Again the Magic (Wallflowers 0.5)(28)

Her younger sister complied immediately. “If Aline says that she is not troubled by McKenna’s presence, then I think we shouldn’t take exception to it either.”

Marcus’s expression did not soften. “I’m still considering asking him to leave.”

“Good Lord, do you know how much gossip that would cause?” Aline asked impatiently. “Why bother asking for my opinion, if you’ve already decided what to do? Just leave it be, will you? I want him to stay.”

She was surprised by the way that her brother and sister both looked at her, as if she had spoken in a foreign language. “What is it?” she asked warily.

“Just now, I saw some of your old spirit,” Marcus said. “It’s a welcome change.”

Aline responded with a wry laugh. “What are you implying, Marcus? That I’ve become timid and spineless?”

“Withdrawn is more like it,” he retorted. “You refuse to accept the attentions of any man except Sandridge—and it’s obvious that nothing will ever come of that.” As Aline spluttered in protest, Marcus turned his attention to Livia. “And you’re no better than Aline,” he said flatly. “It’s been two years since Amberley died, and you might as well have gone to the grave with him. Time to shed the widow’s weeds, Livia, and start living again. Good God, you’re the two prettiest women in Hampshire, and you both live like nuns. I fear I’m going to be saddled with the both of you until I’m bald and toothless.”

Livia gave him an offended glare, while Aline suddenly snickered at the image of her virile brother as a hairless old codger. She went to kiss him affectionately. “We’re exactly what you deserve, you arrogant meddler. Just be thankful that I’m not of a mind to lecture you on your faults, my dear, unmarried thirty-four-year-old brother, whose sole purpose in this life should be to produce an heir for the title—”

“Enough,” he groaned. “I’ve heard that a thousand times from Mother. God knows I don’t need it from you.”

Aline glanced triumphantly at Livia, who had managed a wan smile. “Very well, I’ll desist for now, if you’ll promise to do and say nothing in regard to McKenna.”

Marcus nodded and grumbled, taking his leave.

Holding Livia’s gaze, Aline saw how Marcus’s remarks had troubled her. She smiled reassuringly. “He’s right about one thing,” she said. “You should begin to mix in company again.”

“In the company of men, you mean.”

“Yes. You’re going to fall in love again someday, Livia. You’ll marry some wonderful man, and bear his children, and have the life that Amberley would wish for you.”

“What about you?”

Aline’s smile vanished. “You know why those dreams are no longer possible for me.”

A sigh burst from Livia’s lips. “It’s not fair!”

“No,” Aline agreed softly. “But there you have it—some things are just not meant to be.”

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Livia frowned at the carpeted floor. “Aline, there is something I’ve never said to you—I’ve always been too ashamed. But now that McKenna has returned, and the past is so much in my thoughts, I can’t ignore it any longer.”

“No, Livia,” Aline said gently, sensing what her younger sister was about to say.

A sudden tear slid to the delicate curve of Livia’s chin. “I was the one who told Father about seeing you and McKenna together in the stables, all those years ago. You’ve suspected it, of course, but you’ve never asked. I wish I had kept silent. I’m so sorry that I didn’t. I ruined everything for you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Aline exclaimed, moving forward to hug her. “How could I blame you for that? You were just a child, and…no, don’t cry! It doesn’t matter that you told Father. Nothing could ever have come of my relationship with McKenna. There was no place that we could have gone, nothing that could have been done, that would have allowed us to be together.”

“I’m still sorry.”

Making a soothing noise, Aline patted her slender back. “ ‘Only a fool argues with his fate’…that’s what Father always said, remember?”

“Yes, and it always made him sound like a complete idiot.”

Laughter rose in Aline’s throat. “Perhaps you’re right. McKenna has certainly defied his own fate, hasn’t he?”

Pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve, Livia drew back and blew her nose. “The servants are talking,” she said, her voice muffled in the wad of crumpled cotton. “Apparently Mr. Chamberlain’s butler told James the footman—who told one of the housemaids—that McKenna is called ‘King’ McKenna in New York, and he has a huge mansion on Fifth Avenue, and he is known by everyone on Wall Street.”

Aline smiled crookedly. “From a stable boy to a king. I should have expected no less of him.”

“Aline, what if McKenna falls in love with you again?”

The question caused her to shiver. “He won’t. Believe me, once the flame of a past love affair has been extinguished, there is no way to revive it.”

“What if it was never extinguished?”

“Livia, I assure you that McKenna has not been pining after me for twelve years.”