Love at First Glance (7 page)

           
He nodded and led her over to a spot right in front of the fireplace hearth. “Please have a seat my darling.”

           
She did so as he stoked the fireplace, lighting a fire. He walked over to the bar area and poured them each a glass of champagne.

           
“I don’t normally drink,” Lillian commented.

           
“Nothing between us is normal, my darling Lily. Indulge me.”

           
She took the glass and sipped on the champagne. She finished the first glass and asked for another.

           
Johnathan
obliged. “Lillian. I have to tell you something.”

           
“Anything,” she said as she lay there in front of the fireplace, feeling warm inside and out.

           
“I have to go back to America shortly. But I will be back for you.”

           
Her heart dropped. “So suddenly?”

           
“Well, my love. My trip was always planned. Meeting and falling in love with you was not.”

           
Lillian sat her glass down. “I’m not sure what I should say or do. I want a bit more time with you.”

           
“Time is something no human has enough of. I want more time with you as well. But I must go home for a brief period of time. You see, my parents fund my lifestyle in exchange for me watching out for their homes over here in England.”

           
“Really? So you don’t work. You just travel at leisure and enjoy the fruits of your parents’
labor
?”

           
“Something like that.”

           
Lillian nodded. “Well, okay. If that suits you, who am I to say anything. From one trust fund child to another.”

           
The fire crackled in the hearth. Lillian took the last sip of her champagne and sat the glass down next to her.

           
“Would you ever consider having a travel companion?” She wanted to ask just in case he was willing to say yes.

           
Johnathan
stroked the skin along her waist, his hand gently touching Lillian from the small of her back to the cusp right under her shoulders.

           
“I would love to, but this time wouldn’t be the right time. We’ve just met and I’m not sure if we are at the point where we should be meeting each other’s parents. Are we?”

           
Lillian shook her head. “No. Not yet. You are right. Maybe I was being too forward. We have plenty of time to do that. I should slow down.”

           
Johnathan
swallowed her words with his kisses. “We have been going full speed ahead. I’m not sure we can slow down with what we have.”

           
Those were the words that Lillian wanted to hear.

           
“Besides. If I whisk you off to America, I want to properly ask your father the right way.”

           
He was a man after her own heart.

           
“That would be lovely. Thank you for being such a gentleman.”

           
He kissed her again. “I’m not sure that I can be a gentleman much longer.”

           
Johnathan
undressed her slowly at first, then he became more hurried. He wanted nothing more than to feel her body under his and be inside of her until they became one.

           
This time, Lillian was not as scared. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. She allowed him to undress her and she did the same to him.

           
There were no words necessary between them. The passion between them was unspeakable and all they wanted to do was indulge in one another for the time that they had together.

           
The sound of their kisses and their moans filled the room. There was no other sound except the crackling of the fireplace. They concentrated on each other and making their love last for the moments that they had to share together.

           
Lillian allowed
Johnathan
to enter not only her body, but her entire being. He felt like a slice of heaven and every stroke brought her closer and closer to what she thought was love. She was falling for him more than she knew.

           
Johnathan
brought her to climax, but he didn’t leave her there to go through it on her own. He rode the wave with her and made sure that she felt every bit of the passion that he had for her. She cried out his name and then bit her lip as her body convulsed with the climax. She was not aware that another human being could make her feel so sensational.

           
Johnathan
was a careful and methodical lover. He paid attention to every sound her body made and he responded to her every need without Lillian even knowing that she needed something.

           
She wished that she had more to give him because it seemed that he led their lovemaking. But she knew that she was not experienced and was not able to give him all that he wanted so immediately.

           
Lillian could feel him dig his fingertips into her hips and then he quickened his pace. His body shuddered as hers had a few seconds before.

           
Johnathan
kissed away any of her fears and all of her doubt. She was not ready to leave his side so she snuggled up underneath him and held him close.

           
“I so wish we didn’t have to leave each other. I would love to be with you like this every day.”

           
Johnathan
held her closer. “Someday soon, you will be, my darling.”

