“But all is well.” He reassured her. Her concern had seemed very real. “Where is that delightful little pup I met earlier? She does not sit at the table with you?” He would tease a smile from her.
Ah, there it was, his heart jumped at the sudden glow. “Miss Fussy stays in the room for supper.” Her grin tugged at something inside of him. “The morning and noontime meals, however, are a different story.”
“And will Miss Fussy be making her come out as well?”
Lilly responded in kind. “Not until she’s been to the modiste. She lacks the proper wardrobe currently. But then, of course, she shall be presented to the queen?—”
Glenda interrupted. “What rubbish!” The poor girl apparently lacked a sense of humor. “Lilly, don’t be ridiculous.” After sending a disgusted look in Lilly’s direction, she turned her attention back to him. “Don’t give her any ideas, Your Grace. My stepmother has a rather unusual attachment to her dog. I told her we should not bring Miss Fussy with us to London. She creates rather a nuisance at times. Even so, Lilly refused to leave the dog behind.”
This was apparently not the first time the two women had had this discussion. Michael observed as Lilly stilled anddropped her lashes. “That’s enough, Glenda.” The words were spoken softly, and yet they allowed for no argument. It was clear to Michael that Lilly loved her dog.
“I’ve a few hounds myself—somewhat larger than Miss Fussy.” Cedric and Norris likely outweighed Miss Fussy by more than ten times her own weight. “Wish I’d had them with me today. I expect they’d have taken care of those bas—those highwaymen.” He held his dogs in great affection. Lacking open space for them while in London, Michael had left them in the care of his steward back at Summers Park.
Michael suspected the small dog brought Lilly a great deal of comfort. She had been tenderhearted toward animals before. She’d greeted the occasional dog they’d come across while walking in the park, and at Edgewood Heights…He imagined her dog received a considerable amount of devotion.
Which reminded him. Lilly was married. There would be a husband at home or awaiting them in London.
“You are traveling alone, I take it? Is the baron in London already or does he plan to follow you later?” When the ladies glanced at each other, Michael felt compelled to add, “I was acquainted with your aunt several years ago, Miss Beauchamp, in London—before she married your father.”
The responses to both his question and his statement were very different than he had expected. Miss Beauchamp gasped and then turned accusingly toward Lilly. “You promised not to tell anybody! Are you trying to ruin my season already?” And then the girl let out a wail, hastily excused herself, and ran sobbing from the room.
Lilly, dry-eyed, set her fork down and calmly stated, “That would be quite a feat, Your Grace, for the baron has been dead for over a year now.”
What the devil?What had he said to send Lilly’s niece running from the room? And the baron was dead?
Lilly was a widow?
Lilly stared at the closed door and sighed. “It must remain a secret that I married my brother-in-law. Although of no matter at home, Aunt Eleanor has advised it may not be quite the thing in London. It was illegal after all.” She raised one delicate shoulder and grimaced. “Glenda will realize I told you about it before. I ought to go after her but…she tends to find more comfort from her maid these days…”
Once Glenda’s wailing had receded completely, those two little lines appeared upon Lilly’s forehead again. Of course, she must have realized they would now be dining together alone.
It was perfectly acceptable. She was a widow, after all. In the past, this opportunity for them to be alone together would have been terribly romantic. Without another word, she delved back into the tasteless stew.
He forced his mind to return to her other revelation. “I am sorry for your loss.” There had been no sorrow or regret in her voice when she’d announced the baron’s death. Regret at the news of Beauchamp’s passing eluded him as well. Lilly again avoided looking him in the eyes.
It was strange, sitting here with her. What had her marriage been like? Had Beauchamp loved her? Had Lilly given herself to her husband with the same passionate abandon she’d shown with him? Did she have other children? Did she have a lover? Who had Lilly Bridge become? Nearly a decade had passed. He didn’t know LillyBeauchampat all.
And yet, she was Lilly. As in that moment in the Willoughby foyer, the pull between them still existed—for him, anyway. He forced himself to remember the aftermath. She was also the woman who hadn’t waited for him. The woman who had bolted from town when he’d promised to return. She’d abandoned him when he’d needed her dreadfully.
Lilly placed her fork on her dish and folded her hands in her lap. “Thank you,” she said, oh so politely. “We expected his passing. He had been ill for many years.”
And then, finally, she met his gaze. “It has been so very long, but I am sorry for the loss of your father and brother, as well.” Upon this topic, she would be sincere.
Michael took a drink of ale and swallowed hard. He had rather hoped to hear these words from her long ago.
Upon returning to her aunt’s town house in London to claim her, Michael had been handed a short missive. The butler had appeared disapproving. The missive had informed him of Lilly’s betrothal. Letters he’d later sent to her home in Plymouth had gone unanswered. He’d stopped writing when her father finally sent him a response. He’d demanded Michael refrain from any further attempts to correspond with the baroness. “She is a married woman.” The bold statement had been underlined twice.
At that point, Michael had travelled to Summers Park and seized hold of the duties required of him as the new Duke of Cortland. Keeping busy helped him to erase her from his mind. Erasing her from his heart hadn’t been so easy.
With the ducal seat near Exeter, Michael had struggled knowing she was not so very far away. But she had married.
And that, even more so than the miles that separated their homes, had removed her from his life forever.
“Thank you.” He brought himself back to the present. “It was a difficult time for many. Over half the servants at Summers Park succumbed. Scarlet fever is a ruthless enemy.”
Michael’s statement shocked her.Her father had only told her Captain Redmond had become a duke. He’d convinced her she’d been jilted. She’d known nothing of a scarlet fever outbreak! And now, she listened in dawning despair as Michael casually described the conditions he’d come upon when he’d arrived at Summers Park that fated summer.
Would she have resisted her father if she had known this? Surely she would have! Not knowing what had become of Michael, she had begged her father to allow her to stay in London—to no avail. Aunt Eleanor was to depart for a summer house party in the country, and her mother had been eager to return to Plymouth. Her father had insisted that as a duke, Michael would no doubt look higher for a wife.The season is over, and the time for this nonsense is past.He had insisted on the betrothal and her quick wedding to Lord Beauchamp. He’d been anxious to have her settled.
