The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance (72 page)

“Lyan! What in heaven’s name are you doing to Nick?”

Lyan stared into the shocked and horrified eyes of his sister standing in the doorway.

Estelle, bless her, drew Laura into the room. She told Laura everything — Lady Maryanne’s elopement, their suspicions about Cavendish, Nick’s attack. Estelle soothed his sister through each step of the story. At the very end she whispered, “And you must know which man you can trust — the one you should keep in your life. Your brother.”

Lyan dragged a bound Swan to his feet. “Was it also your job to go after Lady Maryanne Bryght?” Nick’s eyes shifted and his mouth hardened, revealing the truth. “Did you find her? Hurt her?”

At Nick’s silence, he gripped him by the throat. “Tell me where you found her. And what you did to her and Peabody, or I’ll kill you now. Give me the truth and things might go better for you.”

Nick gave a vicious laugh. “Good luck finding them. I caught them two days ago, but by then they were wed.”

“And Cavendish had sent you to kill them if they were,” Estelle accused.

Nick gave a sly grin. “He wanted the lovely and rich bride for himself. I was to get rid of the husband. But the little witch outfoxed me. I had cut up the gent and was ready to finish him when Lady Maryanne pulled a pistol on me. They managed to escape but I had to return to London because Laura was waiting to elope with me.” He smirked to Lyan. “Even if I failed Cavendish, I assumed you would pay a lot of money to get her back and make me go away. Enough for me to live comfortably in Italy.”

Laura turned a heart-wrenching shade of white.

“Where did you find them?” Lyan demanded, but Nick shook his head. Fortunately Lyan knew his former partner well. He was a coward at heart. It took another half-hour of threats — and a little pain — but Nick finally revealed the small village inn where he had discovered them.

The innkeeper had stormed upstairs at the sound of the shot, and now Estelle took charge, sending him to fetch the nearest magistrate. Lyan looked to her. “Once Nick’s taken away, I’ve got to see if I can find Lady Maryanne.”

She nodded. “I will take care of Laura.”

What a shame that, at the end of this, he thought ruefully, she wanted him to walk away from her for ever.

The magistrate and several muscular village men arrived to place Nick Swan under arrest. Swan had been shackled in irons and taken to gaol. Lyan, the other magistrate, and several of those men raced off to search for Lady Maryanne and Peabody, planning to start their hunt in the village where Swan had caught the pair. Estelle stayed with Laura, who sobbed and sobbed at her lost love.

But as dawn began to blush on the horizon, Laura wiped at her eyes. “You had tea brought in, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Estelle poured the girl a cup. She suspected Laura was, at her core, as strong and noble as Lyan. As the girl sipped hot tea, Estelle stroked back her hair.

“I’m crying at my stupidity,” Laura said. “And at how close I came to losing my brother.” Wide green eyes gazed up. “You were correct. I see how important Lyan is to me. I don’t want to lose him, in any way. When I marry, I want it to bring happiness to our family. Not discord. And—” She ducked her head. “He was right.”

“Your brother is a very wise and wonderful man.”

The door burst open then and Lyan strode in. He grinned when he saw his sister drinking tea, still tear-stained, but also smiling. “My God, Estelle,” he murmured, “you are a shining star.”

Estelle grasped Laura’s cup. Her heart felt full to bursting as Laura flung herself into Lyan’s embrace. Over Laura’s disordered curls, Lyan gave her the good news.

“We found Lady Maryanne and Peabody quickly. They had taken refuge in a nearby barn. Peabody has lost a lot of blood, but the village doctor believes he will survive. They have many years of married life ahead of them.”

Estelle could have kissed him. But Laura deserved to have all her brother’s hugs. Then to her surprise, Laura looked up into Lyan’s face. “Are you going to marry Madame Desjardins? You could keep travelling to Gretna Green and marry her over the anvil. That’s the place where everything — all love — is possible, Lyan. You both deserve to be happy.”

Estelle caught her breath. What if Lyan thought she’d put Laura up to it?

But Lyan shook his head. “I have no intention of going to Gretna Green.”

