The Lady’s Dangerous Love: Langley Sisters

by Vella, Wendy

  “No, this is the first time,” Primrose said. She was not a person who moved in elevated circles in society, nor one who instigated conversation. In fact, most evenings she hid in a corner hoping no man would take an interest in her.

  Looking at Lady Jane, she noted the woman was watching the encounter. Primrose needed to get away from these men before Lady Jane decided a match was in the making between her and Mr. Benjamin Hetherington, which it definitely was not!

  “We are not walking into Two Oaks,” Mr. Alexander Hetherington said, much to her relief. “So we will bid you good day. I hope your shopping trip is a pleasant one, Miss Ainsley.”

  “Watch out for rodents, Miss Ainsley,” Benjamin Hetherington said with a wicked smile.

  “Why does she need to watch out for them?” His brother frowned.

  “She had an encounter with one this morning. A nasty experience, I believe.”

  “Really? I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Primrose wanted to smack the laughter off Benjamin Hetherington’s face.

  “It’s quite all right, Mr. Hetherington,” she said to his brother. “As it turns out, the rodent was somewhat dim-witted, and I outmaneuvered it.”

  “Excellent. Well, brother, we must be off.” Alexander Hetherington shot her a look that suggested she was not quite right in the head, which suited her just fine.

  Primrose exhaled slowly in relief as the brothers then bowed and walked away.

  “Mr. Benjamin Hetherington seems quite taken with you, Primrose,” Lady Jane said, moving to her side.

  “No, he is just being polite. He found me searching for hellebore seeds and asked what I was doing.” Primrose was congratulating herself silently for throwing Lady Jane off the scent.

  Then she spoke.

  “I thought hellebore grew in the winter months?”

  “There are many different varieties,” Primrose said quickly.

  “Yes, well, I think you’re wrong about the unattached Mr. Hetherington. In fact, I think he is quite interested in you,” she added. “So stop grubbing about in the earth and focus on getting him to marry you.”

  Botheration!

  Chapter Three

  “She seems nice, if a little odd.”

  “Who?”

  Alex made a noise in his throat.

  “You know bloody well who. Miss Ainsley. That rodent comment was strange though, don’t you think?”

  “Hmm.” Ben made the appropriate noise.

  She had seemed nice actually, a great deal nicer than he’d thought her yesterday or this morning, but that was only because now that his temper had cooled, he could see there was a great deal of backbone to Miss Primrose Ainsley. A woman did not simply dive fully clothed into the water without a great deal of strength to their character… unless she was insane. Either way, she intrigued him, as prim and proper young ladies did not do such things—even if they were done to avoid him, which, while hardly flattering, had been understandable and taken courage.

  He didn’t think she was insane, as her lovely blue eyes were certainly clear enough and lit with an intelligence Benjamin had been guilty of not seeing earlier.

  “She barely speaks,” he said, which actually wasn’t true, as she’d spoken quite clearly to him just then. In fact, she’d called him a rodent.

  “Nerves, very likely. I believe Hannah told me Lady Jane is sponsoring her for a season. Can’t be easy, leaving your family and entering society. Then there’s the fact that young ladies can be ruthlessly vindictive to those they see as beneath them.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “She’s here at the charity of Lady Jane, Ben. Surely you understand all the connotations that come with that? Plus, she’s older than the other debutantes.”

  Ben thought about that and took a few seconds to come up with the right answer.

  “Hannah made you understand that. There is no way you would be that aware,” Ben said.

  “Possibly. But the point is, life cannot have been a chocolate eclair for Miss Ainsley.”

  A chocolate eclair was the highest form of confectionery excellence as far as Alex was concerned.

  “Perhaps.”

  They wandered along yet another path—Rossetter was littered with them—and around the house. Finn had several amazing estates, but this was something special. Age, Ben thought. The age of this place gave it so much character and strength. History was etched in the walls here.

  “Ben, what are you not telling me?”

