by Heather Boyd
The minute the words left his lips, Giles knew he’d just created more problems. As a rule, he didn’t like to lie, but his first thought was to spare Lilly’s reputation.
Carrington’s head snapped up but, for a change, the talkative man remained silent.
The lie thickened his tongue until Giles had to clear his throat. “That is to say, my former betrothed, a near invalid, is residing upstairs. Without chaperone.”
Truth was better.
Carrington looked at the floor and then his shoulders shook. Concerned, Giles moved to his side and laid a hand upon him. The minute he touched Carrington, his shakes became laughter. Giles scowled, far from amused by his friend’s reaction.
The other man stood and moved about the room, wiping at the corner of his eyes as his laughter continued in an unstoppable rush. Resigned, Giles waited for him to calm, but he did not think the situation warranted such an outpouring of emotion.
Eventually, Carrington met his gaze. The other man blinked, realizing perhaps that Giles didn’t think the situation was in any way funny. Lilly deserved better respect than this, and he was glad she still lay abed. Carrington returned to his chair and sat.
“No wonder you look so happy. You’ve taken the girl to bed.” Carrington nodded, understanding Giles’ silence was confirmation. “Given my recent difficulties, I think you should tell me everything that has happened since you left London. It might be possible to save you yet.”
“Save me?”
“But of course. The first thing you should do is return to London. Given Lady Montgomery’s nature, I’m sure you could prevail upon her to provide you with a plausible alibi that would negate any claim by the chit. Of course, I’ll be only too happy to do the same.”
Giles bristled. He’d not lie outright about Lilly’s presence in his home. He’d known there’d be consequences of her being left here, and he’d tried to point them out to her thick-headed father. But after last night, marriage to Lilly held an unexpected appeal. She was a passionate woman and very undemanding. They could deal well together, but there was no need to rush into any decision. He would cross that bridge when he faced it. For the time being, Carrington would hold his tongue and, when Baron Winter returned, Giles would see if his attraction to Lilly waned.
Chapter Nineteen
The discussion with Lord Carrington had taken hours and in the end, Giles had not been able to convince his friend that Lilly wouldn’t trick him into marriage. She simply wasn’t so calculating.
They had parted company when it seemed likely they could come to blows over Carrington’s disparaging remarks, and his friend had taken off on a country walk to cool his head. Just in case he got lost, Giles had asked for one of the grooms to follow discreetly. Carrington might navigate society with barely a thought, but he’d become lost within five minutes in the country if he were truly alone.
The door creaked and Giles prepared to deal with his friend in a more rational frame of mind. However, it was not Carrington at all but his housekeeper.
“Beg pardon for disturbing you, but I wish to speak with you about Miss Winter. She returned an untouched luncheon tray and has let a whole pot of tea grow cold without tasting a drop. She won’t say why.”
“Do you mean to say she’s not eaten since breakfast?” Giles demanded, irritated by the news.
Mrs. Osprey nodded, shifting her weight from foot to foot on the other side of his desk.
“Is she ill, madam?”
“Oh, no, sir. Not ill. Well, not perhaps, as you might understand matters. No, not ill at all,” Mrs. Osprey assured him, but he still did not understand what the problem could be.
Watching her wring her hands in tongue-tied agitation, Giles placed both hands on the desk and rose to his feet. “Dithers!”
At his shout, Mrs. Osprey went pale. “Oh, I could not. I just could not.”
The butler could help him deal with this vexing creature. He usually knew how. Giles held a hand out to stop the flow of words while he waited.
“Dithers, finally,” Giles cried as the door burst open. “See if you can get some sense out of this woman, will you? Apparently, I need to know something about Miss Winter, but Mrs. Osprey cannot bring herself to tell me. At least, not in a manner that I might understand clearly if you catch my meaning.”
Dithers’ expression stated he did not understand anything at all, but he moved toward Mrs. Osprey. When Mrs. Osprey met his gaze, her eyes firmed at once and she swiveled to face Giles, appearing right-minded for the first time since his return to Northhamptonshire.
