A Scandalous Deception

by Ava Stone

  Heavens! Lissy gasped. What in the world? “Luke?” she breathed out in surprise.

  “Lissy?” Her brother-in-law’s anguished voice hit her ears. “Is that you?” And then he appeared at the window, staring down at her in mortification. “What are you doing here?”

  She shrugged. “You sent for me.”

  Exasperated, he just gaped at her. “Most people don’t arrive in the middle of the night. And they use the front door.”

  Most people weren’t running from their demons or the saintly Lord Carraway either. Though she could never outrun her past, at least she could put some distance between herself and Fin. “Well, I didn’t want to wake anyone,” she explained calmly.

  “No, much better to take ten years off my life instead,” he grumbled. “I thought you were a burglar or brigand of some sort.”

  She blinked at him. “Are there brigands in the area?” Heavens, she’d ridden through the darkness without encountering anyone dangerous.

  “Not that I know of. But who else would try to sneak inside here in the dead of night?” He pushed the window all the way up, then offered her his hand. “Come on. Climb inside.”

  With his assistance, not that she needed it, Lissy stepped through the window into the darkened study. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I am sorry.”

  Luke closed the window behind her and said, “I’m—uh—sorry for what I said, Lissy. I’d never say something so vulgar to you.”

  What had he said? Cockchafer? She hadn’t heard the word before, though the meaning wasn’t hard to sort out. Of course, she’d heard quite a few shocking terms from Aaron’s crews while she was in Boston so she had a higher tolerance for vulgarity than most, not that she’d let anyone know that fact. “I’ll forget you ever said it.” She smiled and reached a hand out to him. “How is Juliet? I’ve been worried ever since I received your letter.”

  He patted her hand on his arm, squeezing it with brotherly affection. “If I’d known it would make you flee into the night, I’d have crafted it with more care.” Then he began leading her towards the corridor. “She’s fine. Uncomfortable, irritable and beyond bored since Doctor Perkins ordered her to stay abed, but she’s fine.”

  Lissy released a relieved breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Thank heavens. Fin said that was probably....” Blast it all. Could she not get him off her mind even now?

  “Probably what?” Luke asked.

  She heaved a sigh, remembering that day in her parlor back in London. Fin had been so kind, so caring, so…Well, so very much like Fin always was with her when he wasn’t in the midst of a lecture. Even then, even when he lectured her, there’d always been concern and affection behind his words. Lissy’s heart squeezed in her chest. If only things could be different. “He thought I was overreacting.”

  “If so, it’s only because you love your sister.” She could hear the smile in Luke’s voice as they navigated the corridor.

  She did love Juliet. She loved her honesty, her strength, her confidence. There was no better example of a strong woman than Jules. “She’s irritable, you say?”

  Luke chuckled softly. “She’s been ordered to stay in bed for the foreseeable future. What do you think?”

  Lissy thought that all of Prestwick Chase was probably walking around on eggshells. Her sister in a temper was not a sight most wanted to witness. No wonder Luke was hiding in his darkened study. “I’ll just see her after she’s had her tea in the morning, then.”

  “Coward,” he said softly.

  “I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘brilliant’.”

  He laughed again. “You’ll help restore her mood, I’m certain.”

  “Papa?” Came a tiny voice from inside a set of rooms as they entered the family wing.

  Luke scrubbed a hand down his face. “Sweet Lucifer, he’s the lightest sleeper ever born.” He released Lissy’s arm and quietly pushed open the door, poking his head inside. “Go back to sleep, Ben.”

  “I want milk,” Lissy’s three-year-old nephew whined from his chambers.

  Luke heaved a beleaguered sigh. “If I get you some warm milk, will you go back to sleep?”

  “Uh-huh,” the child promised.

  “Stay there, then. I’ll be right back.” Then he quietly closed the door and turned to face Lissy. “Luckily, your chambers were already prepared for whenever you did arrive. Can you find them in the dark?”

  “I know the way.” Lissy nodded. After all, she’d navigated the darkened corridors of Prestwick Chase long before Luke had lived there. “Kiss Benton for me.”

