Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(26)

“Oh, I…” Penelope looked at Zachary’s serious, handsome face and blushed with confusion. “I don’t think that would be proper.”

“Please,” Zachary entreated. “It would be my great pleasure.”

“But…unchaperoned…”

“Come, we all know Zach’s the perfect gentleman,” Lily said. “And I will keep my eyes on the two of you the entire time. I’ll chaperone from a distance. Of course, if you don’t wish to walk, Penny, I would be delighted for you to sit here with me and admire the view from the carriage.”

Faced with the decision to walk unchaperoned through the meadow with the man she loved or sit in the carriage with her sister, Penelope bit her lower lip and frowned. Temptation won out. She gave Zachary a small smile. “Perhaps just a short walk.”

“We’ll return the very moment you desire,” Zachary replied, and leapt eagerly from the carriage.

Lily watched in fond amusement as Zachary helped Penny to the ground and the two began a slow trek across the meadow. The two of them were perfect for each other. Zachary was an honorable young man, strong enough to protect her, yet boyish enough that he would never intimidate her. And Penny was exactly the sweet, innocent sort of girl that he needed.

Putting her slippered feet up on the velvet-upholstered seat, Lily reached for the basket of fruit and biscuits they had brought. She bit into a strawberry and tossed the green stem over the side of the carriage. Untying her bonnet strings, she let the sun shine on her face, and reached for another strawberry.

Once, long ago, she and Giuseppe had partaken of a picnic lunch in Italy, reclining in a meadow very much like this one. It had been in the days just before they had become lovers. At the time Lily had thought herself to be quite sophisticated. It had been only later that she realized how stupidly naive she had been…

“The country air is splendid,” she had declared, leaning her bare elbows on a blanket and biting into a buttery, ripe pear. “Everything tastes better out here!”

“So you tire of the jaded pleasures of the city, amore mio ?” Giuseppe’s beautiful eyes, long-lashed and liquid black, regarded her with sensuous warmth.

“Society is as much a bore here as it is in England,” Lily said reflectively, staring at the hot green grass. “Everyone striving to be witty and sought-after, everyone talking and no one listening…”

“I listen, carissima. I listen to evert’ing you say.”

Lily turned and smiled at him, resting her weight on her elbow. “You do, don’t you? Why is that, Giuseppe?”

“I am in love with you,” he said passionately.

She couldn’t help laughing at him. “You’re in love with every woman.”

“Is that wrong? In England, per’aps. Not in Italy. I have special love to give every woman. Special love for you.” He plucked a succulent grape and held it to her lips, while his eyes bore into hers.

Flattered, feeling her heart beat faster, Lily opened her mouth. She took the grape between her teeth and smiled at him as she chewed. No man had ever pursued her with such ardent gentleness. There were impossible promises in his gaze, promises of tenderness, pleasure, desire; and while her mind refused to believe them, her heart desperately wanted to. She had been lonely for such a long time. And she wanted to know about the mystery that everyone else seemed to take for granted.

“Lily, my beautiful little English girl,” Giuseppe murmured. “I can make you ’appy. So very ’appy, bella.”

“You shouldn’t say that.” She looked away from him, trying to hide her flushed cheeks. “No one can promise such a thing.”

“ Perchè no? Let me try, cara. Beautiful Lily, always with the sad smile, I make it all better.” Slowly he bent to kiss her. The touch of his lips was warm, pleasant. It was in that moment Lily had decided that he would make a woman of her. She would give herself to him. After all, no one would expect or believe that she was a virgin. Her innocence mattered to no one.

Looking back now, Lily had no idea why she had thought of men and love as such an alluring mystery. She had paid for her mistake with Giuseppe a thousand times over, and she would continue to pay the price for her sins. Sighing, she watched her sister walk with Zachary. They were not holding hands, but there was an air of intimacy about them. He’s the kind of man who’ll never betray you, Penny, she thought. And that, believe me, is a rarity.

After Zachary had taken his leave, Penelope was radiant. However, something changed in the hours afterward. During supper the sparkle was gone from her eyes, and she was pale and subdued. Lily wondered at her thoughts and feelings, but they had no opportunity to talk until late evening, when they were preparing for bed.

“Penny,” she said, unhooking the back of her sister’s gown, “what is the matter? You’ve been so quiet all afternoon, and you barely touched your supper.”

Penelope walked to the vanity table and pulled the pins from her hair until a golden cascade fell to her waist. She looked at Lily, her gaze shadowed with misery. “I know what you’re been trying to do. But you must not arrange any further meetings between Zachary and me. It can lead to nothing, and it is wrong!”

“Are you sorry for having been with him this afternoon?” Lily asked contritely. “I placed you in an awkward position, didn’t I? Forgive me—”