Lady In Distress (The Langley Sisters Book 3) (2 page)

He heard the door open then and, suddenly, there she was, Isabella Langley. Looking at his hands briefly to collect himself, Luke inhaled deeply before looking at her again.

She appeared so small, walking beside her large brother-in-law, and Luke noticed at once that while she walked slowly, she hardly limped and had no cane. Dressed in a long, green coat and matching bonnet, she had on leather gloves and sturdy walking boots. Even at a glance, he could see she had lost the fragile air that had haunted her since the carriage accident that had killed her mother and injured her and her father. Her cheeks were flushed with healthy color and the smile on her face was wide and genuine and she looked beautiful. Bella always had, to his eye, but Luke could see the change in her instantly and he was happy for her, pleased that she suffered no longer.
 

However, he also realized in that moment that any hopes of the feelings he held for Isabella Langley waning in the time they had been apart were unfounded. He was still deeply in love with her, although now he knew it would be worse than before. Before, she had never ventured out, never had friends or entered society. But that would no longer be the case, because the vision before him was not the timid little girl he had dropped here months ago.

She carefully navigated the stairs, smiling and laughing with Will. Luke could hear her voice as she questioned him. Even that seemed stronger, less hesitant.

“Hello, Luke.”

She stopped before him and he felt the tension inside him now she was close.
 

“Isabella.” Luke took the hand she held out towards him and squeezed it, needing to touch her, needing to convey how happy he was that she was well. “You look beautiful.”

Her cheeks bloomed as a smile lit her eyes.
 

“Do I?”
 

He nodded, ignoring Will who was watching intently.

“And you, Luke, you look different, too.”

“I have taken Freddy’s position, since he retired.”

“Can we continue this inside? My ears have just gone numb,” Will stated behind them, opening the carriage door; he then hurried them inside.

***

Bella pretended to settle herself on the seat and drew in a deep, steadying breath. Luke Fletcher took the space beside her, with Will across from her, which she was thankful for. Looking at Luke for long periods of time just made her nervous, and dressed as he now was, as a gentleman, in polished hessians, gray breeches, white shirt and black jacket, he was devastatingly handsome. He’d always made her feel that way; her stomach would flutter and she’d say silly things. It was a curse, but one she’d had since realizing how much she loved him.
 

Bella had said what she had to Luke before entering the clinic because she was determined that when she came out, they would settle matters between them. She had spent far too much of her life thinking about or watching him, and she needed to know, once and for all, if he could push aside his birth and hers, so they could begin their lives together.
 

He’d never spoken of his love, but she knew how he felt, because it was there in his eyes when he looked at her, and his hands when he touched her.
 

She had tried to stop loving him, tried to focus on someone else, but it had been impossible. He would simply offer her his hand to help her down from the carriage and her heart would do a silly little dance as she looked into his pale, blue eyes. He would give her that intense, searching look that he seemed to reserve only for her and she would be lost again.
 

Tall and lean, he had thick brown hair and a body that carried not a spare ounce of weight, honed from years of hard work. He’d often carried her when she had been unable to walk, and those moments had been both heaven and hell. Heaven to be in the arms of the man she loved and hell that she could not tell him how she felt.

“So Phoebe, Finn and Livvy await us in Twoaks?” Bella said, determined not to dwell on the past.

“Yes. Phoebe was too sick to travel here and Livvy is too far along to do so comfortably.”

Bella saw the worry on Will’s face.

“I’m not sure why you are here when you are so obviously worried for your wife?” she added, looking at him.

Both Luke and Will laughed, which forced her to look at the man beside him. Laughter made him appear younger.

 
“Livvy would have worked herself into a bloody frenzy had I not come, Bella. She was sure you would be abducted and sold into slavery if Luke and I were not the ones to accompany you back to London.”
 

Bella had noticed that the only thing that really had the ability to unsettle her brother-in-law was Livvy.
 

“And Livvy is due in four or five weeks, Will?” His skin took on a grayish tinge as she spoke.

“Dear Lord, don’t remind me,” he groaned. “She’s staying at Willow Hall, with Freddy and Jenny while we are away. Our house, she says, is too far away from them should she need them, even though my brother promised to call upon her each day, and I have an army of servants there to care for her.”

“She will be fine, Will. Mother had no problems, so I’m sure she will not, either.”
 

“Tell us about your stay here, Bella. There will be plenty of time to discuss the birth of my children in the coming weeks,” Will said.

“It was amazing,” Bella sighed. “More than amazing. It was fantastic, and everything I thought it would be. I needed to stay those extra months, though, as I was really only beginning to see the benefits then.”

“Your sisters cried, of course, when they received your letter.” Will’s words made Bella smile.

“Sally, my maid, has learnt the treatments and will help me to continue with them. Some are still painful, but are getting easier. I must walk every day, rain or sunshine. This is very important, as the muscles must be used and stretched.”

“Stretched?” Luke questioned.

“I lie on the floor and Sally pushes my leg into various torturous positions, and this allows me the movement I now have. She then digs her fingers into the abused muscles and rubs a smelly ointment into them.”

She laughed as Will and Luke grimaced.

“Sounds most unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant? Yes, it is that, Will, but it does not make me cry as it first did when I arrived here.”

“Good God, I’ll have Moses turn this carriage around at once and thrash the entire staff for inflicting such punishment on you.”