“It is a private matter, my lord.”
Giles could see Dithers taken aback by her sharp tone. Mrs. Osprey appeared to be a woman in complete control of her mind. A nagging suspicion formed. It was not only men who played games to get what they want.
Crafty woman! She’d played helpless to keep Dithers near.
“Dithers, you are dismissed.”
Mrs. Osprey hid a smile and Giles gestured toward the garden door. She stepped through with firm steps and walked ahead of him to a spot where they could not be overheard.
Giles folded his arms across his chest. “Now, what the devil is going on?”
Mrs. Osprey clasped her hands together. “My Lord, I understand it if you’d prefer not to be involved directly with an unmarried young woman, but Miss Winter’s behavior today gives me some concerns.”
Giles’ heart dropped to his toes, but he managed to strangle out a convincingly neutral, “Oh.”
“When I was with her earlier this morning, and I know this is of no concern to a gentleman, but I did noticed that her woman’s time was upon her. At least that is what I believed then. When I left her, she seemed cheerful, but luncheon came and went and she ate nothing. She stayed on the chaise as I had suggested, and did not move. When I took tea upstairs just now, she was still there and had a look about her I did not like. She does not confide in me, my lord, but I believe her to be in some sort of shock. Do you think something may have happened to her during the night? Perhaps, something sinister?”
Giles stood rooted to the spot. Nothing sinister had happened to her other than sharing bed space with him. Nothing to account for the bleeding anyway. And Giles had not entered her. Not even with the tip of a finger. He had managed to keep his head and remained on the outside of Lilly’s body through the entire, glorious event.
No, it must be as Mrs. Osprey had first assumed, her woman’s time was upon her and she was upset about it. He had not left her bed until the early morning light had first illuminated her room. He had slept all night in Lilly’s bed, even keeping his boots on his feet.
Right now, though, he had a problem. Mrs. Osprey assumed, as he had wanted her to assume, that he had no interest in the girl. Woman, he corrected. She was definitely a woman and he had missed her today. He had thought she might have been hiding from him, or perhaps from Lord Carrington, and he wanted to smack his head into a very hard tree for not thinking to check on her earlier.
He should have treated her very differently after last night, and he needed to go see her now. Was it possible she came downstairs, heard his and Carrington’s discussion, and not cared for what was said? Neither he nor Carrington had remembered to keep their voices particularly low.
“You will need to speak to the girl, I suspect.” Mrs. Osprey rocked on the balls of her feet. “I don’t know how she will feel about it all, but perhaps you could talk to her in private. I can wait outside in the hall, or at the edge of the room.”
Bless Mrs. Osprey. He did not even have to suggest behaving improperly. Perhaps she still could read his mind as he had once thought. “Yes, I suppose a private discussion would be best and prove less embarrassing all around. Thank you for suggesting it, Mrs. Osprey. I will be there directly.”
Giles practically danced with glee, because the better Lilly became, the less reason he had to be private with her.
“Oh, that is so good of you, my lord.”
He looked abou
t him and spotted a pretty flower in a nearby bed. A flower might lift Lilly’s spirits. Once Mrs. Osprey turned her back, Giles pinched it off the bush and tucked it into an inner pocket before he followed her inside.
There was no response to Giles’ quiet knock on Lilly’s door but he entered anyway. Instead of finding her propped up in bed, under the covers as usual, Lilly lay curled on her side on the chaise. Giles kicked the door closed, keeping Mrs. Osprey out, and drank in her subtle and very distinctive scent.
Arousal tightened his trousers and he fought it. Her face had a pinched look about it that troubled him a great deal. When he crossed the room and bent over the chaise, she did not move. He opened her hand and twirled the flower across her palm, but didn’t get a pleased grin in return.
He clasped her hand tight, pressing the flower between their palms, and noticed how clammy she was.
