by Merry Farmer
Whether she agreed with him or not, Natalia followed his lead, getting out of bed and investigating the room, the wardrobe in particular, to see if all of her things had been moved to Linus’s room. She was obviously still upset. Her usual, vibrant energy was dampened as she washed and dressed, careful not to expose too much of herself to Linus. He pretended that nothing was wrong as he did the same. It was as if they were two people in two separate worlds that just happened to be in the same room preparing for the day.
“It looks like the rain has stopped,” he said at one point, glancing out the window.
Natalia replied with a hum that could have meant agreement or displeasure.
Linus crossed to the washstand and found his brush to straighten his hair as Natalia fastened a row of buttons up the front of her simple bodice. “I suppose Lord Malcolm was able to start his journey home without too much fuss.”
Natalia made another noncommittal sound.
Linus clenched his jaw. There was no way he could survive a marriage like this. Especially when things had been so promising between the two of them just a week ago. Hell, something about Natalia had seemed ready to forgive the night before, as they were going to bed. The signals she’d been sending were so warm that he’d almost considered having a real wedding night.
“I hope Lord O’Shea’s cook made more of that soda bread I liked so much yesterday,” Natalia sighed once she was dressed and her hair was arranged. She headed for the door.
Linus jumped to follow her, walking out into the hall with her and staying by her side as they descended to the breakfast room. That was it, though. She didn’t say another word until they reached the cozy, sunny room. Linus set out to fix a plate for her, but she beat him to it, piling soda bread and eggs on a plate for herself at the sideboard before taking a seat at the table.
“Behold, the happy couple,” Fergus commented wryly from his seat at the head of the table.
“Fergus,” Henrietta scolded him with a roll of her eyes.
“They’re the ones who got themselves into this mess,” Fergus went on as Linus took a seat at the table by Natalia’s side. “Why shouldn’t I poke fun at them?”
Natalia’s cheeks burned hot pink, but she kept her silence as she helped herself to tea. The table felt imbalanced with Fergus and Henrietta at either end and Linus and Natalia on one side. The other chairs were empty. Linus took the opportunity to address his plan.
“Before the others get here,” he began, “my father, Lady Darlington, and Lady Phoebe—”
“They were down hours ago and have already gone out for a tour of the local area,” Henrietta interrupted him. “To scout locations for their grand community.”
Linus blinked, glancing from Henrietta to Fergus. Neither of them looked particularly pleased, or convinced that the plan would actually come to fruition. “Natalia and I have been forming a plan to thwart my father’s ambitions,” he said.
Natalia glanced up from her breakfast in surprise, though whether she was surprised about the plan itself or the way Linus included her, he couldn’t tell.
“Do tell,” Henrietta said, leaning forward slightly as if eager to get started with the plan.
There was no sense in beating around the bush, especially when there was a chance his father or Lady Darlington could return and interrupt at any time.
“Lady Darlington believes my father to be a genuine holy man with noble intentions,” Linus said. “Which is patently absurd. The man’s intent is and always has been bilking gullible ladies of status out of their fortunes.”
“I’m glad you said it so I didn’t have to,” Fergus said with a wry grin.
“Lady Darlington is adamant in her belief that your father is a saint worthy of her support,” Henrietta said. “She wouldn’t let me hear the end of it yesterday.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Lady Phoebe said, appearing in the doorway.
Henrietta rose quickly, moving to embrace Lady Phoebe like a friend who needed support. “Come join us at the table,” she said, ushering Lady Phoebe to a seat across from Natalia. “Dr. Townsend was just about to tell us his plan for rescuing your mother from his father’s clutches.”
Linus glanced to the door, feeling as though time were ticking by. “My father is cunning, but he is not patient,” he said, speaking faster than usual. “If this scheme takes too long to come about, he’s likely to get clumsy.”
“What good would that do any of us?” Fergus asked, spearing the sausage on his plate.
“If we can get him at his wit’s end, there’s a chance he might decide the prize is not worth the effort. He might reveal himself as a charlatan to Lady Darlington and call the whole thing off on his own.”
“The only way Mama will be dissuaded from throwing her lot in with that man is if he breaks with her,” Lady Phoebe said morosely as Henrietta plopped a full plate of breakfast in front of her. “Nothing I or anyone else has said has come close to changing her mind about his nobility.”
“So how do you plan to push him a bridge too far?” Fergus asked.
Linus rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t had enough time to formulate a full plan, and the one that had hatched in his mind overnight seemed feeble in the light of day. “I thought that if he thinks he’s succeeded, if he thinks he’s recruited enough women of means to at least start his community, then he’ll grow complacent. He’ll spend more time trying to get money from them than preaching his gospel. And if he turns to money—money that isn’t forthcoming from his targets—then he’ll trip over himself at some point and show his true colors.”
The table went silent, but not because of the brilliance of what he had to say.
“That might work,” Henrietta said slowly, clearly not convinced. “You know your father better than I. He’s your family, after all.”
Surprisingly, that comment made Fergus laugh out loud. All eyes turned to him.
“Do you have something to add, dearest?” Henrietta asked, her lips twitching into a grin.
