Lily, One Lord's Temptation (The Garden Brides #1)

by Jane Charles

  He frowned and then nodded. Lily kept her head high and acknowledged no one as her father led her to the carriage. She’d waited to implement her plan, but it was no longer necessary to wait. Max would marry Lady Collette and nobody would ever see her again.

  Chapter 30

  Max pulled back into the shadows as Artemisia escorted Lily to the carriage and toyed with the idea of removing Artemisia and taking Lily away. He would, if he thought that was what she wanted.

  A moment later, he watched as Artemisia turned back for the manor, leaving Lily very much alone in the carriage. Max couldn’t remember ever seeing Lily left to herself since her return and decided not to waste a precious moment. The traffic was heavy this evening, but Max hurried to reach her before the driver could pull away. He called himself a fool ten times over, but he couldn’t retreat. Not now.

  Max yanked open the door and glanced in. “Lily, are you well?” he asked, unable to think of anything appropriate for this situation.

  She glanced up, eyes wide as if startled to find him at the open door of the carriage. “Yes. Thank you for asking,” Lily replied with caution.

  It was awkward standing here, unsure of what to say.

  “You are being married soon,” Max observed.

  “It is what my father expects,” Lily answered.

  “I suppose you have no choice but to do what your father decrees.” Max didn’t try to hide the bitterness that ate at him from inside.

  “Lady Collette is a beautiful young woman.”

  “Yes, she is.” Why Lily would bring Lady Collette into the conversation? Why did everyone seem to think he was a match with the young lady? She was young, too young, and a family friend.

  “She will make you happy, Max, and be able to give you everything I could not,” Lily offered with a sad smile.

  What the blazes? She believed the gossip? Did she not know him well enough by now? He had professed his love to her. Given her his heart. Did Lily truly believe he was so fickle that he could turn to another woman so quickly? A month ago he was trying to take her off to Scotland.

  “Everyone is talking about what a handsome couple you make. Your children will be beautiful,” Lily observed.

  Max was beginning to regret the brandy he had had earlier in the evening, before he began drinking wine at the ball. The conversation was not going as he had planned, not that he had planned what he would say, but he certainly hadn’t intended on discussing Lady Collette.

  “Lily,” he started. He had a question. Yes, now he remembered.” When we were at your aunt’s, that last day, I didn’t let you finish what you were saying and for that I apologize.” He began to step into the carriage. “What did you mean by at least not yet?”

  She inhaled a heavy breath before answering, “It no longer matters.”

  “It does to me.”

  Lily leaned forward and took his hand in hers. “I want you to know, Max, that for the rest of my life I will treasure the time we had together. The memories I will always hold dear.”

  “Hey, you aren’t to be speaking with Lady Lilian,” the coachman yelled as he approached and pulled Max from the carriage.

  “Good bye, Max,” Lily whispered, tears in her eyes.

  The door slammed a moment later and the carriage moved away.

  He had to make her understand. Lady Collette was a childhood friend, nothing more. Besides, Lily was to marry Covertly, so why should she care?

  Except she wasn’t happy. In fact, she almost looked haunted. The sadness that he’d first noted when they met lingered and he so wanted to bring light back into her eyes. The same as he had seen during the week they shared at her aunt’s.

  She didn’t want to marry Covertly any more than he wished to court Lady Collette.

  He had a choice. Lily did not and he should have realized it by now. Her own cousins weren’t even allowed to visit and each time she’d been in public either her father or betrothed was at her elbow. Lily had been put under guard. She’d always been guarded, but tonight it all sank in. He’d never seen her alone. Was she locked in her room while at home?

  Of course she couldn’t seek him out.

  What he needed to do was go after her now while her father remained within the ball.

  Heart pounding, Max didn’t wait for his carriage but decided to walk. Soon, he ran, but as he turned the corner to her square, a carriage pulled up in front of her townhouse and Artemisia stepped out of Lord Covertly’s carriage.

  Max was too late.

  Perhaps for tonight, but he would find her. One way or another, Max would find a way to speak with Lily tomorrow.

  Chapter 31

  Max woke to pounding the next morning. It must be his head. He recalled very little of what occurred after he had seen Lily. Their conversation had been odd and he again wished that he hadn’t had anything to drink prior to talking to her. He couldn’t get the haunted look in her eyes out of his mind, which had caused him to drink even more after he returned home.

  There was still a day or two before the ceremony but his mind was too clouded and painful to remember what day it was. As soon as he was feeling better, he would find Lily and get his answers. Then help her with anything she needed, even if it meant they’d escape to somewhere far away.

  Max rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head, hoping to make the pounding go away. It lessened some, but not entirely. Then he heard shouting. What was going on? His servants weren’t usually this noisy, were they? Did he usually sleep so soundly that they didn’t disturb him? He couldn’t imagine sleeping through this every morning.

  The pounding was getting louder and Max gave up on trying to go back to sleep. He rolled over as the door banged open. Before he had time to react, Artemisia was towering over Max.

