‘I beg your pardon?’ he said.
‘Stay away,’ she repeated. ‘There is nothing but unhappiness for you if you involve yourself with her, or anyone else in the house. Leave before it is too late.’
Then she followed her own advice and hurried down the walk, leaving him too shocked to follow.
CHAPTER TEN
She was falling in love with Michael Solomon.
Liv was not positive that this was the case. But, much as she might when catching a cold, she catalogued the symptoms and made a judgement from the result.
She had been stargazing out of the window last night, sighing in the moonlight in a way she had not done since Alister’s first proposal. On the obverse, she should have been crushed by the things Alister had shouted at her in the taproom. Instead, she had been relieved. Relieved and a little excited to be taking a long coach ride with the man who had taken her away from her supposed beloved.
They had said very little to each other for the duration of the trip, but it had not mattered. She had been happy just to be with him, even if they were not alone. They had not been alone in the inn’s bedroom either, but she could not stop thinking of how she had felt when he had looked into her eyes.
There were so many reasons that she should reject the thoughts she was having. First and foremost, he was a loyal employee of her brother and did not have her best interests at heart.
Of course, Peg’s husband had been an employee as well, or had at least pretended to be so. If the scraps of information she’d gleaned from Hugh were true, it appeared that they had survived their class differences and were managing happily together.
The most important reason to put thoughts of Michael Solomon aside was that he had done nothing to make her think that her feelings were reciprocated. He had insisted that he did not believe in love and seemed to have no interest in marrying. He had admitted to being fond of her, but one kiss and a few smouldering glances were no sign that an offer was pending. They were not even a guarantee of a second kiss.
If she wanted such a kiss, she would have to make an effort to put herself in the way of it, and that meant spending more time with the man who was fascinating her. He was probably in the garden right now, waiting for her to try and escape the house.
Of course, there was no rule that said she should not enjoy the garden as well. She went to the kitchen to gather scraps, then went outside under the guise of giving the dogs their breakfast. As she’d expected, Mr Solomon was there, on his usual bench beneath the tree, reading a book.
When she was done feeding the dogs, she sauntered down the garden path. But, instead of standing before him, she took a seat beside him on the bench.
He looked up, surprised, but said nothing.
‘Is it so unusual that I wish to enjoy the garden as much as you do?’ she asked.
‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘It has not happened before, of course, but, as you say, it is your garden and you can do what you like in it.’ Then he went back to his book.
For a few moments she admired the flowers in front of them, contemplating her next move. Then she stole a glance in his direction and asked, ‘What are you reading today?’
‘A history of Persia.’ He set it aside with a sigh and stared at her. ‘Is there something I can help you with?’
‘Every time I see you, you are reading,’ she said.
‘Not always,’ he said, dismissing her attempt at conversation.
‘Often enough,’ she insisted, refusing to be shaken off. ‘Are the books always histories?’
‘Not always,’ he admitted. ‘But I am interested in learning about places that I am not likely to see.’
She stared straight ahead again. ‘I can understand that. There are so many places that I will never visit.’
‘Gretna Green, for one,’ he said with a grin.
At one time it would have made her angry, but today she smiled back at him. ‘I mean places much closer than that. When was the last time you danced, Mr Solomon?’
He thought for a moment. ‘About a month ago. I attended a subscription dance at a small assembly room. Nothing so prodigious as Almack’s, of course. But suitable to pass an evening in genteel entertainment.’
She sighed. ‘For me, it has been two years, six months and twenty-seven days.’
He started in surprise.
She stared down at the toes of her slippers. ‘I recorded it in my diary. I wish I had written more detail, for I can barely remember it now.’
‘Did Clement never take you dancing in all this time sneaking about?’
‘We have managed stolen hours together,’ she said with another sigh. ‘But nothing so prolonged as to allow dancing.’ Then she smiled, remembering. ‘Of course, we had a dancing master for a time. But he turned out to be nothing more than a sham who wished to search our house. And then he married my sister.’
‘Castell?’ he said, surprised.
Olivia nodded. ‘There was really no opportunity to dance with him either.’
‘Perhaps, if you ask him, your brother will take you to Almack’s, or some such,’ he said, looking apprehensive.
She shook her head. ‘After all this time, you still misunderstand how things are for me. If I went to Almack’s, even while supervised by Hugh, I might meet a man who would wish to marry me. Hugh does not want me to marry. Therefore, there will be no Almack’s for me.’
‘And I suppose you have never tried to sneak out without his permission,’ he said with a wry smile.
‘Even I would not risk an indiscretion so great. It is one thing to run away with Alister. At least then I would have an escort, should I need help. But I would need vouchers for Almack’s and Hugh has refused them. Even if I was able to procure one, it would surely get back to my brother that I had gone there, and he would see to it that I never left the house again.’
‘Perhaps if you wore a disguise,’ he suggested.
