by Jenn LeBlanc
“Thank you, Kerrigan. We’ll be out in a moment.” Perry turned back into his chamber and moved through the bathing room toward Lilly’s room, where she’d gone to prepare for the trip. She turned when he entered.
“I’m nervous.”
“About?” he asked as he took her hands in his.
“My family.”
Perry shook his head, hoping that the smile on his face appeared more confident than it felt. “It will be fine.”
“I sent word to Meggie that I was returning to Kelso. I sent word to Mrs. Weston that I wasn’t returning to the duke’s household.”
“Good. Then hopefully Meggie will be there when we arrive.”
Perry had also made some arrangements. He’d arranged with the vicar in Kelso for a wedding ceremony to be held two days before Gideon’s. A Thursday. He wanted to be sure they could be married before he returned to Eildon, partly so his brother could not do anything to attempt to influence his decision, and partly so he would be better able to protect Lilly.
Perry turned for the door and pulled Lilly along with him. “Let’s get out of London.”
Calder and Warrick arrived at the earl’s Shropshire estate in the afternoon, prepared to haul Hepplewort back to face his charges. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone here,” Calder said.
“Would you work for these people?” Warrick replied.
“No, but it seems quite abandoned altogether.”
Warrick reached up and let the heavy brass knocker fall to the door three times, then they waited. He was about to reach for it again when he heard shuffling from the other side of the door. He stood back, preparing for the worst. Calder eyed him nervously, then followed suit.
The door swung inward, the hinges groaning beneath the weight and lack of care. The man on the other side was haggard, old, and didn’t seem to be happy to have been disturbed. He didn’t make a sound, so Calder stepped forward.
“We are here for Hepplewort.”
“You and everyone else, but he is not here.”
“What do you mean ‘everyone else?’”
“Debtors, primarily. I’m merely here for the dispensation of this property. Hepplewort and Madame quit the estate nearly a fortnight ago, with no intention of returning. They are ruined. He needed a wife to save the land. He never found one.”
Calder closed his eyes and felt Warrick tense beside him.
“We are a full day behind them.”
Perry was sold on the private car the minute they laid eyes on it. Fitted with brass fixtures and polished copper rails and piping, the car gleamed like nothing he’d ever seen. The interior was plush and comfortable, the heavy furniture meant to keep its place regardless of the sway and speed of the train. But what he appreciated the most was the enormous four poster bed set at the center, near the back. Just how he had envisioned it. It was rather unsettling at first.
If one lay in this bed, one could watch the countryside disappear from view out the back of the train. The windows were a masterful work of heavy curved glass, wrapping around the rear end of the car and providing breathtaking views. If he had Lilly in this bed, the view would be good no matter where he looked. It was the most beautiful room he’d ever seen, save the duchess’ suite at Eildon. His brother truly had a romantic streak to him. Perry made a mental note to outdo him— in the very near future.
“This is...I’ve never seen anything quite like this.” Lilly’s voice was a breath on her lips as she watched the sun begin to climb its way from the edge of the world outside the car.
They had been so taken with the railcar itself, they’d missed the signals and were only aware they were set to depart by the first lurch of the train. Then the muffled scream of the steam whistle—so many cars ahead of them—blew and Perry set his arm around Lilly and walked her to the seating area near the center of the car. They sat on a great plush settee, immense in size and weight, each of them feeling the fabrics and wondering at the expense.
“I suppose the estate is finally prospering well under Gideon’s hand for him to have enough blunt for this.” He looked to the side to see Lilly leaning forward, inspecting the pockets in the dust ruffles with a curious gaze.
“Books!” he said suddenly. Lilly startled, looking up to him. “Gideon told me of these pockets he’d come up with because Francine leaves books lying all over the place. He had them sewn into the dust ruffles to save her books from the floor.” Perry bent forward and stuck his hand in one of the pockets. “I had no idea what he was getting on about.”