“Family,” Fergus said, his eyes sparkling with a devilish light. “I think you might just have stumbled on the solution to this problem.”
“Family?” Natalia asked. Linus was so relieved to hear her say something that he sagged slightly. “You think Linus’s family is the solution? I didn’t think he had any family, other than his father.” She glanced to him.
Linus’s face heated. “Actually, I have quite a large number of half-brothers and sisters,” he said in an awkward voice. That was a whole other can of worms they had yet to open.
Natalia frowned in confusion for a moment before her eyebrows shot up. “No,” she gasped, something like scandalized amusement suddenly sparkling in her eyes. “Was it that sort of a community?”
Linus nodded gravely. Natalia utterly shocked him by clapping a hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud.
“Well that’s an interesting twist to an already thorny problem,” Fergus said, shaking his head over everything. “But no, I was talking about my family.”
“Your family?” Linus asked, desperate to steer the conversation over his own muddled family tree.
“My sisters, to be exact,” Fergus went on. “They’re a lot of mischievous minxes, and I’d wager that they haven’t had much to do in these last few, rainy weeks. I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to help you plot and scheme. That’s what they’re best at.”
“How many sisters are we talking about?” Linus asked.
“Four of them. Shannon, Marie, Colleen, and Chloe,” Fergus said. “They were living here in the castle up until a few months ago. When Henrietta and I came over for our honeymoon, they decided it would be a lark to pack themselves into a seaside cottage for the summer to live like bohemians. You should visit them and tell them your plan. I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to help.”
“They’re a mischievous bunch,” Henrietta added with a poorly concealed smile.
“I can’t wait to meet them,” Linus said, turn
ing to Natalia. “Should we go ahead and seek their help?”
Natalia seemed surprised that he would ask her opinion. She shrugged. “Someone has to help if this plan is going to work. I’m still not convinced anything can drive a man away from a plan to make money.”
“You have to at least try,” Lady Phoebe said in a small voice from across the table.
Natalia softened as she smiled at her friend. “We will try, Phoebe. I promise.” She turned back to Linus with a shrug and a sigh. “All right. Let’s ask Lord O’Shea’s sisters for help.”
As it happened, the seaside cottage that the O’Shea sisters had taken up residence in for the summer was an hour’s drive away. Natalia rode silently with Linus, trying to enjoy the sunlight, trying to contemplate the benefits of being married, and trying to ignore the visceral pull she felt for her new husband, even though she was still highly irritated with him. The least he could have done was try to talk to her as they drove along, but no, he sat silently, frowning out the window. No doubt he was contemplating his plan to defeat his father. Or perhaps he was thinking about the myriad of half-brothers and sisters he’d mentioned at breakfast.
She still couldn’t believe the implication of what he’d said. Even now, as the damp, Irish miles rolled past, she had to suppress a smirk as she thought about it. Chances were that those brothers and sisters had been conceived under the most scandalous of circumstances. It was enough to make her wonder, once again, who Linus’s mother actually was and whether the woman had been legally married to his father. She seriously doubted it. Which meant she’d married a bastard. That thought only made her giggle more. If she’d wanted to shock and scandalize society by her choice of groom, she’d certainly succeeded.
Part of her wanted to throw that fact onto the fire of all the reasons she could now see her match with Linus was a terrible mistake. But mostly, she just wanted to laugh about it. She couldn’t wait to introduce her scandalous new husband to the hoity-toity matrons of society who had always looked down on her for being Katya Marlowe’s daughter.
She peeked at Linus in the midst of her impish thoughts. Linus happened to glance in her direction at exactly that moment. For the briefest second, he looked startled. She realized she was smiling at him as though they shared some sort of wicked joke. That, in turn, startled her, and she snapped her head away, staring out the window once more. The entire, lightning-fast exchange only broadened her smile. She waited a few moments, then risked a peek over her shoulder. Linus had turned away, but she could have sworn his mouth was turned up in a grin, and his shoulders were shaking just enough to hint he might be laughing.
She focused out the carriage window once more. She was angry with him, or so she reminded herself. He had ludicrous ideas about the kind of wife he wanted her to be. She had been forced to marry him against her will.
Although it might not be as bad as all that in the end.
The cottage was everything Natalia had ever dreamed an Irish cottage by the sea should be. It was made of stone and surrounded by a lush and colorful garden. The green of the freshly-watered landscape stood out vibrantly against the grey-blue of the sea, now that the sun was out. As their carriage approached, a pair of red-headed women stood from where they were working in the garden to greet them.
“Colleen!” one of them shouted, twisting back toward the house. “Marie! We’ve got visitors.”
The carriage rolled to a stop on the drive in front of the cottage. By the time Linus stepped down to help Natalia out, they were inundated with hospitality.
“You must be Fergus’s friends,” one of the women said, stepping forward.
“The newlyweds,” another, who appeared to be the youngest, added with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
“How did you know?” Natalia blinked. “We were only just married yesterday and under…odd circumstances.”
“Chloe knows everything that happens in this county,” the first woman said, nodding to the second. “I’m Shannon,” she added. “And that one is Marie, and that’s Colleen.”
