He remembered how Marianne had tried to pull his mask free and he’d run away.
Run away.
And look where that had got him.
It was time for the truth.
He took a deep, steadying breath. And spoke.
“My Lord, your daughter and I-” He began. “Lady Marianne and I met long before my engagement to Eliza.”
He explained it all then. How they had met in Bath, under the guise of country folk wearing masks. How they had spent three incredible days with one another, without learning of each other’s true identities.
And once he’d explained all, from start to finish, he admitted what had been heavy upon his heart for so long.
“In truth, my Lord, I believe she fell in love with me in Bath. Long before I came to be engaged to her sister.”
The Baron was silent for several moments. Merely staring up at Alexander, unblinking. “And you?” The Baron murmured. “Did you fall in love with her?”
His voice shook when he spoke. “I’m afraid that doesn’t matter, my Lord. My father promised me to Eliza. And both Lady Marianne and I understand that. She has kept me at arm’s length ever since we were reunited.”
The Baron nodded. “She has always protected her sister, despite how Eliza can sometimes be.”
“Then what changed that day?”
The Baron’s eyes softened and his smile grew sadder. “I suppose that, on that day, protecting you became more important than protecting her sister.”
Just as Marianne had said.
At last, Alexander had to sit down.
Chapter 28
Lord Alexander Anthony Redmond, Marquess of Riversdale
It was some time before Alexander could muster the strength to speak again. He merely sat in the Baron’s study, staring blankly at the wall.
“My Lord?” The Baron said. “Are you not well?”
Julius put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“It… it is a lot to take in,” Alexander admitted. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb.
Taking a deep breath, he put aside his feelings regarding what he had learned from the Baron and spoke once more. “You said that she might have gone to her friend’s home?”
“I had thought she might,” the Baron said. “But in truth, she does not have many friends and the one friend I expected her to be with swears she is not.”
“She does not have many friends?” Alexander heard himself saying. Of everything he’d heard today, that surprised him most.
The Baron smiled sadly. “She is an extremely lovable girl, as you both know. But Eliza is a force to be reckoned with.”
“Are you implying that Eliza would not allow her to have friends?” Julius asked, with a deep frown wrinkling his forehead.
The Baron didn’t answer, but his silence spoke louder than words.
“Could she have gone to a relative?” Alexander said, pressing on with the matter of greater importance.
“We have contacted them all, with no success.”
“And there’s nowhere else?”
The Baron pursed his lips and Alexander realized that there was something he wasn’t saying. He recalled what he’d said earlier. That he could probably find Marianne if he thought to try, but that he understood why she’d left all too well.
“My Lord,” Alexander said, in a softer voice. “I only want to ensure that she is safe and well. Is there not some small part of you that worries that she might not be?”
“Of course there is,” he replied, in a shaky voice. “But I… I do not think she wants to be found. And I am afraid to find her.”
“Afraid?”
“If she is safe and well, I do not want to risk-” The Baron stopped speaking and looked down at his desk.
“You do not want to risk Eliza finding her,” Alexander concluded. He watched the Baron wring his hands together.
“As I said, she is a force to be reckoned with. And Marianne has such a warm character. She has never coped well with Eliza.”
He had to wonder if anyone had ever coped well with Eliza.
As he imagined Marianne suffering under Eliza’s tyrannical rule, his heart gave a ruthless pang. “Eliza will not find her, my Lord. You have my word. If I find her, I will bring the news straight to you and you alone.”
Still, the Baron hesitated for a moment.
But at last, his shoulders slackened and he nodded.
“I believe that she may still be with Lady Lilia.”
“But did you not just say that you contacted Lady Lilia?” Julius interjected.
The Baron nodded. “I did. And she replied that Marianne was not with her. But I cannot think where else she would go and I know that Lady Lilia would lie for her if asked to. She cares for Marianne very much.”
Get in line, Alexander thought to himself.
“Can you give us directions to her residence?”
“Of course,” he said. “But should I not come with you?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alexander admitted. “I think she may be sent running if she catches whiff of your arrival. She might think Eliza or your wife is with you.”
This clearly did not sit well with the Baron, but he nodded his consent. “Very well,” he said. He pulled a piece of paper from his drawer and began writing out succinct directions to Lady Lilia’s estate.
When he handed it to Alexander, they did not wait another moment. They bid him good day and stepped out into the foyer.
