The Rake and the Recluse REDUX (a time travel romance) (93 page)

“I imagine my nephew has been teaching you to read and write?”

Lilly nodded again, a heavy blush traveling her face.

“Well, we may not be able to have quite as much fun in our lessons, but we will continue nonetheless. And while you are under my protection, it will be my duty to protect you, even from my nephew, so I’m afraid those particular lessons will be suspended for now.”

“As you wish, Your Grace—Auberry,” Lilly said.

“You must be very well versed in proper behavior since you were being groomed to attend our Gideon’s household, correct?”

“For a time.”

“Perfect. That will come in handy when I take you out with me. We won’t endeavor to attend any balls or great functions, but we shall attend tea with acquaintances should we be invited, and we shall take a few turns around the park. This will not be simple for you, my dear. A bit of a trial by fire, I’d say, but as you did exceptionally well being surrounded by my clan, I would guess you’ll fare well regardless of the situation.”

Perry smiled and stood. “Shall we return to the parlor to join the rest of the family?”

Auberry stood and pulled Lilly up from the settee. “We’ll go find the ladies. Chances are the gents are still avoiding our company.” Auberry then turned to Perry. “We’ll also be able to talk more easily without you brooding over your charge.”

Perry cleared his throat. “I would prefer she not be referred to in that manner as I do have three already, to whom I do not have the same intention.”

Auberry smacked his arm. “You may be a rake of the first order, but we are ladies of the highest order and you will remember yourself in our presence,” she said haughtily, her grin sparkling in the dim study.

Perry glanced at Lilly, whose spine straightened and chin rose perceptibly.

“As you wish, Your Grace. I will see you both soon.”

Lilly curtseyed. “Until then, my lord.”

Perry took her hand and placed a kiss across her knuckles, then turned it over, placing a kiss in her palm and a final kiss on the inside of her wrist.

Lilly’s skin tingled and she smiled brilliantly.

“Peregrine Afton Trumbull, you will behave!” Auberry admonished.

He stood straight then nodded to his aunt. “Yes, Your Grace.” Then he turned and walked out of his study to find the men and their spirits.

“Oh, you have done him well, my dear. He is quite thoroughly besotted.”

Lilly smiled, uncertain.

“Make no mistake, hearts are breaking across London and well across England this very night. My nephew is no longer available to the matchmaking mamas.”

They returned to the parlor, to the rest of the Trumbull women.

Lilly watched them carefully, noticing the small actions and demeanors that set them apart from her class, and indeed from their own and one another as well. Quite before she was ready, the door opened and the parlor was flooded with the men of the family, each one finding a place next to a wife or sister as Perry came to stand at her shoulder.

“Well,” Auberry said, “it is late, and my family has an early train to catch. We should be off.” She turned to Lilly. “Gather your things, dear, time to remove to Calder House.”

Lilly’s eyes grew wide, and Perry’s hands clutched her shoulders rather suddenly. “Aunt, I had intended to bring Lilly to Calder House in the morning. I—”

Auberry waved him off. “Peregrine, you have charged me with a duty. It matters not what you intended or what you believed. She is now my responsibility and as such I cannot allow her to remain in your care.”

Perry’s jaw tensed and he walked around the chair Lilly rested in, drawing her to her feet and escorting her from the room silently.

A few moments later, as the family gathered in the entrance, sorting out their capes and mantles, Lilly and Perry descended the steps to the throng. He led her to Auberry.

“You’ll not snub me, sweet boy. As aggravated as you might be with me, you still adore me unquestionably. Say goodbye to your aunt properly,” she said, tilting her cheek to him.

Perry shook his head and fought a smile as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be calling on you early.”

“And you’ll be turned away,” she replied. “We have much to accomplish. You will continue to try, and will be consistently turned down. I’ll allow it, eventually,” she said with a grin.

Perry growled and the group silenced before hearty chuckles caught and rolled throughout the entry. He pulled his hand from her and pointed at each of his male cousins. “I look forward to the day you are to receive such treatment,” he said with a glare, then pointed to the ladies. “And don’t think for one moment you will escape this hawkery. I intend to watch over each one of you, terrifying every suitor who deigns to approach your person.”

The group silenced sufficiently, Auberry patted Perry on the arm. “Well done, nephew, well done. Now, let’s be off.”

He grasped Lilly’s arm as she turned to follow Auberry. He lifted her hand and placed a last kiss in her palm, then closed her fingers over it and released her. She stood mesmerized.

“Tut-tut, Miss Lilly, let’s not have a scene,” Auberry said over her shoulder.

Lilly turned slowly and followed her out.

The next morning the family quit London by rail, set to arrive in Carlisle late that evening, then to proceed to Roxleighshire by carriage the following day.

Perry grimaced at the morning. He readied then watched the maid gather the rest of Lilly’s belongings—checking under the bed for a missing slipper, finding it under the chair. He was going to miss Lilly dreadfully.

Less than an hour after breakfast, the curricle was loaded and he was rumbling through the streets of London to deliver his beloved’s accoutrements to his cousin’s town house. He’d never realized just how far a drive it was to Calder House; he always thought it close, but it was nearly thirty minutes by carriage. That meant at least fifteen minutes by mount.

He jumped to the pavement in front of the beautiful home as footmen rushed about, pulling her trunks from the boot and the roof. He ran up the grand stairway to the portico.

The front door opened to him slowly and Perry nodded impatiently to Albert as he walked through the foyer and swept into the front parlor.

Albert took Perry’s gloves and hat. “Her Grace is in the morning parlor, my lord. She is expecting you.”