Lilly giggled. “Well, that is a good idea. So Francine loves to read, does she?”
“Yes. She loves to read, and she has a heart big enough to hold all of England.”
“I remember. When they first returned to Eildon after— Well, after. She came straight up to me, she knew who I was. Meggie said she was very comforting when she received the missive about my injuries as well. She seems a good sort.”
“A good sort. Yes, she is a good sort. What does that make me?” he asked suddenly. “You! Oh, my lord, you are the worst sort of good.”
“Am I now?”
“Yes. You are rather a sight better than you believe you are.” He lifted his brows. “Well, you profess to be such a bad man, but I have seen neither hide nor hair of this bad man since we’ve met. Have I?”
Perry was struck then by the reality of his reputation, the one he had worked so meticulously to craft. He stood and took her hand to pull her up to him Then untied his cravat and unbuttoned his waistcoat.
“Come.” Lilly stumbled, tripping over her skirts as he pulled her toward the giant mass of a bed. He handed her the cravat. “I seem to remember you mentioning that you don’t know what you want, because you haven’t much experience yet. Is this still true?”
Lilly shook her head as she watched him undress. Then, naked as the day, he ran the length of the car to the door and locked it, pulling the shades.
Oh! He did that without a stitch on. Anyone could have seen— Her hand lifted to cover her mouth as he ran back to her across the car.
“Now, where were we?” he asked as he grabbed her hips through all her layers. “What will you have me do...to you?”
She watched over his broad shoulder as the sun made its final push from behind the horizon, coming into full view and lighting up his naked skin with the warmest glow of sunrise. It chased away the chill of the early morning and rather quickly she was overly warm in her traveling dress and cloak. She felt wicked, standing here in this borrowed car, fully dressed. With him, fully bare, embracing her.
“Perry, this is your brother’s car,” she tried feebly.
“Mmm...hmmm...” He nibbled on her ear and she shuddered.
“But won’t he mind?”
“How will he know?”
She pushed at his shoulders and gave him a scathingly shocked look.
“You are quite beautiful when you scowl at me that way. And it gives me various ideas...things to do with you,” he said quietly, his gaze moving across her, willing her body to submit.
“Oh, Perry, you have me, whatever you wish.”
“And I find myself blessed. Now, tell me: What will you have me do? To you. Or would you prefer to do to me?” He took the cravat she still held and grasped both ends, turning his hands, one over the other until it wrapped round his wrists and locked them together. He raised his hands before her eyes and over her head, trapping her against his body as he breathed heavily against her neck, and she attempted to gather her scattered thoughts.
When someone knocked at the door, Hepplewort stood and ducked into the dressing room, leaving Morgan to deal with it.
“Are there two on this ticket, sir?”
Morgan nodded to the door Hepplewort cowered behind. “He is indisposed.” He patted his stomach. “Trains.” he said quietly.
The porter nodded and ripped the ticket, then moved on. Morgan shut the door, returning to his seat. He waited for Hepplewort to open the door, but it didn’t move so h
e got up and knocked on it.
“Are we clear?”
Morgan groaned. “Yes, milord, just checking tickets.” He returned to his seat again.
When Lilly woke, her sight was filled with Perry’s perfectly round rear end leaning over the rail at the back of the car.
Outside. Naked. Still in broad daylight. She laughed and shook her head, then looked around as though there would be someone else around to see, besides herself and the red deer in the forest.
She pulled the blanket around her and moved toward him, catching herself on one of the bed posts when the train suddenly rocked to the left. She stood behind him, appreciating his structure, the shift of his muscles beneath his skin as he corrected for the jerk and sway on the tracks. She then leaned forward and licked his spine from one end to the other. Bottom to top, as it were.
“Dear God, woman!” He straightened as she moved up, then turned, allowing her to wrap him inside the heavy counterpane.
She beamed up at him.