Of course, Eliza was there waiting for him. When he tried to pass her, she grabbed him by his sleeve. “Where are you going?” She asked, sounding a little frantic. “Do you not want to stay? I have missed you awfully, my love.”
“I am afraid that I can’t stay,” he replied. “I have urgent business.”
“Urgent business? But then, why have you come? What did you say to father?”
She yanked on his sleeve again, forcing him to stop walking. He turned to look down at her. His jaw was stiff and sharpened by the tension in his mouth.
“As I told you,” he began. “I came because I heard of your sister’s disappearance. I came to offer my condolences.”
“And that is all?”
He inclined his head. “That is all,” he lied. “Now will you please release me?”
She let go of him, but continued to look up at him like a petulant child. “Will you come back soon?”
Why did just looking at her make him feel sick? He clenched his teeth. “Of course, my dear. Very soon.”
With that, Alexander and Julius left the estate.
As they mounted their horses, Julius said, “How can you stand that girl?”
“I can’t,” Alexander answered, shamelessly.
It was a long ride to Lady Lilia’s estate. Several hours, in fact. Time which was made to feel longer by his own fear, which felt like a living, breathing force inside of him.
What if she wasn’t there?
What if she wasn’t safe?
He didn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t find her, and he knew that Julius felt the same way about Becky. He’d been unusually quiet throughout the ride.
“You didn’t have to come,” Alexander said, as they rode the last few miles. “But I thank you for it. I am not sure I could do this without you.”
“I did have to come,” Julius admitted in a somber voice. “Though I am glad to be here for you, my friend.”
“Do you think Miss Cole will receive you well, if she is there?”
“She very rarely receives me well,” Julius answered. “But I need peace of mind. I need to know that she is safe so that I can sleep.”
Alexander frowned. “Then what is it you like so much about her? If she does not receive you well?”
Julius slowed his horse and Alexander did the same. He saw that his friend was smiling slightly. “She is the most resilient woman I’ve ever met,” Julius confessed.
“And beneath that resilience she hide
s a sharp wit, a keen mind and a cheekiness that I find entirely irresistible,” he went on. “I see that there is even more to her than that. Things that it would perhaps take me years to discover, even if she gave me the chance. In truth, she is a mystery to me.”
It was then that Lady Lilia’s estate came into view.
They both picked up the pace, wordlessly, as their panic rose. The closer they got, the more their fear grew. They each imagined what it would be like to walk inside and face nothing but Lady Lilia’s surprise.
To walk inside and find that the women they loved were not there.
***
Lady Marianne Purcell, Daughter of Baron Westlake
Though they were each nurturing their own heartbreak, Becky and Marianne had relaxed into their new surroundings. They had peace. Something they’d never had before.
From time to time they would look up from their books and just smile at each other. Yes, she missed her father. And whenever she thought of Lord Redmond, her heart hurt.
But they’d found a slither of paradise. And to keep it they had to prevent their pain from eating away at them. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes they felt so low they could barely get out of bed.
It was then that Lilia would come for them and take them outside. She took them riding. She took them to a little lake on the grounds where they swam. They sat in the sun almost every day. And Lilia would make them laugh, to ease their weary hearts.
Lady Lilia didn’t treat Becky like a maid. She never asked her to do anything. She treated her as Marianne treated her. Like a friend.
But it took a long time for Becky to relax around Lilia. She was always waiting to be ordered around, but Lilia never did. By the end of the second week, she’d asked Becky to call her by her first name. Becky had balked, but slowly began to call her by it.
Lilia was a remarkably free spirit. Her parents had moved abroad, leaving the estate to her. And though she was still only in her young twenties, she took to it extremely well. She was engaged to be married, which had been arranged prior to her parents’ departure.
“There are two gentlemen here to see you,” Lilia whispered. She’d ducked her head into the library, where Becky and Marianne were sitting reading.
They looked at Lilia, then at each other.
“Two?” Becky answered, in a very soft voice.
“Two,” she confirmed.
“Did they announce themselves?” Marianne asked.
“They did not. I thought it rather rude and told them as much, but they only continued to insist on seeing you both.”
“Seeing us both?” Becky echoed, breathlessly. She sounded like she was going to pass out.
“What do they look like?” Marianne pressed.
“Very handsome. The pair of them. A little serious looking.”
