Lady In Distress (The Langley Sisters Book 3) (14 page)

“Take that back at once, Luke Fletcher.” Phoebe feigned mock outrage. “My child will be born handsome or pretty. How can you state otherwise, knowing the parents?”

“Of course,” Luke drawled. “How foolish of me to question you.” He then bowed deeply before Phoebe. “And there is also the matter of a mother’s failing eyesight when first she lays eyes upon her child.”

Phoebe didn’t speak, instead punching him, hard, on the arm, before wandering away to see the other horses, which allowed him to focus on Bella once more. Dressed in green, her coat was fitted and the exact match for her eyes. She wore black boots and a fetching little black hat, which would do nothing to keep her warm.

“I trust you slept well, Bella?”
Did you dream of me as I did you?

He knew she hadn’t ridden a horse for years, but would not question her about that because she would not welcome his interference. Bella wanted him to see the changes in her and he was going to try, even if that included taking a step backward and not helping her, which he instinctively wanted to.

“Very well, thank you.” She didn’t look at him, which told him she was lying.
 

“Allow me to help you up.” Luke placed his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the horse. He could feel her through the clothing that separated him, feel and want her, and he saw the need reflected in her eyes. She understood what lay between them, and he wanted to run his hand up her leg under her skirts just to see her shiver from his touch; instead, he fitted her foot into the stirrups.
 

“Thank you.”

“Promise me you will take care, Bella.” Their eyes met and held as he cupped her ankle and squeezed it gently.

“I promise.” She looked at Moses, who was talking to Phoebe about one of their horses. Lifting one hand, she brushed his hair from his forehead.
 

“I’m not sure I want to go to London now, Luke.”

He caught the fingers, bringing them to his lips. “Yes, you do, Bella. Because if you don’t, you will always wonder, and while I don’t relish the prospect of watching you enter society, I want it for you, because if we are to have a future it must be free of regrets and you must know what you would be leaving behind to be with me.”

She bit her lip but said nothing further. Releasing her, Luke then made himself walk away. Reaching the rear of the stables, he then climbed up into the loft so he could watch her. “You are a bloody fool, Fletcher,” he muttered, lying in the hay to wait for her to appear.

He could have asked her to stay here in Twoaks, asked her to marry him, and at that moment she would have said yes, but he wouldn’t do that to her. He wanted a future with her, but she needed to do this first.
 

He watched them appear, Moses walked at her side on his mount, taking her around the paddock several times, before letting her trot. She handled the horse well, and did everything she was instructed, too. She sat tall, shoulders back, and when she passed beneath him he heard her chatting to Moses, who in turn talked back gently, giving her instructions about what to do next. When she cantered, Luke watched, heart in his mouth, but she did that well also.
 

“Luke Fletcher, come here at once and help me onto this mounting block. I have a need to sit!”

Phoebe’s summons was loud enough for them to hear in the stables, and as he was directly above her, he couldn’t ignore it. Making his way down, he moved to where she stood.

“You called, Your Majesty?”

He’d grown closer to the Langley sisters in the past few months. They had always been part of his life, yet now they had become friends. It happened when Bella went away to Scotland and he had been desperate for any news of her. His being in the house now, working for Will, had given him reasons to approach and engage them in conversation.

“I am quite sure that I will in due course give birth to an elephant.” Phoebe grunted as he lifted her and placed her gently on the mounting block. “One loses all dignity, you know, Luke, and if you call me Your Majesty once more, I shall clout you.”

He laughed as he stood at her side and watched Bella. “You could never lose your dignity, Phoebe, and I say this because it is the truth, not flattery.”

“Thank you. A woman enjoys hearing things like that when she cannot see her feet. You have no idea how lucky you are to be born a man.”

Luke snorted. “Tis a blessing to be sure.”

They talked as they watched Bella, Phoebe tossing insults at him and Luke batting a few back gently.

“I cannot believe the difference in her.”

The change in conversation threw him, as she had just been insulting his jacket. “I beg your pardon?”

Her eyes were not the same color as Bella’s but he saw the resemblance just the same as she gave him a steady look.

“Bella has changed, Luke, and for the better.”

“Yes,” was all he said because part of him wanted the woman who had needed him back, the selfish part of him.

“She has grown up, and will soon make her entrance into society. I do believe that she will become one of society’s darlings in no time. In fact, I should imagine by season end, she will be inundated with offers.”

Phoebe wasn’t looking at him, instead showing him her perfect profile. If her words had been intended to cause him discomfort then she had succeeded. Still, he did not say anything by way of return as he and Bella had not discussed mentioning their feelings to the family, although if he was being honest, he wondered how they could not have noticed what lay between him and youngest Langley.
 

There was also the concern that perhaps they wanted more for Bella than he could offer her. He doubted it, knowing what he did of this unconventional family, but the doubt was still there, and lay deeply rooted in his insecurities.

“She needs to have a family and feel loved, needs to feel secure after what we endured. It was her, more than Livvy or I, that suffered the most, because there was nothing she could do about our plight. She believed herself worthless.”

“She is not worthless.” His words were a soft growl, and he’d spoken them before he could stop himself.

“I know that, Luke. However, I’m still not quite sure she does. Perhaps you could tell her?”

She was looking at him again, her brown eyes filled with shrewd intelligence, and Luke knew then that she, like Thea, was very aware of how things lay between Bella and he.

“Will you excuse me now, Phoebe? I have things that I must see to.” He needed to leave before she began to question him further about his feelings, which she was more than capable of doing, as the middle Langley sister was not one to hold back.

“Yes, if you must. Moses and Bella are finished now anyway. They will help me down.”

