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She began pacing. Back and forth. This could not be happening. Louiza was going to Northumberland. Aunt Jane would arrange marriage to some man whose chief accomplishment was probably owning three thousand acres and knowing the correct pronunciation of pheasant. Olivia could almost hear Louiza politely agreeing to everything because she hated disappointing people.

"No," Olivia whispered.

She stopped beside the window. Years ago, she and Louiza had made a promise. They had been children then, frightened of being separated, and they had sworn that neither would ever abandon the other. Olivia had kept that promise every day of her life.

She was not about to break it now. Her anger hardened into determination.

Olivia crossed the room, lifted the latch and pushed the window open. Cold morning air rushed into the parlor, stirring the curtains around her. She looked down onto the bushes below and swallowed.

At least, it did not look far being on the raised ground floor.

Olivia placed one hand upon the sill.

"Well," she murmured, gathering her skirts, "this is either going to be very clever or very stupid."

Chapter Two

"Istill cannot believe what you did," Louiza turned toward her sister, her brows lifting with disbelief. "You escaped out of the window."

Olivia grinned despite herself. "Yes, I believe the driver was quite shocked when I stepped out in front of the horses like that."

She had been rather proud of the timing, though perhaps less proud of the fact that one of the horses had seemed considerably more sensible than she was. The animal had stopped with an indignant toss of its head, as though wondering why young ladies could not simply behave properly and remain indoors.

"Indeed," Louiza said, shaking her head. "I cannot believe you ran a full block to cut off the carriage like that."

"I was motivated by sisterly devotion," Olivia replied, settling back against the seat of the carriage. "And possibly panic. Mostly devotion, naturally."

Louiza gave her a look that suggested she knew precisely how much of the explanation was true. "I am just glad the driver believed us when you told him you were meant to be on the journey to the coaching inn."

Olivia's smile widened. "So am I. I thought for one dreadful moment that he might send me back to Shirley House."

"And once we got on the post, there was no turning back," Louiza said, her expression becoming more anxious. She glanced toward the rain-streaked window before looking at Olivia again. "Our mother will be livid when she learns what we have done. She will punish us even worse when we return."

Olivia's humor faltered. She had been trying not to think about that part. Their mother was not a woman who appreciated being outmaneuvered, and Olivia had managed to escape a locked parlor, intercept a carriage, and smuggle herself onto the very journey she had been forbidden to join. It was difficult to imagine Lady Shirley responding to such behavior with anything resembling maternal affection. Still, Olivia could not regret it.

"There cannot be anything worse than leaving you in the middle of nowhere," she said, her voice softening. "You are nowhere near our other sisters, nor the society we grew up with. I could not let you suffer that alone."

Louiza's eyes softened. She reached across the narrow space between them and squeezed Olivia's arm. "Thank you."

Olivia swallowed against the sudden tightness in her throat. "You need not thank me. Besides, I would have been terribly bored without you."

Louiza laughed softly. "You are impossible."

"And yet you love me."

"Very much."

Olivia smiled and leaned her head against her sister's shoulder. Whatever punishment awaited them when they eventually returned to London, she knew she would endure it willingly. She had spent her entire life protecting Louiza, and Louiza had spent hers quietly caring for Olivia in all the ways that mattered. Their mother might separate them geographically, but she would have to accomplish considerably more than a locked door to break the bond between them.

Olivia held Louiza's hand as the carriage rolled slowly up the grand driveway of Charnley Manor, the wheels sinking slightly into the wet gravel beneath them. Rain whispered steadily against the carriage windows, turning the Northumberland countryside beyond the glass into a blur of grey fields, bare trees and distant hills.

She glanced at Louiza, who was staring solemnly out of the window, and thought that if misery could be measured, they had certainly arrived in the correct county.

The carriage finally slowed before the broad stone steps of Charnley Manor. Olivia straightened and looked up through the window. The house was enormous, severe, and distinctly unwelcoming, with tall windows beneath a dark slate roof and stone walls that seemed to have been designed specifically to discourage happiness. Rain trickled down the steps. The door opened and a pair of servants hurried forward to open the carriage door. Olivia took a breath.

Lady Jane Charnley appeared in the threshold but did not step out.

Olivia knew immediately why people lowered their voices when speaking of her aunt. At fifty-six, the Dowager Countess possessed a formidable presence that required no introduction. She was tall and rigidly composed, dressed in dark mourning colors, and her sharp eyes seemed capable of discovering disobedience from fifty paces. She had never had children of her own, which Olivia privately thought might have been fortunate for any children involved, for Lady Jane appeared to possess enough authority to control an entire regiment.