She shook her head. ‘The dress code at Almack’s is very strict. Evening gowns and gloves. Anything other than that and they would turn me away at the door. And I know of no one who is planning to hold a fancy dress ball this season. Even if they were, my brother would dispose of the invitation before I ever saw it.’
‘You would not be out of place in a domino and mask at Vauxhall Gardens,’ he said, then fell silent as if he realised that he should not be making such suggestions.
‘I have never been there,’ she said wistfully. ‘But I have heard it is a most wondrous place. They have jugglers and balloon launches...’
‘And dancing,’ he added.
It also had unlit walkways where lovers met in darkness. Maybe he had forgotten that it was the last place he should be suggesting to a cloistered young lady. Or maybe he knew exactly what he was suggesting. ‘Could you take me?’ she said, reaching out a hand to tug gently on his sleeve. ‘On some night when my brother is dining at his club, and you are supposed to be watching me.’
‘I am supposed to be preventing such escapades,’ he reminded her. ‘It is the whole point of my job.’
‘You are supposed to be preventing me from eloping, and I have no intention of doing that. If I stayed with you the whole time, you would be sure that nothing happened to me,’ she said. ‘It is not as if I would be meeting a stranger there. I will know no one but you.’
‘Only me,’ he said in a dazed voice.
‘It would not be that much different than taking me to Bond Street,’ she said.
‘I suppose a short visit would do you no harm,’ he agreed. ‘If you will promise not to run away for at least a week after. I must gain some advantage for the risk I am taking, after all.’
‘I would be no trouble at all to you for at least a week,’ she said, giving him her most brilliant smile.
‘All right then,’ he said. ‘Your brother will have my hide if he learns of this.�
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‘Then we must make sure that he does not,’ she said, smiling. ‘I will have my maid find a mask and hood for me to wear. Then I will come down to the garden to meet you. I shall have my adventure and we will be back in the house before anyone misses me.’
‘Do not make me regret this,’ he said, giving her a stern look.
‘I will not,’ she whispered and, because it seemed like the most natural thing in the world, she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. Then she ran for the house before she could see his reaction to it.
* * *
A maid appeared in the doorway as she reached the house and Lady Olivia gestured over her shoulder at something in the garden, then turned and stared past him with an expression that said his presence in her life was too unimportant to acknowledge.
It probably was. He should not take what had just happened as truth and this sudden rejection as the lie. She had been all smiles and batted lashes when she had thought to get something from him, and he had fallen for it like a schoolboy whose stones had just dropped. And then she had rewarded him with a kiss.
She had pecked his cheek as if they were old friends and such intimacy was a common thing between them. But the simple act had undone him like Cupid’s arrow. He wanted to take her to Vauxhall, or anywhere else she wanted to go. But not as some damned watchdog. He wanted to escort her, like the gentleman who should be taking her there.
Of course, she would likely use this outing as an excuse to meet Clement, and he would be played for the fool he was.
In any case, it was too late to rescind the offer, even if he wanted to. The prospect of an evening under the stars with the light of a hundred lanterns flickering in her blonde hair made his mouth water and his body tighten. He would give her the dance she was requesting, leading her through the figures and perhaps daring a waltz. It would be magic. He could be a man and not a lackey for an hour or two, with the most beautiful girl in England on his arm.
And then he would bring her home, and the spell would be broken. But, before that happened, he might earn another kiss better than the one he had just had. There was candlelight and moonlight at Vauxhall, but there was darkness as well, deep enough to conceal a multitude of sins.
* * *
‘Where are you going, my lady?’ Two days later, Molly was fluttering nervously around her as Liv gazed in the cheval glass and admired the hooded cape and mask she wore in preparation for going out.
‘You are better off not knowing,’ she said, giving her maid a narrow-eyed look.
‘The Duke will not be happy if he hears of it,’ the girl insisted.
‘Then he had best not hear of it,’ she said, staring daggers at Molly until she blanched. ‘I do not want you tattling to my brother, or the other servants. If you do, I will see to it that more harm comes to you than will ever come to me.’
‘Yes, my lady,’ the girl said nervously.
‘And you have nothing to worry about,’ Liv assured her, sweetening her tone. ‘It is not as if I am running away again. I will be back before midnight and will be properly escorted the whole time. No harm will have come from this.’
‘If you are sure, my lady. Because I could lose my position...’
Liv sighed. ‘I will see that you do not.’ Because she would not be caught. The cape obscured her hair and body so completely that she doubted even her own sister would recognise her, should they meet. With a final glance in the mirror, she turned and left the room, hurrying down the main stairs and along the back hall towards the door to the garden.
Once outside, she saw Mr Solomon, nothing more than a tall shadow standing guard at the back gate. She opened her mouth to greet him and, as if he could see her intention in the darkness, he held up a hand, warning her to silence, opening the gate and shepherding her through.
Once on the street, he walked her to a waiting carriage, handed her up into the lit body and climbed in after her, signalling the driver to set off.
She pulled back her hood and lowered her mask, turning to stare out through the window at the darkened streets passing by outside. Then she turned back to him, bouncing in her seat. ‘We are really going.’
