When Lady Innocent Met Dr. Scandalous (The May Flowers Book 5)

by Merry Farmer

  “I’m not certain you’d call our devotion ‘God’, though,” Marie answered with a smirk.

  “Are you willing to play a part in this ruse?” Linus asked.

  The sisters looked at each other, shrugging and meeting each other’s eyes as though they could communicate without words. Natalia found herself hoping beyond hope that they would not only join in their efforts, but that they would use the wild energy that anyone with eyes could see they possessed not only to expose Linus’s father, but to humble him as well. She was determined to take the lead in bringing the man down herself, especially since she had the feeling there was far, far more to Linus’s story than he’d already told her.

  “All right,” Shannon said at last, speaking for all four sisters. “We’d be happy to join in your scheme.”

  “It’ll be a lark,” Chloe added with a giggle.

  “I’ll find the perfect gowns for us all to wear,” Marie said, heading back into the house.

  “And I’ll come up with new names and glorious backgrounds for us all,” Colleen added.

  “Thank you,” Linus said, grabbing Natalia’s hand and squeezing it.

  Natalia’s brow shot up at the simple, affectionate gesture. She wasn’t certain he was even aware he’d made it. He was more focused on the flurry of activity that the sisters had burst into. Natalia was highly aware of his hand twining with hers. She was aware of their bodies touching as well. But more than that, she was aware of the doubt that pricked at her conscience. As mad-capped and ill-advised as their entire courtship had been, she hadn’t once thought to sit down with Linus and ask for all the details of his past life. She’d been so concerned with the way he made her feel, and with convincing her parents to let her marry Linus simply because she wanted him.

  Whether it was the sun after the storm clearing away the fog in her mind or whether the act of marriage truly did change and mature a person, Natalia didn’t know. All she knew was that she had to discover the reasons why Linus was the way he was. Before it was too late, she needed to learn who her new husband was.

  Chapter 17

  “They seem like a merry bunch,” Linus said to Natalia as they headed back to Dunegard Castle hours later. It hadn’t taken long to explain his plan, or to have Fergus’s sisters expand on it and add layers of deception and scheming that was likely to turn the whole thing into a theatrical event. What had prolonged the visit was the incessant way the sisters cooed and fussed over him and Natalia, feeding them tea and tarts, asking for details of their courtship, and even coaxing them into kissing a time or two.

  “That’s one word for it,” Natalia replied in a weary voice.

  Her cheeks had remained pink from the moment the sisters coerced the two of them into kissing for the first time. She wouldn’t look at him though. Linus had no idea if the blush was because she was carried away by affection that she couldn’t express or because she was livid. Her expression didn’t give anything away either. Mostly because she spent the entire trip staring out at the verdant landscape.

  He had to do something. The awkwardness between them had gone on for too long.

  “Are you angry with me?” he asked flat-out, bracing himself for the answer.

  Natalia whipped to face him so fast Linus was afraid she’d snap her neck. Her eyes went wide with surprise. Or, at least, pretend surprise. “Why would you ask a thing like that?” She blinked rapidly, which only proved she was far angrier than she was trying to appear.

  Linus let out a breath and stared hard at her. “Enough of this, Natalia. We were both thrown into an uncomfortable position by Lord Malcolm, but even you have to admit that we sealed our fate all on our own. Pouting will do no good.”

  If she wasn’t angry before, she was now. Her nostrils flared as she took in a breath to say, “I am not pouting.” She crossed her arms in a way that negated her words. “I got exactly what I’ve been saying I wanted for months now. We both did. I’m overjoyed. I couldn’t be happier. Can’t you see how delighted I am to be your wife?”

  It was astounding how quickly the conversation had fallen apart. Linus considered himself gifted in the art of healing bodies, but he didn’t have the first clue how to fix the emotional mess he’d helped to cause.

  “I do actually love you, you know,” he said, attempting to sound firm and commanding, but afraid he just sounded sullen.

