His Lordship's True Lady (True Gentlemen #4)(89)
She had so much to be angry about, and so much to be grateful for.
“His lordship is yet abed,” the maid said, pushing back the window curtains. “Traveling to Scotland and back has nigh worn him out. We’re to wake him on the hour, and later today Miss Daisy will be back with us again.”
The chambermaid was a solid woman with an honest face and a kind smile. She also sounded as if she’d been raised in the north.
“You’re from the staff at Grampion Hall?”
“That I am,” she replied, peering into a vase of irises. “Cumbrian to my bones. Shall I come back to help you dress?”
This good cheer from the staff, neither presuming nor patronizing, was another revelation. “I have only the one—” A pretty blue day dress had been laid out over a chair. “Is that for me?”
“Aye. His lordship thought you might want a change from yesterday’s outfit.”
“I never want to see the dress I wore here again. You may have it to do with as you please.” And didn’t that feel marvelous, to give away something of value? For too many years, Lily had been denied even the pleasure of consigning her old clothing to the maids.
“I am waking up.” Though, when would she see Hessian? He’d been silent on the ride over from Uncle’s town house and parted from Lily with a kiss to her forehead outside her bedroom door. She’d been turned over to the care of the housekeeper, who’d soon had her tucked up in an enormous fluffy bed.
An enormous, fluffy, lonely bed.
The maid took a whiff of the irises. “It’s a lovely day, miss. The bell-pull is in the dressing closet, and if you need anything, I’m Hanford. I’ll wish you good day.”
She bobbed a curtsey and left, closing the door silently.
Lily sipped strong, hot tea and mentally enumerated differences: no sense of being spied on, nobody resenting the need to bring her a bucket of coal, no waking up in a bedroom that would never see morning sunshine, no dreading to leave the limited sanctuary of her chamber, no peeking out the window in hopes of seeing Uncle headed off to his club. No listening—always listening—for his voice or his footsteps.
But no Hessian either, though he doubtless deserved days of rest.
Lily made herself eat a leisurely breakfast, dressed—the bodice buttoned up the front—and did her hair. The vanity was equipped with brushes, combs, a hand mirror, and hairpins, and the slippers Lily found with the dress fit her as if made for her.
A tap on her door suggested she was dawdling, though for very different reasons than she’d dawdled for the past ten years.
“Come in.”
Hessian opened the door, and left it open, taking only two steps into Lily’s room. “Good morning.” He looked tired and impossibly dear, also delectable in his morning attire.
Lily remained at the vanity. “My lord. I owe you enormous thanks.”
“At the risk of disagreeing with a lady, that is utter balderdash. You had to go through a ceremony with the noddypoop, as Lady Rosecroft calls him. How did your name appear on the license, Lily?”
Flirtation, this was not. “As my sister’s name. Is she…?” Lily rose and stood immediately before Hessian. He’s said nothing of Annie the previous night, and Lily hadn’t had the courage to ask. “Tell me the truth, please. Is she dead?”
“Not unless she expired between last evening and this morning. I left her and her spouse at a hotel off Grosvenor Square, where they insisted on staying rather than crowd me here. I do believe they were trying to leave us privacy, or prepare themselves for a difficult encounter with you. I’ve arranged for you to bide with Lady Rosecroft after today.”
The old Lily, the Lily who feared to call attention to herself or risk her uncle’s disapproval, would have thanked Hessian again.
“Am I not welcome here?”
“You are very welcome, but circumstances…” Hessian cradled Lily’s cheek against his palm. “If I were to close this door, you’d be on that bed in the next half minute. I’m a peer of the realm and, more to the point, a gentleman. Your good name must be protected, now more than ever, and certain topics must be resolved between us. We’re to meet your sister in the park in about an hour.”
Meet your sister… They were wonderful words, also unsettling. “Stay with me, Hessian. Don’t abandon me to her company, please. Annie is my sister, but there’s much I don’t understand.”
He dropped his hand. “I was more intent on getting her to London than sorting out ancient history. Then too, her husband is formidably protective. I think you’ll like Mr. Delmar.”
Hessian liked him. Lily took heart from that. She also took a kiss for herself.
“For courage,” she said. “Where is our dear Daisy? I have delighted in watching her blossom, though she missed you terribly and made certain all and sundry knew it.” I missed you terribly too.
Hessian tucked his hands behind his back. “We will rendezvous with her in the park as well, after you and your sister have had a chance to renew your acquaintance. Mrs. Delmar chose that dress for you.”
“This is hers?”
“No. She said you’d spent too long wearing her shoes, and you should never be made to wear her dresses. She’s almost as fierce as you are.”
Lily crossed the room, the better to keep her hands to herself. “Then why leave me to Uncle’s tender mercies for years on end? Why not come back to London, claim her fortune, and claim me as family?”