The Heiresses (27 page)

Clio and Ro eyed their sister wordlessly. If Ro had felt less than enthusiastic about her dress a moment ago, now she felt downright miserable. Yet again, she was a second-rate version of her more beautiful sister. In front of them, Thalia looked stunning. She was wearing a two-toned dress of rose and blue silk velvet, a large silk flower upon one shoulder. In her hand, she held a matching cape with a white-fox fur collar.

“Isn’t it lovely? I had to have it,” Thalia continued. “What do you think, Ro?” She pushed for an answer.

“I think I’m wondering how on earth you could afford such an outfit.” Ro stared at the dress and cape. Both items had obviously been hideously expensive. “And I know you’ll simply tell me I’m being tedious once more, but I’d like to know where you got the money from.” Ro was becoming more and more suspicious of Thalia’s expenditures. She doubted she was receiving any money from home and knew that even money earned from several newspapers would not pay for such a dress.

“One of my many admirers, of course,” Thalia said with a tight smile, and made her way breezily down the hallway, her dress swinging in her wake. “Oh, and before I forget,” she said as she turned back for just a moment when she reached the stairs, “Venetia and I are holding our own little gathering tomorrow at her town house. Dinner. You’re both invited.”

As Thalia flounced off down the stairs, Ro and Clio stared at each other wordlessly, both surprised to hear of the invitation what with the obvious rift currently between them … and nervous of just what it might entail.

*   *   *

Despite the unflattering shade of her dress, Ro had to admit that the evening was going exceedingly well. She had managed to drag Vincent around the room with her and have Hestia introduce him to all kinds of important people. At last count he had met two dukes, an earl, several politicians and professors, and a smattering of artists. Pleased with herself, Ro wondered how many dukes Mrs. Mitchell had been able to rustle up when Vincent had been invited for tea. None, she was sure of it. With Vincent busy talking animatedly to one of the dukes on the other side of the room, she took a moment to find herself a glass of punch and to simply watch the proceedings. At one point, Thalia caught her eye. She almost had to applaud her beautiful sister, who was unashamedly entertaining the men in the room, starting with the wealthiest and working her way down. As Ro sipped and continued to watch the entertainment before her, Hestia caught her eye as she conversed with someone and gave her niece a small smile, before returning her attention to her companion. Hestia knew she was up to something, Ro was sure of it. Which, of course, she was.

As she polished off her punch, Ro continued to spy upon Vincent as he spoke to this person and that. When she was done, she joined Hestia and Clio (who had been clinging to Hestia’s side all evening), leaving Vincent to his own devices.

When several of the guests had taken their leave and it looked as if several more might also soon do so, Ro excused herself and took a moment in the cool marble surroundings of the entrance hall to gather her thoughts. Yes, the evening had been a success—she had managed to introduce Vincent to all sorts of important people—but now what? Where did she go from here?

“What were you saying?” A voice spoke out from behind her, making Ro jump.

“Oh!” Ro turned, thrilled to see Vincent had noticed her absence and followed her. “I was talking to myself. A silly habit of mine.”

“I don’t think it’s that silly. I know I talk to myself all the time.” Vincent glanced around the hallway. “Is that the library?” He pointed to the closed door across the hall.

Ro nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Is there anyone in there?”

“I don’t think so. At least, there shouldn’t be…,” Ro replied and then, before she knew what was happening, Vincent had grabbed her hand, led her across the hall, and they were in the library itself, with the door shut behind them and Ro leaning against it.

“You,” Vincent told her, his face suddenly close to hers, his breath warm and smelling of wine, “are amazing. That you would do this for me—I’m … honored. Especially after…”

“We don’t need to talk about that,” Ro said quickly. “It’s as I told you in the letter I sent you the other day. I understand the need to research, to better one’s knowledge…”

“You really are amazing,” Vincent told her again, stepping in closer toward her. He slid his hand down the door and placed it on the nape of her neck, where he toyed with some strands of her hair. “Amazing,” he repeated as his lips moved to hers. Once again, Ro knew she should resist and, once again, she did nothing of the sort. Instead, she allowed herself to capture Vincent’s lips in hers and be engulfed in his deliciousness.

