The Langley Sisters Collection 2

by Wendy Vella

  “I had not planned on marrying, but—”

  “Never?” Primrose felt her heart sink when he shook his head. “Your mother, is it—”

  “I have no wish to discuss her.” His tone was clipped and curt.

  “And I have no wish for us to wed.”

  “I took your innocence last night, and so I will marry you.” There was now steely determination in his tone.

  It was almost as if just saying the words caused him pain. His jaw was clenched so tight, it looked ready to shatter.

  “You are saying this only because you are honorable, Benjamin. I wanted what happened last night as much as you did. Please, I do not want it to change the course of your life. I am not like the other young ladies. I will return home and be happy. I do not have the expectations of others.”

  “What if there is a child?”

  Dear Lord, she had not even contemplated that possibility.

  “Then I will of course let you know instantly.”

  His eyes held hers. “We will continue this discussion on the return trip to Rossetter , Primrose.”

  “But—”

  He put his hand over her mouth, lowering his head until their noses touched.

  “Enough. We will speak of this later. Right now, I have to get that book back.”

  “I will help.” Primrose scurried out of bed as he released her. Dragging the blanket with her, she tried to wrap it around her body. He was holding the end.

  “Release the blanket, please!”

  “I’ve seen your body, Primrose, and you are an extremely beautiful woman.”

  His mood had changed to playful. The man was exhausting.

  She tugged harder; he held on.

  “I do not parade about naked in front of men!”

  “I should hope not.” He gave her that smile she was sure had annoyed his twin a time or two.

  “Stop teasing me,” she hissed. “We have no time for that.”

  “There’s always time for teasing.” He tugged, and she was soon off-balance. She landed on his chest, and he settled her along the length of his body. Primrose didn’t know where to look.

  “Last night you were not shy.” The words were spoken into her neck.

  “Release me, Benjamin.”

  His sigh carried enough force to lift her hair, but he did release her. She hurried to the water to wash, very aware that he was watching her.

  “You are not coming, Primrose.” He climbed out of bed to join her. She didn’t look at him or that wonderful naked flesh she knew was on display.

  “I am coming.”

  “Be reasonable. I want you to be safe, and to achieve that I need you to stay here.”

  “No.”

  She quickly finished washing and began to pull on the clothes the maid had left her. Was it only last night? She felt a different woman to the one who had entered this room several hours ago.

  When she was finished wrestling her hair into a braid, Primrose looked at him, sure that he too would have pulled on something. She was wrong.

  “Wh-why are you not dressing?”

  He gave her a knowing look that suggested he was amused by her discomfort—fiend—and then pulled on his breeches.

  “Better?”

  “Marginally,” she muttered.

  “I want you to stay here, Primrose,” he tried again, his tone reasonable.

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  She tried to pull the bodice of the dress into place. It was tighter on her, but the rest fitted well.

  “That’s a nice fit.”

  “It’s too small.” She tugged again. Unlike the nightdress this was not loose at all.

  “I think it looks very nice.”

  She stopped fussing to look at him.

  “Because my chest is exposed?”

  “Of course not,” he lied. “This color suits you.”

  “It’s the color of cow excrement.”

  “And yet it goes with your eyes.”

  “My eyes are blue.”

  “With cow excrement highlights.”

  “Idiot.” She found her mouth forming a smile. “Now let us leave; we need to get that book.”

  “If I cannot stop you from coming, I can insist that you do exactly as I say.”

  Her hesitation was only brief, but he saw it.

  “We are not leaving this room until you agree, Primrose.”

  He had pulled on his boots and now stood with his thighs braced beside the door.

  “You have no necktie.”

  “Or jacket, and stop changing the subject.”

  “Oh, very well,” she said ungraciously. “I will do exactly as you say.”

  “There now, that didn’t hurt, did it?”

  She didn’t answer, simply sailed out the door before him.

  “Sanders is staying up the other end of town, so I think we should be safe here, but even so we must have a care.”

  He pulled her to a stop, then forced her behind him.

  “I am going first.”

  “Of course.”

  “I will hold you to that,” he said, starting down the stairs. “First I want some food, but before that, I need to see what time the ship Sanders is sailing on is due to leave.”

  The thought of that book leaving England was not a happy one for Primrose. They had to get it back.

  “We wish to eat, please,” Ben said to a man hovering at the base of the stairs.

  “We have a small parlor, sir, with a family in there. They will have no problem sharing.”

  Ben half-turned and murmured to Primrose, “Go in and smile, but don’t speak. I know that will be difficult for you.” He didn’t wait to hear her protest, he simply strode to the door that would take him outside and disappeared. Primrose gave the man waiting for her to follow him a weak smile.

  “Come this way then, ma’am.”

  What if the family knew her? How would she explain why she was there with Benjamin? But why would someone from society be here now, when most of them were in London or at house parties?

  The man opened the door, and Primrose followed after a loud exhale, only to stop just inside the room as she looked at the people seated around a table.

  Oh, bloody bothering hell.

  Her feet suddenly lost the ability to move as she took in the three people. They did not know her, but Primrose knew the Sinclair family… at least, she knew who they were. She’d never actually spoken a word to any of them.

