by Lauren Smith
“What’s Mrs. Wycliff doing here?” Godric asked when he saw Lily. “Emily is expecting you home any minute to see Sophia to bed.”
Charles saw Lily stiffen.
“Is she all right?” Lily asked Godric.
“Sophia is fine,” Godric assured her. “But I still don’t understand why you are here?”
“I promise you, Lily’s presence here is necessary,” said Charles told his friends.
“Everyone, take a seat,” Ashton said. “Charles, I believe, has some information to share with us.”
Charles stood. His palms were slick with sweat, but he had to tell his friends the truth.
He cleared his throat. “I know you’re wondering why Lily is here.”
He waited for her to join him, and she did, her face downcast. He understood her concern. He was about to explain how she’d betrayed him, betrayed them all, and how she was now begging for their help.
“Lily’s real name is Lily Linley.” He paused. “For the last year, she has been living under my roof as my valet, Tom Linley.”
This caused murmurs of concern to break out among the League. At another time or another place, there would have been a lot of good-natured ribbing at Charles’s expense over the matter. But given why they were here, they knew the significance of this revelation went far beyond an amusing social farce.
“I was not aware of her deception until tonight,” Charles said. “She was sent by Hugo to work at Berkley’s Club to be a spy, and on his orders she eventually infiltrated my house as a servant.”
The silence that descended on the room was deafening. Only the grandfather clock out in the hall could be heard ticking slowly.
“Hugo hired you?” Ashton’s tone was that of ice. Charles reached out and took one of Lily’s hands in his, squeezing it gently.
“She wasn’t hired,” Charles said. “I want every man in this room to understand this. Lily was a maid in Hugo’s house when he…”
“Hugo Waverly raped me.” Lily raised her eyes and looked at everyone in the room. Her voice was strong and fearless at a time when she had every right to be afraid. “I escaped from him and gave birth to his child in private, but he found me again. He pressed me into his service, threatening to take my child if I did not do as he commanded.”
Charles squeezed her hand again. He was proud of her courage.
“Hugo trained me to be useful to him. To become a tool, a weapon in service of the Crown. Only he soon decided to use me for his own personal aims, to use me against you all.”
“It’s perhaps unchristian of me, but I would like to throw Hugo in the Thames,” Lucien growled. “To rape a woman?”
Godric slammed a balled fist onto the reading table he sat at. “And then threaten her child?”
“And then force her to work for him?” Cedric howled. “Villain!”
“So why did you stop being Tom?” Ashton asked, the calmest of them all. “I assume Hugo changed his orders?”
“Yes. He wished for me to secure Charles’s affections, with the intention of having me betray him just before—”
“Before the endgame,” Ashton finished for her.
“This man is the devil himself,” Jonathan muttered.
“Yes, but the devil is clever and not to be underestimated. Such a betrayal, revealed at a time of Hugo’s choosing, would have broken Charles, made him incapable of defending himself.” Ashton still stared at Lily with a coldness that Charles didn’t like.
He was the only one who had any right to be furious with Lily. He was the fool who had fallen for her, the one who’d proposed to her after only a few brief encounters. Now when he looked at her, he saw a familiarity, the eyes he’d gazed into often enough over the last year, the eyes of a dear friend. And now he loved her, loved her madly. But how was he to know Lily’s true feelings? He could never fully trust her until the day Hugo stopped breathing.
“So, now we know something of Hugo’s plan and that his final stroke must be coming soon. How do we respond?” Cedric asked. He toyed with his cane.
Ashton still stared at Lily. “That depends on Miss Linley.”
Lily nodded, understanding. “What do you need of me?” Charles kept hold of her hand, hoping he could keep her calm, but the nervousness she had shown before had faded.
“How far did Hugo want you to go with your seduction?”
Her hand tightened in Charles’s grasp as she looked at him, pain in her blue eyes. “He wanted me to accept Charles’s proposal.”
A wave of despair washed over him, even though he had sensed with building dread that she would make this confession.
She squeezed his hand again. “The truth is, I wanted to say yes, even before Hugo ordered me to do so. But I had hoped to refuse as long as I could, to protect you,” she whispered. “Please, believe me.”
Charles’s eyes burned as he looked to Ashton. “Then perhaps we should give Hugo what he wants. A bloody wedding. The only way to end this is to make him believe all is going according to plan.”
“Quite right,” Ashton agreed. “But that means everyone in this room will be in grave danger. It is very likely that your wives, children, sisters, brothers, and mothers will all be at risk. No one will be judged if they choose to take their families and leave London.”
Charles stepped toward his friends. “You saved my life once, and that debt grows deeper each day. But this burden is mine alone to bear. You’ve helped me carry it long enough. I would beg all of you to leave.”
There was a long, heavy silence, again punctuated only by the ticking of the clock in the hall.
“We all went into the river that night,” Lucien said. “All of us. I’m staying here until the matter is settled once and for all.”
“As am I,” Cedric added with a nod.
Godric smirked. “I never liked that bastard, and I’ve been meaning to settle the score if I was offered the chance.”
