Resolved, she called for her maid to help her dress. “I need to know how to get to the Marquess of Darlington’s estate. Can you please find out for me, Mary?”
The maid was silent a moment before she said, “Of course, miss, but if you’re thinking of going there, I ought to caution you against it.”
“Duly noted,” Athena said.
“It really wouldn’t be wise.”
“You’re probably right, but it’s one of those things I cannot not do.”
Mary finished fastening the back of Athena’s gown. “Very well, but at least allow me to accompany you.”
“Thank you, but you must stay here and cover for me. I’ll be as quick as I can. I promise.” It took a few more added pleas to acquire Mary’s full cooperation, upon which Athena went to breakfast with her family.
“It’s still cloudy, but at least the rain has stopped,” Abigail said. “We could take a walk to the village and shop for Christmas gifts. I’m sure Lilly and Lucas would love the chance to purchase a few things for their parents with their aunts’ and uncles’ help.”
“An excellent idea,” James said with a loving smile aimed at his wife.
Everyone else agreed.
“There’s an excellent tea shop where we can stop for pie,” Lady Foxborough said. “It’s the perfect place for us to warm up with refreshments.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Athena said, deliberately softening her voice to a weaker tone than usual, “but I am hoping I can be excused.”
“Excused?” Her mother gave her a baffled look. “You love fresh air and long walks, not to mention the chance to chase your niece and nephew along a country road.”
“True.” Indeed, she would miss that part a great deal. “Unfortunately, I woke with a terrible headache. I think I would be better off staying here and getting some rest.”
“Oh.” Her mother glanced about as if unsure of what else to say, except, “Of course.”
One hour later, Athena watched from her bedchamber window as her family set off on their walk. Bundled up with hats, scarves, and mittens, Lilly and Lucas skipped ahead until they reached the large stones at the edge of the driveway. Athena smiled when they scampered up onto them, and Charles hurried over to give them a hand for support.
Stepping back, she went to her wardrobe and sought out her breeches. She always wore them under her skirts when she went outside in the winter. They added an extra layer of warmth she’d never been able to garner from stockings alone. And since she favored riding astride over using a sidesaddle, they also helped avoid chafing.
Donning a heavy wool cloak and gloves, Athena listened to Mary while she told her how to reach Lord Darlington’s estate, then went to the stables and picked out a horse. Ten minutes later, she was galloping across the fields, determined to accomplish her task before anyone realized she’d even been gone.
Robert Carlisle, once the Earl of Langdon, now the Marquess of Darlington, stared at the numbers he’d tallied and smiled. Finally. After six long years of hard work, the investments he’d made were starting to turn a profit. Closing the ledger, he sank back in his armchair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Lord, he was tired, but it seemed his dedication had paid off.
Rising, he went to pour himself a brandy. It wasn’t even noon yet, but damn if a celebration of sorts wasn’t in order. The liquid trickled into his tumbler with a rippling effect that tempted him as much as the brandy’s golden color. Warmth seeped into his veins as he drank, instilling a calm he’d not known in ages.
His life, some might say, had been blessed with privilege. Most would raise their eyebrows at him if he spoke a single complaint. After all, there were men who were far worse off. This was indisputable. And yet, he did not think himself blessed with good fortune. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Robert took another blissful sip of his drink.
First, his fiancée, Charlotte Walker, had run off with his cousin. A few years later, his good friend Charles Townsbridge – nay, Charles’s sister, Athena – had broken up his wedding at the church in front of all creation, claiming his bride loved Charles instead. And then, when Robert’s life was finally starting to gain a bit of equilibrium again, his father had died, leaving behind a crushing amount of debt. His own financial situation at the time had not been the best, so the last thing he’d needed was more worry.
At least his financial troubles were starting to ease a little. As for the rest…
According to what he’d learned, Charlotte was desperately unhappy with a husband who liked to drown himself in a bottle of brandy each evening. Robert couldn’t say he was sorry to hear it. She’d treated him abominably.
Charles Townsbridge, on the other hand, was happily married. And while Robert didn’t exactly harbor ill will toward him or his wife, Bethany, a part of him envied the perfect life they’d made for themselves. It really wasn’t fair that he, who’d been wronged, had suffered the most.
Crossing to the window, he glanced out at the dreary landscape, at the leafless branches reaching toward the sky as if begging for spring to dress them. Bethany should have been his. He’d met her first, proposed, and gained her hand. Hell, he’d stood with her before the priest on the very cusp of making her his when Athena, that blasted hoyden of a child, had ruined it all. She might have meant well, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d made a mockery of him. The articles and caricatures he’d seen in the papers for several weeks after confirmed it. No experience had ever been more emasculating. Fresh on the heels of Charlotte’s betrayal, the situation had been insufferable to say the least.
Robert blew out his breath and forced an inner calm upon himself. This was all in the past. Six years lay between the man he’d been then and the one he was now. He’d come to terms with what had happened, had finally moved on.