  Luke nodded. “See you in the morning.”

  Lissy parted ways with her brother-in-law and continued down the corridor until she reached the set of chambers that had been hers all her life. She slid from her slippers and then padded across the rug to her bed and dropped across the four-poster without even attempting to toss her dress off.

  She was too tired, too sore, too unmotivated to do anything other than climb under the counterpane and drift off to sleep. In the morning she’d see her sister, kiss her nephew herself and try to forget the all-encompassing joy she’d felt in Fin’s arms.

  Just as she fell asleep, or at least it seemed like she’d just fallen asleep, a ruckus somewhere else in The Chase roused her slightly. Was that Ben? Was he awake and roaming the hallways? Was—

  “Felicity!” Came Fin’s bellow, some distance away.

  Fin! She sat bolt upright in bed. Heavens! What was Fin doing here?

  “What the devil are you doing here?” Lucas Beckford hissed, standing just inside the threshold of Prestwick Chase, glaring at Fin as though he was a madman.

  Of course, Fin was a madman, banging on the door, shouting Lissy’s name, barely knowing his own. She’d somehow turned him into a stark-raving idiot. “Tell me she’s here,” he breathed out, praying to hear those words more than anything else in the world. He hadn’t come upon her lifeless body anywhere along the road, but she could have stumbled across a highwayman’s path. She could have fallen to her death and he hadn’t spotted her in the dim moonlight. She could have—

  “She’s asleep!” Beckford growled. “Just like the rest of The Chase was until two minutes ago. Do you have any idea what time it is?”

  She was asleep. For the first time in hours, Fin took a relieved breath and every tense muscle in his body relaxed perceptibly at hearing those words. Thank God she was safe. At least until he got his hands on her. Riding across Derbyshire in the dead of night like a Bedlamite. She could have gotten herself killed, for God’s sake.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Beckford continued. “Have you completely forgotten that my wife is expectant? The last thing she needs in her condition is to be startled awake in the middle of the night by your bellowing.”

  He was right, of course. At one point he’d been a fairly well-respected noblemen, though he doubted he even resembled himself anymore. A twinge of regret pricked Fin’s heart. Poor Juliet. He hadn’t thought about anyone or anything else other than Lissy. “I am sorry, Luke.” Fin raked a hand through his hair. “When I realized she’d taken off on her own in the dead of night, I thought…” Damn it all, he didn’t want to finish that sentence. He didn’t want to relive the awful thoughts that had plagued him during his entire mad dash to Prestwick Chase.

  Luke Beckford’s eyes narrowed slightly as though he could tell there was something Fin was keeping from him. “Between the two of you, I’ll be lucky if I get even five minutes worth of sleep tonight. I hope you’re happy.”

  “Sir?” Keeton, the butler, in his nightdress and cap appeared in the entryway behind his employer. “Is everything all right?”

  “It will be if this is the last of our midnight visitors,” Beckford grumbled. Then he glanced over his shoulder at the servant and added, “I’ll deal with Lord Carraway, Keeton. Do go back to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a rather long day.”

  “If you’re certain, sir.”

  The
gentleman nodded. “See you in the morning.”

  “Sorry for waking you,” Fin called as the butler made his way back towards the servants’ quarters.

  Beckford gestured Fin over the threshold, then shut the door behind him. “What the devil is going on, Phineas?”

  Nothing Fin could reveal to Lucas Beckford, not if he didn’t want to sport a blackened eye and to be tossed unceremoniously on his arse outside the gates of Prestwick Chase for seducing the man’s sister-in-law. Luke wasn’t Lissy’s guardian, but he was rather protective of his wife’s younger sister. “I am sorry about the late hour.”

  Even in the darkness, he could see Beckford’s brow lift in disbelief. “I am surprised to see you at all, honestly. Lissy didn’t mention you. I thought she must have traveled alone from London.”