“I may not have been part of your League until recently, but I am here now, and I’m not leaving either,” Jonathan said.
Ashton smiled grimly. “Then I believe it’s now a matter of seeing to the safety of our families. We should consider sending them away.”
“But you must be careful,” Lily interrupted. “Hugo has servants in each of your houses.”
“More men like Gordon?” Lucien demanded.
Lily nodded. “Yes. I do not know who they are, only that he has at least one in each townhouse in London.”
“What about the country homes?” Cedric asked.
She paused, uncertain. “I don’t believe so. But it is impossible to be sure.”
“And their job is to report back to him?” Ashton asked.
“Yes, anything they overhear, what they learn of your movements.”
“Might they attack us, like Gordon did?”
“They will do whatever Hugo asks of them, either out of loyalty or fear.”
“Wonderful,” said Godric. “Assassins in our midst.”
“If you send all your families away, Hugo will become suspicious,” said Lily. “You must stagger their trips. Come up with mundane reasons, play disappointed when they choose to leave. If Hugo senses you are trying to protect them, it will draw his attention.”
“Unless we distract him with the wedding,” Charles added. He knew Hugo would be thrilled to see his spy marry his hated enemy. All else would cease to matter once Hugo achieved that goal, because he’d have Charles exactly where he wanted him.
“Charles, you don’t need to” Lily began, but Ashton spoke over her.
“No, Charles is right. We’ll keep his mind plenty occupied if he thinks his plan is working. Lily, you will need to keep sending him reports, play his game, reluctantly, of course. Change nothing about your behavior, but I will advise you what to say about our plans.”
Charles balked. “I don’t want Lily involved aside from the wedding. She’s been a pawn in this long enough. She needs to be safe.” He owed her that much, at least. She was a victim
of Hugo as much as he was. Perhaps in a way that made them even. Her life destroyed, his life betrayed.
They were perfectly matched by tragedy.
“No, Charles. Lord Lennox is right. I must play my part. Kat is the only thing that matters now. She must be kept safe.” She grasped both of his hands, and for a moment as he gazed into those cornflower-blue eyes, he saw Lily and Tom both there, begging him to trust them. It was an eerie thing to see a friend in a stranger’s eyes. Everything around them faded as he lost himself momentarily in her face, wishing more than anything that he’d met her in a world where Hugo didn’t exist.
“It is too dangerous. I’m not about to let you risk your life for me—”
She suddenly lunged at the hearth, retrieving a poker and swinging it so that it stopped a mere inch from his face. She wasn’t breathing hard, and something about her expert control over that fire poker made his blood sing with desire. Who knew he loved such a dangerous woman?
“Don’t forget, you fought me more than once when I was Tom. I was trained to fight long before I ever met you. I am not weak.”
“I know, but this shouldn’t be your fight, Lily. You deserve to be safe…after everything you’ve been through.”
Her eyes lowered until all he could see were her dark-gold lashes. “I don’t know about that. I’ve done things working for Hugo. Things I am not proud of.”
“I do not hold those things against you,” said Charles. “Anything you did was to protect your daughter from his clutches. How could I not understand that?” If he’d been alone with her and none of his friends were watching them like they were some sort of play, he would have pulled her into his arms, breathed in her sweet scent, and reassured her that he understood her actions with a kiss.
“I suppose a wedding will suit, since you two can’t keep your eyes or hands off each other,” Lucien said with a wry chuckle.
“Agreed,” Ashton said. “You and Lily indeed sell your attraction quite well.”
“Then you will need someone willing to aid you in your ruse,” Lily said. “A priest who can officiate, but agree not to finalize the marriage. I do not know how the church will look upon such fraud.”
“I may know someone,” said Ashton. “His parish is in the country, but I’m sure he will come here if I asked.”
“You will not need to,” said Charles suddenly, surprising even himself. “I intend to go through with this marriage without any deceptions.”
The other men in the room seemed a little puzzled by Charles’s bold statement.
“You cannot really wish to marry me,” Lily said.
“I do.” Not that he could say why. He knew there were reasons, but right now he was too afraid to examine them.
“But a wedding would be binding. It would truly make us…”
“Man and wife. Yes, I’m well aware of how weddings work.”
“It’s why he’s run the other way from them all his life.” Cedric snickered.
“You’re not helping,” said Godric. Charles heard Cedric curse as the duke kicked him in the shin.
“So we plan the wedding,” Ashton said. “We will keep Darlington’s house as a rendezvous point in case we must reconvene. The new code word will be…”
“Gardenias,” Charles said, thinking of what the shopkeeper had said the flower meant. The call of loneliness. And here he was, willing to marry a spy sent to betray him in an effort to cure that loneliness.
“Very well. Gardenias. But remember, you must continue to act normally. Assume everything you say outside of this house will reach Hugo’s ears. Not even Berkley’s is safe. Make no changes in staff. It would only alert him to our actions, and there would be no way to be sure you’d found the spy in your household.”