Perhaps, he considered while watching a cluster of birds scatter across the greying sky, it was time to start thinking of marriage once more. A nerve ticked in his jaw at the thought. Very well. Perhaps he’d wait a while yet.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Enter!” Robert turned to face his butler with the impatience of a man who wished to be left alone. “Yes?”
“You have a visitor, my lord,” Dartwood said in an even tone. He raised his chin ever so slightly, then added, “She says her name is Miss Athena Townsbridge.”
Robert’s grip tightened on his glass. Every muscle in his shoulders and back knotted in defiance. His jaw clenched. What the hell was she doing here?
“Offer her some refreshments. Then send her on her way.” He turned his back on Dartwood. “Let me know when she’s gone.”
“Very well, my lord.” The door closed with a snick.
Robert closed his eyes and forced himself to exhale a slow breath. Between the burden of holding onto his properties, taking care of his tenants, and figuring out how to pay the taxes and his servants’ wages, the very last thing he needed was for that Townsbridge brat to show up and complicate things even further. Good God! He inhaled slowly – deep calming breaths to undo the tension and infuse some calm – and exhaled.
Athena had been what, three years of age the first time he’d met her? He’d been thirteen. It had been summer and Charles had invited him home to visit his family for the holidays. Robert had joined Charles on several similar occasions in the years that followed. He remembered Athena whispering secrets in her older sister, Sarah’s, ear. She’d balanced along the top of the property fence when she was eleven. One day, she’d arrived for supper covered in mud because of a tumble she’d taken. At twelve she’d harpooned a fish using a spear she’d whittled. Her triumphant smile from that long ago day was still branded in his mind.
He shook his head. Athena Townsbridge was a tempestuous handful, as evidenced by her lack of regard for propriety. Bethany and Charles are in love with each other, but they are prepared to sacrifice their happiness for you. Her words had been loud and clear, unwaveringly bold. He couldn’t remember much from the moments
that followed, except for her face, her mouth set in a firm line, eyes blazing with fierce determination.
And then he’d punched Charles, because he sure as hell couldn’t punch Athena.
Another knock sounded at the door.
“Yes?”
“My apologies, my lord,” Dartwood said, “but the lady refuses to leave without having met with you first.”
Damn.
Robert downed the rest of his drink and set his tumbler aside with a clank. “Have her make an appointment then, for the day after never.”
Dartwood made a choked sort of sound. Robert raised an eyebrow.
“I shall pass the message along,” Dartwood said and departed once more. He returned ten minutes later looking more perplexed than Robert had ever seen him. “My lord. It would appear that the lady refuses to budge.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She will not leave her chair.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
“Shall I ask the footmen to carry her outside?”
Robert scrubbed his palm across his brow. Why couldn’t his life be simple and free from complications? Why did Athena Townsbridge, of all women in the entire world, have to be the very one who decided to pay him a visit?
Aware of the awkward position she’d placed his butler in and somewhat vexed on Dartwood’s behalf, Robert straightened his spine and squared his shoulders. Fine. He’d deal with the impossible chit himself.
Striding past his butler, Robert entered the hallway and made his way toward the parlor at a clipped pace. So, Athena thought she could force him to listen to her, did she? She thought she could bully his servants into compliance? After everything she’d put him through, she had some bloody nerve. He muttered a curse. If only he had a secretary and a valet to help make her leave, but the recent state of his finances had unfortunately forced him to be frugal.
Arriving at the door he sought, he flung it open with such force he heard the wood crack. “Christ almighty,” he blurted in pure frustration, “your childish behavior is not to be borne.”
“It is good to see you too, Robert.” Athena rose from her seat like a queen about to bestow a knighthood upon her loyal subject.
She was different than how he remembered.
Robert’s muscles flexed. He blinked.
When he’d last seen her she’d been a child – a bratty hoyden who ran completely wild. That was how he remembered her. It was the image he had retained inside his head for six years whenever he’d thought of her. He hardly knew what to say. Apparently, the plain girl he’d once known had transformed into a beautiful young lady.
Irritation flared. It was just like her to come here like this and shock the hell out of him. He glanced around. “Where is your chaperone?”
“I chose not to bring one.”
Of course. She was just as mad as ever.
“I believe my butler told you to leave.” Robert winced in response to the harsh sound of his voice and the rudeness with which he’d spoken, but frankly, he felt like his head was on backward right now.
“He did.”
“And rather than heed him, you chose to set up camp with the same degree of stubbornness you’ve always applied to everything.” He snorted. “By God, you haven’t changed one bit, have you?” Only in appearance.
Athena raised her chin. “I like to think I’ve grown up.”
Robert stared at her.
Gone were the chubby facial features of her adolescence, replaced by high cheekbones and a delicate jawline. The shapeless figure he recalled her having, not dissimilar to that of a boy, had been exchanged with luscious curves – with hips that flared out from her waist, and breasts… Good God. Athena Townsbridge had breasts – a most generous pair – and he was now gaping at them as if he’d never seen such an anatomical feature before.