  “Where is my ungrateful daughter? I’ll see that you hang if she’s been ruined in any way.”

  Max’s brain cleared as the man continued to rant. “Lily is missing?”

  “I demand to know exactly where she is.”

  “How should I know where she is?”

  Artemisia raised his fist and Max straightened in the bed, ready to leap out of it if necessary. “I would rethink that action,” he threatened in a cold tone.

  “You were the last person seen with her. After the way you two behaved in the country, long talks alone at night in the library, I know she’s with you and demand that you return her to me immediately.”

  “I don’t know where Lily is but if she has run away, I applaud her good sense.”

  Artemisia sneered at Max. “I am not a fool. Lilian has been trying to contact you for weeks,” he growled and threw a number of parchments on the bed. “I assumed she finally got through to you.” Artemisia leaned forward. “I will tell you this. You will never marry my daughter. I will find her and despite everything, I know Covertly will still marry the whore.”

  Before Artemisia had time to react, Max’s fist flattened Artemisia’s nose and the man landed on the floor. Max rose from the bed and towered over the man. “You will leave my house now. If you don’t go willingly, I will have you arrested.”

  Three servants came forward and bodily lifted Artemisia.

  “Hear me well, I will find her and you will pay for what you have done.”

  Max dismissed Artemisia and his ranting, which soon dissipated down the hall as the man was escorted from the house, and turned his attention to the papers lying on the bed.

  The first one he picked up was a note to him, from Lily, asking that he meet her. It was written two weeks earlier. Max sat down and assembled the letters into date order. All were notes, beginning within the first week of her return, addressed to him, asking that he meet her and alluding that there were matters of utmost urgency they needed to discuss. The modiste, the park, the library, shopping on Bond Street and others.

  His heart swelled at the thought that she had not dismissed him but still needed him.

  But his elation quickly died as the parchments fell from his fing
ers and onto the bed. Lily didn’t know he’d never received her messages.

  How long had she waited each time? Never knowing he didn’t receive her letters and assuming he’d dismissed her.

  He had wanted so badly for her to trust in his love. First he stomped away from her in anger while they were still in the country and now her father’s deception in taking the letters probably destroyed what little faith he had established with her.

  What had she said last night? Max had to groan. She had wished him well with Lady Collette. If anything, Lily was gracious, even when she had believed he had dismissed her.

  She had also said goodbye. Max hadn’t realized that the goodbye was for good.

  Where had she gone?

  Max wasted no more time in wondering and dressed. Without taking time to brush his hair or shave, he grabbed the letters and made his way to Dresden’s. His visit wasn’t a surprise as Artemisia had just left the household. Neither Dresden, Daniella nor their mother had any idea where Lily could have gone.

  Max knew what he had to do next. He had rarely used his father’s influence, but he would now use every means at his disposal to find Lily before Artemisia did.

  “You have no idea where she has gone?” his mother asked.

  “No, but she left last night, sometime after ten o’clock because that is the last time I saw her.”

  “Do the servants know anything?” his father prompted.

  “I haven’t had an opportunity to ask but I am assuming Artemisia questioned them first and if they did, I doubt he would have stormed into my room this morning.”

  “That is very likely,” his mother observed.

  “You have questioned her cousins?” his father asked for clarification.

  “They are as bewildered as everyone else,” Max acknowledged.

  “Is there anyone else she could have gone to?” Lady Warrick asked

  “There is only one person I can think of,” Max said and told them of Wesley Kincaid and his relation to Lily.

  “Would Artemisia look for her there?” Lord Warrick asked.

  “It is doubtful because Lily has never been allowed to acknowledge him around her father. But,” Max paused for a moment, “Artemisia seemed to know what happened in the country. If that is true, then he knew of Kincaid’s presence and may next assume she is there.”

  “I would start there, son. Artemisia will travel by carriage, or send someone. If you travel on horseback, you can be there much quicker. While you are preparing for your trip, I’ll have some of my employees ask questions around the docks. Few ships would have left so early. If she boarded any, they would remember, I am sure.” He clapped a comforting hand on Max’s shoulder. “I’ll hire the best men I know. We will find her.”

  Chapter 32

  Three Months Later

  Lily closed one of the family history books and smiled to herself. She had forgotten about the earliest writings, the faith of her ancestors. As a child she read all five volumes and then concentrated only on the medicinal plants and their purposes, absorbing all she read. She had forgotten the rest. Their story also had a lot to teach and she would never forget again.

  Wesley was a true Bliant, more so than her father. The first Bliants had been healers, before greed invaded. Wesley would never let wealth or titles deter him from his path. He was a physician and would remain forever humble. It was nice to know the family had come full circle. Heaven knew if her father had any control, she would now be married to Covertly, possibly expecting his child.

  The thought made her ill.

  Next she picked up the Bible. It was one of the few items she had taken along in her escape. The family history also reminded her of when she had stopped believing in God. At one time she had believed because the servants had told her of church, sermons, Jesus and God. Then she read how some of her good and faithful ancestors had been executed for being witches, because they believed differently from the church. It had confused her as a child, but when her mother died, she decided there was no God. If there were, he’d have never allowed her to be taken. Until she was reminded of the history, she had forgotten what she believed as a child.