A fortnight had passed, and Estelle had accepted the truth. Lyan believed she would not marry him again. He would not come to ask her one more time. Really, it was madness to even hope.

How many times would any man put up with being turned down?

At least Lady Maryanne — now Mrs Peabody — was free of Cavendish. He had been faced with ruin, for he’d needed Maryanne’s money for his gaming debts. His body had been found in the Thames. Whether he’d jumped or had fallen in drunk, no one knew.

The bell tinkled above her shop door. It was just closing time. She peered out from behind the workroom curtain to tell the customer to come back tomorrow.

Lyan stood in the doorway, just as he had done two weeks ago. But this time, his arms overflowed with an enormous bouquet of red roses. There were so many flowers that the red velvety blossoms almost hid his handsome face. “For Sally of the Gardens,” he said softly, setting the lovely bundle on one of the chairs.

“Lyan—” But her voice died as he dropped to one knee, and a shy smile touched his lips. He held up something sparkling. It caught the candlelight and flashed light around the room. “I didn’t want to whisk you away to Gretna Green, Sally. That’s the place for
forbidden
love. I wanted to marry you here, properly. If you wish, we can marry at St George’s as soon as I get a licence.” He raked back his dark hair. “I love you, Sally. I’ve loved you for my lifetime. When I realized I could have lost you in that inn … You have to say yes, Sally. Because I’m going to stay here, down on one knee until you do. And with me filling your doorway, no one can get into the shop.”

She almost laughed. The very first time he had asked her, ten years ago, she had said yes. She’d agreed then, because she had thought she could never love anyone more than she loved Lyan.

She had been wrong. She loved him even more
now.

At her silence, his face dropped. “Angel, it can’t be ‘no’ again, can it?”

“There are more reasons why I can’t marry you than I can count. For one, you will soon become an earl. Earls do not marry simple seamstresses—”

“You are anything but a simple seamstress.”

“I am a shopkeeper, Lyan. Earls do not marry shopkeepers. Unless the earls are very, very poor and the shopkeepers are very rich.”

His lips twitched. “I was — am — a Bow Street Runner. My upbringing was no different than yours, and I have a profession, as you have.”

“I ran away the first time because I was afraid of being trapped.” There. She wanted to give him the truth. And if he still wanted her then … “When we were young and you asked me to marry you, I wanted you more than life itself — that was why I said yes. But then I became afraid. My mother had been treated so badly by men, I wasn’t sure—”

“You thought that I could hurt you.”

“I had no idea that men could be good and noble, Lyan. All I knew was my mother and the men in the stews. She had believed those men would be good to her, but she was so very wrong. I was afraid of losing control of my life. I thought what I wanted most was to be in charge of my own destiny. But when we were attacked in the inn, I realized that love and family are far more important than fighting to always be in control.”

She threw up her hands. “It doesn’t matter what I want. Society would never accept me as a countess. You wanted to clear Laura’s way to a better life, not throw more obstacles in her path. I would be an insurmountable obstacle.”

“Laura has found the man she wants to marry.”

“Goodness. Already? Who?”

“The young Viscount Norbury. Once she no longer had Swan in pursuit of her, blinding her to other men, she saw Norbury’s good qualities. But I told Laura she can’t encourage him until you complete an investigation of him, Sal.”

Her nervous laughter bubbled up.

He clasped her hand, and just the contact sent a sizzle to her toes. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to marry me because I was a Bow Street Runner,” he said, his eyes serious. “The ton isn’t going to be eager to accept me as an earl. But if I’m going to face whispers and sneers, I need you at my side, Sally, to give me strength. I’ve always needed you at my side.”

She took a deep breath and tried to speak. But tears got in the way.

“I want a home with you, Sally. I want to have more children with you. Many brothers and sisters for Rose. But, more than anything, I want you, and that will never change. I don’t care what the ton says about us. If I have you, I can look any peer in the eye and tell him I’m the luckiest man in England. For I’d have the two most precious things in the world. Love. And you.”

Her tears broke free. They ran down her cheeks. Lyan looked nervous and got to his feet, jerking a linen handkerchief from his pocket.

