Lady In Disguise (The Langley Sisters) (20 page)

“Pardon me, Lord Ryder, but a gentleman and his wife are seeking shelter from the snow, would it be acceptable to you if they shared this parlour while their room is being arranged?”

Will looked at Freddy and Phoebe, who nodded, and then down at Olivia, who had woken as the man entered. He saw the confusion in her eyes as she looked up at him.

“What?” he questioned as the Proprietor went to get the guests.

“How will you explain this… us?” she added, pointing to Phoebe and then herself.

“Don’t worry, Olivia, I shall make the introductions, just follow my lead.”

Why didn’t she trust that smile? Livvy wondered. She felt rumpled and dirty and thoroughly out of sorts, having woken from a short and unfulfilling nap, yet she was too tired to question him further. Let him win this round, tomorrow would be another day and she would tell him exactly how she felt about his high-handed methods again. Smothering another yawn, she tucked a loose curl into the bun at her nape and smoothed down her skirts.

Livvy tried to regain her feet as the parlour door opened but Will simply moved to the back of her chair and placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

“Don’t get up, Olivia, you’re exhausted.”

“Let me go,” she whispered furiously.

She felt both his hands brace her shoulders and then suddenly his face was beside hers as he bent over the back of the chair.

“Be a good girl for once and do as I say.”

I’ll show him good girl
, Livvy fumed. How dare he speak to her as if she were a badly behaved child?
 

“My name is Mr Munford, Lord Ryder,” the man said, walking forward to take Will’s hand, which was thankfully no longer resting on her shoulder. “Please let me thank you for allowing us to share the parlour. As you can imagine, my wife is quite set down by the long journey and now that the snow has begun in earnest, we thought it best to stop for the night and seek shelter and nourishment.”

Mrs Munford may need recuperation but by the size of both her and her husband’s girths, they did not need nourishment. Seated as she was Livvy was able to study the couple undetected as they greeted Lord Ryder. Small and round both spoke in a thick Scottish brogue.

“Allow me to introduce my wife to you.”

Livvy blinked. Had she just misheard Will? Surely he had not said the word wife?

“Please excuse her from rising, she is exhausted after our journey and in her condition, I think we will forgive her if she does not.”

Livvy didn’t look at Phoebe as she coughed loudly; she was too busy glaring at Will.

“Your first?” Mrs Munford said, rushing forward to take Livvy’s hand. “I was quite fatigued when I carried my wee little Fraser.”

Livvy wasn’t sure but she thought she smiled at Mrs Munford and said ‘thank you.’ Climbing to her feet she then sank into a curtsy.
 

“How do you do, Mr Munford, Mrs Munford.”

“You really should stay seated, darling.”

Livvy wondered if the proprietor could lay his hands on boiling oil as only that would satisfy her thirst for revenge at this point. Will had moved to her side and was rubbing circles in the small of her back. She tried to ease herself away yet his large, warm hand just followed.

“This is my wife’s sister, Miss Phoebe Langley, and the gentleman is Mr Frederick Blake.”

Perhaps she could simply shoot him; it was not as if she wasn’t an accurate shot and she could slip into his room while he slept, no one need know until morning.

“Your rooms are ready, Lord Ryder,” the proprietor appeared once more at the door.

“Excellent, my wife and her sister are ready for a rest. Mr Munford, Mrs Munford, if you will excuse me I will escort them upstairs,” he said, bowing before he guided Olivia and Phoebe from the room.
 

Livvy didn’t speak as he urged her up the stairs before him, in fact had anyone addressed her she would probably just have snarled a response. She remained silent as a maid opened the door to the room she would share with Phoebe. In fact only when Will had followed the maid to his room did she exhale… loudly.

“Well that was entertaining,” Phoebe said, throwing their belongings onto the only chair in the small room. She then took off her shoes and fell onto the bed. When Livvy didn’t immediately speak she lifted her head and looked at her.

“Speak, sister, I know you want to vent your spleen.”

Livvy walked to the basin of water left for them on the dressing table. Lowering her face she plunged it straight into the icy water.

“Livvy!” Phoebe giggled as she raised her head, water running in rivulets down the front of her dress. Reaching for the cloth she briskly rubbed it up and down her face and then she made a decision.

“Excuse me, Phoebe, I shall return shortly.”

Leaving the room, Livvy didn’t take the time to change her damp dress she just closed the door with a decisive click and then walked to the first door she came to and knocked.
 

“Are you in there, Lord Ryder?” No one answered so she moved on to the next and did the same. Livvy didn’t stop to think how it would look if a strange man opened the door and found her outside, she was too angry to care. She wanted to find him and tell him exactly what she thought of him having fun at her expense.

“Did you want something, Olivia?”

His handsome head appeared further down the hallway after she had knocked on a further two doors with no success. Taking the few paces it took to reach him she slapped her hand on the wood beside his head and pushed the door wider, making him stumble back several paces. Entering, she then slammed it shut with her heel and advanced on him.

“How dare you!”

Will kept his features expressionless as Olivia approached. She was fuming; her eyes were narrowed, her feathered brows almost meeting in the middle as she scowled at him. For some reason the front of her dress appeared damp, and on closer inspection the hair that framed her face also looked wet.

“Is there a problem, Olivia, something I can help you with?”

He shouldn’t antagonize her further but couldn’t seem to help himself. In fact he wanted her to lose that tight rein she had on herself, he wanted to unleash the girl he once knew that flirted and giggled and punched him in the nose when he deserved it.

“You—you… of course there is a bloody problem!”