           
Lillian stayed there in his arms as long as she could. She would have to return back to normal in an hour and she wasn’t looking forward to it. But she would have to manage without her lover for a while. She wasn’t sure how she would, but she would survive.

Chapter 10

           
Lillian was completely in love. On the train ride home, she could do nothing but think of
Johnathan
Bailey. She craved him in her being and all she wanted was to be near him. She looked forward to the day that he would come back to her and hold her in his arms.

           
It had been a week since she’d visited him in London. Her sisters didn’t notice the change in her because they were busy with their own love lives. She didn’t want to share any of her love life with her mother either. The only other person that knew was Elizabeth and as her maid, Lillian wanted to make sure that she didn’t blur the lines in their relationship too much.

           
She started a diary and began to write down her feelings. She didn’t know what else to do. She hadn’t heard a word from
Johnathan
. Lillian thought that maybe he would write her or send her a telegram, but there had been no correspondence.

           
She resolved that she would just wait it out. There was no way for her to write to him because she didn’t know exactly where he lived in America.

           
Her family met for breakfast every morning and eventually, Lillian became herself again. She began discussing the latest social events with her father and brother as her sisters looked on.

           
“Well, Lily, it’s wonderful to have you back. It’s like you’ve been floating on air the past week or so,” her brother Victor commented.

           
Her father did nothing but peak at her over the top of the newspaper.

           
Lillian sipped her tea. “Yes well, us women are creatures of many temperaments.”

           
They all turned when they saw Charlotte enter the room.

           
“Hello, darling family. It seems to be a wonderful morning. I’m glad all of you are here.”

           
They anticipated what Charlotte had to say.

           
She loved the attention and she smiled proudly. “The social soiree we had a few weeks ago is still the talk of both
Lanchester
and London. Ladies, you will all be so happy to know that the gentlemen who were your escorts spoke the world of each of you. That makes me so happy to know that my girls all have a chance at marrying upstanding young men.”

           
Charlotte was beaming. Their father Daniel continued to flip through the newspaper, seemingly uninterested.

           
Kate and Olivia both began chattering amongst themselves. Lillian knew that they would be ecstatic about this type of thing. Her on the other hand, Cyril
Aimsley
was not the first on her mind.

           
“Well, ladies, we have brunch this afternoon with a few of the ladies from the
Lanchester
society. I will expect that you all will be ready.”

           
A chorus of “Yes, Mother” rang out from all of them.

           
“Very well then.” Charlotte turned to walk out.

           
“Lily, darling. Can I speak with you for a moment?”

           
Kate and Olivia looked at their sister, then their mother, trying to gauge what was going on.

           
“Excuse me.” Lillian rose from her seat and followed her mother out into the corridor.

 
         
“Yes, Mother.”

           
“How did you get along with Cyril
Aimsley
? He’s a nice enough young man.”

           
“Mother, he is a proper gentleman, no doubt. He was great company for the evening.”

           
Charlotte eyed her daughter, trying to see if there was some way that she could tell if she was telling the truth or not.

           
Charlotte crossed her arms. “Well, he spoke very highly of you. But he seems to think that your mind was elsewhere that night. Care to discuss it?”

           
“No not at all, Mother,” Lillian said, almost cutting her mother’s sentence off. “I’m not sure why he thought I was distracted. You know that I don’t care for those types of society balls. You throw an excellent party, but maybe he could tell that my heart just wasn’t into being there that evening.”

           
Charlotte sighed and gently patted her daughter on the shoulder. “My dear, dear Lillian. At some point, you have got to get rid of this notion that some Prince Charming will come riding in an some horse and sweep you off of your feet. It’s preposterous to think that something like that will happen. Love does not exist in that way. Love is something that develops between two rational people. And my dear, all of this daydreaming is simply not rational.”

           
Charlotte spoke softly, trying to comfort her daughter. Lillian was not comforted in any way.

           
“Mother, I appreciate the fact that you would like to look out for my best interest. I understand what you are saying and I love you.” Lillian kissed her mother on the cheek. She knew that it was not worth the conversation with her mother. They both viewed love in different ways and nothing would change either one of their minds.

