The Lady Plays Her Ace (The Langley Sisters) (18 page)

Until that moment, she had held them at bay believing all would work out in the end, but now…now, she didn’t think that anymore. Oliver Dillinger had liked kissing her and holding her, but only on the proviso he didn’t have to wed her, it seemed.

"Don’t." She lifted a hand as he made to come to her. "I know how you feel about me, Joseph, that I have let you down in every conceivable way."

"Thea, let me speak—"

"But you raised me to be the person who stands before you today, brother. You taught me to be strong and do what I believed I should. Teaching Oliver in the park to ride was simply an act of kindness, and going to the boxing was something I had always longed to do, and it was not until the fighting started that I realized the error of my ways," Thea said, blinking back the tears. "And what happened at the theatre was simply two people who I had believed cared for each other, expressing that caring."

"I'm going to kill you, Joseph, if you're upsetting my little sister!"

Thea turned as she heard the roar and watched Will stomp into the room. He looked from her to Joseph and then back to her, then crossed the room and hauled her into his arms.

"Hello, darling. Tough day?" His words were spoken into the top of her head and she gave up the fight and burst into loud, noisy sobs, clinging to him as if he were the only thing keeping her afloat in this sea of wild uncertainty. "Is he being an arrogant duke again?"

"I-I’m sorry, Will," Thea managed to whisper into his chest. "I know you're disappointed in me, too."

"You have nothing to apologize for and never for one moment believe that there is anything you can do that would make me ashamed of you, Althea Ryder."

He always knew the right words to say to her, this brother.

"You told me you would talk gently to her, try to make her understand the way things would be, but I arrive to find her in this state, Joe. I should give you a thumping," Will growled. "She is still our sister, and I’m sure my crimes were far greater as were a few of yours," Will added, rubbing his hand up and down her spine. "But as we are men, we are excused."

"Will, please—"

Thea heard the sigh in Joe's words.

"No, Joe. We vowed to love this girl with everything we have when our parents died

and support her, no matter the circumstances."

Thea lay against her brother and cried. Her tears were for the young girl she had been, who believed in adventure and love, the one who slipped out at midnight to ride her horse across the fields of her home and stole her brother’s breeches so she could ride astride. She could no longer be that girl. She was to be married to a man who did not love her. Her life would now change completely, and these two men were no longer the ones who she would turn to for guidance and support.

"Oh God, Thea, can you forgive me?" She felt another hand on her head. "Will is right. I was so lost in my responsibilities and the fact that I believed in some way we had let you down that I pushed you away. Forgive me, love?"

She felt one of Will’s arms lift and soon she was being hugged by both her brothers. They stood there silently for a while until Joe eased away and Will released her.

"Dillinger is a good man, Joe, but I understand your fears as they are similar to mine, especially considering someone is trying to murder him." This came from Will as he led her back to the seat across from his brother’s desk and took the one beside her. "Even before I had dealings with him, Luke had told me he was a loyal and honorable man."

"I know." Joe pinched the bridge of his nose. "I had just hoped that if the King was taken then at least a Duke would do for my sister."

Thea managed a smile for her brothers before she rose. "I’m so tired. Do you mind if I leave you two to discuss my fate?" They were so dear to her, these men, the best brothers a sisters could ask for, and to think she would not see them as often as she wished nearly broke her heart.

"Livvy and Henry are here, Thea," Will said as he walked her to the door. "Go and spend some time with them, love," he urged, nudging her out the door.

She found them upstairs in her room. Henry slept in the middle of the bed with his mother, Bella’s oldest sister Olivia, beside him.

The Langley sisters had grown up in the same village as Thea. They had been friends for as long as she could remember, but Olivia, as the oldest—or Livvy as her family and friends called her—had taken on the role of Thea’s eldest sister and confidant when she had required it, and as she had no mother, it was to her and Penny that she would turn now. She was a beautiful woman, with her red gold curls and soft eyes, and seeing her made some of the anxiety inside Thea start to ease slightly.

"Livvy." She walked towards the bed.

"Hello, darling." Livvy got off the bed and hugged her hard, a real hug like her brothers had just given her. One that told her she was not being judged, just loved.

"I-I have made a mess of things, Livvy."

"Well, now, Thea, I’m not so sure on that, my sweet. But why don’t we let Henry sleep and sit by the fire for a while and talk. Firstly, let me tell you that I have met Oliver Dillinger a handful of times and found him to be a good man, Thea. He is fair and kind, and according to Luke, there is none better," Livvy said. "However, I have no idea if that means he will be a good husband to your or not, only that we will take steps to ensure you mold him into one."

"He does not want to marry me, Livvy, but will do so out of honor."

"Did he tell you that, Thea?" Livvy leant forward as she spoke.

"Not in so many words, yet I believed that was how he felt when last I saw him."

"Wait!" Bella burst into the room. "I could not come any sooner as I had errands to run, but I am here now." She hurried across the room to kiss her eldest sister then took a quick peek at her sleeping nephew.

Thea watched, perplexed, as her friend then hurried to her side. Bending, she hugged Thea, and then sat of the arm of her chair.

"In case you are wondering why I have not been around to see you, then let me tell you it is because your odious elder brother would not let me into the house the day following your sudden engagement." Bella then said, "I tried, believe me, even returning home to make Luke accompany me, but Joseph would not let either of us enter the house."

"I did not realize—"

"You thought I had abandoned you, didn’t you?" Bella put and arm around Thea’s shoulders. "Luke went to see Will this morning and told him what had happened, and he said that he would come here and make sure I was allowed to visit you."