  Natalia’s eyes went wider and, if possible, her blush deepened. “I love you as well, so don’t think you are the only one who has feelings in this matter.”

  Linus’s brow flew up. “You still love me? After the debacle of the last few days?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not as fickle and flighty as everyone seems to think,” she said. Linus opened his mouth to reply, but she pushed on with, “My whole life, everyone has treated me as a delicate little afterthought. Don’t tell Natalia anything that might upset her or that might be too complex,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Don’t tell her that Lord Malcolm is her real father. Heavens, that would mean explaining that people fall in love with men or women who are married to someone else. Don’t let her find out that life is more complicated than her schoolbooks tell her or that love isn’t a straight line or a clear path. And most certainly don’t teach her about sexuality. Keep her sweet and innocent and empty-headed so that she grows up just like every other ninny in society who has no interests beyond clothing and jewels and dances. We wouldn’t want her to develop into an actual person with thoughts and opinions and a desire to do some sort of good in the world.”

  She snapped her mouth shut suddenly and jerked her head around to stare out the carriage window at the end of her rant. Linus was left gaping at her, a bundle of conflicting emotions that he hadn’t been prepared for squeezing at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, mostly because that felt like the only right thing he could say. “I didn’t realize you felt that way.”

  “No one does,” she said, arms still crossed, not looking at him. “No one has ever thought I was capable of much of anything.”

  He started to refute her statement, but stopped. She was right. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about the interactions with her family that he’d observed in the last year, the more he considered the way Lord Malcolm had treated her in the last week, the more he could see that Natalia really had been underestimated by the people closest to her. He searched back through his memories, discovering that what had attracted him to her in the first place was not just her boldness of spirit, but the way he’d watched others try to stifle it. But Natalia had always pushed past the obstacles people placed in front of her. She was determined to be her own person, no matter what. That was why he adored her.

  “How are you with forgiveness?” he asked quietly, beginning to see a way he could salvage things.

  She peeked slowly over her shoulder at him. “I’m very good with forgiveness,” she said. “If I feel as though the person in question should be forgiven.”

  Prickles of hope broke out across Linus’s skin. She had cracked the door open for him. It wasn’t much, but he had a chance of her letting him back in.

  “What if new information had come to light that made someone realize they’d been a bit of an ass?” he asked.

  A glimmer of a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. “I might be willing to listen.”

  “With the understanding that there might be more than one ass in the situation?” He arched one eyebrow.

  She tilted her chin up imperiously and sniffed. “There is an outside chance that might be possible.”

  He wanted to laugh, but knew the timing was terrible for humor. “Good to know,” he said, leaving it there and settling back in his seat.

  The carriage pulled up the drive that took them to the front steps of Dunegard Castle. Natalia shifted in her seat to face him, curiosity bright in her eyes. She gave him a look that said she was waiting for him to go on, but Linus was more inclined to see if she would make an attempt to heal the situatio
n from her end first.

  He didn’t get a chance to see if she would. Before the carriage had fully stopped, Lady Phoebe burst through the castle’s front doors and hurried down the steps toward them, wringing her hands. The moment he could, Linus opened the door and hopped down, handing Natalia down after him.

  “Phoebe, whatever is the matter?” Natalia asked, rushing to her friend.

  “Mama and your father are accosting Lord and Lady O’Shea’s visitors,” she said in a foreboding voice, clutching Natalia’s hands. “They’re making so much of a spectacle of themselves that I fear it will ruin not just their own reputations, but Lord and Lady O’Shea’s as well.”

  “We’ll put a stop to it,” Linus said, striding past them and into the castle.

  “But it’s worse than that,” Lady Phoebe continued, hurrying along behind him with Natalia. “Lady Coyle, who Mama has been haranguing, is a distant cousin and the very person Mama needs to convince to give her what she sees as her inheritance.”

  “Lady Coyle controls the purse strings?” Natalia asked.