  Of course she hadn’t mentioned him. She’d run all the way across Derbyshire to avoid him. If Fin wasn’t completely certain it was fear of marriage spurring her forward, he’d feel a bit rejected by the whole thing. But she was afraid. He’d seen that terrified look in her eyes before she’d fled the inn chambers, and the memory of her expression still twisted his heart. “We would have made it much earlier tonight if my carriage wheel hadn’t found a nasty hole in the road. We were going to depart first thing in the morning, but being this close to Prestwick Chase, I suppose Lissy didn’t want to wait any longer than she had to.”

  “Mmm.” Beckford shook his head and then said, “I think I’m going to need some whisky.” He started down the darkened corridor. “You’re welcome to join me.”

  “I’ll take you up on that.” Fin followed in the gentleman’s wake. After all, he could use a dram himself after the night he’d endured. Perhaps more than a dram. Perhaps a whole damned bottle.

  A moment later, Fin stood in the middle of the ducal study as Beckford lit a lamp on the desk, casting a warm glow throughout the room. The gentleman dropped into an overstuffed leather chair, tilted his head toward the sideboard and said, “Help yourself, Carraway. And pour me a glass too.”

  Fin lifted the crystal decanter from the sideboard and quickly poured two glasses. Then he turned back towards his host, offered the gentleman one of the drinks and assumed the spot opposite him. “I’m hoping Lissy was unharmed when she arrived.”

  Beckford snorted. “Do you know she tried to sneak into the house—” he gestured towards the window “—through there? Said she didn’t want to wake anyone. She’s damned lucky I didn’t have a pistol in the room.””

  Dear God. Fin pushed that awful image from his mind and scrubbed a hand down his face. “She will be the death of me, on my word.” Then he downed the contents of his glass in one gulp.

  “She’ll get remarried at some point and then she’ll be the death of that fellow.” Beckford took a healthy swallow from his own whisky glass.

  Which amounted to the same thing. She’d be the death of Fin one-way or the other because if she was going to marry anyone, it was going to be him. Though saying as much to Lucas Beckford probably wasn’t the best idea, especially considering the man’s mention of a pistol just a moment before. “Perhaps,” he began conversationally. “But she doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to replace Pierce.”

  “She’ll meet the right fellow, I’m certain. Then God help the poor man.”

  God help the poor man, indeed. Fin pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to stave off a headache. Life with Lissy would never be dull. But it was much better than life would be without her, of that he had no doubt. If only he could persuade her of the same thing.

  “I suppose it’s your fault she arrived in the dead of night all alone,” Beckford remarked, breaking Fin from his reverie.

  “Beg your pardon?” Fin managed to keep from squirming in his seat at the accusation. A rake, even a reformed one like Luke Beckford, would notice such a thing. “My fault?” he echoed, hoping he sounded innocent of the charge leveled against him.

  “You couldn’t keep her from running off in the dark? For God’s sake, she’s just a mere slip of a girl.”

  Oh. That’s what he meant. Fin supposed he was guilty of that charge. Still, he shook his head. “I didn’t even know she was gone. The St. Claire sisters are quite determined when they get their mind set on something.”

  At that, Beckford laughed and lifted his remaining whisky up as a mock toast. “Truer words were never spoken.”

  “Speaking of determined St. Claire sisters, how is Juliet?” Fin asked. Truly he should have asked before now, and would have if he hadn’t been so singularly focused on Lissy.

  A bemused grin spread across the gentleman’s face. “Bound and determined that this child will be born on Georgie’s birthday. If it kills her. Fairly certain she’s been holding off contractions with sheer will.”

  Georgie’s birthday. Damn. Fin hadn’t even realized the date was so close.

  His expression must have said as much because Beckford’s grin grew wider and he said, “Forgot, did you? I only ever remember Juliet’s because a sennight before she starts reminding me. ‘My birthday is in six days, you know?’ Or ‘Just five more days until my birthday, Luke.’” Then he laughed. “I missed the date one time and she’s been adamant ever since that I’ll never do so again.”

  “That does sound like Juliet,” Fin said softly. It sounded like Georgie too. He still missed her. Part of him always would. Fin heaved a sigh and stared most pointedly at his would-be brother-in-law. “You don’t think Georgie would mind if I found someone, do you?”