She had, in fact, thought herself alone with an angry brother and an equally angry betrothed. But now, now she had Will, Livvy and Bella, and suddenly she could feel the old Thea inside her.

"Luke has gone to see, Oliver," Bella said, and just the mention of his name made something flutter inside Thea, "as he has locked himself away in his house, refusing to speak with anyone but his family."

"It’s all such a mess," Thea said. "And now two lives will be changed forever and I fear Oliver will never forgive me."

"Forgive you?" Bella questioned. "But surely it is not your fault alone that Joseph and a few members of society found you kissing?"

"No, we were both at fault. However, Oliver does not like noblewomen overly, and I think marrying one was not something he ever planned or indeed wanted. In fact, the night we were found he was, in a way, saying goodbye."

"Actually, Thea, I think it is more that he does not believe himself good enough to marry you," Bella said gently. "Ace has done many things, some of them bad, and I think he believes himself unworthy of you."

"Yes, I agree with, Bella," Livvy said. "He is a man with a past both dark and light, Thea, and it will be hard to convince him that he is a suitable husband for you."

"But he is going to be my husband," Thea said.

"Yes, but he does not think he should be, and that is the point here," Bella added. "I married a man without a title, Thea, and Oliver Dillinger appears to me just like Luke, and it will take some work on your part to make him realize you are happy to be married to him."

"How do you know I am happy to marry him?" Thea looked at her friend. She was not even sure she could lay claim to the word happiness, with so much anger and uncertainty still rolling around inside her.

"I watched the way you looked at Oliver Dillinger every time you saw him," Bella added.

Thea thought about that while tea was ordered. It was true that she’d been aware of Oliver Dillinger from the first glance she'd had of him.

"And now we will organize your dress and other items you will need to make your husband happy," Livvy added with a smile. "Penny will be here shortly to assist us."

"What other things?" Thea wrinkled her nose as Bella and Livvy laughed.

"Oh, my darling, listen well now, and soon you will have your big husband eating out of your hand."

Thea hoped Bella was right, because she wanted to be happy with Oliver, very much. In fact she wanted him to love her as much as she was starting to believe she loved him.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Hello, Luke."

Ace heard Daniel greet his friend but he did not lift his head in acknowledgement. He just kept punching the bag he had hung from his roof.

"You’ve been avoiding me, Dillinger."

"Go away, Fletcher." Ace punched the bag hard enough to make the beam that supported its weight groan.

"You’re a grown man, Dillinger. Perhaps now is the time to act like one."

Ace heard his brother whistle softly but he stayed out of the conversation. Wise man.

"A wise man once told me that some people believe that a title defines a man, makes him better than those without one, but that he didn’t believe that. Do you remember who spoke those words to me, Ace?" Luke said, taking off his jacket and handing it to Daniel. "’A man is defined by his actions,’ you said, and yet here you are, angry because you believe you are not worthy of Lady Althea Ryder."

"Go away, Fletcher!" Ace felt his anger boil over. "She’s a duke’s daughter, for pity’s sake and I am a bare-knuckle fighter who worked in a brothel!"

"
Was
a bare-knuckled fighter, and I hadn’t known about the brothel, but would love to hear that story sometime," Luke said, circling him slowly with his fists raised.

"I’ve done things," Ace rasped. "Vicious, mean things just to survive and Thea should not be wed to a man like me. She is a lady."

"And yet she is to wed you," Luke said calmly, still circling him.

"I will leave, go to France and never return and she can marry another." God, just the thought made his chest hurt. He wanted no man touching her but him.

"You would leave us again…your family?"

These words were from Daniel. Softly spoken and filled with pain.

"I—"

"He will not be leaving," Luke said with a mean glint in his eye.

Ace lunged at him, swinging wildly, but Luke stepped aside and landed a blow on his chin. He turned and ran again. Everything he had learned had left his head, he simply wanted to kill someone and Luke was the closest.

"Oh, now, this is too easy," Luke taunted him. "The great Ace. No one will believe I am about to take you down."

"And when you’re finished, I’m stepping in."

Ace turned as the voice reached him, and saw the face of William Ryder before Luke planted a fist in his jaw, making him see stars. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked at the man standing inside the doorway.

When last they had seen each other, the anger on this man's face had matched his brothers, when just an hour before he had asked Ace to call him Will.

"Good afternoon, my lord ."

"Will, Daniel, I believe when last we met I asked you to use my first name and as we are about to become brothers, I think there is even more need for you to do so now."

Ace felt pleased that at least Daniel would receive this man's respect even if he did not.

"I have come to say that if you hurt my sister I will take her from you no matter the scandal or consequences," he said. "She deserves to be loved, Dillinger, by more than her family, and while you are not the man I would have chosen for her, what’s done is done. Therefore, I will be watching over her even though she is to be your wife."

"I know I am not worthy of her," Ace added.

"I never said that, so I would thank you for not putting words into my mouth," William Ryder said. "My sister could marry a footman for all I cared, because unlike my elder brother, I wanted only a man who can see Thea for what she is. Kind, intelligent, but most of all she has a need for adventure, a strong spirit that will not tolerate sitting in a room stitching or doing water colors," he added. "She has a great capacity to love, but also to feel pain, and I wanted only a man who understood her. If I believed you were that man, I would be happy at this moment, but I am not, because my wife told me that you have been cold and distant to Thea since your betrothal. As you are to wed her two days hence, that does not inspire me with confidence.

"My brother is a good man."

Ace closed his eyes as Daniel spoke. His brother was attempting to defend him when he did not deserve such loyalty.