Natalia’s jaw dropped open. The four women were so obviously sisters that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to tell them apart. All four had bright red hair, just like their brother. They were beautiful and lively, and before Natalia or Linus could say another word, the O’Shea sisters whisked them away from the carriage and into the garden beside the house.
“Fergus and Henrietta came down to visit us a few days ago,” Shannon went on as they walked. “They told us all about you.”
“About how you were stranded on an island in the middle of the sea,” Marie added, skipping up to Natalia’s other side.
“And about how you were found in a compromising position and would be forced to marry,” Colleen said, her eyes glowing as if it were a romantic tale.
“We were not caught in a compromising position,” Linus told them, his face going red with embarrassment.
Natalia rather liked the sight of him so discomposed. “But we could have been,” she said.
The O’Shea sisters giggled and cooed, as if they’d been friends for years and were sharing the latest gossip. As far as Natalia was concerned, it was friendship at first sight.
“Tell us all about it,” Marie said as Natalia and Linus were led to a small, wrought-iron bench in the middle of a garden bursting with color and fragrance.
Before either of them could protest, Natalia and Linus were cornered into sitting together on the bench. It was even smaller than it seemed, and the two of them were squeezed up against each other. The O’Shea sisters stepped back, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and grinning at them as though they were on display at a museum of romance.
“They make quite a fetching couple,” Shannon said to the others.
“Aye, they do,” Chloe agreed with a nod.
“As if they were meant to be,” Marie sighed.
“I hope I find a love like that someday,” Colleen said.
“You won’t find true love until you learn to keep your mouth shut in tense moments,” Shannon said with a roll of her eyes.
“You’re one to talk, dear sister,” Marie laughed.
“The O’Shea sisters are not known for being sweet and retiring,” Chloe told Natalia with a wink.
“Why should you be?” Natalia asked, enjoying their company more and more.
“That is what I always say,” Chloe agreed.
“Besides, there are far more enjoyable things in life than snagging a boring old husband anyhow,” Marie said with a shrug.
“You’re only saying that because Colin Greene was caught kissing Lady Moira at the Ferguson’s ball instead of you,” Shannon told her, rolling her eyes.
“He would have had a much better time if he’d kissed me.” Maria tilted her chin up.
Natalia’s head spun as the banter between the sisters picked up its pace. She was certain she could have watched them chatter all day and been perfectly entertained. They had another reason for being there, though.
“Ladies, if you wouldn’t mind,” Linus said, clearing his throat. “Your brother said you might be willing to help us with a delicate operation.”
“Does this have anything to do with the other Dr. Townsend we keep hearing about?” Shannon asked.
“The one who pestered Lady Coyle about religion the other day?” Marie asked.
“That’s the one,” Linus sighed.
“A holy man, is he?” Chloe crossed her arms.
“He’s anything but,” Linus said with a frown. “He’s a trickster who is trying to relieve vulnerable women of their fortunes.”
The four sisters gaped and shook their heads in shock, horrified by the idea.
“A man like that needs to be shown the error of his ways,” Marie said.
“He should not be allowed to get away with his treachery,” Chloe agreed.
“We’d be happy to help you in whatever way you need.” Shannon smiled as though relishing the idea of getting back at male-kind in general for any number of sins.
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“Do you have a plan?” Colleen asked.
“As a matter of fact, we do, though I’m not sure it’s a good plan,” Linus said.
The sisters leaned in as if eager to hear the plan.
“We need to trick my father into believing he’s won,” Linus began. “But at the same time, we need to prey on his impatience so that he gives the whole thing up and reveals himself as a fraud to Lady Darlington.”
“How can we help with that?”
Natalia was as eager to know as the sisters were. She glanced to Linus as he started in on a hesitant explanation of how he thought his father might react if the sisters posed as wealthy women who were ready to give their entire fortunes to his father’s cause. As he spoke, she could see the plan develop more fully in his mind. He went from speaking haltingly and with a look of uncertainty to sitting straighter and using larger, more commanding gestures.
“Because I know this man,” he said at length, poking his hand as he made the point. “He cares for money and conquest, not for the comfort and safety of the souls he preys upon. Oh, sure, he can speak beautifully and make everyone feel as though they are taking part in paradise, but the moment the bill-collectors arrive and the landlords show up, demanding rent, he’ll disappear and leave everyone to fend for themselves.”
Natalia blinked and sat straighter. “Is that what happened to you?” she asked. It felt as though an arrow had suddenly pierced her heart, bringing a deeper understanding of him with it.
Linus seemed thrown by the question. He glanced to her. “If you must know, yes,” he said. “We were all abandoned. We had to fend for ourselves. It was…trying.” He stopped, and for a moment, the pain he must have felt back then shone in his eyes.
Before Natalia could say anything about it, he shook his head. “There’s no time for me to tell my story now,” he said, turning back to the sisters. “We’ll need to act fast if we have any hope of convincing my father the four of you are heiresses who wish to retire from the cruel world and to live a life devoted to God.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing in this cottage,” Shannon said, winking at her sisters.
