His gaze shifted to Brianna. “Or I can take this, find Lily, and leave with her. She will come with me.”
His words didn’t faze Brianna—not even a flicker of concern. If anything, her head tilted slightly, her eyes pitying. “There, you are wrong. She does not want you, Dr. Harrison. She is disgusted that you lied to her.”
Garek’s hand twitched at his side. “I did not lie to her and I will not leave her, Brianna.”
“You will leave her—leave this land. Why do you think I am here—in the weakened state I am in—instead of Lily? She could not even face you.”
Brianna gathered a big sigh into her lungs, her head shaking. “I may as well tell you, they are coming for you right now, the Bow Street runners the family sent from London. And this is money enough to run. To disappear. But you only get it if you leave Lily alone. She does not want to see you again. She recognizes the liar you are and does not want a criminal for a husband.”
“No.”
“She could not have been more emphatic with me about that fact, Dr. Harrison.”
“I do not believe you.” Garek’s head shook. “Lily would not have said that—she will not stand for this.”
“No? Why do you think she sent me? Whose idea do you think it was to give you money to disappear? To escape?” She forced a strained chuckle. “The idea was most certainly not mine. I would rather see you rot in the hole you dug in that graveyard. But Lily has a much different heart—for all that she hates you now, she still did not want to see you end up in a cell at Newgate.”
“I refuse to believe it—refuse to believe she hates me. Not until I talk to her.” Garek spun, going to the door.
“Believe it or not, but she did not hide the fact that seeing you would sicken her.” Brianna’s words cut sharply into the room. “And I do not think you will put her through that torture. She is already distraught, grieving for the man she thought you were, but are not. And if you stay to find her and verify what I say—and make no mistake, she will refuse to see you—you will be caught. The men from London are at Weadly Hall at this very moment and will be here within the hour.”
Garek froze, the doorknob half turned. “You did not.”
“Mr. Sneedly did. He told them exactly where to find you. And he would not have shared that information with me had he known I would warn you.”
Brianna pointed to the note on the bed. “So you can take the money and disappear, Dr. Harrison, or you can chase a dead dream and make Lily not only refuse you to your face—but also make her watch you get dragged off to prison. Do you know what that would do to her? She loved you before this. She is already inconsolable.”
His head turned to the side, Garek refused to look at Brianna, refused to believe her blasphemies. “Then I will get to Lily before they come, and she will leave with me. I know she will.”
“No. She will not. I think you recognize that, underneath your anger.” Brianna gave him a sad smile. “Even if you were able to convince her to listen to you, convince her that this was a horrible misunderstanding—and that would be a paramount feat in itself—we both know she will refuse to leave me here alone. Not in my weakened state. Be assured I will do anything—anything, no matter how insidious, to protect her from you. And if you stay here for her, you will be arrested in front of her. Transported for at least seven years for robbing graves. She does not want you, Dr. Harrison. Not anymore.”
His heart thundering, Garek’s hand dropped from the door, his eyes going over his shoulder to rest on the bank note on the bed.
Two choices.
He could stay, stubborn, fighting for Lily when she had already discarded him, and soon find himself in Newgate. Or he could take the note and save the one person he owed his life to.
This was it. All that he had wrought, finally come for him. His reckoning.
His eyes pinned Brianna, cold, abhorring the words he was about to speak. The words he had to drag from the pit of his belly. “Take care of Lily.”
Brianna gave him a pinched smile. “Do not insult me.”
Garek bit back a tirade, his head shaking. “Just keep Sneedly away from her. Please.”
The smile disappeared, and Brianna’s blue eyes went serious with an earnest nod of her head. “I will do so.”
Grabbing his surgical wallet, he took two heavy steps forward and snatched his satchel from the corner. Moving around Brianna, he picked up the bank note from the bed.
He looked down at it, the elaborate words and numbers blurring.