  The eldest, who was getting to his feet, was Lord Sinclair. The one seated next to him was Mr. Cambridge Sinclair, and lastly, the Duchess of Raven, their sister.

  There were plenty more family members back in London, but these three were enough to have her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.

  “Good morning.” Lord Sinclair smiled. He was a handsome man—in fact, all of the siblings were handsome people, tall, dark, with stunning green eyes, all except the duchess, who had gray ones. Primrose knew these details because she spent a great deal of time observing while hiding in corners at society gatherings.

  “Good morning.” Primrose forced herself to speak and move her feet.

  “The ship is still….” Benjamin’s words fell away as he entered the small parlor. “Oh now, this could prove tricky.”

  “Benjamin?” Cambridge came around the table with his siblings. “What are you doing in Dover?” He didn’t add, with a woman, alone, but it was implied.

  “Cam,” Lord Sinclair cautioned. “It is impolite to ask questions.”

  “I just asked what you and Eden were thinking, ordering those smelly kippers,” the middle Sinclair said. “Questions help us ascertain things, brother.”

  “Yes, but some questions are better left inside your head. Now be quiet,” Lord Sinclair added.

  “This is Miss Primrose Ainsley,” Ben said, not looking upset about finding three members of the ton seated in the same parlor they were about to have their morning meal in.

  Primrose, however, wa
s so tense that if someone touched her, she’d shatter.

  The Duchess of Raven frowned, her eyes fixed on Primrose. Her brow lifted.

  “I thought I recognized you. How do you do, Miss Ainsley?”

  Primrose ducked into a curtsey.

  “Mortified about now, actually,” Ben added. “If you will share your table, I will attempt to explain what has happened and why we are here.”

  “Oh, B— Mr. Hetherington, we should leave.”

  “These are good people, Primrose, they will help us.”

  “You are in trouble?” Lord Sinclair frowned.

  “Yes, we were, and are now in need of help to catch the fiend who stole something from the Duke of Rossetter .”

  “Then of course we are at your service,” Lord Sinclair said.

  “Please, Miss Ainsley, come and share our table. We are, as Benjamin says, good people and friends of his and his family.” The duchess took Primrose’s hand and led her to a seat. “And I have been bored rigid by my brothers for the last few days. I will be grateful for anything to alleviate that.”

  “Harsh. You wanted to come with us to have a break from your children,” Cambridge Sinclair said.

  “Yes, but I’d hoped for some excitement. Instead we have discussed withers, hooves, and ship rigging. It has become tiring. I should have stayed in London.”

  “As we tried to tell you,” Lord Sinclair reminded her.

  The duchess didn’t appear put out by her brother’s words. “Sit, please, and tell us what has you here, alone and dressed in someone else’s clothes.”

  “I doubt you’ll believe the story,” Ben said, appearing at ease while Primrose, still tense, tried to stay calm.

  “I thought you were at the Rossetter house party?” Mr. Sinclair said. “We were invited but could not make it.”

  “We are… were.”

  “Miss Ainsley was abducted from Rossetter along with a valuable, rare copy of a book.”

  “The History Of Plants by Lucian Clipper,” Primrose added so they understood the gravity of the situation.

  “Our sister, Essie, made a trip to Rossetter specially to see that,” Lord Sinclair said.

  “Miss Ainsley likes things that grow,” Ben added.

  “Really. So does Essie; she’s very good with herbs and can fix any number of ailments,” Mr. Sinclair added. “I have this nasty spot on my—”

  “Cam!” Lord Sinclair snapped at him. “Let Ben speak, and no one wishes to know about your ailments.”

  “That’s not strictly speaking true; my wife was most solicitous.”

  Primrose bit back her smile as he winked at her.

  “Idiot,” Lord Sinclair muttered. “Please continue, Ben.”

  As a maid returned, they ordered food… an extraordinarily large quantity to Primrose’s mind.

  “My brothers eat more than a small pachyderm, Miss Ainsley,” the duchess said.

  Once the maid had left, Ben outlined what had happened. He seemed comfortable with these Sinclair siblings, so Primrose hoped his faith in them was warranted.

  “It’s my belief Finn and Alex should arrive tomorrow if they travel through the night.”

  “Good Lord, you must have been terrified, Miss Ainsley,” Lord Sinclair said. “You are to be commended for your bravery.”

  “Or stupidity, whichever way you choose to look at it.”

  “I rescued you,” she said slowly, refusing to behave any way but ladylike in front of the Sinclair family. “Had I not climbed on that carriage, they could even now be throwing you in the hold of that boat with the other lumps of meat!”

  “She has a point,” Cambridge Sinclair said. “She did save you, Ben.”

  “She should not have taken the risk,” he gritted out. “But this is getting us nowhere. What we need is a plan to get the book back.”

  “But I did save you, as you saved me,” Primrose felt she needed to add.

  “So that makes us even? What about the times I’ve fished you out of the water?”

  “And the one where I held you upright because you were too drunk to do so by yourself?” Primrose said sweetly.