  She couldn’t fathom why she was compelled to bring it with her, unless it was simply because Max put so much stock in its writings. So far, Lily had not been moved to faith, to believe in the unseen, though she did chuckle as she tried to make her way through the never-ending begats. Had Max not warned her, she may have closed the book and never opened it again. Even if she did not believe, the Bible was a good book and anyone could learn how to live life.

  She never doubted Jesus had lived and been crucified. Too many people believed the story and there was some evidence, at least from what she understood. She had just never before realized what a great man he was, regardless of whether others believed him to be the actual son of God. Jesus was someone to be admired and if even half the population chose to live their life by his teachings, society would be so much better for it.

  Since her self-exile, Lily had read the entire Bible and was progressing through it a second time, hoping to discover why Max held it in such high regard. When she wasn’t reading, she had worked in a small garden and had recently harvested her herbs. Lily glanced up to the bundles hanging from the ceiling. Soon she would put the dried herbs into jars and use them for poultices and teas.

  Though she never went into town for fear someone would recognize her, servants from the neighboring estate retrieved what she needed. They had discovered her quite by accident and, after she begged them, they assured her of their silence and visited often. They now came to her for assistance in treating illnesses and injuries.

  Though life in the abandoned gamekeeper’s cottage could be lonely, she did have people she could count on, people she called friends. At least they were servants from the neighboring estate and Lily never did learn who lived there. But why should she? She’d only visited with her aunt, Daniella and Simon a few times here and never ventured far. But, she had explored enough to remember the cottage lay deep in the woods and that nobody had lived here in years, which was why she’d chosen it. Nobody would ever find her. Her cousins probably had even forgotten it was here.

  All in all, it was a pleasant existence. Of course, anywhere her father couldn’t find her had to be heaven.

  She opened the book to Matthew, one of Max’s favorites.

  She needed to stop thinking of Max. By now he was surely married to Lady Collette and probably expecting a child. Lily did wish him well while she simultaneously wondered when she would stop hurting.

  The cold, damp autumn weather matched his mood. Max was cold inside and had been for some time now.

  Where was she?

  Pacing before the fire, he racked his brain for any information he could have missed or forgotten. In the past three months he had searched everywhere conceivable. He had visited Kincaid on three separate occasions and was partially afraid Kincaid was hiding Lily, but finally dismissed the idea.

  Max was frustrated, but he needed to do something. He’d been unable to rest once he learned she’d been missing. He could no longer recall the number of hours he had knelt in prayer, begging God for a miracle, or sign, anything to lead him to Lily. God had yet to give him an answer.

  Artemisia owned four estates. One being Serona Castle, where Lily had been raised, and there were three smaller estates. Max had visited all of the smaller estates three times. The largest, he had visited four times, and all he’d been able to learn was that Lily had stopped there for a short time, after her disappearance, left the horse she had ridden from London, took various items and left with a loaded farm wagon. Nobody had heard from her or seen her since. The servants who knew of her arrival and had not kept her there had all been dismissed. After tracking each of them down, hoping they had further information on where Lily had gone, Max sent them to his father’s home with a letter to find them a position on any of the estate, if they had not already found another position. Unfortunately, Lily tol
d nobody of her plans and was out there in the world, alone.

  While Max was glad that she’d escaped her father and relieved that she wasn’t married to Covertly, anxiety still ruled his days. Lily believed that he had ignored her. Believed that he had dismissed her from his life. She didn’t know that he had never gotten her letters and he wasn’t going to stop until he found her and made sure she knew that he loved her. Had even one of those letters gotten to him, he would have been there instantly to save her from her father’s plans. Every moment that passed with Lily believing the worst was as unbearable as the last.

  His father continued to have the docks watched, but nobody matching Lily’s description had tried to leave England by ship. Other investigators had been sent as far into Scotland as the Highlands, but nothing was discovered. Besides Kincaid, Max remained in contact with Dresden and his family. They knew as little as Max.

  How could she have disappeared completely?

  He coughed and pulled his jacket close and knelt before the fire. When would this illness leave? Perhaps if he could get a good night’s sleep, it would leave him, but Max only averaged three hours each time he closed his eyes, always waking, exhausted, and worried about Lily. A few weeks ago he had developed a cough and knew he should rest, but he couldn’t. Not until she was found.

  One minute he was freezing, the next he was so hot he had to remove his outer layer of clothing. Worse, the cough would not leave him. Each time a fit occurred, the inside of his chest burned. He was too exhausted after these attacks to rise from the chair for a good half hour. The rest of the time his lungs were tight, aching, and he had difficulty taking deep breaths. He needed to get over this illness so he could continue to look for Lily.

  “Lord Maxwell?”

  Max turned to the young maid who had called his name. He needed more light in this room. She was so far away, so dark.