To his credit he didn’t wince as she screeched, nor did he mention that fact that she had just cursed.”

“Then tell me and I shall do my best to fix it for you,” he tried to sound reasonable, Olivia didn’t seem to think so and made a growling sound. Christ, it was hard to hold his laughter in the face of her wonderful fury. She couldn’t speak, only make small animal noises as her mouth opened and closed several times. Flashing eyes, flushed cheeks, she breathed deeply and finally got herself under control.

“You are my problem!”

Placing a hand on his chest Will said, “I? How is that possible when I have done everything I can to help you?”

“Help me! How is telling Mr and Mrs Munford that I am your wife and expecting our first child helping me? You… you cad.”

She was quivering with emotion and Will had never wanted a woman in his arms more than Olivia, right here, right now. However he was also aware that if he did so in her current state he would probably loose an eye or sustain some form of injury to his manhood.

“Livvy, be reasonable, I was trying to protect your reputation and saying you were my wife was the only thing I could think of on short notice.”

“Could we not have been your sisters or cousins?”

She had him there.

“But that is not what I’m angry about, Lord Ryder. No, your sins this day are vast and give me many reasons to want to… to hit you with a large, heavy and sharp-edged object, yet it is the fact that you made a game of me that incurs my wraith. It was cruel to say I was with child.”

Hell, she just sniffed. He’d never meant hurt her; it was only to tease her into a reaction, nothing more. Cursing himself as she turned to leave Will reached the door as she did. Placing his hands on the wood above her head he stopped it from opening.
 

“Let me leave.”

“I never meant to hurt you, Livvy, please believe me.”

His front was pressed to her back, his hands and body caging her.

“It was cruel,” she whispered.

“Why was it cruel?”

She shuddered as his breath touched the skin of her neck. Will could smell the sweet essence of her, the scent more tantalizing than the most expensive French perfume.

“I—I may never have a child.”

“Why will you never have a child?” he whispered, the soft skin at the base of her neck drew him, he wanted to stroke it and feel her tremble against his lips.

“I do not intend to wed.”

Lowering his head he brushed his lips just above the neckline of her dress, she gasped but made no effort to pull away. “You will wed, Olivia Langley, no man could resist you.”

“It matters not,” she said her voice ragged. “Wh—what matters is that in saying what you did today, you were making a game of me.”

Will kissed his way along the neckline of her demure dress and felt his head start to reel. The taste and scent of her was pure sin.

“Forgive me. I would sooner cut off my arm than hurt you, yet I seem to make a habit of hurting the people closest to me.”

Livvy knew she shouldn’t turn and face him, her neck tingled from his lips and what she should do is open the door and leave like her mother would have expected. He would let her go if she forced the issue, yet something made her turn. Something in his tone when he had just spoken made her want to see his face. Turning she pressed her back into the doors

Now she wasn’t blinded by anger Livvy could see him clearly. He’d removed his jacket and his necktie was loosened and she could see the smooth skin of his throat. Livvy had the ridiculous urge to lean forward and kiss it as he had her neck. She was caged within his big body, alone in his room just the two of them, his hands braced on either side of her head.

“Your family are no longer hurting, Will.”

“But how long before I hurt them again, Livvy? You know I will, it’s what I’m good at.”

Livvy heard the pain in those words and could see the shadowed depths in his grey eyes. As if of their own violation, her fingers moved to touch his face, trailing the slopes and angles.

“You did what you believed you needed to do, Will, and came back a better man for it. You’re not capable to deliberately hurting anyone.”

Closing his eyes he leant into her fingers.
 

“I am a self-serving bastard, Livvy, and I apologize for the use of that word, yet it best fits the man I am.”

“Was,” she amended. “Best fits the man you were,” Livvy added, trailing her fingers over his chin and down his neck.

He caught them raising them to his lips, slowly kissing each knuckle. “How do you know I am no longer that man? Look how I treated you today. Can you have forgiven me so soon? Do you not remember just minutes ago stalking into my room ready to deliver me to Lucifer himself.”

The sudden intensity in his eyes told her the answer to that question was important to him. She felt each kiss on her hand, each brush of his lips made the fire within her burn brighter.
 

“Y—your humour needs adjusting, my lord, as surely what you find funny I do not. Yet now my anger has fled. I know you meant no malice, although at the time I had wondered if boiling oil would suit my purpose.”

His laugh held little humour. “I hurt you without thought and that is the man I am.”

“No, my lord,” Livvy flattened the palm he now held pressed to his chest and felt the steady beat of his heart beneath. “That man would never have brought me firewood because I hurt my hand, nor tried to avoid the beautiful young ladies of Twoaks. That man would not have taken the time to tell Bella of his travels and taken Major Bruntly to task on my account.”

“Will, Livvy, I like to hear my name on your lips.”

“Did you hear my words, Will?” Livvy slapped her palm against his chest for emphasis.
 

“I heard them.”

“But do you believe them?” she said as he lowered his head. Livvy wanted his answer but when his lips touched hers she forgot to think and began to feel. His lips devoured and captured, urging a response that she could not fight.
 

She felt his hand move to her hips and then he pulled her off the door so he could wrap his arms around her body and press her closer. His chest was hard against hers and made her breasts feel full and sensitive; an ache had taken up residence deep in her stomach and between her thighs. Never had she felt anything so wonderful. Each brush of his lips and touch of his hands was exquisite pleasure. She moaned as his hot breath reached the tops of her breasts. She felt cool air on her skin and realized he had loosened her bodice.
 

“I knew what you had laced and buttoned beneath your clothes would take my breath away,” he rasped.