  “It sounds as if you have had some intriguing times together,” Mr. Sinclair said with a look in his eyes that said he had added two and two and come up with a great deal more than four.

  “We are friends,” Benjamin said. And he was right, they were, but in a small part of her mind she’d hoped he thought that maybe they were more than that. “Nothing more,” he added, which just confirmed to Primrose she was unlovable. Not that she needed confirmation.

  Idiot. Stop dreaming of what you will never have. Unlovable, Primrose reminded herself.

  She was pleased he did not mention to these people that he’d said they would marry. Primrose didn’t think she wanted to marry a man who had vowed to never wed. It couldn’t be conducive to a happy life.

  “We want to get the book back,” Primrose said. “It is very important to England that it stays here.”

  “You sound like Essie,” Lord Sinclair said. “But if that is your wish, then of course we will help.”

  “Oh no—”

  “Excellent,” Ben cut Primrose off.

  “But it could be dangerous,” Primrose felt she needed to say.

  “I have excellent hearing, and my brother can see many things. We shall be of great help to you,” the duchess said.

  Primrose thought that an odd thing to say—after all, she had good hearing and sight too—but she kept silent.

  “Can I borrow a jacket and necktie, Cam?”

  “Of course, I shall get them now,” the man said, leaving the room.

  “I shall get you a shawl, Miss Ainsley, and perhaps a bonnet?” the duchess said, rising also.

  “If it would not be too much bother, I would be thankful.”

  “And gloves,” the duchess muttered, hurrying from the room.

  The food arrived, and Ben fell on it. Primrose nibbled, suddenly feeling nervous.

  “Should we just leave, do you think, Benjamin? Those at Rossetter will be very worried over our disappearance.”

  “I wanted to do that earlier, and you said no. Why now?” His eyes settled on her face.

  “I do not want anything happening to any of us.”

  His smile was genuine and made her stomach flutter, which annoyed her, as she had no time for fluttery stomachs or to be any more enamored by this man. A man who now knew her more intimately than any other.

  “We will not put ourselves in danger, I promise, Primrose.” He turned back to face Lord Sinclair. “I never asked why you Sinclairs were in Dover,” Ben added.

  “Cam and I are looking at purchasing a new ship. There is one here that will suit us perfectly. Plus, a matched set of grays that Cam has fallen in love with for his wife.”

  Primrose ate while they discussed ships and moved on to steam engines. Ben had extensive knowledge on the matter, as did Lord Sinclair, and Primrose enjoyed listening to them both.

  When the others returned, they all ate and finished outlining their plans to get the book back. They then donned the clothes and Primrose felt marginally better with her chest covered.

  “No risks, Dev, Cam, and you, Duchess,” Ben said, shaking hands and kissing the duchess’s cheek.

  “We shall be fine, Ben.”

  “Indeed, we will,” the duchess said, looking far too excited considering what they were about to do, Primrose thought.

  “You and Miss Ainsley must take care also,” Mr. Sinclair said. He then gave Primrose a hug, much to her surprise, and the siblings left to take up their positions down by the ship Sanders was leaving on.

  “It will be all right, Primrose. This is what you wanted, remember,” Ben said, rising also.

  “I feel a deep sense of foreboding, Benjamin.”

  “It’s probably those kippers. Now come along, we have no time to waste.”

  He squeezed her fingers and led her from the room silently, and Primrose battled down the fear that somethin
g was about to happen—and not a good something.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “They are the best of people, Primrose, and I trust them, even if they are slightly odd,” Ben said as he led Primrose outside and onto the street.

  “Odd how?”

  “Well, Dev’s eyes, they’re—”

  “Green?”

  “Yes, but a very bright green.”

  “A crime indeed,” Primrose said, looking from left to right as they moved down the street. Danger could be lurking anywhere,.

  “And Cam, he’s always sniffing like a hound.”

  “I’ve noticed that, actually. He did it several times at the table. I had wondered if he had a head cold.”

  “He doesn’t; it’s something he’s always done. I’ve also noticed the duchess has remarkable hearing, and their cousin, Wolf, is absurdly good with animals. He can get them to do anything.”

  “You’re talking to me to keep me calm, aren’t you, Benjamin?”

  She was pale and worried, and he could do nothing to ease that as he felt the same. But most of his tension came from the fact that she was at his side. He worried she’d fall into trouble again and he could do nothing to save her.

  “Some, but also what I’m saying is the truth. They are unusual.”

  “But very nice people.”

  “Very much so. They all live on the same street in London. It’s quite bizarre and provides a great deal of gossip fodder for society. But they don’t seem to mind that, plus they have a duke and an earl in their family, which carries a great deal of weight.”

  “And also many friends.”

  “Yes, we like them, and they like steam engines.” He smiled at Primrose, but she didn’t respond.

  He wondered if one day he’d forget what she smelled like. Forget the smile she gave him when she thought she’d got the better of him.

  She’d turned down his offer of marriage, but he’d had to make it. Would need to make it again when they returned to Rossetter . She was right, honor told him he must do this, no matter how much he wanted the opposite.

  “I liked them.”

  “I want you to stay here, Primrose.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard. “Will you let me do this? I will be back in no time to collect you.”