Lucas chuckled. “I thought you’d appreciate my idea. I rather thought it was a wise selection. While St. George’s would be preferable, there was not an appointment available for several months, and since I had to call in a substantial favor with the archbishop’s representative at Doctors’ Common, I didn’t want to wait to use the license, you understand.” He nodded.
“That must have been some favor,” Liliah replied, reaching over and grasping her silent sister’s hand encouragingly.
“Let’s just say the man has long wished for an invitation. . . somewhere.” Lucas flickered a glance to Samantha, then frowned slightly. “I’m afraid we haven’t been properly introduced.”
Samantha’s dark hazel eyes met his and she gave her head a slight shake.
“I’m Lucas Mayfield, the eighth Earl of Heightfield, at your service.” He smiled broadly, the warmth in his gaze tender and kind.
Liliah glanced at her sister. “And this is Lady Samantha Durary, my dear sister.”
Samantha chimed in cautiously, “Pleased to meet you, sir. I’ve heard much about you.”
Lucas chuckled. “I’m quite certain you have. Now, I’m assuming that your sister gave you the generalities of the plan we discussed?”
Samantha nodded. “Yes, my lord.”
“She’s much more biddable than you.” Lucas gave Liliah a teasing wink.
“You wouldn’t know what to do with me if I were biddable,” Liliah teased back. “And you love me as I am.”
“This is true,” Lucas replied with deep feeling, then seemed to collect himself and turned back to Samantha. “Now then, I have arranged for your departure this evening. You’ll have a very respectable chaperone to accompany you to Edinburgh, Scotland, where you’ll be employed as a young lady’s governess.”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “Scotland?”
Liliah studied her sister, watching as hesitation and uncertainty melted into a hardened resolve.
“That may be far enough away,” Samantha replied, startling Liliah with her bold statement.
“Perhaps she isn’t so biddable,” Lucas remarked, grinning at her. “You’ll be in excellent care. Liliah knows the gentleman who will be your employer.”
Liliah frowned and waited for him to explain.
“Viscount Kilpatrick,” Lucas supplied.
Liliah grinned as she remembered the mountain of a man with the kind eyes. “That will work splendidly.” She turned to her sister. “I’ve met the man in question and you’ll be quite safe with him. He’s kind, Samantha, and you’ll appreciate his dry wit.”
“Very well.” Samantha nodded sagely.
Liliah was impressed by her sister’s determination to make a change for her future, to take the opportunity and run. She was essentially becoming a bluestocking—her sweet, demure, and polished sister was changing her spots.
Liliah was all too familiar with the siren call of freedom.
It would seem that Samantha had the same drive, and she was so very thankful.
The carriage pulled over beside a carriage house, and Liliah watched as Lucas’s smile broadened. “Any second thoughts?”
“No,” she answered quickly.
He chuckled softly and poked his head out of the carriage before stepping down. After checking to the left and right, he waved his hand for the ladies to step down.
Liliah grinned to herself as Lucas led them to the back of the manor where she had snuck in so long ago, meeting him and somehow changing her future. They took the servants’ entrance, now empty, and filed down the same hall where Liliah had stumbled into the changing room to meet one of the demimonde, Lark. Her face ached from the wide grin that was a result of the very literal walk down memory lane that had them filing past the ballroom and toward the larger foyer. “We’re almost there.” Lucas spoke softly, invitingly.
Liliah reached out and grasped Samantha’s hand, squeezing it encouragingly.
They turned down another hall and Lucas paused before a double wooden door with stained glass windows casting a glow on the floor.
Liliah glanced at Lucas, who turned to meet her gaze. “Ironic, I know.”
