by Laura Landon
BEHOLD THE THIEF by Laura Landon
Chapter Twenty-Two
Just that morning the dowager duchess had told him of her plan to hold a ball along with Lily’s mother and grandfather. Jack’s parents and brother, and every other titled acquaintance that might influence the ton were to attend. When she told him that Lily had agreed, he was surprised. Jack hoped it would work, but he’d seen the spitefulness in their reaction to Lily the night of the auction. He knew their plan could fail as easily as it could succeed.
Jack entered Lily’s town house when Connors opened the door and without being escorted, he went to the drawing room where he knew he’d find her.
“There you are, my love,” he said as he strode to her side. “The woman who saved my life.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gently drew her next to him, basking in her brilliant smile. But before he could capture her lips, Lily placed a cautionary hand on his chest.
“Jack,” she said with a wary look in her eyes.
“Yes?”
“We need to talk.” She tucked her head beneath his chin.
“Yes, Lily. We’ll always need to talk. And we’ll have a whole lifetime in which to talk, after you’ve been introduced by the dowager Duchess of Camden to the members of Society, and we’re married.”
Jack felt her shake her head.
“What are we going to do if Society rejects me yet again?”
“Lily McGregor, that was not Society. That was a few pigheaded prigs. I never thought I’d see the day when you backed down from a challenge.”
Lily pulled away from him and lifted her chin until their gazes locked. He willed her to believe him, and when the fire began to rekindle in her eyes, he smiled.
“I’m not backing down from the challenge,” she sighed. “I would face the members of the ton a thousand times over if it were only me. But it’s you, Jack. And the dowager duchess. And your father and mother and brother. And they’ll all be shamed because they—”
The sincerity on her face tore at his heart. “Enough, Lily. Nothing is going to happen to me or my family. You don’t know it, but to some of the females in society, I’m told, you are somewhat of a heroine.”
There was a look of shock and surprise on her face. “For what?”
“For rescuing Lady Margaret from a husband who beat her and might have eventually killed her. They all knew what was going on, Lily, but none of them had your courage. Not a one.”
She wanted to believe him, if only she could scrub from her mind that humiliating night at Broadmoore’s.
“I only wonder how many other women there are who need to escape abusive husbands.”
“No doubt more than we’d care to admit. And perhaps, in time, you might be able to help some of those, too. But for right now, you have to concentrate on the ball the dowager duchess is hosting for you. Do you have something special to wear?”
“Yes. Lady Willow came the other day to show me a most elegant design. I loved it, and she promised the gown would be ready in time for the ball.”
“She came to you? That’s quite the accomplishment, sweetheart. Rumor has it that most women must wait in line for months to commission one of Lady Willow’s gowns.”
“Everyone is trying so hard to force Society to accept me: the dowager duchess of Camden; you and your friends and their wives; my brother and his friends and their wives. Even my mother. What if their efforts fail? What if after everything they’ve done the ton still turn their backs on me?”
“The only way that will happen is if they think you’re afraid. The last emotion you dare show them is fear. If they sense you fear their reaction, they’ll destroy you.”
“Seems awfully childish,” she pouted.
Lily lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. Even in her pout, the fire and determination he was used to seeing on her face remained. The courage he’d always admired in her fairly danced from her eyes. The confidence he’d seen the night she faced the ton at the auction was brimming over.
“They’re only human,” he cajoled.
“So you say,” she said with tentative conviction.
“Well, some may question it, but—”
She laughed, then punched his arm playfully. “I have nothing to fear. I have the most battle-ready army at my side. I pity anyone who tries to deny me.”
“That’s my girl,” Jack said, then leaned down to kiss her at the same moment that Lily’s butler cleared his throat from the doorway.
“Yes, Connors?” Lily asked when she’d pulled herself away from Jack.
“You have a guest, Miss Lily. The dowager Countess of Eversley.”
Lily hesitated.
“Send her in, Connors,” Jack said, not giving Lily a chance to deny her mother’s overture at friendship.
Lily only glared at him, but with a chuckle he ignored it.
“The dowager Countess of Eversley,” Connors announced, and the woman who seemed impossibly familiar entered the room.
The dowager countess was still beautiful as Jack knew Lily would be at her mother’s age.
“Lady Eversley,” Jack said rising to his feet. He stepped across the room and escorted her to a chair across from Lily. He wanted them to be able to look each other in the eye.
When Lily didn’t offer a greeting, Jack prompted her. “Lily?”
“Good afternoon, my lady.”
“Good afternoon to you, my dear,” her mother answered. The warmth in her tone countered the wariness in her eyes.
“I know you’ve come to see your daughter,” Jack said, “so I’ll take my leave.”
“No, Mr. Broadmoore,” Lily’s mother said. “Please stay, if you’ve the time.”
“Very well, Countess. But please, call me Jack. I insist.”
“Thank you, Jack.”
Jack nodded and watched the two as he moved to sit on the sofa next to Lily. She remained tense, refusing to drop the stiffness she’d adopted the moment her mother entered the room.