  Having a twin was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing came in having someone who knew him as well as he knew himself. A person who was in his corner no matter the circumstance. Alex was his confidant, as he was Alex’s. They were two halves of a whole and always had been. That hadn’t changed with his brother’s marriage to Hannah.

  The curse was that he could hide nothing from him.

  “Let’s hear it.” Alex waved a hand about and made that clucking sound with his tongue that Ben loathed. In fact, he hated the noise so much he’d bloodied his twin’s nose over it several times in their lifetime.

  “Desist!” Ben snapped. Alex continued.

  “It is hardly my fault that certain noises make you uncomfortable. I mean, who can’t stand it when someone crunches their food, or achieves a certain pitch? They are not the actions of a well-balanced person.”

  Ben shrugged. It had always been thus for him. He hated certain noises, and crunching and rustling were two of them. As an adult he’d simply accepted the fact it was a foolish problem and dealt with it in his own way… often by surreptitiously sticking a finger in one ear.

  “It’s my only abnormality, unlike you,” Ben said. “You have the thing with your toes.”

  “One toe sitting on top of another one is not an abnormality, it’s originality.”

  “You’re certainly original,” Ben agreed. “And as we speak, another one of you is forming. The thought makes me shudder.”

  “Makes me shudder, too. Hannah is unreasonable most days, but now….”

  Ben laughed.

  “Now, tell me about Miss Ainsley before we reach the others,” Alex added.

  “Very well, and I do not need to tell you to keep this to yourself.”

  Alex hooked his little finger around Ben’s as he raised it. They had completed this particular ritual many, many times since its conception when they were aged five years.

  He told Alex what had transpired between him and Miss Ainsley earlier.

  “And she just dove under the water with her dress on?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good God, surely they are not the actions of a sane woman? But then, that does explain the rodent comment.”

  They were walking to where their eldest brother and some of the other male guests were assembling. Fencing was the activity of the day, which Ben was not bad at, but his brothers were annoyingly better.

  “Are you telling me that Hannah or Phoebe would not have done the same given provocation?”

  “You have a point there, but it is not something one expects a debutante to do.”

  “Yes, you can imagine what I thought when she went under the water. I had visions of her drowning and me having to carry her body out.”

  “But then in her defense, you had just likened her to a gout-swollen toe, and not just any toe but one that belongs to that tartar Lady Blain.”

  “There is that.”

  They walked in silence as they often did, not needing a constant flow of words to communicate.

  “It was extremely bad of you to call her a gout-swollen toe, brother, but given that you were in the company of my wife and Finn’s, I understand the provocation. Were they attempting to pressure you into marrying someone?”

  “Not someone. Miss Ainsley.”

  Alex whistled. “Are you interested in her, Ben?”

  The jolt that went through him was not pleasant. How could he be interested in someone he had rarely conversed with, and when he had it was about the wea
ther? Plus, there was the small fact that he’d vowed never to marry.

  The problem was, she’d shown him another side to her personality today. A window into her character. Spirit was not often something he saw in a debutante. He wasn’t interested in her, but still she was intriguing.

  “No.”

  “Not every woman is like our mother, Ben. Some can actually be trusted.”

  “I know that.” Ben loathed his mother. “I have to admit that when you see a woman do what Miss Ainsley did, it is intriguing.”

  Alex grunted his agreement.

  “Before today I thought her an insipid, timid creature.”

  “Which is beneath you, as we both know that what we see each evening is not necessarily the entire picture. Young women are molded into what we see in society; they are not often born that way.”

  Ben sighed. “You’re thinking of both Phoebe and Hannah, aren’t you?”

  “Finn misjudged Phoebe, and I may have done the same with Hannah… a bit, but only briefly.”

  “You’ve always hated criticism, even if it’s you giving it to… you.”

  “That’s because the majority of the time I’m perfect.”

  “Says who?” Ben snorted. “Your wife tells me regularly that you have a great many flaws.”

