married Lord Ryder by then and we shall be protected by both him and Duke.” Bella’s face held a sly smile.

Livvy ignored the words, although she could not stop the swell of excitement in her chest at the possibility of marrying Will. Dared she hope?

***

Will wandered aimlessly along the lower floor of Rossetter. He had been back
 

for several hours and was due to look at the property that Freddy had found for him nearby, however he was feeling less than enthusiastic about the prospect and of course that was due to a certain cinnamon-eyed woman. His thoughts were consumed with Livvy and how she had felt in his arms, the rightness of sharing his life with her. Never had he wanted a woman with such an all-consuming need. She was in his blood and he knew she would be there until he drew his last breath. He needed her to trust him, tell him what troubled her, but he was damned if he knew how to do that.
 

“’ill!”

Looking up at that shriek he found Joseph approaching with his son riding on his shoulders.

“You seem preoccupied, brother. Care to join my rascal and me in the conservatory where you can unburden your soul while he plays?”

Will didn’t unburden to people, he kept his secrets and thoughts close to his chest, yet wasn’t that part of what had driven him and his brother apart, his inability to share his thoughts and troubles? Joe was also a wise man who would not pass judgment unless it was required.
 

“Lead on, your Grace,” he said, realizing he wanted to talk about Livvy to someone who understood how to love.

The conservatory was to the rear of Rossetter and comprised of a long curved glass entranceway that opened into a huge round room with more widows that looked over the pasture and hills beyond. It housed hundreds of varieties of plants Will had never known the names of, and Greek statues. A raised fountain housed fish and was an instant attraction to Billy, who squealed and pulled his father’s hair as they drew near.
 

“Hideous brat,” Joseph said fondly as he lowered his son into his arms and let him look into the water.
 

The windows, even on a cold day, kept the room at a nice temperature and
 

Will wandered slowly around the room touching leaves and smelling flowers and trying to remember the names of the statues as he and his siblings had when they were children and found themselves in here.

“Aphrodite, Athena and Zeus,” he said.

“Poseidon,” Joseph said, pointing to one tucked behind a large leafy plant.
 

“Hera and Ares,” he then added, pointing to another two statues.

“I always felt sorry for Hera being stuck next to Ares.
 

“Why,” Joseph said, trying to stop his son from plunging head first into the water.

“Firstly because she is Zeus’s wife and he’s off romping with the goddesses of love and wisdom and secondly because she is the queen of marriage, women and that sort of thing and is next to the god of war,” Will said, studying the statues before him.