“There are several reasons I’ve come today. One is to finalize the plans for your wedding. But before we get into all that, I’d like to explain some of the details I omitted when I was here the other day. And I’m sure you have questions you’d like to ask.”
“I do,” Lily responded. “Several.”
“Then, why don’t we begin with one of your questions.”
Before Lily could ask a question, a maid entered with a tea tray, but Lily waved her away. It was a rather unforgivable rudeness, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel contrite.
The dowager countess recovered from the slight and focused her gaze on Lily, as if indicating she was ready to answer any questions Lily had. Lily obliged.
“Do I have any brothers or sisters?”
Her mother smiled. “Unfortunately, no. The Earl of Eversley and I never had any children together. He was older when I married him and had three sons and a daughter from his previous marriage. Providing him with more children wasn’t vital.”
“Not even for yourself?”
“I would have loved to have a child, but I sometimes think having no more children was God’s way of punishing me for abandoning the child He had given me.”
Lily didn’t respond. It was almost as if she couldn’t, and Jack reached across to place his hand atop hers.
“You said there were details you wished to explain to me. What were they?”
“I wanted to tell you about your father.”
“I know about my father. I grew up with my father. There’s nothing you can tell me about him that I don’t already know.”
“Isn’t there? Then let me tell you about the young man I knew. I met your father when I was barely seventeen years old. I’d gone to Vauxhall Gardens with several of my friends, and when my female friends evaded our escorts, I did, too. I was bored. I wanted some excitement and all the men I knew seemed like boys. And then I met your father.”
Lady Eversley folded her hands in her lap. “Your father was different from an
yone I knew. He was rugged and at the same time elegant. He was worldly and at the same time considerate. He was more masculine than anyone I was acquainted with, like a pirate in a fairytale. And more handsome. I was captivated by him. Enthralled. And I gave myself to him without considering the consequences.
“We met several times and it wasn’t until I discovered I was with child that reality crashed down upon me. I knew I couldn’t marry a man who came from Whitechapel. Society would never allow it. And my position in Society was too important to me to give it up. Your father knew it, too. And he understood.
“Your father had a dislike for the nobility and refused to be a part of it—even if they would have accepted him, which we both know would never have happened. But, like the man he was, he made sure I was well taken care of.
“He found a small cottage in the country and provided everything I needed.”
“Did your parents know about me?”
“They knew of my condition. I couldn’t hide it forever and for several months I was violently ill every morning. Yes, they knew and were relieved when I told them I had a place to go where no one would know about the babe.”
“Did they know Gunner was the father?”
The dowager countess smiled. “Perhaps. I’m not sure. They never mentioned knowing.”
“Did they know about me?”
The dowager countess shook her head. “After I came back, the…event…was never mentioned again. That is the way it’s done in Society.”
“Do your parents know about me now?”
“Regrettably, my mother is no longer with us, but yes, your grandfather knows about you. And he is quite elated. You are his only granddaughter. My two brothers have only given him grandsons.”
“Would you like to know your grandfather’s name?” Jack asked. He saw the curiosity on Lily’s face and knew she had many more questions.
“Yes, I think I should before I meet him the night of the ball and don’t realize the man being introduced to me is my grandfather.”
Lily’s mother smiled and tilted her head as if about to impart a particularly intriguing secret.
“Your grandfather is the Duke of Marlborough.”
A bloody duke!
Lily stared at her mother in disbelief. At least her mother was only a countess. At least Jack was a second son and not titled.
“Can you see now why you have nothing to worry over, sweetheart,” Jack said. “You have a litany of nobility standing at your side: your grandfather, the Duke of Marlborough; my aunt, the dowager Duchess of Camden and her son and daughter-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Camden; my good friend, the Duke of Somerset and his wife; my father and mother, the Marquess and Marchioness of Riverdon; as well as your brother’s employer and his wife, Blake Edison and Lady Willow. And of course, your brother and his wife, Lady—”
“Enough,” Lily said as she raised her hand. “The people supporting me are frightening me more than the members of Society I’m facing.”
Jack and the dowager countess both laughed.
“There is nothing to be frightened of, Lily. Jack and I will both be there with you.” Her mother leaned forward. “And not because we must, Lily. We’ll be there because we want to do this. For you.”
Despite her daughter’s rudeness, the lady sitting across from her had never lost her poise. Lily had done nothing but throw insults, and yet here the woman was, in her sitting room, eager to acquaint the long lost daughter with the missing pieces of her life. For the first time since she’d met the countess she almost thought she could call her Mother. Not today, perhaps, but sometime in the future.
Lily was roused from her introspection by the turn in the conversation. The Countess of Eversley had deftly turned their discussion to the wedding. Lily pressed hard to keep the event as she wanted it—a small, intimate wedding. Jack and her mother told her it was important that it was large and included most of Society. They must be seen to bless the union by attending. Even the Queen would receive an invitation.
Lily wanted a small breakfast after the wedding. Jack and her mother informed her the breakfast celebration as well as the evening ball would include everyone invited to the wedding, as well as some guests who weren’t invited to the wedding because of space.