           
“Very well. I will see you this afternoon for brunch.” Charlotte’s comment was not a question but a demand.

           
“Yes, Mother.”

           
Charlotte walked away, leaving Lillian to throw a mini tantrum on her own.

           
“Since you are out here, I thought I’d show you something.”

           
Lillian turned around to see her brother Victor coming up behind her.

           
“What do you have to show me?”

           
He held out an envelope and handed it to her.

           
“What is this?” she asked, immediately intrigued. It was addressed to her and sent all the way from America.

           
“Oh my goodness.
Johnathan
sent me a telegram!” In her immediate excitement, she spoke
Johnathan’s
name in her brother’s presence.

           
Victor’s eye brow raised.
           
“And who would this
Johnathan
be?”

           
Lillian grabbed her brother by the arm. “Come with me,” she demanded.

           
Victor followed her lead and they walked down the corridor to and empty dressing room.

           
“You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

           
Lillian looked her brother in the eye, letting him know that she was very serious about what she was saying.

           
He laughed. “Okay, I promise.”

           
Lillian held the envelope close to her heart. “Victor, this is not a game. I am serious. No one.”

           
He held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. No one.”

           
Lillian sighed. “I have found love with
Johnathan
Bailey.”

           
Once the words escaped her lips, she could not believe she’d admitted it aloud to her brother.

           
He looked confused. “Well what about Cyril
Aimsley
?”

           
Lillian stamped her foot in frustration. “That is who Mother chose for me. I chose
Johnathan
myself.”
           
“And how did you meet this mysterious
Johnathan
Bailey?”

           
Victor looked at her seriously.

           
“At Mother’s soiree a few weeks ago.”

           
“Are you serious?”

           
The tone in Victor’s voice rose. Lillian put a hand over his mouth to hush him.

           
“Quiet down,” she said in a loud whisper.

           
When she was sure that he was calm, she removed her hand from his mouth.

           
“I would like to trust you with this secret, Brother. Can I do that?”

           
Victor first looked frustrated, then his facial expression softened. “Yes, you can. You know that you can. And especially now. You need someone to look after you while you run off gallivanting around with this person that our family does not know.”

           
“Obviously our families have to know one another. How else would he have been invited to Mother’s ball?”

           
“This may be true,” Victor agreed. “But I’m not sure how I feel about my sister running around in love with a man that none of us have formally met.” When Victor said the words “in love” he stressed them in a mocking tone.

           
“Say what you want, my dear brother. But I would never get in the way of you falling in love with a wonderfully beautiful young woman of your choice. Never.”

           
Victor held on his sister’s arm and pulled her to him so that they were eye to eye.
          

           
“When I saw this telegram addressed to you, I thought you’d lost your mind. You are lucky that I checked the telegrams today. What if this had been delivered to you over breakfast in front of our parents? What would you have done then?”

           
Lillian shrugged. She had no clue what she would have done. She was just happy that it had happened the way that it did.

           
“Well, that didn’t happen now did it?”

           
“No, but do you think that I’ll be intercepting telegrams for you
everyday
now that I know your secret?”

           
Lillian looked down at the ground. “No and I don’t expect you to do that. I will find a way to tell Mother and Father about
Johnathan
. But in my own time, thank you.”

           
“Well, you should figure it out soon. Besides, I don’t know how fond I am of a man that will telegram a woman when he’s never met her family face to face. When does he plan on coming back to England to meet us?”

           
“I’m not sure. He told me that he had to go to America to meet with his parents. They are British, but live in America where they own a chain of drug stores or something like that.”

           
A huge smile came to Lillian’s face at the thought of
Johnathan
. She daydreamed for moment before Victor interrupted her thoughts.

           
“Aren’t you going to open it?” he said, pointing at the envelope.

           
“Yes.”

           
Victor watched as she slid her finger along the edge of the envelope to open it. Lillian unfolded the paper that was inside.

           
Victor watched as she read the memo. Her eyes scanned the paper at least twice before she began gushing with happiness.