“Then they don’t deserve her,” Eleanor said. “What would you prefer, Montague, a man who would not love her? Love can be found in the most unlikely of circumstances, when you’re not looking for it. After all, is that not how you and I met? Didyouintend to marry me at first?”
He colored and shame flickered across his expression. “Our initial engagement was not a usual one, I’ll admit…”
“Quite so. If I recall, you confessed, the day after proposing to me in public, that you never intended to marry me and you’d only offered marriage to put paid to your mother’s plans to match you with Lady Arabella Ponsford.”
“Sweet heaven!” Olivia cried. “Mr. Baxter’s wife? Were you going to marryher?”
His color deepened, then Eleanor let out a laugh.
“Come, come, Monty, my love. I’m only teasing you. It’s long since forgiven and forgotten. I’m merely attempting to point out that forcing Olivia into a conventional courtship may not be in her best interests.”
His shoulders relaxed and he sighed. Then he approached Olivia and offered his hand.
“Forgive me, sister,” he said. “I only want you to be happy. I wish I knew how to achieve that.”
His voice wavered as it always did when he revealed his heart—the living organ that he concealed behind a layer of cold steel.
Eleanor rose. “I must see to the cook about supper. Please excuse me.”
Without waiting for a response, she exited the drawing room,closing the door behind her.
Montague drew Olivia into his arms.
“Please forgive your overbearing older brother,” he whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead. “There’s no urgency to find you a husband. I’ll sponsor as many Seasons as it takes. None but the best of men for my little Livvie.”
She suppressed a cry at his pet name for her, only uttered at the tenderest of moments. His anger, dominance, and belligerence she could withstand, but when the moments of kindness broke through, like a ray of summer sun from behind a thick thundercloud, her resolve crumbled.
She buried her head in his chest. “What if I don’t…”
“Hush,” he said, stroking her hair. “You’ll always have a home with Eleanor and me. You know the children adore you. Horatio told me the other day that you’re his ‘favoritest person in the whole world,’ and you know how difficultheis to please.”
“But I want a home of my own,” she whispered, “children of my own. I want what you have with Eleanor—someone to love me without condition, without expectation, whom I can love in return.”
“Such a thing is rare in our world.”
“You meanyourworld.”
“No.Ours. You belong to this world, and I’ll beat into a pulp anyone who says otherwise.”
“Except perhaps this Lord Devereaux,” Olivia said with a grin, “seeing as he can flatten a man with a single blow.”
He let out a soft laugh. “Aye, except him. But it’s unlikely you’ll ever meet.”
His chest rose and fell in a sigh, and Olivia grew still, taking comfort from her brother’s solid embrace and the faint echo of his heartbeat.
“Did you speak the truth back then?” she asked. “About how you and Eleanor met?”
He nodded. “I’m ashamed of it. I behaved abominably, with no thought for Eleanor and her feelings. But it turned out for the best. For me, that is. I’d never have noticed her ordinarily, until we were thrust into each other’s company on a silly whim of mine. But that whim was the one action that redeemed me and found my soul mate. And more than anything, I want you to find yours.” He patted her arm. “And he’ll be the most fortunate man in the whole world. Perhaps you’ll find him at Lady Fairchild’s ball next week.”
“I thought you disliked the Fairchilds.”
“They’re more amenable now their daughter’s safely married,” he said. “Lord Fairchild made a point of saying at White’s yesterday that he very much looked forward to seeing you dance.”
“I don’t think I can face another ball, brother.”
He placed his fingers under her chin and gently tilted it upward until their eyes met.
“You don’t have to go, Livvie, but it’s the last ball of the Season. How about you come to one more—for me? Then we can return to Rosecombe, where I’ll even let you ride Destriero—defy his previous master’s insistence that he’s not fit for a woman. In fact, I’ll let you do anything if it makes you happy.”