They soon came to an understanding of what had to be done. Charles shook the hand of each man as they left. Godric paused as they reached him.
“Lily, will you be returning home to my residence?”
Lily glanced at Charles. “Yes, I believe I must.”
“She will,” Charles agreed. “And I shall come with her.”
“But—” she began.
“Given the public announcement of our engagement, it will not seem out of place. There’s no chance that I will leave you and Kat alone.”
Godric nodded. “I will have a separate room prepared for you. I will see you both at the house then.”
Now only Ashton was left, who watched Charles carefully. He then turned to Lily. “I need a minute with Charles. Would you mind?”
“No, of course not.” She nodded and left the library. Charles instantly felt her absence. He feared that she would vanish all over again.
“Charles, I need to know where you truly stand on this.” Ashton placed a firm but gentle palm on his shoulder, grounding him in a way he hadn’t realized he needed. Tonight’s revelations had left him feeling oddly adrift.
“Where I stand?” he echoed.
“Yes. This marriage will be real. She will be your wife. I understand why you wish to protect her from Hugo, but are you certain you want to tie yourself to a woman who may not love you?” Ashton’s voice softened. “I know your heart, Charles. You put on a carefree demeanor, but you’ve always questioned whether you deserve love. I’m telling you, you do deserve love and happiness, like the rest of us. I can’t stand by and let you marry someone simply because of guilt, or because it makes the fight with Hugo a little easier.”
Ashton’s eyes seemed to glow in the reflection of the firelight in the hearth of Darlington’s library. Charles’s throat constricted as he spoke.
“Don’t worry about me. I am more concerned that you will all face this danger with me. I never meant for any of this to happen. It’s my fault.”
“The fault’s not with you, but Hugo. Every sin lies upon his head. Now, about Lily…”
“I know it makes me sound like a fool, or perhaps a madman, but I think I love her. And I suppose she knows me better than any woman ever has. As Tom she was a friend, a confidant. I never hid myself from her. Now that I’ve been around her as she truly is, as Lily, I find that strangely liberating.” He smiled ruefully. “Do you know how many women I’ve been with over the years, the famed courtesans, wicked widows, passionate spinsters? None of them knew any more about me than the smile I wished to present. Lily has seen me in my darkest moods, stayed with me through my nightmares, and never once abandoned me. I am still certain she cares for me. That must count for something, mustn’t it?”
How could he put into words the way Lily glowed as she entered a room, how his breath caught and he could barely remember his own name? It wasn’t merely that he wished it might be more. It was more. Had always been more.
“You are certain then?” Ashton asked.
“I am.”
“Well then, we shall make preparations for a wedding, and you will play the part of the smitten fiancé.”
For the first time in what felt like hours, he managed a smile. “That will not be hard,” Charles said. He would spend time with Lily and Kat. He would make sure that they were safe. His future wife and future child. Knowing how Katherine had been conceived only made him care more about the child. She needed love, security, and a father who would give her both.
And that man is me.
21
Lily fidgeted during the entire coach ride back to Godric’s townhouse. She had learned to steel her nerves in the most dangerous of situations, and yet those same nerves fluttered wildly whenever Charles glanced her way.
Did he truly mean to marry her? After what she had done? It was madness. He wouldn’t…would he?
When the coach stopped, he helped her down, his hands gripping her waist the same way he had when they’d gone to the opera. Like everything was normal. How she wished that were true. She fought off a shiver, longing to burrow into his warmth.
Godric was waiting for them in the drawing room, as was Emily. When she saw Emily’s face, she knew Godric had found some safe way of explaining the dece
ption to her. Lily expected any number of furious reactions. Instead, Emily came up to her and embraced her tightly and whispered in her ear.
“You are far braver than I even knew. Godric and I shall protect you and Kat with our lives.”
Lily began to protest, but Emily placed a finger to her lips, warning her to be silent.
“It’s quite late. Perhaps we should retire? I shall have some food sent to your rooms. Charles, I’ve had a bedroom prepared, and a footman is waiting to assist you if needed.”
Charles nodded his thanks as he bid everyone good night and went upstairs.
Lily stayed in the drawing room for a time, even after Emily and Godric retired to bed, looking out the window and wondering what would come next. Any sense of security she’d had these past three years had been a lie. She had always been walking a knife’s edge of obeying Hugo’s instructions and avoiding detection. By all rights she was in the most perilous state she had ever been in, and yet she also felt strangely at peace about it. Come what may, the course she was now on promised an end.
She came to the nursery. Katherine was asleep in the large crib, tucked between several thick soft blankets, a new doll cuddled under one arm. Love blossomed in Lily’s chest as she bent over and stroked the curls back from her daughter’s face. She heard footsteps behind her and recognized the shoes that made them. She’d polished them often enough.
“I understand now,” Charles said.
She stood up, still looking down at Kat’s sleeping face. “What do you understand?”
He joined her at the edge of the crib. “You know, I thought for a time that perhaps she was my daughter. That perhaps I had slept with your—I mean, Tom’s—mother?”