That summed up Alexander. Serious looking. But underneath the seriousness, she knew a side of him that most didn’t. A side that danced at country fairs. A side that she’d only seen tiny glimpses of since Bath.
“Julius is not serious looking,” Becky remarked, though she still sounded worried.
“They know we’re here,” Marianne realized.
“I am sorry, my friend. They insisted and would not give their names. I did not know if I should lie or not.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Marianne said. “You have done enough for us. Our presence here was never going to stay secret forever.”
“What would you have me do now?”
Marianne mused for a moment. She felt her heart thumping at maximum speed beneath her rib cage. She looked at Becky, who was frozen, then back at Lilia.
“Tell them this,” she began.
Chapter 29
Lord Alexander Anthony Redmond, Marquess of Riversdale
“I do not know your names,” Lady Lilia said, as she descended the staircase. “So I do not know what to call you by.”
Alexander stood stiffly, with his hands clasped together behind his back. Julius stood similarly. “Have you spoken to them?”
“To whom?” Lady Lilia asked, blinking innocently.
He was losing his patience. “You know very well.”
She reached the final step. “You mean Lady Marianne and Miss Cole?”
He expelled a shaky breath of relief. At last, an acknowledgement. They were here. “The very same.”
“I have,” the lady said. She was a very pretty woman, with a cleverness in her eyes that was a little unnerving. But besides that, a complete authority in her stance, despite her age. And a disregard for custom which he recognized from the moment he’d seen her.
“And?” He pressed. “What did they say?”
“Lady Marianne bid me give you a message.” The lady looked from Alexander to Julius, then back to Alexander.
“Lord Redmond and Lord Blackwood,” she began. So she did know their names. “Lady Marianne and Miss Cole have kindly asked that you not return here.”
For an instant, he was silent while that sank in.
It was Julius who spoke first. “What?” He blurted. He looked up the staircase and his body twitched forwards, as if he meant to sprint up those steps without another word.
“They thank you for your concern, but remind you that they did not want to be found. They are safe and happy here.”
“Happy here? When her father is at home, worried sick for her? And how long does she plan to stay here? Forever?”
“She may do so if it pleases her,” Lady Lilia responded, without batting an eyelid. “I rather like having her here. And young Miss Cole. And besides, I have heard what had transpired in these past few months.”
The lady looked Alexander up and down, from head to toe. “And,” she went on. “I think she may be better off here.”
His lips parted, but nothing came out. Alexander’s body tensed and he took a breath to speak, but his words were dried up husks in his throat.
“Do not push it, Alexander,” Julius said. He had calmed, though he was still looking up at the stairs, wishfully. “Will you tell the ladies that we are relieved to hear that they are safe and that we will return again tomorrow in the hopes of speaking to them?”
This seemed to surprise Lady Lilia. She blinked at Julius. “I will,” she said, after a long moment.
Julius bowed. Then took Alexander by the arm and pulled him away. “What are you doing?” Alexander bit out. “We can’t leave now. They’re just up there. Just up those stairs.”
“And what do you hope to do?” Julius asked, with a quirked brow. He led Alexander outside, then released him. “Barge upstairs and enter into a screaming match?”
“I need to see her, Julius.” He sounded desperate now and was looking back at the house.
“And you will. We will keep coming back until they see us. Every day. But you need to be patient. If we push them too hard, they may flee further than Lady Lilia’s estate.”
Alexander looked at Julius as that fact dawned on him.
If they ran further… Alexander and Julius may never be able to find them. Alexander stopped arguing and swallowed. He nodded, then looked back at the house one last time.
Julius put his hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find a nearby inn.”
They came the next day. And the next day. By the third day, Alexander received word from the Baron of Westlake. They hadn’t told anyone but the Baron where they were going and Alexander knew that his father would soon be growing restless, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
They’d already sent word to the Baron that they’d found Lady Marianne and that she was safe.
He’d sent a letter in return regarding Alexander’s father, who’d come to visit the Purcells in search of him.
“You have to go,” Julius said, when he saw the letter.
“I can’t go. I’ll send word to my father that I am well.”
“Alexander,” Julius said slowly. “If you do not go, all this sacrifice will be for nothing. Your father will not take well to your disappearance just weeks bef
ore the wedding.”
Weeks before the wedding. He’d chosen not to think about that. He closed his eyes and started to shake his head. “We have been making progress,” Alexander said.
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