Ro quickly forgot who or where she was as she and Vincent explored each other’s mouths and bodies. More daring this time, she found her own hands moving over Vincent, pulling him closer toward her, kissing him even more deeply.

As the minutes passed, the pair’s embrace became fiercer and more passionate than ever before. Vincent’s body thrust into Ro’s and she responded teasingly, pushing her own hips into his. When Vincent’s hand finally found its way under the beaded neckline of her dress and then beneath her lace bandeau, in no way did she tell him to stop. And when he cupped her bare breast, she murmured only delirious noises of happiness, silencing the voices in her head that were telling her she would surely be caught.

It was just as Ro was beginning to hazily wonder what on earth might happen next, that footsteps sounded in the hallway, close by. The footsteps stopped directly behind the door Vincent and Ro were leaning against and the two immediately halted, waiting for the unwanted rattle of the doorknob. There was a pause, as if the owner were looking for something, or someone; then he or she took off once more, leaving Vincent and Ro, even more breathless than they had been seconds ago, upon each other.

They stared at each other in abject horror for a moment or two, before laughing, Ro bringing her hand up to cover her mouth lest she laugh too loudly, giving them away. After a few more seconds had passed, Ro fancied she heard the person ascending the main staircase.

“For a moment there I considered praying that it was Thalia.” Ro breathed a sigh of relief.

But Vincent laughed again. “Are you sure? If what we saw at the castle is anything to go by, she might have wanted to join us.”

“True,” Ro replied. “Though we’re not entirely speaking at the moment. And then there’s also the fact that I don’t feel much like sharing.” She grabbed at Vincent’s jacket, bringing him back down to her face and kissing him gently. Vincent seemed willing, but pulled away again shortly.

“Speaking of Thalia.” He looked slightly confused. “I have a question I wanted to ask you about her. I picked up one of the more gossip-laden newspapers the other day in a tearoom and happened upon her picture. I didn’t realize she had a different surname. As, obviously, does your other sister—the dark-haired one—who I was introduced to before. And yet your aunt mentioned you are triplets.”

Ro gave a silent gulp and tried very hard to read Vincent’s expression. Where was this going?

In front of Ro, Vincent moved his arm up the door resting it above her. “When you came to see me at the university, it wasn’t to ask about puppies, was it?”

Ro’s heartbeat quickened for all the wrong reasons. “No…,” she replied slowly, forcing herself to think fast. “It’s a … matter that’s being sorted at present. I can’t really say anything more. Not right now. But I will be able to soon—I assure you,” she added. Ro hesitated, wondering how much it was right to reveal. “There are a number of small issues to be sorted out, but I hope to be able to use my title and gain my inheritance shortly. It’s … quite a large sum, I’m led to believe.”

“That sounds awfully difficult for you.” Vincent paused, before frowning slightly. “I do hope it all works out.”

“As do I.” Ro breathed a sigh of relief at Vincent’s response. She considered it a bonus that he had still come this evening after learning that not everything added up where Ro’s family was concerned. Ro opened her mouth to say something else, but quieted when she heard footsteps running back downstairs once more.

“Ro?” a voice called out hesitantly, from the bottom of the stairs. Ro knew immediately it was Clio.

“I’d better go,” Vincent whispered and, in the half dark, Ro nodded, gesturing toward the opposite end of the room and another door. Vincent nodded, silently, and paused for only one more moment to kiss Ro’s fingers, still interlaced with his own, which he then released before departing.

After Ro was sure he was gone, she located the light switch and turned the lights on. She smoothed her hair with both her hands, then hesitantly opened the door. Clio was crossing the hallway.

“Oh! There you are!” Clio turned on hearing the door open.

“I was feeling a little overwhelmed,” Ro said. She smiled slightly, thinking this was, at least, true. And she hoped she would feel overwhelmed once again by Vincent’s touch very, very soon.

“There’s a problem,” Clio continued and it was only now that Ro realized Clio looked anxious—her hands clenched together nervously. She glanced upward now, toward the floor above. “It’s Thalia’s brother, James. He arrived uninvited and he and Thalia are in the morning room. They’re fighting about something. I’m not sure what, but they’re getting louder by the minute.”