The morning parlor was opened up to let in the fresh summer sunshine. Lilly rested on a chaise by one of the French doors which overlooked the park, her smile brighter than the sun. Auberry was with her.

“Sweet Lilly,” Perry said, almost like a benediction as his eyes found her.

“Come, Perry, off with you. I believe Calder and Warrick await you at White’s.”

Perry looked at Auberry and frowned. “I brought Lilly’s things. I thought perhaps—”

“You thought, but no such thing will happen. Make your peace and be off with you now.”

Perry shook his head. Perhaps he should have chosen Fallon for a guardian.

He laughed uncomfortably and kissed Lilly’s hand. Auberry’s polite clearing of her throat stopped him from turning it over. He walked from the room, bowing deeply from the entry before pulling the door closed behind him.

“I thought he would never leave,” Auberry said. “Goodness, that boy dawdles.”

Lilly smiled nervously as she stared at the door.

“What is it?”

“Only that I don’t believe this entire thing is in his best interest,” Lilly said quietly.

“You don’t say?”

Lilly shook her head. “What I asked of him—” Her face warmed and she dropped her gaze to the floor. “Was patently improper. I understand that. I know that, I knew that at the time. But I was so afraid. I had carried this bit of terror with me everywhere I went.”

The duchess took her hand and held it in both of hers.

“You do understand what I asked of him, don’t you? You do understand what it was he agreed to?” Lilly asked without meeting her gaze.

“I understand you had been violently misused, and you requested my nephew to demonstrate the proper way a man should touch a woman.”

Lilly blanched and looked up, surprised the duchess had responded so bluntly.

“Dear Lilly, you have survived a thing no one would ever expect to, and many would wish not to. I believe it admirable that you were brave enough to know that you needed help with the horrid memories in your mind. I understand completely why you would choose my nephew. It is no secret he is well versed in the area of expertise you sought, and considering your history I don’t find it shocking, appalling, inappropriate, or improper. Though, of course, in polite company we should never speak on it.”

“I found it so comforting to have someone to speak with about what happened, and now you. It was difficult with my family—though I know they would do anything for me, I think they felt guilty that they couldn’t protect me, and therefore, I felt guilty about wanting to speak with them. I kept it all inside. The thing is, I know I am in love with him, but I don’t think being with me is the best thing for him. I want him to be accepted, to be comfortable, to continue to do everything he has always done so readily, happily. I think it would be better for him were I to leave. I believe I could. I believe now I could find a nice man to marry me. I wouldn’t scream at his touch, I wouldn’t shy away at his glance, I wouldn’t shudder at the thought of his intimacy.”

Auberry studied her charge closely. “But what you haven’t considered is that such a thing might not be possible. Have you considered that the reason my nephew is able to approach you—intimately—is simply because it is
him
? I don’t believe you understand what has happened here.” Auberry squeezed her hands, then straightened. “Once again you have impressed me, and should you choose to disappear I would be one who could help you with this. But only if you truly decide that’s in his best interest—and at this point, I’m not convinced it is. Maebh told me of your outing to Regent’s Park. I told you last night that it was due to Calder and Maebh’s assurances that I believed you to be a worthy person for our family gathering. What I didn’t tell you was what Maebh explained to me.”

Lilly scarcely remembered the day in the park beyond what had happened between she and Perry; she wasn’t entirely sure what Maebh would have to vouch for.

“My precious niece Maebh feels emotions on a much deeper level than most of us do. She knew you were sweet and innocent the moment she laid eyes on you, and for that she was upset with Perry, because she believed him to be taking advantage of you.”

“I do remember her being quite short of temper with him.”

Auberry nodded. “After they looked for you and he found you, she felt your pain. She felt how deeply you had been hurt and she believed it to have been at his hand.” Auberry held up her hand to stave off an argument. “She realized, in watching him, that it was he who was helping you, with his very presence. She could see in the way he sheltered you, that in fact he was more honorable in his intentions toward you than she understood.”

Lilly stood and walked to the French doors that opened out onto the large front porch of the town house. She breathed deeply of the floral scent carried to her on the breeze as it swept the loose curls back from her face. She turned.

“’Tis true,” she said, “I have never felt such a peace as I feel with him. I have never felt so at ease as I do with him.” She looked down at her hands as she considered. “But that is not to say that he should be required to spend the balance of his life taking care of my upended nerves. He deserves better. He should have a woman who can stand at his side and command his staff, run his household, oversee his family. Someone who will add good blood to his lineage.”

Auberry stood in front of her, stopping the recitation. “For Perry, what he wants and what he needs may just be one and the same. He does not have the same responsibility to the family as his brother has. He does not hold the dukedom, but a mere viscountcy, and from what I’ve already seen here, your blood is rich with history, knowledge, compassion, thought, and so many traits our aristocracy needs infused in it—in abundance.”

Auberry reached out and embraced Lilly. “Nobody is saying this will be an easy transition—” She stood back, holding her shoulders. “God only knows your family will probably disapprove as much as you seem to believe we should. But somehow we will figure this out. Because for my nephews, all of them, finding them love is of the utmost importance to me. I had neither hand nor choice in Gideon’s wild romance, but if there is a way I can help Perry…believe that I will.” The two women were the same height, and as different as they were in appearance and bearing, that small bit of common ground warmed Lilly.

“I hadn’t even considered my family. I suppose I hadn’t thought past the fact that he shouldn’t look to me for his future. My family is devoted to the duke and his household. They have served at Eildon Hill for as long as a Trumbull has held the lands. My father looks to Roxleigh as the most important peer in the country, aside from Her Majesty. Along that vein, I’m not sure how His Grace will look on this. I understand him to be very protective of all those in his purview. Until recently, I was considered such.”