  Beckford’s eyes widened in surprise. “Have you? Found someone, that is?” He downed the last of his whisky.

  Fin shrugged slightly. “Fallen rather hard, I’m afraid. Even asked the girl to marry me.”

  “Good for you.” The twinkle in Beckford’s eyes said better than words could how truly happy he was for Fin. Of course, he didn’t know all of the details. Who knew what his reaction would be to the truth?

  “Don’t congratulate me yet. She didn’t say yes and the girl is more than stubborn.”

  But Beckford shook his head. “They all are in their own way.” An earnest smile lit his lips. “But, no, I don’t think Georgie would mind. I think she’d be happy for you. Juliet, Felicity, Edmund. They’ll all be happy for you.”

  Felicity. What was he going to do about her? “I hope so.”

  “You’ve always been there for all of them. They want you to be happy, I can assure you.” He frowned just a bit and continued, “Things do change when you get married, though. You’ll see her family all the time and your own hardly at all. I can’t remember the last time I saw my brother, actually. Caroline is a different story because…Well, she’s Caroline and if she didn’t have her fingers in everyone else’s business, she wouldn’t be my sister.” He shrugged. “So just do be cognizant of that. I think the three of them wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if you just up and vanished from their lives.”

  That was hardly a concern. “I am Edmund’s guardian,” he said instead of revealing the truth about his feelings for Lissy.

  “And Juliet’s confidant and Lissy’s savior. The many hats you wear, Fin.” He grinned widely. “You’ll have to warn your lady about the madness she’ll be marrying into. Do try not to scare her off.”

  Fin couldn’t help but laugh. Under any other circumstances, the warning would be most apt. But not in the one Fin actually found himself in. “I hardly think that will be a problem at all.” Though scaring her off was, very clearly, a problem. One that needed to be sorted out.

  “Papa?” came a tiny voice from the doorway.

  Luke winced just a bit. “Benton Beckford, what are you doing out of bed?”

  The little blond boy scampered across the Aubusson rug and threw himself against his father’s legs. “I want milk.”

  “You’ve already emptied one entire cow this evening.” He placed his now empty glass on the desk not far away and then scooped his son up into his arms. “You will be exhausted in the morning and then your nurse will come
to yell at me. Hardly fair, if you ask me. But that’s what will happen.”

  The little boy giggled, which was, even at this hour, one of the sweetest sounds Fin had ever heard. Lucas Beckford clearly adored his son. Even through his exhaustion and annoyance, his love and adoration shone through. Someday…

  Someday Find would like to have his own son in his arms, Lissy by his side, doting on the child. In fact, he wanted that all of suddenly more than he’d ever wished for anything in his life. If only—

  “All right, Ben.” Beckford pushed out of his seat and jostled his son in his arms. “Let’s go see if Uncle Fin’s room is prepared. It should be, but these days you never know.”

  Fin placed his own glass on the ducal desk and followed the gentleman into the corridor. His room would be ready, however, Fin had no doubt. His room was always ready and had been ever since Juliet had taken up residence at Prestwick Chase, declaring that Fin was and always would be welcome as any member of the family. He hoped that would still be true the next morning.

  Lissy didn’t think she’d slept even a wink after Fin arrived the night before. And with the sun now shining brightly into her chambers, attempting to get anymore was a lost cause. But how could she have slept? Fin was just down the corridor, as he always was at Prestwick Chase, his presence calling to her as strongly as a flame called to a moth.

  She’d cried until she had no tears left and then just lay awake, staring up at the canopy over her bed, like she had in her younger years when the call of freedom and distant shores always seemed to beckon. If only she’d never gone to Boston to visit with her mother’s family. If only she’d never met Aaron. If only she was free to love Fin the way he deserved to be loved. She did love him. She loved him quite desperately. If she hadn’t known that before her dash across Derbyshire, she certainly knew it now. She’d had nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company the night before. Perhaps it was the clear country air or perhaps she just didn’t have the strength to deny what she knew in her heart any longer.