  Alex smiled, that annoying, secretive smile that people in love sometimes wore.

  “She is a truly exceptional, if slightly annoying, woman, my wife.”

  Alex stopped suddenly. His eyes were on the small gathering of men a short distance away.

  “Christ, do you see Panchurch? Man’s a blithering idiot.”

  Ben searched the milling men, and found Lord Panchurch. Dressed in snow-white breeches and shirt, his waistcoat was made up of black and lilac diamond shapes, and he was dashing forward and back like a headless chicken.

  “What is he doing?”

  “Practicing.”

  “For what?” Ben asked. “A new dance, perhaps?”

  Their brother, Viscount Levermarch, Lord William Ryder, Mr. Oliver Dillinger, and Mr. Luke Fletcher were standing about, also looking at Lord Panchurch with varying degrees of disgust on their faces.

  Ben and Alex joined them.

  “Do you carry a pistol, Finn?” Ben asked.

  His brother was big, like him, but older by quite a few years, a fact the twins never failed to use to their advantage when the opportunity presented itself. He was a man who handled responsibility with the ease some powerful men did, and as he’d raised his twin brothers when their mother had decided she wanted to follow her lover to France, he had a depth of character Ben was sure others lacked.

  “No, it’s in the house. Why?”

  “I though perhaps you could shoot Panchurch to put him, and us, out of misery. There’s no one here who would blame you, and between us we could bury the body.”

  “I could easily go back and get it,” Finn said, contemplating the man still prancing. “Only take a matter of minutes.”

  “Fencing is for noblemen, and seeing as I am not one, you cannot make me do this,” Oliver “Ace” Dillinger said.

  He had been born a coal miner’s son and run away to London where he became a bare knuckle fighter at a young age. He was a savvy businessman and had invested his earnings wisely, and now was one of the wealthiest industrialists in the United Kingdom. Big and dark, he was married to the Duke of Rossetter’s sister, Althea.

  “You’ve fenced,” Ben said. “I know this, as I was there.”

  “I hated it, and if you were there you remember that I nearly skewered you.”

  “What I want to know is why the duke is exempt from such activities?” Alex looked to the rise in the distance, and there was the Duke of Rossetter with his children, running hither and yon with a kite.

  “That does look like more fun,” Will Ryder agreed. Brother to the duke, he was married to Olivia, who was Phoebe’s sister. Tall, with a leaner build than his brother, he was a man who had left England to find himself and returned a better man. Beside him was his best friend, Luke Fletcher.

  “Fletcher, do you wish to fence?”

  “I do not,” the man said. Quiet, Luke Fletcher was an observer. Starting life as a servant had no doubt played a hand in that.

  “Shall we sneak away and see if the billiards room is free then?” Will said. “Or we could go and run about in reckless abandon like my brother.”

  “The former,” Ben said. The agreement was universal.

  “Help!”

  Chapter Four

  Turning toward the shriek, Ben watched Olivia Ryder wave her hands about and run toward them. Will took off at a sprint with the others on his heels.

  “What has happened, love?” Will grabbed her hands.

  “A carriage, it has overturned and fallen into the river! You must come quickly, I fear there are still several occupants inside.”

  “Dear God, tell me Phoebe isn’t in that water,” Finn said, the color leeching out of his face.

  “She wasn’t when I left,” Livvy said.

  “You!” Will bellowed at a servant in the distance. “Fetch the duke at once, tell him a carriage has overturned in the river!”

  Ben sprinted round the house and found some more servants milling outside.

  “Ropes and blankets at once, and have them brought down to the river; a carriage has overturned,” he said. “Prepare rooms for people who have been in the accident.”

  “Send word for a doctor at once!” Finn added. “And bring carts.”

  They started running again, down the long driveway.

  “A horse would be quicker,” Alex said.

  “No time!” Luke Fletcher sprinted ahead.