“Lilly, darling, whatever is the matter?” Giles reflected wryly that he asked her that a great deal. He was always asking but truthfully he wanted to know.
“I’m dying, Giles.”
“Dying!” he exclaimed. “I don’t think so, my girl. You will feel better in a day or so.”
“A day or so? Will it take that long? I don’t think I can bear this.”
“Well, in my experience, most women find these first few days unpleasant, but I have never heard of anyone dying from it.” He assured her, rubbing his thumb across the back of hers, pleased by her increasing color.
“Are you telling me that all women go through this? That pleasure produces this weakness?”
“Weakness? What the devil are you talking about?” Giles settled to his knees. “Your monthly courses have nothing to do with pleasure, my darling. They have to do with producing children.” She looked at him in horror and an abhorrent idea took hold. “Did no one ever explain women’s matters to you?”
She shook her head.
Giles clenched her hands tight. “Poor darling, what a wretched morning you must have had. I would berate your father for this, if I did not think he would shoot me for knowing such personal details about you.”
“Children?”
“Ah, I see I am going to take this from the very beginning. I assure you that you are not dying. Here let me see if I can explain this. Just remember that my point of view is from the man’s side of things and a woman could explain it better.” He deliberately chose not to say her own mother, but she should have been the one to educate the girl long before the accident.
An hour later, he summoned Mrs. Osprey to fetch tea and arranged for Lilly to dine with him and Carrington so the necessary introductions could be made. Her color grew better. A lot better. His explanations had caused a lot of blushing on her part, and a fair amount of tension on his. They had told her nothing. Everything she knew about women came from him. First from watching him bed other women, and the rest from today’s frank talk.
“And I’ll bleed every month.”
Giles pulled her against his shoulder. “Until the time your body grows too old to bear children.” He kissed the top of her head, imagining her holding an infant in her arms. He slammed the door shut on that kind of thinking.
In all the years of her illness, she had not been aware of her own monthly flux. Perhaps this was the first time Lilly had ever been lucid enough to recognize it. It was also possible that it had been completely absent, too. He would dearly like to know the answer, but satisfying his curiosity would end in a meeting with a smoking pistol.
“You must think me a complete imbecile, Giles. I am so sorry Papa brought me here to trouble you.”
“I am not sorry at all. You are very sweet and delightfully innocent, Lilly. Better to blunder with me than someone else. Better to hear the truth from a friend, I think.” Giles squeezed again and she wrapped her arms around his waist, gripping him tightly without provoking a feeling of suffocation. Yes, they were good friends indeed. She needed someone on her side. Eventually Carrington would see she wanted nothing more than that.
~ * ~
If Giles had whispered that she had two heads instead of one, Lilly would have an explanation for the looks Lord Carrington directed at her across the well-set mahogany. Odd to say, but she was uncomfortable with the most charming man in London. She didn’t care for him. He didn’t look the least bit friendly.
“Just how long will you be in staying in Northhamptonshire, Miss Winter?”
She glanced at Giles’ impassive expression before turning to the viscount. Given the belligerent stare Carrington offered in return, she put her fork down, quite losing her interest in food. “Until my father returns. As I believe I mentioned already, I don’t know when that will be.”
Carrington turned to Giles and quirked an eyebrow. He said nothing, but some form of private communication passed between them. Lilly couldn’t determine initially what a raised eyebrow might mean. But, as the silent exchange lengthened, she had a horrible feeling that look was about her and her un-chaperoned state.
“Winter will return for his daughter in due course, Carrington. Never fear.”
The viscount snorted at Giles’ words, and she realized that the viscount did, in fact, think she had plans to entrap the earl in another betrothal. Shocked, she turned to Giles again, but his only response was to nudge her leg under the table.
Giles took a sip of his wine, rolling the taste in his mouth, as always. “Did you receive the same curtly worded invitation to Warwickshire for Christmas, Carrington?”
“Yes,” Carrington replied, settling back in his chair with ease. “I received it last week. Mother has one as well.”