‘I said we would,’ he agreed with a smile and a shrug.
‘It is just... It has been so long,’ she said, a lump rising in her throat.
‘It is barely a week since your last trip towards Scotland,’ he reminded her.
‘But that was in broad daylight,’ she reminded him. ‘Night-time is very different.’
‘If you say so,’ he replied. She could see him shaking his head in the shadow of the corner.
‘And on that trip I did nothing but ride and wait,’ she said. ‘The same as on the trip before that. Nothing else happened, either time.’
‘Really?’ he said in a voice full of doubt.
‘What are you implying?’ she said, honestly not sure.
Perhaps it was just the shadows falling across his face, but his expression was unreadable. ‘Do you mean to tell me that Clement did not attempt to take liberties on either of your trips out of London?’
‘Of course not,’ she said, straightening her skirts. ‘He is a gentleman.’
‘He is a fool,’ Mr Solomon responded. ‘To miss such an opportunity, that is.’
‘We have never...’ She stopped, unsure what to say. She did not want to sound so prim that he would think she’d object to a few kisses, if they were taken by the right gentleman. But neither should she be encouraging anything to happen. She must accept that this trip was no more than something offered by one friend to another.
Surprisingly, she had no trouble thinking of Mr Solomon as a friend. Unlike the other men set to watch her, he had been kind and understanding, even when he had stood between her and what she had thought that she wanted more than anything in the world.
The real question was, would he ever want to be more than a friend?
She sighed, and said at last, ‘My relationship with Alister has not progressed to the point you seem to think it has. And, looking back on his behaviour at the inn, I think it may be for the best.’
‘I see.’
Did she detect pleasure in that short sentence? Perhaps it was just satisfaction that he had performed his job successfully. But she wanted it to be more than that.
‘I heard Hugh tell his valet not to expect him back until tomorrow,’ she said, changing the subject. Then she baited the hook. ‘We can stay out as late as we wish.’
‘No later than midnight,’ he said, ignoring her offer. ‘There is nothing but trouble to be had by staying out until dawn, and I am here as your protector, not your accomplice.’
‘Midnight,’ she agreed, checking her little gold watch. ‘It is just eight now. Much can happen in four hours.’
‘I certainly hope not,’ he said, still smiling.
* * *
A short while later the carriage pulled up before the entrance to the Vauxhall pleasure garden. Mr Solomon jumped out before her, handing her down to the ground and escorting her past the ticket booth and onto the grounds.
‘It is a marvel,’ she said, staring at a lady in a spangled dress doing tricks on the back of a trained horse.
When she looked up, he was staring down at her, his gaze focused on her lips. ‘Indeed.’ Then he looked away quickly, as if to prove he was as fascinated by the performance as she had been.
She grabbed his sleeve, tugging him further into the venue towards the place she most wanted to see. ‘Show me everything,’ she said, turning around and trying to take it all in.
‘Then let us begin at the music pavilion,’ he said. ‘You wanted to dance, did you not?’
‘Please,’ she said, tipping her head to catch the distant sound of a waltz.
He walked her towards it, leading her all the way out onto the dance floor, where he held out his hands to her.
‘You want to dance with me?’ she said hopefully.
‘You did not think I would allow you to dance with strangers, did you?’ he said, making it all sound quite sensible. ‘What kind of a chaperone would I be if I let you out of my keeping in that way? You might have arranged for Clement to spirit you away and I could do little to stop it.’
‘I did not,’ she said, incensed.
‘All the same, if you wish to dance, it had best be with me,’ he replied.
He made it sound like a reasonable plan, something done to keep her safe. She would accept that if it was all that he would offer. But it would have been so much nicer had he really wanted to dance with her, rather than telling her it was his duty.
And now that she was in his arms on the dance floor, all reservations were forgotten. When she had been out, two years ago, she’d not had permission to waltz. To have her first one be with a man she dreamed of made it all the more precious.
There was something faintly intimidating about Mr Solomon, which probably explained the shiver travelling up and down her spine. Standing close to him, he was taller than she remembered, and she could not help noticing how broad his shoulders were. He was graceful, and his lead was masterful in a way she had never experienced before. She could follow a man like this anywhere he might take her. She leaned her head back to look up at him, then back further as they spun, to watch the first fireworks going off above the lantern-lit trees.
‘Another dance?’ he asked as the song ended and the next one began.
‘Oh, please,’ she said, and they joined a circle for a country dance. That was followed by a gavotte, and then another waltz. They were both exhausted by the time he led her down a path to see the jugglers. And from there it was refreshments in the Turkish saloon and a walk through the triumphal arches, and over a small bridge where they threw the last of their sandwiches to the ornamental carp in the little pond.
She looked ahead to the place where the lanterns seemed to stop, leaving the path in shadow. ‘Is that the place I have heard of?’ she asked. ‘Where lovers go to meet?’
Harlequin Historical September 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 Page 13
