Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(14)

“Why do you pretend to give a damn?” he sneered. “You haven’t seen your sister or your family in years. And obviously they want nothing to do with you.”

“You know nothing about it!” she said hotly. To think of this monster crushing all the happiness from Penelope’s life…it would make her sister old before her time. Outrage leapt inside her. Why should an ogre like Raiford be allowed to marry Penelope, when someone as dear and gentle as Zachary was in love with her? “You shan’t have Penny,” Lily cried. “I won’t allow it!”

Alex regarded her with contempt. “Don’t make an even bigger fool of yourself, Miss Lawson.”

Swearing, dredging up the foulest language she could think of, Lily watched Raiford ride away. “You won’t have her,” she vowed under her breath. “I swear it on my life. You won’t have her!”

Chapter 3

Upon his arrival at Raiford Park, Alex went to bid good morning to Penelope and her parents. By anyone’s standards, The Lawsons were an odd pair. Lawson was a scholarly man, occupying himself with books of Greek and Latin, closeting himself in a room for days at a time with his texts and having all his meals sent in. The squire had no interest in the outside world. Through sheer carelessness he had badly mismanaged the estate and fortune he had inherited. His wife Totty was an attractive, fluttery woman, all round eyes and bouncing golden curls. She adored society gossip and parties, and had always set her heart on a splendid wedding for her daughter.

Alex could see how the two of them could produce a child like Penelope. Quiet, shy, pretty—Penelope was the best of them combined. As for Lily…there was no accounting for how she had emerged from the Lawson family. Alex didn’t blame them for casting Lily out of their lives. Otherwise there would have been no peace for any of them. He had no doubt that she thrived on conflict, that she would meddle and torment until those around her had been driven insane. Although Lily had left the Middleton estate after their encounter on the course, Alex hadn’t been able to stop brooding about her. He was grimly thankful that she was estranged from her family. With luck he’d never have to abide her presence again.

Happily Totty informed him that the wedding arrangements were progressing nicely. The vicar would be coming to visit later in the afternoon. “Good,” Alex replied. “Inform me when he arrives.”

“Lord Raiford,” Totty said eagerly, gesturing to a place on the sofa between her and Penelope, “won’t you take tea with us?”

Wryly Alex noted that all of a sudden Penelope looked like a small rabbit in the presence of a wolf. He declined the invitation, having no desire to endure Totty’s chatter about flower arrangements and wedding fripperies. “Thank you, but I have business concerns to attend to. I’ll see you at supper.”

“Yes, my lord,” both women murmured, one in disappointment and the other in poorly concealed relief.

Closeting himself in the library, Alex regarded a pile of documents and account books that required his attention. He could have allowed his estate manager to handle most of it. But since Caroline’s death he had taken on more work than was necessary, wanting to escape from the loneliness and the memories. He spent more time in the library than in any other room of the house, enjoying the sense of peace and order to be found there. Books were categorized and grouped together neatly, furniture was carefully arranged. Even the decanters of liquor on the Italian corner cupboard were placed with geometrical precision.

There was not a speck of dust anywhere, not in the entire mansion at Raiford Park. An army of fifty indoor servants saw to that. Another thirty took care of the outside grounds, gardens, and stables. Visitors had always exclaimed with pleasure over the mansion’s domed marble entrance hall and the great hall with its barrel-vaulted ceiling and exquisite plasterwork. The mansion possessed summer and winter parlors, long galleries filled with artwork, a breakfast room, a coffee room, two dining salons, countless sets of bedchambers and dressing rooms, an immense kitchen, a library, a hunting room, and a pair of drawing rooms that were occasionally combined into a massive ballroom.

It was a large household, but Penelope would be capable of managing it. Since early childhood she had been reared to do exactly that. Alex had no doubt that she would be able to take her place as lady of the manor without difficulty. She was an intelligent girl, albeit quiet and docile. She had yet to meet his younger brother Henry, but he was a well-behaved lad, and it was likely they would get along quite well.

The silence in the library was broken by a tiny tap-tap on the door.

“What is it?” Alex asked brusquely.

The door opened a crack, and Penelope’s blonde head appeared. Her overcautious manner annoyed him. For God’s sake, it seemed as if she considered visiting him to be a dangerous undertaking. Was he really so fearsome? He knew his manner was abrupt sometimes, but he doubted he could change even it he wanted to. “Yes?” he demanded. “Come in.”

“My lord,” Penelope said timidly. “I-I wish to know if the hunt was successful? If you found it enjoyable?”

Alex suspected that her mother Totty had sent her to ask. Penelope never sought his company of her own accord. “The hunt was fine,” he said, setting aside the papers on his desk and turning toward her. Penelope shifted nervously, as if his gaze made her uncomfortable. “Something rather interesting happened on the first day.”