His eyes focused on the signatures at the bottom. Brianna’s, and then right below it, Miss Lily Silverton in a heavy scrawl.
She had signed the note.
Services rendered.
Garek’s gut dropped. Pain cut across his chest, severing his breath as the last of his disbelief of Brianna’s words disintegrated.
Lily did not want him. Could not stomach the sight of him. The message was quite clear.
And he held in his hand exactly what he had needed when he had stumbled upon Lily in the middle of the night months ago.
She had altered him from his course, from his purpose.
But now it was time to pay his debts.
Garek shoved the bank note into his bag, sickened at his own actions.
Without another word, he walked out the door.
~~~
Lily tightened the cloak across her chest, her eyes scanning the winding dirt path up from the main road. Beyond the rushes and gardens, fields and pastures lined the road in front of Widow Thompson’s cottage, and Lily could see a long distance in every direction.
She looked up to the sky at the cover of grey clouds that slid slowly past. Much slower than her quick steps across the cold ground.
“Lily, you have been pacing for hours. What are you doing out here?”
Lily’s feet stopped, looking to Brianna in the front doorway. “I am waiting for Garek. He said he would be by in the morning, and we are now not far from nightfall.”
“Come inside.” Brianna motioned backward with her head. “You have not eaten today. Mable made a mince pie.”
Lily shook her head. “I will wait out here.”
“Lily, please. It is cold and I do not want you to catch your death. I have Papa’s papers in order, so we can start planning on where we want to move. Mable has already agreed to come with us.”
Lily offered her sister a smile to cover her pang of jealousy. Brianna had already planned in one morning what Lily could not accomplish in a month. “We can discuss it later—after Garek arrives.”
Brianna stepped out of the doorway, pulling the door closed behind her. She came to Lily, slipping her arm within the folds of the cloak and into the crook of Lily’s arm.
“He is gone, Lils. I had hoped to delay telling you.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Lily looked to the south along the road, not noting her sister’s words. “You are not talking about Garek.”
“Lils, look at me. I am talking about Dr. Harrison. He is gone.” Brianna hugged Lily’s arm to her body, her voice low. “I discovered some things about his past—this is so hard to tell you, Lily—Garek is a grave robber.”
Lily jerked away from Brianna, untangling her arm to step backward. “No. How do you know about that—and no—no, you are mistaken. Garek never unearthed a body. He was in a cemetery, going to assist with that very thing, but he could not go through with it. He left before anything happened.”
“I do not know if that is true, Lily, but I do know that Garek is wanted for grave robbery. He will go to prison. So he left Annadale.”
Lily gripped Brianna’s upper arm, panic flushing her body. “No—that is not right. He did nothing.” Her eyes flew out to the fields and then back to Brianna. “You are lying. You do not want me to marry him, so you are lying, creating falsehoods about him.”
Brianna shook her head softly. “I am not, Lils. If Dr. Harrison were to stay here, he would be arrested and brought to prison.”
“No. You a
re wrong. He would not have left. Not without me.” Lily dropped her hand from Brianna, spinning from her. “Not without seeing me, talking to me. Impossible—he would never—”
“I gave him money.” Brianna rounded Lily, capturing her shoulders and shaking them. “Money to leave here. Leave you.”
Lily froze, her eyelids fluttering as her head jerked back. A whisper left her mouth with a long exhale. “You paid him off?”
“I did.”
“To leave me?”
“Yes.”
Lily’s head started to shake uncontrollably. “No. He would not have taken it. He would not have left me. I do not believe you.”
“He did take the money, Lils. He is gone. I will take you to the tavern to prove it.”
Lily slapped her sister’s hands from her shoulders, backing from her. “No. You are lying, Bree—lying, I know it. He did not leave me.”
“Get the curricle, Lily. We are going to the tavern.”
Lily’s jaw set hard, her eyes narrowing on her sister. “Yes. Yes we are. And I will prove to you Garek would never leave me. Never.”