Of course Will was joking, but only partially. He and Finn did not just go through the motions of family life like many of their peers; they participated in it fully. They were loud when required, opinionated and loving. It had taken Bella a while to understand what it meant to have two strong-willed brother-in-laws in her life. For so long, it had been just her, Livvy and Phoebe, but now it was rather like learning to live in a paddock. You were fine if you kept out of trouble and walked in a straight line, but if you veered off course and collected the railings, then either Finn or Will would step in and solve the problem, or gently guide you back into the middle of the paddock.
 

“I have to walk every day, even in the winter,” Bella said again, making sure to get this point across early in her conversations with them. Both Will and Luke were just as likely to stop her walking if there was a spit of rain or dash of snow in the air. “And I like to walk briskly with Sally, so there is no need for either of you to have an army of servants follow me about.”

Will’s smile said ‘of course we wouldn’t do that’. Bella, however, knew better.
 

“However, it’s icy underfoot at the moment so you will need someone to walk with you.”

“Will,” Bella sighed. “I understand and love that you care about my welfare, but really, I can take care of myself and have been doing so for a few months now.”

“You’ve only been gone half a year and I can already see the change in you. In fact, I think I see rather more of your middle sister in you now than is healthy.”

Luke snorted at that, but said nothing further, and even though he did not offer much to the conversation, she was aware of him. Aware of the tension in him that matched her own. She had told him she loved him before entering the clinic, and added that she knew he loved her. The words hung in the air between them, like an invisible bridge that one day soon they both must cross.

“Pain tends to make you go inwards, but now that I am no longer continually suffering, my natural sweet, sunny and assertive nature is making a reappearance.”

“I’m sorry for what you suffered, sweetheart,” Will reached across and took her hand.
 

“But I’m glad that now we have three bossy women to keep us in line,” he added.

“I’m thinking of borrowing Livvy’s cloak and riding out at night, just to experience what she and Phoebe did, now that I can ride again.” Bella burst into peals of laughter as both men paled at her joke.
 

“You’re sense of humor has not improved, I see.” This was muttered from beside her.

“Lord, Bella, don’t even say such a thing in jest,” Will shuddered.

In desperation, her sisters had taken to stealing from carriages, dressed as

Highwaymen, to survive after their father died and left them penniless. It had been a terrifying time for Bella, who, because of her leg, had stayed at home to wait for their return, never certain that they would arrive uninjured, or return at all.

“So tell us of your daily life now,” Will said, settling back on his seat.

They talked during the journey and she answered questions about her stay in the clinic, and Will kept the conversation moving, with only a few words thrown in from Luke. The tension between them slowly built until both were tense and on edge, and Bella had never been more relieved than when, finally, the carriage pulled up at the posting house they would stay at for the night.
 

She rocked backwards and forwards on her toes and heels when she stepped down from the carriage, like she had been taught to do to ease the stiffness in her leg. There was still enough light for her walk before their evening meal.

“I will just walk for a bit, and join you inside shortly.”

“It’s frigid out here, Bella, and the ground is most likely still icy,” Will said, moving to her side. “You’re not walking down that road on your own.”
 

Bella saw the determined look in his eye. She would have to remember that she was not in the clinic anymore and therefore had to consider others when she decided to do something, or be very cunning about it so they were unaware she had gone.

“I know you told us you will walk with Sally, and that is fine in a place that is safe, but here, we know not who may come down that road.” He pointed back along the route they had just followed.

Bella sighed; she’d known one of them would stop her, of course. She’d just hoped to have got out of range before they tried. It was going to take some adjustment on all their parts now she was back with her family. They had protected the lame and wounded Bella, but she was no longer that person. It had taken hard work and pain, and her leg was slowly starting to heal. In that clinic she, along with the help of the staff, had worked on being a stronger and more positive person. She had worked at putting the woman who had constantly stood in the shadows aside, and was determined to continue with her change until she stood alongside her sisters as their equal.
 

“I just need a little walk, Will. A brief stroll, nothing more.” And she needed time alone, time to think about what she would say to Luke if and when he brought up her words.
 

Finn looked around him briefly before he yelled. “Luke! Can you accompany Bella on her walk please?”

Dear God.
 

“No! I mean, that’s all right, Sally will come with me,” Bella said quickly. She wasn’t ready to be alone with him yet.

“And so will Luke, as I need to sort things for tomorrow and our lodgings,” Will said reasonably. She then watched as he unwound the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around hers, muffling her up to her ears.

“Let’s go, then. I don’t have all day and I have things to sort out before we retire for the evening.”

Bella bristled at Luke’s clipped words; she had not asked him to walk with her, and after the strain of the carriage journey, she was in no mood to be spoken to that way. “Don’t be so bloody rude, Luke Fletcher.”

The surprise on his face made Will laugh and pat her shoulder. “It seems more than your leg has changed in the past few months, little sister.” He kissed her cheek briefly before he left to go into the inn. “And I, for one, will enjoy watching the transformation continue,” he threw over his shoulder before disappearing inside.

“What do you mean by speaking in that manner?” Luke glared at her. “You sound like a…a—”
 

“A London street vendor?” Bella asked calmly.

“You’re a lady, and as such should not speak that way.”
 

Bella ignored Luke’s words and struck out, with Sally, down the road. He could come if he wanted, but she would not wait to find out.