  The run was not a long one, and soon they had reached the small rise. Below they saw the carriage; it was half submerged. It was a large, lumbering vehicle, and the luggage attached to the roof had come free and was bobbing about in the water. The road was not narrow, but if a driver got too close to the edge it would not take much to send the carriage into the water. The horses had been cut free and were shivering with fear on the bank.

  They ran down to where the people were standing.

  “Is everyone out, Lord Neil?” Finn asked a large, dripping wet man.

  “Yes. I’m not sure what happened. One moment we were rolling along looking forward to joining you all, and the next, listing sideways.”

  “Are you sure everyone is accounted for?” Finn asked again.

  “Yes, although the girl has gone to save that wretched dog.”

  “Girl?” Ben said. For some reason he was suddenly tense.

  “My little Ebony,” a young girl cried, rushing to Ben’s side. “My baby is still in the water. I begged the lady to save her.”

  “Primrose!” He heard someone shriek.

  “Good God, Miss Ainsley is in the water!” Alex roared.

  Ben’s eyes darted to the river, following the direction of his brother’s hand. Primrose Ainsley was indeed in the water up to her shoulders.

  “Get out, you bloody foolish woman!” Ben yelled, making his way down to the edge of the bank.

  Ignoring him, she suddenly disappeared. He stripped of his jacket. Holding out a foot, he ordered Ace, who had joined him, to pull his boot and its partner off.

  “Save her!” Lady Jane yelled from behind him. “Please save Primrose!”

  Ben waded into the water knowing the others would follow… those who could swim at least.

  “Do you see her?” He looked to the bank. Ace shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he dived under the water, but it was murky, and he could see nothing. Surfacing, he climbed on top of the carriage and wrenched open a door.

  “Ben!” He heard Finn’s yell, but ignored it and lowered himself inside. Submerging himself, he waved his arms around but couldn’t feel anyone or anything.

  “There’s no one in here!” he called up to Alex, who now stood above him. Climbing out he looked back to the bank where the people had gathered.

  �
�Is Miss Ainsley there?” Heads were shaken. “Where is she?”

  Getting back into the water, he and Alex swam around the carriage, and it was then he found her. She was struggling with a dog in her arms to the opposite bank.

  “You go back, Alex. I’ll get Miss Ainsley,” he told his brother, and then followed her. By the time he reached the bank, she was lying on it with a small black scruffy dog clasped in her arms.

  Ben waded out to her side. Her eyes were closed, and the breath rasping in and out of her throat told him she’d used up all her strength in rescuing the animal. Her dress was stuck to her like a second skin… again.

  “I hope you pay your maid a great deal,” he said, kneeling at her side. “Open your eyes for me now, Miss Ainsley.”

  She did, and this was the first time he’d really studied them. The color of the deepest ocean, almost black, they were big and took up half her face… a pale face.

  “We need to get you dry… again, you bloody foolish woman.”

  “I-I had to rescue him, the little girl begged me.”

  “I’m sure you felt you did, but a more prudent action would have been to wait for one of us to assist you.”

  “He would have died.”

  Looking at the pup lying still and barely breathing in her arms, Ben thought that was still a possibility.

  “Can you walk, Miss Ainsley? We need to get moving now and warm you up.” Even though the sun shone, the day had a cool breeze.

  “Of course,” she said with a bit more strength. “I-I am wet, not sick.”

  “Yes, well, you will get sick if you do not get warm.”

  “Rubbish. One does not get s-sick from cold water on s-such a warm day.”

  “Your teeth are chattering,” Ben felt he needed to point out. “Stop arguing with me and move.”

  One of her hands grabbed the front of his shirt as Ben went to rise.

  “I’m not usually so much trouble, you know. In fact, I’m the sensible Ainsley.”

  “Really? One can only imagine what the others get up to, then.”

  Her lips had a blueish tinge to them now, and Ben didn’t like to think of her sick, so he stood and lifted her into his arms.