Lily pushed the horse hard on the painfully silent ride to Annadale. Into the middle of the village, Lily stopped the horse, flying down from the carriage and running into the Twisted Tin Tavern. Her feet racing, she bumped past several empty wooden chairs, knocking them down as she dodged around the round tables in the common area to get to the back stairs.
Up the steps three at a time, she was to Garek’s room in seconds, flinging open the door.
All was still. Quiet.
She stepped into the room, her eyes desperately scanning the space. Seeking out the tiniest corners, searching for something—anything of Garek’s. Anything to prove he wasn’t gone.
The bed had no sheets, just lumpy stuffing open to the air. No satchel. No boots. No shirt drying by the fireplace. No coals simmering.
Nothing. Emptiness. Silence.
Not a trace that Garek had ever set foot into this room.
Clomping heels came up behind her.
“Do you see, Lily?” Brianna moved into the room with the words. “Do you see now? He is gone.”
Lily’s head shook, disbelief numbing her body. Her eyes still searched for the slightest piece of him. Something. Something to hold onto. The slightest remnant that he had been here. Been in her life. Loved her.
From behind, Brianna’s hand settled lightly on Lily’s shoulder. Her sister was wheezing, probably from running after her. Lily knew she should turn to her, check on her—Brianna still was not fully well—but Lily could not do it. Not look at her.
“He took the money and left, Lily. I am sorry he was not what you thought he was.”
Lily’s legs slipped from her at that moment. Turned to jelly, all support lost. She crumbled to the floor, the shock vibrating through her body turning into heaving breaths. The heaving breaths turning into sobs.
He couldn’t have left her. He couldn’t have.
But all she had to do was wipe her tears and look around the room for reality.
Garek was gone.
“You…you spoke with him, Bree.” Lily looked over her shoulder up to her sister. “Did he say anything—any message for me—something?”
“He did not.” Brianna’s fingers squeezed Lily’s shoulder.
She swatted Brianna’s hand away. “How could you do this to me, Bree?”
“It was the only way I could make you see what he was—what he was truly after, Lily.”
“But he would not have…not have taken the money and left. Left me.”
Her sister’s hand landed back on her shoulder. “He did, Lily. He took the money. That was all he wanted.”
Lily looked up to Brianna. “And he said nothing? Nothing for me? Nothing to explain?”
“As hard as it is to hear, Lils, I think his choice explains everything.”
Her head dropped as her arms wrapped around her belly, rocking back and forth. “I will never forgive you for this, Bree.”
Brianna’s hand left her shoulder, her voice turning cool. “Lily, take a moment here, collect yourself. I have to visit with Mr. Turner up the road for a few minutes about father’s estate. I will be back shortly, and we can leave. You will never have to look at this place again.”
Without waiting for an answer, Brianna left the room, her footsteps disappearing down the hall.
Lily crumpled further into herself, heaped into a sobbing mess for an eternity.
She stayed balled up in the barren room, until the cruel reality of his leaving hit her, truly hit her.
Garek had chosen money over her.
The thought flipped her stomach, and she had to swallow bile chasing up her throat.
She had loved him with everything she had, trusted him with everything, and he had chosen money over her.
Money.
Her fingers uncurling from her body, she made her limbs go straight, and she pushed herself to standing.
Without another look around the room, she staggered into the hall and down the narrow stairs.
In the common room, she landed on the closest chair, sitting, numb.
“Why the red face, dovey? Wot ye need?” Mrs. Fulgton stopped across the table from Lily.
The words invaded her brain slowly, pulling Lily from the stupor that had taken over her mind.
She looked up. “Sherry. Do you have sherry?”
“I do, dovey.”
{ Chapter 12 }
London, England
March, 1822
Salvation came in the form of a liveried footman.
Desperately needed salvation.
Salvation delivered by a footman bearing a wide, silver platter filled with flutes of bubbling, sparkling champagne.
