“In due time,” Lilac said, then added, “Perhaps they only realized they loved each other a day or so ago.”
Mary raised her head from Rosemary’s shoulder. “They met at a masquerade ball five years ago.”
“They what?” Lilac and Rosemary gasped simultaneously.
Ivy stared daggers at Mary. “Traitor. Eavesdropper. I never told you that.”
“Uncle James did.”
Rosemary closed her book and regarded Ivy as if she were a complete stranger. “Five years ago. I attended that ball, and you never mentioned a word.”
“You do remember what happened to Papa the next day.”
Rosemary slid off the bed. “Have you been . . . seeing him in secret for five years?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Lilac said. “We wouldn’t have been living like paupers if she had. Cover your ears, Walker.”
Ivy shook her head in chagrin. “Don’t bother, Walker. I didn’t have time to tell anybody. The duke swept me off my feet.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Walker said earnestly. “I saw him carry her to his bed when she was bleeding all over the place.”
“That was not a romantic moment,” Ivy said. Although when she thought back on the day of her accident, excluding the shock of what she’d undergone and Elora’s arrival, it occurred to her that she had loved James for bearing her off to his room.
She sat down on the bed, Lilac and Rosemary joining her a moment later. “We knew all along,” Lilac said. “I told you the night he put our dragon back on the door that he had eyes for you.”
“Well, I didn’t know it would go this far,” Rosemary said. “If I had, I’d never have agreed to become a governess myself.”
Ivy turned her head to Rosemary in disbelief. “You’ve done what?”
“I can’t discuss it yet. It’s too distressing.”
Ivy frowned. “Children, go play a game by the fire—but not in the fire.”
“If we’d known you’d end up marrying the duke, Rue wouldn’t have taken a job and neither would Rosemary,” Lilac said with a sigh. “They might have met eligible gentlemen among one of His Grace’s friends.”
“What about you?” Ivy asked curiously.
“I’m waiting for Terence.”
“Still?” Ivy said, biting her lip in concern.
“Yes, still. And I don’t want to hear another word about him after what I went through today.”
“You were quite brave to throw those geraniums,” Rosemary said, curling against her.
“It only made the man angrier.” Lilac stared across the room. “Oliver is quite the marksman. He shot him straight in the heart. I know you didn’t want to see, Rosemary. But I did. Any other man might have shot me.”
“That’s why I didn’t want to take the chance,” Rosemary said quietly. “You and that deranged creature were so close together, I knew I’d miss.”
“I won!” Mary cried from the other room.
There was a knock at the outer door. Walker ran to open it, and a voice announced, “Dinner is served, and His Grace is awaiting your company.”
Chapter 31
The farther that Fenwick dropped behind, the easier it became for Oliver to think clearly again. His master plan had failed. He felt a foolish affection for the manor. He had written some fine lines in that wretched gatehouse—and, what a preposterous thought, but he hoped someone remembered to feed the young dogs tonight. They had gotten loose in the melee today.
For now he had to silence that idiot Ainsley for his bumbling attack on the manor. Who had told the ass about the treasure? Joseph Treadway, obviously. Until Oliver had killed him, Joseph had been one of Oliver’s casual acquaintances. Fortunately they had never been seen together except at an infrequent party or in a gambling hell. And who had told Treadway? The pawnbroker? Elora?
Oliver took no pleasure in the thought of killing another man. Perhaps he could reason with Ainsley, explain to him that the duke would not look kindly upon the accomplice in the attack upon his future sisters-in-law. He didn’t think that Ainsley had recognized him. But one thing was certain—Oliver would be leaving England soon if the duke discovered the truth.
Ivy to become a duchess.
It raised the stakes. It changed the game, and Oliver didn’t like his odds any longer. Whatever fortune lay hidden in Fenwick, and he now doubted its existence, it would not be found before the duke put the premises under his protection.
Oliver despised everything the bastard stood for. But at least in the Duke of Ellsworth the fair ladies of Fenwick had a genuine guardian, whereas Oliver had brought them nothing but woe.