Her eyes widened as she leaned up on his chest a little. “If you not only end your engagement, but declare yourself for your former fiancée’s sister, there will be no stopping the scandal. How would you ever recover?”
He could see her protective instincts still running overtime. Only this time she was turning them on him. The idea warmed him, that if he could manage to have a life with this woman, she would protect him for the rest of his days. He would do the same for her. They would do that together for their children and eventually their grandchildren if they were so blessed as to have them.
Only right now she couldn’t see that future so clearly. And since everything else in both their lives had just gone off like an explosion, he was willing to give it time. As long as he could still be near her, the rest would come.
“Hmmm, I think I can recover much faster if you kiss me,” he teased as he set her hand gently on his already half-hard cock.
She laughed and it was like music. When he slid her beneath him and the laughter turned to a shaky sigh, that was even better.
“Now let’s try all that again,” he murmured as he kissed the angle of her jaw. “But this time much, much slower.”
CHAPTER18
It had only been a few hours since Lockhart left her bed with sweet kisses and even sweeter promises that he’d be back. The pleasure of their night together had lingered for a long time, but as morning light dawned and the reality of what was to come grew larger, Lily’s calm had faded. There was nothing resolved when it came to the future for her sister or for Lockhart. Those things would have to be determined before anything else could even be discussed.
She drew in a deep breath and knocked on her sister’s door.
“It’s Lily,” she said, so her sister wouldn’t worry that it was Prudence. Her stepmother had not been seen nor heard from since she’d been relegated to her rooms the day before, but Lily had no doubt that could and would eventually change.
The lock clicked and Alice opened the door. She looked tired, but much more at peace than she had in the weeks before. There was no denying that the end of the engagement was good for her and Lily smiled as she embraced her gently.
“Good morning,” Alice said. “Will you sit with us?”
Us. Lily looked past her to find Mary sitting at the table across the room. When their eyes met, Mary shifted with discomfort.
“Thank you, that would be nice.”
Lily followed her sister to the table. Alice took her seat and immediately took Mary’s hand. When Mary looked at her it was with deep affection, just as it had always been. Before Lily had taken it for friendship after they’d been raised so closely, but now she saw it for what it was. This love wasn’t new. It had probably been brewing for years and years.
“We’ll have our final discussions with Lord Lockhart and Lord and Lady Pembrooke this morning,” Lily said.
Color flooded Alice’s cheeks. “Yes. And Mama. I’m sure she won’t keep herself from those conversations. I’m shocked the earl and countess could keep her clear until now.”
“You have a great many allies on your side,” Lily said. “The Pembrookes, all the other earls and countesses in attendance. They might not know the entire truth of what has happened, no one would force that from you.”
“Except for my mother,” Alice said with a tinge of bitterness. “I assumesheis the one who told Lockhart.”
Lily pursed her lips. “Yes. She did. And I admit, I don’t know if she revealed the truth to anyone else in her upset. But no one has said anything to me. You don’t have to cut yourselves open. But as for me, as for George—Lord Lockhart, we are determined to protect you and stand with you in whatever the future looks like. You aren’t alone in this, neither of you.”
She looked to Mary and at last the young woman lifted her gaze. Her eyes were filled with wonder. “You’ve always been so kind, Mrs. Manning. If you would extend even a little bit of that to me, I would be grateful.”
“Lily,” Lily said, reaching across to take Mary’s free hand. “If you and my sister are in love, if you mean so much to her, then I really think you must call me Lily.”
Bright tears filled Mary’s eyes and she exchanged a meaningful look with Alice before she got up. “I’ll leave you two alone for a moment.”
Alice smiled at her as she left for the adjoining dressing room. “She’s afraid.”
“Yes, I know. Prudence has a great deal of control over her, over you. But I swear to you that I won’t let that stand.”
Her sister tilted her head. “Yes. I believe you. When you speak about a future, it’s impossiblenotto believe it. I have hope that this will work out, despite all the fraught beginnings and upset.”
Funny, that was exactly how Lily felt when she thought about George. Though working it out for them might be very different. She could be, and she had no doubt would be, his lover. The rest would have to be discussed because she wouldn’t ruin him. “Well, you aren’t unprotected.”
Alice looked at her evenly. “I suppose you’ve always done that, to your detriment even. Are you…are you in love with Lockhart?”
Lily’s lips parted. “I—why would you ask me that?”
“I saw the way you looked at each other when you found me and Mary in the woods. The way you kept turning to him for support. The way I never did to him or he to me. I was so tangled up in my own fears I couldn’t see it before yesterday afternoon.”