He sucked in a breath and forced himself to raise his gaze to the vicinity of her eyes. This was wrong. So very horribly wrong. He’d accused her of being childish, but there was nothing remotely childish about her anymore. She was a woman – a very attractive one at that. He had to get her out of his house at once.
“So you have. Apparently without improving your manners.” Lord help him, he’d be ready for Bedlam after this visit. Especially if she continued watching him as she did, from behind a curtain of thick black lashes, eyes bright with vitality. Her rosy lips curved ever so gently into the sort of cheeky devil-may-care smirk he feared would haunt his dreams later. Christ have mercy. He steeled himself. “Once again, you have chosen to ignore my wishes.”
“Only because I desire to speak with you,” she said. “Or was that part not clear?”
Her voice was no longer as squeaky as he remembered, but rather soft and… Robert struggled to find the right word and could only come up with sultry. Which did not bode well at all. Annoyed with her for disturbing his peace and with himself for noticing her feminine assets, he gestured toward her with impatience. “Go on then. Say your piece, if you must, so I can get back to work.”
Chapter 2
Athena’s heart hammered wildly against her breast. Not only because she’d been given a chance, but because of the man who stood before her. Taller than she recalled, with a pair of broad shoulders that almost spanned the width of the doorway behind him, he looked like the very embodiment of masculine strength and power. The hair, she noted, was still the same – a blend of bronze and gold – but it was cut in a shorter style now. A pair of hard, sky-blue eyes stared back at her from beneath a furrowed brow. His mouth was set in a firm line of displeasure. And yet, in spite of all this, she had the most bizarre urge to reach out and trace her fingertips over his unshaven jawline. The bristly texture there tempted her in the same way a bolt of slippery silk would at the milliners – she simply had to know what it felt like against her skin.
Frowning on account of her foolishness, Athena glanced at the chair she’d occupied until his arrival. “Shall we sit?”
“You may do as you wish,” he said. “I prefer to remain standing.”
Well, she wasn’t about to let him tower over her any more than he already did. She clasped her hands together and raised her chin while doing her best to ignore the churning of her stomach. She’d never been nervous before. Not ever. And yet, there was no denying the apprehension that now assailed her.
Swallowing, Athena took a fortifying breath and said, “I owe you an apology.”
He stared at her as if she were daft.
“For the manner in which I behaved toward you six years ago,” she added, as if that part required explanation.
A nerve ticked at the edge of his jaw. “If that is all, I shall have my butler show you out. Again.”
The churning in her stomach fanned outward until it collided with her frantic heartbeats. Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears and she could not allow that. She needed him to assuage her guilt.
Desperate, she took a step forward. “My sole intention was to ensure my brother’s happiness, and in so doing, I fear I caused a great deal of damage. For which I am truly sorry. Robert, I—”
“Lord Darlington, if you please.”
“Of course.” She bit her lip. His eyes darkened. A tremor raked her spine. “Please. Forgive me.”
“Forgive you?” A snort of derision filled the air. “You stood up in church, before one and all, and announced that the woman I was about to marry loved someone else – that she preferred another man to me and that the only reason I’d not been informed was for the sake of sparing my feelings.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry.” He leaned forward with flint in his eyes, piercing her to her very soul. “Forget the fact that hundreds of pounds in wedding expenses were wasted. Or that it was to be a marriage based solely on convenience. You ridiculed me, made a mockery of my reputation, and ensured no other woman of noble birth would ever wish to come within ten paces of me. I was scorned because of you, laughed at. And while I can appreciate the fact that you were
but fourteen years of age with nothing but romantic notions filling your brain and that you were courageous enough to do what your brother should have done sooner, I cannot forgive you.”
Athena could only blink in response at the violent anger to which she’d become a witness. She’d ruined his life. There was no getting past that. “Marriage is forever. Would you really wish to be tied to a woman who loved someone else?”
He leaned back, closed his eyes briefly, and finally shook his head before pinning her once again with the fierce intensity of his gaze. “It no longer matters.”
“It does to me.”
A humorless laugh answered her comment. “Does the guilt haunt your days, Miss Townsbridge? Does it keep you from sleep at night?”
She crossed her arms and firmed her jaw against his mocking tone. “You were a good family friend. Charles was prepared to sacrifice his own happiness for you. So was Bethany. They would both have been miserable, while you...”
“Yes?”
She glared back at him. “Would you rather be blind, my lord? Or do you prefer to see?”
He held her gaze for a long, hard moment before he finally swung away and strode to the door. “This conversation is over, Miss Townsbridge. I’ll thank you never to call upon me again.”
Athena stared at his retreating form until he vanished from sight. A quivering breath stole its way past her lips. Weak-legged, she sank onto the chair behind her. Goodness gracious. The perfectly polished, well-mannered gentleman she’d once known had been transformed into an ill-bred heathen. Robert Carlisle was no longer the good-natured man notorious for his ready smiles and kind remarks. He was a thunderstorm to be reckoned with, and she’d not been prepared for that.
Her fault, of course. Everything was her fault. She had to do better – try harder – to put it to rights. Bolstering herself, she got back onto her feet, clenched her fists and marched out into the hallway.
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