*   *   *

In the morning room, Thalia shrugged carelessly at her brother. “What do you want me to say? Yes, I have appeared in the newspaper. Yes, I have changed my name. And what of it?”

James, who had refused to sit down, had been pacing the room ever since Thalia had dragged him up the stairs into it. Unfortunately, the several guests who still remained had already heard a good deal of their argument. All that good work she had done on the duke and the earl who had taken her fancy was now wasted. She was furious.

“What of it? What of it?!” James spluttered. “Is that how you repay my family for the years you spent under our roof?”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, James.” Thalia eyed him distastefully. “You needn’t be so high and mighty about it. You took off five minutes after you were done with Eton and Oxford. And let’s not pretend for a minute that your parents took me in out of the goodness of their own hearts.”

“And what would you know about that?” James eyed her from the other side of the room.

“Obviously less than you, but the more I learn about my real father, the more I can guess. Your father obviously owed him a favor of some sort, or was in debt to him. I can’t say I really care what it was. I suppose it related to money in some way, because your father’s never really been very good with money, has he?”

James stalked across the room to Thalia, who stared him straight in the eye and reminded herself not to flinch in the slightest way. The Haigh Parkers were like dogs. They could smell fear a mile off. “What?” Thalia continued, perching on the edge of a sofa now. “You can hardly deny it.”

“None of us can believe the things we’ve been reading in the newspaper. I’ve been sent to tell you to come home, or to never come back at all. If you continue this wanton behavior, the gates of Lintern Park will be closed to you forever.”

Thalia simply laughed at this. “That’s the best news I think I’ve ever had.”

James paused for a moment. “You make me sick,” he snarled. “You always have.”

Thalia stood up now. “Well, then. That makes two of us who feel that way, because you make me sick, too. If you expect me to thank you—or your revolting family—for anything, you will be a long time waiting. I spent my childhood doing nothing but roaming that dilapidated house like a ghost, waiting for the day when I might marry and leave. Though I have no idea how I was supposed to do that, considering we never went anywhere and rarely had visitors.”

“It seems you’re making up for it now.” James gestured toward one of the newspapers that he had brought with him, which he had flung on an armchair.

“I certainly am,” Thalia answered him. “But I’m not finished with our younger years yet. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? In the hope of remembering why I might not fancy returning.” Thalia started to count off on her fingers. “There was the time Hugh pushed me from the front gates and I broke my arm. Then there was the time you held my head under water in the lake so long that I fainted and almost drowned. There was the time you burned the hair from my favorite doll…”

In front of her, James smirked. “All normal, healthy things that siblings do.”

Thalia ignored him. “There were all the times you pushed off to boarding school or the university and never once defended my need for an education. Oh, and then there was the time you thought you could invite your friends into my bed to do with me as they pleased.”

James lost his smirk. “You’ve always been prone to exaggeration, Thalia.”

With a steely glare, Thalia stared at James to try and ascertain how much he knew. She had never been sure he knew of the entire situation with the friend of his, whom she had stabbed. Had his parents ever told him the whole story? With a barely concealed gulp, she pushed the memory from her mind, as she always did when it arose. This had proved difficult over the past few days. Being grabbed and hurled into the backseat of that car had caused the memories from that time to come flooding back. Now she took the two steps over that she needed in order to be in James’s face. He was not much taller than she, and she was able to stare him almost dead in the eye. “As I said, you make me sick and I never want to see your spineless father, your weak-minded mother, or you ever again. And good luck to poor little Albert, for he will need it. Now get out.
GET OUT
!” she screamed. In the next room, where Thalia had shut him in, knowing he would cause a fuss, Haggis McTavish began to bark loudly.

James took a step back. He stared at her as if she were insane. “You’re mad. You always have been. Mad like your mother and your aunt, I’d say.”

“Oh, James.” Thalia shook her head wearily. “I wouldn’t go pointing fingers where mad parents are concerned. All I want is to never see any of you ever again. Now, what was that I said before? That’s it,
GET OUT
!” she screamed once more.
“GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!”