Secret Pleasures (18 page)

Darien followed his sister, making no apologies for looking like a sheep farmer and smelling worse
.
Unfortunately, he kept his
concentration
on his dirty boots
so missed
Ivy’s
attempts to get his attention.

“How can you
even
be in the same room with him, Lily?
”
Darien cut in front of his sister, but instead of violently blocking her entrance, he merely flung open the door to let her in.

Ivy had no choice but to follow and
try to
whisk Melody from sight if at all possible.

“Because our father helped my son with his education, as you well know
.
And he ensured the girls and I were well cared for while Major Fitzgerald was serving his majesty in the colonies
.
Mother’s dying wish was for us all to amend our differences
.
If my husband can attend the dinner tonight, so can you.
”
Mrs. Fitzgerald
marched past Darien.

Near silence greeted Ivy once she stepped
after Darien
into the cottage’s front room
.
She prayed Melody had drifted off and Hannah had laid her abed upstairs
.
The idea of denying her as her own, even for an
instant
, disturbed Ivy beyond reason
.
Ivy had experienced the shock of being discarded by friends
she
had known all
her
life
.
She’d already decided
Melody would not endure that kind of rejection, even for a moment
.

“It’s lovely.
”
Lilian
stepped toward Darien and pinched
her brother’s cheeks
.
“Now I can rest in the comfort of father’s house and not fret that you are shivering with a hole in your roof and broken windows.
”

Ivy glanced at the humble furnishing
s with fresh eyes
.
A couple of chairs by the fire
.
A table and chairs by the front window for reading
.
How silly they must seem
.
Two adults so desperate to recreate what they
’d
lost, they played like newlyweds in a stone house on the outskirts of the moor
.
They could not hide like this forever
.
As accommodating as Darien’s sister was of their illusion, Ivy would be a fool to expect anything but scorn from the earl’s other houseguests.

“So you will
come to
Westhaven tonight?
”
Lilian cast too blinding a smile at Ivy, as if she had heard her thoughts
.
“Dinner is at eight.”

When both she and Darien remained silent,
Lilian grabbed each of their hands and guided them to the center of the room.

“I am so happy to see you two together
.
I hope this means you can finally make peace with father.”

Ivy stiffened
.
She would never forgive that man, much less be in the same room with him without grinding her teeth.

“That will never happen.
”
Darien spoke her thoughts aloud.

“But you are here and you have Ivy
.
I think it’s time to put the past behind us.”

“How can you say that when he’s marrying another woman before my mother is cold in the ground?”

“Mother has been passed well over two years and besides, she is not cold in the ground.
”
Darien’s sister patted her heart
.
“She is here.”

Darien glanced at Ivy
.
His jaw was tight and she finally
guessed
he wanted to speak of Robert Fitzgerald, his nephew and Lily’s son, but held himself back
.
Ivy could only imagine that Robert did not want his mother to know of his relationship with Arianna Maddox.

“If Ivy chooses to subject herself to such low company, then I shall not refuse to escort her
.
Especially if it makes my dear sister happy.”

Ivy was suddenly not sure if she were actually invited
.
Lily and Darien had entered into some sort of strained stare-down
.
Perhaps she had only been compensated to keep Darien subdued in his little cottage
.
After all, every time she entered into polite society, the event ended in disaster
.

“Robert shall be arriving late for dinner
,
but I know he would enjoy becoming reacquainted with Ivy.
”
Lily turned to Ivy
.
“My son mentioned your kindness to him in Cornwall
.
Being a young reverend in an old fishing community can be rather dreary
.
He was most grateful for your contributions to his chapel and the furnishing of his parsonage
.
And I believe he might relish your support this evening, as well.”

“Thank you,
Mrs. Fitzgerald
.
I would be honored
.
I just hope the other guests feel the same
,
”
Ivy said, seeing know reason to pretend otherwise with Darien’s sister.

“How could they not
?
You brighten any setting you care to grace, my love.
”
Darien suddenly burst into motion and escorted his sister to the door
.
“And I expect everyone to toast my engagement.”

“I shall initiate the toast myself.
”
Lily waved at Ivy, clearly pleased
.
“If love is meant to be, it will find a way.”

Darien hustled
his sister
out the door and into her waiting carriage
.
Ivy peeked in the kitchen
,
but only found her uneaten lunch resting on the table
, and no Melody
.
Darien returned, shut the front door and leaned against it
.
“I’m not sure if she was talking about us, herself or her son, but I think you should start preparing for dinner
.
I’m not letting my nephew face that mob alone.”