  Lady Phoebe nodded tightly. “Only, she’s started to say that she will make certain Mama never sees a cent of the money. Lady Coyle claims there is no legal precedent that would require her to share any of it with Mama, but when the visit started, it sounded as though she might give something to us out of charity. If Mama doesn’t give up this mad idea of supporting Dr. Townsend, we won’t only be left with nothing, we’ll be in debt because of the expenses from this trip. We’ll lose what little we have left.”

  “I won’t let that happen,” Linus said. He strode on, filled with determination to put a stop to his father’s schemes once and for all.

  That determination carried him all the way to the parlor and what looked like a normal, afternoon tea between friends and neighbors. Henrietta sat tall and proud on a settee in the center of the room, directing one of the maids to serve tea. Fergus was parked in his chair at her side. Lady Darlington and his father shared a second settee that faced several chairs. A stately, older lady with faded red hair sat in one, two other fine ladies flanking her.

  “…which is why we chose to let my dear Ricky stay in England with his uncle this summer,” Henrietta was in the middle of saying. “Freddy is so attached to Ricky, and he simply adores Harry, Lord Howsden’s son. We all just figured that since Lord Howsden has invested in our family estate, Silverstone Castle, and since he and Harry have chosen to stay there this summer while improvements are being made, we’d allow Ricky to stay with them.”

  “It must make traveling all this way to Ireland easier,” the older lady—who could only have been Lady Coyle—said.

  “They should have all come here,” Lady Darlington said with an inspired smile. “Children are essential to a thriving community built on God’s love, aren’t they, Dr. Townsend? Isn’t that what you were just telling me this morning?”

  “It is indeed,” Linus’s father answered. “Children are like arrows, or so the Bible says, and happy is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

  Linus recognized the lascivious light in his father’s eyes as he made the statement while staring at one of the ladies attending Lady Coyle. The look turned his stomach. Apparently, his father wasn’t too old to be considering a few more half-brothers and sisters for him.

  “You’ve returned from your errand,” Fergus said, sitting straighter in his chair.

  All eyes in the room turned to Linus and Natalia, and Lady Phoebe, in the doorway. For a moment, Linus’s father looked startled, as if he’d been caught saying something he shouldn’t. He recovered quickly, though, and stood to approach them.

  “My dear Lady Coyle,” he said, smiling obsequiously to the august woman for a moment before meeting Linus’s eyes with a look that ordered him not to cause a fuss. “Let me introduce my beloved son, Dr. Linus Townsend.”

  Linus stepped subtly away from his father before he could claim any more ownership of Linus than he already had. Instead, he approached Lady Coyle and her friends and bowed. “My lady, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “This is Lady Alice Coyle, Lady Bernadette Huffington, and Lady Eloise Norris,” Henrietta introduced her guests from her settee. She managed to look fully in command of the situation, but Linus could see she was on edge.

  “You are this man’s son?” Lady Coyle asked him, clearly not pleased by everything that had taken place before Linus and Natalia’s arrival.

  “Yes,” Linus answered hesitantly, then added in a quieter voice. “We’ve been somewhat estranged these many years.” He added a significant look that he hoped Lady Coyle would interpret correctly without finding him too presumptuous.

  “I see,” Lady Coyle answered with a slight flicker of her brow.

  “I’m sorry,” Linus added so that only she could hear.

  Lady Coyle’s only reply was a hum, but she seemed satisfied. As soon as Linus stepped back, intending to introduce Natalia, she stood. “Ladies, it has been a lovely visit. Quite…interesting. But I believe it is time for us to go.”

  “Oh, but you cannot go yet.” Lady Darlington shot to her feet, arms outstretched, as though she would physically prevent Lady Coyle from departing. “We have so much more to discuss. There is my portion of the inheritance, but more than that, I would be overjoyed if you and your friends would join me in Dr. Townsend’s visionary venture.”

  Lady Huffington and Lady Norris exchanged a look and made disgusted sounds. Lady Darlington didn’t seem to notice.

  Lady Coyle cleared her throat and stood taller. “My dear Maude, if you wish to have any hope of reconciling with our branch of the family, you will give up this ridiculous notion immediately. As it is, I doubt I will be able to accommodate your frankly surprising request for what you call an inheritance.”