He went back inside and into the tack room. Looking at all the leather around him he grabbed the first thing he could reach and gathering what he needed; he started cleaning. When Will wandered into the stables a few hours later, his arms had a pleasing ache as did his shoulders, and his mind was still filled with Bella.
 

“Why are you in here, when you no longer need to be?”

“Hello, Daddy,” Luke said ignoring his question as he lowered the strap he was oiling and forced his frown into a smile

“Ha, yes that will take some getting used to I’m sure, but as Henry will not be speaking for a while I have some time to prepare.”
 

“How’s Livvy?”

“Tired, happy…Christ, Luke, that was the most terrifying experience of my life.”

Luke watched Will slump onto a bale of hay. Realizing the new father needed more than the comfort of a friend, he rose and made his way to one of the cupboards at the rear of the room. He found the bottle of gut rot he knew Moses had tucked in there. Returning, Luke pulled out the stopper and handed it to his friend, who took it and a healthy swig.

“Ahhhh,” Will sighed as the fire water burned its way down his throat. “I don’t want to go through that again, and I felt no pain, I can’t imagine how Livvy must feel.”

Taking the bottle, Luke swallowed a mouthful, grimacing as it burnt his throat.
 

“Wouldn’t be many people inhabiting the earth if men were the ones giving birth I’m thinking.”

“Ha ha, yes, you have a point there, my friend.” Will smiled and then it fell from his lips. “I’m a father now, Luke.” He took the bottle back again.

“Yes, Will, you are, and you’re going to be a bloody good one.”

His friend pinned him with his gray eyes. “How do you know that?”
Luke thought about that for a minute. “You’re kind and fair.” He ticked the points off on his fingers. “You’re a bit softer now you’re married. In fact, I’m sure I could take you in a fight. However, that will not hinder you in child rearing. Therefore that is not a negative in your favor.”

“I could take you; I’m just too tired to try right at this moment.”

Luke snorted and took the bottle back.

“You’re intelligent, and you are passably good looking, and you have straight teeth,” Luke added.
 

“And these are important in child rearing?”

“Very. My sire was ugly as pig shit, and I got into a fight a time or two defending him.”

 
“Shame you have his looks, then,” Will said snatching the bottle back and pointing it at him before taking another large mouthful. “Your children will have to learn to fight early.”

Luke just smiled at his friend before continuing. “You have wealth, and a wife who is more intelligent that you.”

Will saluted him with the bottle again. “Can’t disagree with that.”

“But do you know what you have that many fathers don’t, Will?”
“What?”

“The capacity to love, and that is the only thing that matters.”

Will sniffed and then took a deep pull on the bottle.

“I will love him, Luke. I’ll love him with everything I have, and then I’ll love him more.”

They drank steadily for a while until Luke’s vision began to blur. Swallowing another mouthful, he noted it didn’t burn on the way down any longer. It just left a warm trail behind as it moved through his body, and it allowed thoughts of Bella to settle back in that place he kept them, deep in the back of his head.

“I know you will love him or otherwise I’d have to pummel you.”

Will squinted at him.

“I’d want you to, ish you thought I was doing it wrong.”

“I’ll love him, too,” Luke rasped. “Already do.”

“He’sh,” Will shook his head to clear it. “He’s called Henry William Luke Ryder, you know.”

Luke couldn’t speak; he simply stumbled to his feet and met Will as he did the same. They hugged and slapped each other’s backs, then slumped back on their seats.

“I-I don’t know how to thank you,” Luke whispered.

“You already have by being my friend.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

One month later, they relocated to London. The journey had been undertaken slowly due to Phoebe, Livvy and the babe. But now they were all settled and Luke was sitting in the office once again with his head in books.
 

“So have you reached a verdict about how to approach this man who is swindling, Finn?”
Will appeared in the doorway, pulling him from his thoughts. Henry was draped over one shoulder.

“Yes, I have the information I need now after going through the rest of the books.”

“Well, has he found it?”
Luke found a smile as Finn pushed past Will into the room. “Good morning, Finn.”

“You should just move in here.” Will looked at his brother-in-law, who was running a long finger down the slumbering Henry’s cheek.

Luke had noticed that every member of this family, barring none, were all now completely besotted with Henry, to the point where they all made silly faces and noises whenever he was near. It was an amazing sight, and always made him smile, to see these two powerful men brought to their knees by a baby who could not yet speak.

“Phoebe wants to take Bella for another fitting, so I’m dropping her before going with Ben to the locomotive consortium meeting. I also wanted to see if Luke has worked out how to handle the swindler, who I’d like to gut, but Phoebe won’t let me.”

Luke felt that instant jolt of awareness he always had at the mention of Bella’s name.
 

“You should come along to the meeting, Luke. It would be of interest to a man in your position,” Finn added, placing a soft kiss on the baby’s head.

“Perhaps,” was all Luke said before motioning them into seats opposite him. Lately, Finn and Will had been pressuring him to make more of himself, told him stories about men who were not of noble birth that were making their mark on England. But Luke knew how hard that would be, the obstacles he would have to face if he tried to step into a world he was not born in.
 

“Sit, both of you.” Pushing the thoughts aside, he then turned the ledgers he had laid open in front of him around to face them. “These,” he said pointing to the figures he had underlined, “are the amounts he has been stealing from you, Finn.”

Over the next thirty minutes, he showed them how Mr. Collins had done what he had. Will handed Henry to him to hold while he focused on what Luke had uncovered. Luke taught them both how Collins had done what he had, so in the future if he was not around they could see the fraud for themselves.