Ivy nodded
.
Who else understood Robert and Arianna’s misery tonight better than she and Darien?

“I suppose she doesn’t know of her son’s affection for his grandfather’s betrothed?
”
Ivy headed to the stairs hoping to find Melody asleep in her crib.

“She knows
.
Nothing gets past Lily.
”
Darien strolled across the room and grabbed the
staircase’s carved spindles
, staring past them like an inmate.

“I should check on Melody and then prepare for dinner.
I’m not sure what gowns I have pressed.
”
Ivy started up the stairs.

“
Don’t worry
.
While we stood at the carriage,
Hank went around to the kitchen and warned Hannah to take Melody away from the house until my sister left
.
Ivy, t
hank you for agreeing to dinner tonight.”

“I would not desert Robert, either.
”
Ivy skipped back down the steps,
feeling a great
need to
find and
hold her daughter
.
She was not at all sure she approved of Melody being treated like a dog taken out to the yard
.
Ivy really must smuggle Melody out of England
as soon as possible
.

“One more thing
.
I suspect Philip’s killer will be dining with us tonight
.
Or someone who knows the truth
about it
.
I intend to find answers one way or another.”

I
vy shook her head
.
“It should be a lovely evening.”

I have harbored a secret life for far too long.

Ivy sat the furthest from the earl at the long formal dining table
.
Separated by Darien, a dripping candelabra at least a foot tall
plus
ten steaming dishes, she could still hear occasional low grumbles from her nemesis
.
Darien had hardly spoken a word once they’d entered the drawing room to find the only guests were immediate family
.
Ivy’s tight white gown
,
sewn with Bavarian crystals
,
and diamond choker had been an inappropriate choice
.
She didn’t care
.
If she were to be ridiculed, she preferred to do it in style
.
But
,
since most of tonight’s guests were strained family relations, she’d
actually
been
a
welcome distraction.

“So who has the nerve to drive all the way out to the wilds of Devon to witness this debacle?
”
Darien downed his third glass of wine and Ivy wished he would have remained silent
.
A liveried servant in dark-green satin and gold trim that matched the gilded brocade wallpaper
,
floated to Darien and refilled his glass.

“Here, here.
”
Major Randal Fitzgerald, Lily’s husband, lifted his glass for another
toast
.
“Debacle is the only thing to call the myth of blessed matrimony
.
Can’t say I’d go through with it a second time.”

Lilian, who sat at the other end of the table across from her father, glared at her husband.

Major Fitzgerald, Rand, as Ivy had been boisterously instructed to address him, toasted his wife
.
“I never planned to marry at all and then along came
Lilian
Blackmore
.
I was lost forever.”

Lilian’s tight features only softened slightly
.
She lifted her squab fork and knife, delicately slicing a nibble of meat from the tiny bird
.
Lea Fitzgerald, her eldest daughter, who sat to her left and across from Ivy, followed her mother’s every move.

“Major Fitzgerald, may I suggest you find more polite dinner conversation before the other guests arrive.
”
Lilian could not hide her smirk at her husband’s feigned shock at the formal address
.
“There has been enough speculation regarding the Blackmore family over the last decade or so
.
If at all possible, I hope to quiet those rumors before Lea’s introduction to society.”

Lea kept her head down and blushed profusely
.
Ivy guessed the girl to be around
sixteen
or so, bright blue eyes and a few dozen freckles
.
Her emerald green cotton gown competed with her vibrant features and only made her seem a bit more childish, certainly not the effect she wanted.

“That’s exactly what concerns me, my dearest sister
.
Whom exactly did you invite
?
You have poor Lea already trussed up like a Christmas goose.
”
Darien toasted his niece
.
“Not that you don’t look lovely, Lea
.
You’re just too young for the hypocrisy you will undoubtedly be subjected to.”

“I am merely a guest, and as
for
my nearly adult daughter, the invitation was extended to Lea as well
.
She chose that particular gown herself
,
and I agree that she does indeed look lovely.”

“Here, here.
”
Ivy smiled and toasted the blushing girl.

“I hope there shall be some guests my own age,” Lea said in a strong, lyrical voice Ivy had not expected
.
Darien’s niece had done nothing more than nod at their introduction
.
“We don’t socialize much at home.”

“Poor girl will probably be bored out of her mind.
”
The earl took a swig from a glass that was being filled from a different bottle than the rest of them
.
“I told Mrs. Maddox she could invite whomever she chose as long as my additions to the guest list were included.
”
He pointed to Ivy with his fork
.
“
She
being one of them.
”