  “But surely you must agree that I am due a share of what is ours,” Lady Darlington said. For half a second, Linus thought perhaps she sounded reasonable, but all too soon, she charged on with, “And what could be a worthier cause than advancing God’s community on earth.”

  “Indeed,” Linus’s father said, stepping into the fray. “But don’t answer dear Lady Darlington’s request now. Wait. Sleep on it. Pray for guidance. I’m certain you will see the light. And you must join us for the revival meeting I plan to hold in two days’ time. If our pleas cannot warm your heart, I am certain that a show of devotion and conviction will.”

  “You’re holding a revival meeting in two days?” Natalia asked. She caught Linus’s eye with a light that said his father’s plans would work perfectly with their own.

  “Yes.” Linus’s father turned to Natalia with a cautious smile. “It will be in the town of Ballymena.”

  “I would be interested in hearing what you have to say,” Natalia told him.

  Linus fought to hide his grin. Natalia was a brilliant actress on top of everything else.

  Lady Coyle glanced warily to Natalia, questioning in her eyes.

  “My lady, allow me to introduce you to my wife,” Linus said, extending an arm to Natalia. “Mrs. Linus Townsend, who was Lady Natalia Marlowe, up until a few days ago.”

  Natalia stepped forward, an odd look on her face. “I believe that’s the first time anyone has called me that,” she said softly.

  “Marlowe?” Lady Coyle blinked. “As in Lady Katya Marlowe, recently Campbell?”

  “She is my mother,” Natalia confirmed with a nod.

  Lady Coyle’s expression pinched into thought. “And you support this charlatan?”

  Linus held his breath, waiting to see how Natalia would handle the direct question. Their ruse depended on her fooling his father, but Lady Coyle didn’t seem like the sort to tolerate foolishness or deception.

  “I am curious,” Natalia said with perfect diplomacy.

  Affection welled in Linus’s heart. He scolded himself for ever underestimating his lovely wife. She could scheme and charm with the best of them.

  Lady Coyle repeated her noncommittal hum, then turned t
o her friends. “We should be on our way.”

  Henrietta rose to say goodbye to her guests, ushering them into the hallway, likely making apologies as she went. Linus admired her for having the strength to handle the difficult situation. If only he could find the same finesse when it came to dealing with his father.

  “My dearest daughter.” His father turned to Natalia once Lady Coyle was gone. “I cannot tell you how delighted I am to hear of your interest in our community.”

  “Yes,” Lady Darlington added, rushing to her side and grabbing Natalia’s arm. “Please do join us in our endeavor. And do convince Phoebe to join as well.”

  “Yes. Lady Phoebe would be the perfect addition to our fold,” Linus’s father said, turning a sinister gaze toward Lady Phoebe.

  All of the color drained from Lady Phoebe’s face. Linus stepped between her and his father as subtly as he could. “I must admit,” he said, playing his part, “there was quite a bit of talk in town about this whole idea. We heard of several young ladies who found the idea appealing.”

  Across the room, Fergus raised an eyebrow and attempted to hide his laughter behind his hand. “Interest in the community?” he asked in an overly cheerful voice. “You don’t say.”

  “Why, this is wonderful.” Lady Darlington clapped a hand to her heart. “I’m certain once people have had a chance to hear all you have to say at your revival meeting, we will have our pick of patrons and patronesses. And I’ll get the portion of my inheritance that’s coming to me as well as a secure home,” she added, mostly to herself.

  Linus wasn’t certain whether to feel sorry for the woman or not. She repulsed him in so many ways, but he had to admit that her situation truly was dire. “If Natalia is interested in your endeavors, then I’m interested in what you have to say as well,” he told his father. It was the closest he was going to be able to come to convincing his father that he was actually interested in what they both knew was a trap.

  His father seemed convinced enough to clap a hand on Linus’s shoulder. “I’m delighted to have you rejoin me, son,” he said.