“What, exactly, made you do that?” he groaned as he sent his arms around her waist and pulled her tight.
“You. You just looked so—mmm. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I remember you doing that to me, so...I suppose I learned my lesson.”
“Oh, did you now?”
“I did.” She nodded.
“Well, let’s have a few more lessons then. I quite like what you’ve been learning.” He lifted her and carried her back through the door, kicking at the heavy fabric around his feet to keep from tripping. “To begin with, allow me to show you a few more uses for that cravat.”
“They’re in the last car, milord, and his men have the private berths at the end of the car before it. There’s no way to get to them.”
“Goddamnit, Morgan! I want that girl. I want her!” Hepplewort screeched. The door opened without a preemptive knock and his mother swept through.
“Keep your voice down, Fergus. You’ll draw attention to yourself. I heard you all the way down the hall.”
“Mother.”
Morgan stood and cast his eyes down.
“Sit. I don’t need you looming over me.”
He did.
Perry and Lilly watched from the platform as they uncoupled the car in Carlisle for the train to continue on the main line to Edinburgh. Eventually the branch line to Roxleighshire would make its way to Kelso, but they intended to reach the end of the line there, leave Gideon’s car for him, and continue on by carriage.
The mainline train whistled and moved on, and they waited for the track to clear so the branch line could couple with Gideon’s car.
“It really is a beautiful railcar,” Perry said. “Ours will require a few more features, however.”
Lilly turned to him. “Ours?”
“Oh yes, I’m not one to be outdone by my brother. I will need to make arrangements as soon as we return to London. Just think, by the time our car is finished, the line should move straight through to Kelso and on to Berwick-upon-Tweed. We’ll take your family to the sea.”
She stared at him. A private railcar. Their private railcar. “I’m not sure my family can change as much as you hope they can.”
“I’ll not ask them to. I will do as much for them as they will allow, as much as a son would be allowed to do for his parents. I will endeavor to not step on any toes.” Her eyes grew wide and he took her hand. “What is it?”
“Daniel.” She had completely forgotten him, but returning home, he was rather like one of the family. At least he had been. Well, he still was, he just— She sighed.
“Who... is Daniel?”
“A suitor.”
“A—what?” Perry felt his chest tighten. He had never considered that she would have had a suitor, another man, at home.
“We were to be married.” Her voice wavered, and he pulled her to a bench on the platform as a whistle blew and the other cars from the branch line started backing up toward their car.
“Tell me.” He sounded nervous. He didn’t like it.
“He is a simple man, sweet. His farm abuts my father’s. He works with him, takes care of the animals. He’s good with animals.” She smiled warmly, and his gut twisted.
“But not with you?”
“No, not after Hepplewort.”
“I don’t understand. You were to be married? Or are to be—”
“No! No, I would never have— I...no. He... Well, after—after, I suppose all he saw was what was done.” She fisted her hands in her skirts, and he put his over them, to steady her.
“I’m sorry.” He would kill him. Or thank him. He was rather torn at the moment, considering that she had been brutalized and the one person meant to take care of her beyond her family had effectively abandoned her because of it. Horrible.
“Please, don’t be. I know now that I could never have been happy with such a small life. You have shown me so much more...just more. I cannot imagine having less.”
“But Daniel...he lives close by?”
“Yes, and he is over for dinner often. He has always been simply part of the family.”
He didn’t understand why they still allowed for him. “Is he handsome?” Perry cringed, the shallow words out before he realized. Her face turned to his suddenly.
“Is he— Are you jealous?”
“Me? No. Not at all. He works the land, so he must be strapping, well built?”
“Perry, I—”
“And clever, I imagine, if your family loves him.”
“Perry, no, I— Actually, I don’t know how close they are at this point. He just stopped coming over after I was hurt, that’s why I left for Eildon.”
“Well, we will have to see about this chap.”
“What does that mean, we’ll see about him?”