But when it came to the man who would walk her down the aisle, Lily refused to agree to anyone her mother suggested. Her mother, of course, wanted Lily’s grandfather to walk her down the aisle, but Lily insisted it would be no one other than Matthew Cleary, the man who’d protected Lily her entire life.
The shock on her mother’s face was worth everything Lily had hoped for.
“Matthew Cleary,” her mother said in a voice no louder than a whisper. “How…how do you know Matthew Cleary?”
Lily fought the feeling of satisfaction at having stunned her mother, then looked closer. The mention of Matthew’s name had more than stunned. It had devastated. Her mother’s regal bearing shrank away, leaving her trembling behind a wobbly smile.
It only took a minute of explanation, but that was all the time her mother needed to recover. As she spoke of Matthew’s place in her life, Lily saw her mother compose herself. Yet she was not completely restored. Something had changed, and in observing that fact, Lily realized her mother held special regard for Matthew Cleary. Very special, indeed.
The countess looked at Lily with tears in her eyes. “If matters had gone as my parents intended, Matthew would have been your father. If only I hadn’t been so spoiled and blind, perhaps I would have seen what was right in front of my eyes.”
“In many ways he was a father to me,” Lily answered. “Far more than the man whose blood actually flows in my veins.”
“Then I can think of no one more perfect to walk my daughter down the aisle.”
That is, Lily thought, if I survive the ball.
BEHOLD THE THIEF by Laura Landon
Chapter Twenty-Three
The carriage ride had been terrifying. Images of the bejeweled throng that would attend tonight’s ball kept her heart racing and her mind in turmoil. It was sheer folly to think that her mother and the dowager Duchess of Camden were powerful enough to convince the ton that Lily was welcome in their midst.
“Relax, my love. Everything will be fine. You’re stronger than you think you are.” He caressed her hand that she couldn’t quite relax. “I was drawn to you from the first moment by your strength. If you didn’t want me to fall in love with you, you should have kept it hidden. But you didn’t. I’ve watched you lead with your courage and kindness every day that I’ve known you.” He raised her hand and kissed it. “So that’s all you have to do tonight.”
She wasn’t sure she could manage that. But, a helpless victim had never been one of her disguises, so she wouldn’t try that on tonight. Not when securing Jack’s future was on the line.
With sudden finality, Lily realized that tonight would be a turning point for her as well. One she’d actually longed for. If she became wholly accepted as Lily McGregor tonight, there would be no more need for disguise. She could leave the guile behind and merely walk forward as Lily. It was a breathtaking prospect.
With a start she realized they had navigated the carriage parade and were about to enter the dowager duchess’s brightly lit town house.
Once inside, Lily lifted her chin and gave Jack her most dazzling smile before turning to the stairs that would take them to the ballroom floor. Below, the Dowager Duchess of Camden raised a graceful hand in greeting as she discreetly nodded toward a white-haired man just separating himself from the crowd.
Rows of medals on the man’s coat flashed in the candlelight from the massive chandeliers that lined the ceiling. He appeared to never have lost his youthful posture, though it seemed to Lily that the wisdom on his face may have been hard won. He would have been a fearsome leader in battle.
“Your grandfather,” Jack whispered.
Clinging to Jack’s arm, Lily descended the stairs to the ballroom floor, suddenly aware of the
way Lady Willow’s creation fluttered about her ankles. Row upon row of white lace swirled in intricate designs around her graceful taffeta skirt, and sewn into the lace were thousands of tiny pearls. It was a gown fit for a princess, and she felt like one.
With one last step she reached the floor. Her grandfather stepped forward, smiling in his ducal grandeur, but unable to hide the tearful glint in his eye.
“I never imagined that one day I would meet you, Lily.” His smile settled. “But here you are, the most beautiful woman in the hall.”
Lily extended her hand when he reached for it.
“It’s like looking at my Eve when she was young.”
Lily dropped a deep curtsy. “Your Grace.”
The tug on her hand bade her to rise.
“Please, call me Grandfather. At least this once.”
Lily saw the hope in his eyes.
“It would be my pleasure, Grandfather.”
With a satisfied nod, the Duke of Marlborough tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow and led her to her place in the receiving line.
The duke stood on one side, Jack on the other. A veritable fortress. Society could do their worst and she wouldn’t care a whit. She already had the acceptance she hadn’t known she wanted.
Lily looked about her in dazed delight. It seemed everyone was in their proper place in the receiving line. Everyone except her mother. Lily scanned the assembling crowd and caught her mother entering from the terrace door—on Matthew Cleary’s arm. And she was blushing madly.
With a parting word, Lady Eversley walked toward the receiving line, but rather than step into her place, she continued until she stood in front of Lily. Her gown of gold-edged silver was perfectly draped, as were the pearls dressing her hair. And on her bodice, just above her heart, she wore the brooch of rubies and diamonds.
Lily covered her gasp as the countess lifted a small velvet pouch from the pearl-encrusted reticule that hung on her wrist.
“Lily. Daughter. I don’t deserve this. Don’t ever think that in any way I have earned this. But tonight I want you to wear this, to bind us in the promise that we will cross the bridge that is before us.” She held out the pouch to Lily, and with the handkerchief in her other hand, dabbed at a wayward tear.