She took it, and tried to wipe delicately. Then gave up and rubbed her cheeks. She couldn’t remember when she had last cried. But no longer did she have to hide what she felt, no longer did she have to bear everything alone. “Yes.
Yes,
I will marry you.”

He grinned. “No more secrecy, no more running. No more need for Gretna Green.” And he wrapped his arms around her like he would never let her go.

“There was a day not so very long ago that women were pining for Lord Drayton. Who would want him now?” Elizabeth Montgomery said, her voice hinting at amusement.

Adelaide Bruce, better known as Addy to her friends, resisted the urge to toss her punch in Elizabeth’s face. A newly formed acquaintance, Elizabeth didn’t realize the man she spoke of so flippantly and with such cruelty was Roan, Addy’s brother’s best friend, who had been severely injured in battle six months ago.

“He is ghastly, I tell you.”

Squaring her shoulders, Addy did her best to control her growing anger. “Miss Elizabeth, the man you speak of is a war hero … and a close family friend.”

Elizabeth looked down her long nose at Addy, her dark eyes narrowing. “Oh dear, I did not mean to strike a nerve, my pet. I am merely repeating what others have been saying since the Captain’s recent return.”

“You would do well not to listen to idle gossip, Miss Elizabeth. At the very least, Lord Drayton deserves your respect.”

The other woman pressed her lips together and sniffed. “I do respect the Captain, especially for his service to our country. However, there is no denying his appearance is rather … frightening.” Elizabeth gave a little shudder for good measure. “And to think a year ago he had been engaged to one of London’s most desirable debutantes. Everyone knows Sara Duggart’s sudden departure to America was no coincidence. A sick great-aunt, my eye.” Elizabeth cleared her throat and leaned closer to Addy. “I have heard she is newly engaged to a wealthy Virginian. What he lacks for in height, I understand he makes up for in looks.”

Elizabeth’s voice faded as Addy watched Roan — or Drayton, as most friends called him — enter the ballroom. Tall and broad-shouldered, Roan’s long hair curled at the collar of his Navy jacket. Even as a boy he had commanded attention with his nearly black locks and intense silver eyes. In profile he looked just as he always had — handsome, powerful, masculine — but when he turned, she saw the scar that had changed his life seemingly overnight. It was raised, a mottled red and purple, running from directly beneath his right eye, down the lower lid, over his cheek and down his neck, disappearing beneath the intricately tied cravat at his throat. She had heard the burn had ravaged his entire right arm and hand, to the point he’d nearly had to have the limb amputated.

She could feel the others turn away from his stare, doing anything so as not to make eye contact. Shame on them! What was wrong with them to treat him so? His striking beauty had always made her breathless, and now she felt the familiar stirring in her breast as those piercing eyes scanned the room.

Her brother Jack came up behind Roan and whispered something in his ear. The stern expression immediately fled Roan’s features and the wolfish smile she remembered well from her youth appeared, making her heart miss a beat.

Jack motioned her over and Adelaide felt a flutter of excitement ripple through her as she made her way through the throng of guests towards her brother and Roan.

It had been five long years since the last time she’d seen him. She’d been a girl then, just shy of her thirteenth year, and he a young man of three and twenty. How proud he had been to receive his commission to captain his own vessel in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy. Word of his bravery had quickly made the rounds of balls and soirées and, when he came home on leave for a short break last year, he had asked Sara to become his wife.

Everyone had been envious of the fair-haired, statuesque merchant’s daughter who had enchanted the rakishly handsome, wealthy lord and renowned Navy captain.

That is until word of his hideous appearance reached English shores. It was said Miss Duggart had immediately broken the engagement by way of a hastily written letter, which had left Roan shattered.

With anticipation tripping along her spine, Addy stopped in front of her brother and Roan.

Jack smiled. “Addy, how good of you to join us.”

Roan abruptly turned and Addy swallowed past the lump in her throat as she made a small curtsey. “Lord Drayton, what a pleasure it is to see you again. It has been far too long.”

His intense silver eyes held her hostage, and she shifted on her feet as he stared at her without blinking.

“Addy.” He said her name as though he could not quite believe it was her. “You have grown up in my absence.”