Perry shook his head as a giant clash of metal on metal made her jump from her seat. He stood next to her and squeezed her hand. “It’s the train coupling,” he whispered. She leaned into him.
“You must understand. His issue with me after... It was the best possible thing to happen. Please don’t be angry with him, for if he hadn’t, there wouldn’t be you.”
“I understand. Actually I don’t, but I will endeavor to try. And I will be on my best behavior.”
Hepplewort watched from inside the station as they spoke on the platform, acting so familiar, inappropriately close. Too intimate. These damn Trumbull brothers have no idea how to handle a woman, how to behave like a gentleman, a peer of the realm. He grunted.
“Fergus, come away from there.”
“What exactly is your purpose in coming with me, Mother? You could have stayed in London.”
“You are my son. Where else should I be?”
“Not here, not now.”
“What is it you are planning?”
“None of your concern. Simply stay out of my way.”
“Where are we headed? Are we taking the next train?”
“No, Mother, Morgan is hiring a carriage.”
They arrived and settled relatively well with Lilly’s family. Her mother, ever the hard working respectful woman insisted they stay with them, and not at the inn. She even tried to insist Perry take the master bedroom, but he refused. So he was placed in Lilly’s old room, while she slept with Meggie.
He quite liked her family. They were real, honest, true. Every one of them worked hard, her father, her brothers, her mother and sister. It was a large, very close family and he certainly felt like an interloper.
Then there was Daniel.
Perry cut the bale of hay, then looked over his shoulder to see where he was. They’d worked their way down opposite sides of the stable row, mucking stalls, and now they were laying the bedding. He was currently one stall ahead because Daniel had stopped to remove his shirt. Perry turned back toward the entry to the stables and saw why; Lilly and Meggie were walking toward them with glasses of lemonade. It was then he wasn’t sure if he’d won the battle or lost the war. He grumbled.
Daniel was actually a dece
nt man. He had been confused by Lilly’s injuries and her family had requested he stay away, to protect her. They had sheltered her so much that it eventually drove her from them. It wasn’t his fault at all, and it turned out that he didn’t blame them for it. Daniel said he held no grudge, he still felt part of the family, even if he and Lilly weren’t to be wed. Perry admired his strength of character, though he wondered if Lilly had returned with another working man, whether the situation would be the same.
The gauntlet thrown with a simple piece of linen tossed casually over a stall gate, Perry decided he needed to remove his shirt as well, perhaps with a bit more gusto.
“I canna believe you and Lord Trumbull. I’m just— I’m shocked. Poor Mama, I thought she would faint! And when you came and he just requested to speak with Papa? Oh dear, Lilly. Lilly! You have to tell me what happened!”
“I cannot, I mean— I can tell you that he helped me to heal. Meggie, I owe him my life. I was nothing when I left Eildon. I wanted to fade away and he brought me back. I am so terribly taken with him.”
“Do you pinch yourself to check if you’re dreaming?” Meggie reached out and pinched her sister.
“Meggie!” She pinched her back.
“Ow! Sorry, I just, I feel like this is a dream; and Daniel, what is with him and Daniel?”
“I believe he might be a bit jealous.”
Meggie stopped in her tracks. “Of...Daniel? But he is Daniel.”
Lilly laughed at the absurdity of it. They were nowhere near the same man, and it had little to do with the title. “Yes. Daniel.”
Meggie shook her head, then moved forward again. “And he keeps telling me to call him...by his name. Doesn’t he understand?”
Lilly laughed. “No, Megs, he does not. Believe me, I have tried to explain it, but he does not. He simply doesn’t see himself that way at all. It’s quite the same in his world. He simply believes I should be accepted without qualm. And here, at my family’s home, he wants to be seen as just a man. Nothing more.”
“But he isn’t.”
“I understand that, Meggie, but please just try.”
Meggie gave her a skeptical glance. “I don’t know if Mama and Papa will survive this. Or Daniel.”