“Will you be attending?”
Carrington pursed his lips. “That will depend, of course, on when my intended becomes my wife, but I fear I may distress the new marchioness if I fail to put in an appearance. Pixie seems a managing sort. She’d not like her plans thwarted.”
“Yes, I wouldn’t want Pixie irritated myself. Jack would take me to task for disappointing his new wife’s plans. Luckily she will have a houseful of guests and other concerns to occupy the majority of her time.”
Carrington glanced Lilly’s way. “Will you be attending, Miss Winter?”
“No.” Lilly pressed her napkin to her mouth, and then placed it over her half-full plate. “My father has little to do with the marquess. A marquess is quite beyond my father’s circle of acquaintances.”
Hearing the men plan future entertainments in her presence to which she would never be invited accounted for the bite to her remark. Giles had a life, had friends beyond these peaceful walls. A life filled with excitement, a large circle of acquaintances willing to laugh at his jokes. In comparison to Giles, Lilly’s Christmas would be bleak.
Giles cleared his throat. “Where will you be for the Christmas season, Lilly?”
When she glanced at Giles, she could see a deep frown across his brow. She managed a half-smile. “Wherever my father chooses to spend it? I believe last Christmas was spent in London.”
The most charming man in London wore a puzzled expression. “You believe?” Carrington laughed. “Don’t you remember?”
What must it be like to be as popular as Lord Carrington? Never questioned, always accepted. Lilly couldn’t imagine that kind of life. “No, my lord. I do not.” Lilly rose to her feet. “If you gentlemen would excuse me I believe I shall retire and allow you both to enjoy your evening. Good night to you.”
Both men stood as she left the room, Atticus trailing at her side.
“You blinkered idiot, Carrington.” Giles whispered furiously behind her. “Must you distrust everyone?”
Lilly didn’t stay to listen to anything else.
She hadn’t chosen to come here and her attempt to make a good impression on one of Giles’ closest friends had failed quite spectacularly.
Footsteps echoed loudly in the hall.
“Lilly, wait.”
Giles caught up her arm and dragged her against his side. “Darling, Lilly, I apologize for Carrington.�
� Lilly stiffened. “He doesn’t know you and sees deceit in every female. He thinks to save me from enduring a similar fate as his own.”
A second set of footsteps echoed in the hall and Carrington came into view. His face held an odd expression. If Lilly had to bet, he was worried. She pulled her arm from Giles’ grip.
“Carrington. Wait for me in the drawing room. I need to speak with Lilly.” Giles raked his fingers through his hair as the younger man departed. “I had hoped you two might have become better acquainted, but I don’t think I want knives flinging across the table.”
When she could no longer hear his friend’s steps, Giles gathered her in his arms. “I’m so sorry he touched on a sensitive subject. Christmas must have been lonely for you.”
Lilly shrugged. Christmas might be lonely, but it was just a single day in the empty life ahead of her. “You are hardly to blame for the past.”
“I know I’m not to blame, but I do regret I never stirred myself to confirm the words your mother uttered.”
Pulling away from his embrace proved difficult. It seemed he was far less worried about the risk of scandal than he should be. Carrington could come back at any moment. “You were free, Giles. Why would you have bothered to discover what became of me?”
“Lilly, if I had realized that you existed in such pain, I would like to think I could have made your life far more comfortable than it has been. I could have made you as well as you are now.”
Lilly stared at him. He was serious. He would have done everything in his power to see that she didn’t suffer. Too bad she’d had to go through all her suffering in order to learn that the Earl of Daventry would have made an admirable husband, if fate had chosen a different life for her.
Chapter Twenty
TAKING BREAKFAST IN Lilly’s bedchamber was the perfect way to start the day as far as Giles was concerned. Since the discontinuation of the medicine, Lilly’s appetite had returned to what he considered healthy for a woman her size. He had not once considered the appetite of his past lovers as a requirement for his own happiness, but in this case, it seemed it was.