He paused in front of Lily, and she took the fullest glass she could reasonably reach. The sherry that she had consumed at the Duke of Letson’s townhouse was already waning. She had thought she had imbibed enough to calm her nerves, but it had taken far longer than she had anticipated to arrive at Lady Palton’s home, and even longer to be introduced and make it through the throng of the crush.
Tipping her head back, she let the golden liquid slide down her throat, the bubbles tickling her tongue. A forearm slipped under the crook of her elbow.
“Are you ready? Have you noticed the eyes already fixated on you?” Wynne Lockton, the Duchess of Letson, smiled. Lily looked to Wynne, noting how very prettily her blond hair had been weaved into an elegant upsweep. So very different from the Wynne she was accustomed to at Notlund Castle, as Wynne’s hair was usually in a simple braid and paint was most often smeared somewhere across her face, if not covering her fingers. But in this ballroom, she looked every spec the duchess that she was.
A deep breath, and Lily returned Wynne’s smile, comforted that her new friend was at her side. For as difficult as the last year had been for her, the duke and duchess were the one bright happening. They had brought Brianna and Lily into their home at Notlund and offered to serve as their guardians, much to Brianna’s chagrin. But Lily had been entirely grateful their father had long ago asked the Duke’s father to care for them in the event of his death.
And not only had the duke and duchess welcomed Lily and Brianna into their home, they had offered to present them to London society. Brianna had bristled at the thought, claiming herself a spinster, but had conceded to at least attend events as Lily’s chaperone.
Lily sucked the last drop of liquid from the glass, already eyeing the next champagne-balancing footman making his way around the perimeter of the ballroom. She glanced to Wynne. “Eyes are fixated?”
“You do not look happy on that fact.”
Lily forced a bright smile onto her lips. The footman stepped in front of them, and she traded her empty flute for a full one. “I…I just did not expect it. I did not know what to expect.”
Wynne squeezed her arm. “Well, I expected it. I am positive any eligible man here would be delighted to make your acquaintance. This was the
best idea, to come down from the cold castle to London for the season. As much as Rowen and I adore having you and Brianna to ourselves, it is only fair that you meet new people, a suitor or two. Or three, or four, or five. And then Brianna will see how much fun this can be, and maybe allow herself to proffer the slightest smile for a gentleman.”
Lily scoffed at Wynne’s last words, shaking her head. But instant guilt made her stop, and she fixed the smile back onto her face. “You sound as if you have already filled my dance card?”
“Yes. I do have options for you. And did you see Rowen?” She pointed across the brightly-lit room. “See the gentleman already edging their way to him?”
Lily nodded, taking a long sip of the champagne as she found the duke in the kaleidoscope of shifting, brightly-colored gowns.
“The lot of those gentlemen are already angling for an introduction.”
Lily noted several men jostling to get a step in front of one another. Almost comical, if that was what was truly happening across the room. Almost.
Her gaze slipped to the right and her breath caught.
Garek.
A head above the men around him, his dark hair glistened in the candlelight as he turned. Lily’s eyes swept along his profile.
Not Garek.
Not Garek in the ballroom. Or on Percy Street. Or in the Notlund Castle stables. Or at the market. Not Garek.
He wasn’t there in the ballroom, and she needed to stop seeing him every place she looked. Needed to stop searching for him in every crowd. Needed to put him out of her mind, out of her heart.
That was why she was here. To move on. To stop torturing herself every single day. To not see him around every turn. To stop thinking of his lips on her skin, his breath in her ear.
To stop everything. To stop being a shell.
The hollow emptiness in her chest threatened to swallow her. Lily’s head dropped, her eyes fixating on the sparkling crystals sewn into the edging along her bodice. They shimmered against the deep blue of her dress. Bright. Happy. Radiant as they hid the vast hollowness beneath.
Damn. She just wanted to feel again. Feel something—anything. Even if she doubted it was possible to truly do so.
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