Miss Goldsleigh's Secret (3 page)

Henry stood and gathered the girl in his arms, tucking the blanket around her. She hung one drowsy arm around his neck and nestled deeper into his chest. With a smile, he thought she smelled infinitely better when he carried her this time than the last.

As he started down the corridor to the family apartments, he realized her eyes were robin’s egg blue and quite stunning, really, with her golden blonde hair.

Chapter Four

When Olivia awoke she opened her eyes to lovely rose-and-gold-striped wallpaper. She extended her toes and gave a leisurely stretch of her legs, the soft silk of the sheets slid against her bare skin, until she reached the coolness of the undisturbed portion of the luxurious cocoon. The bed was more opulent than any she’d slept in before. The featherbed molded around her body and enveloped her in seductive, drowsy slumber. Last evening’s fire was out, and the room had a chill the morning sun peeking through the drapes couldn’t dispel. Olivia snuggled back under the covers and contemplated the new developments in her circumstances.

She seemed to recall Penny’s brother was a marquess or some such lofty member of the peerage, and that would certainly explain the grandiosity of the house in which she found herself. If only she could remember how she got here. And, how she got back here again. This was an alarming trend – her being transported unconsciously from place to place. The door opened, and a young maid entered.

“Good morning,” Olivia called.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, miss.” The girl curtsied. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Olivia smiled at the maid to put her at ease. “I was already awake.”

The girl set a tray on an ottoman, and the aroma of warm chocolate and hot buns set Olivia’s mouth watering. “I’ll get your fire going warm up the room. Then I’ll fetch the mistress.” She set to work at the grate. “She asked to be informed the minute you awoke.”

Remembering that Penny had mentioned an interview with her brother first thing in the morning, Olivia pushed the bedding away and swung her legs over the side of the enormous bed. Only she had no clothes. Not even the nightdress she had on was her own. She possessed nothing. The light of day contrasted the base differences between the conditions in which she found herself and her bare existence of yesterday, and it overwhelmed her. She sat down heavily, the featherbed poofing out around her, and tears leaked from her eyes. One look at the silently weeping lady on the bed sent the maid scurrying from the room.

Seconds later, Penny came through the door, still wearing her dressing gown. “Oh, sweetie.” Penny wrapped her arms around Olivia. “Why are you crying?”

Of course, that greeting pushed Olivia over the knife-edge of control, and she erupted into full-blown sobs. It was quite a few minutes before she was able to hiccup a greeting to her friend. Penny shushed Olivia and brushed her hair from her face.

“Your braid came out,” Penny noted.

“It never stays in.” Olivia sniffled and accepted a handkerchief. “My stepmother always had to help brush it out every morning. I’m sorry for making such a scene.”

“Hush, now.” Penny stroked Olivia’s messy hair.

“You said your brother wanted to see me in the morning, but I don’t have anything to wear. My only dress is gone – even as bad as it was, it was all I had.”

“Oh!” Penny leapt from the bed and disappeared out the door, returning minutes later with a dress in her arms. “I’m sorry, but your dress wasn’t able to be saved. I don’t think anything I have will fit you, but this is my sister Daphne’s. It’ll work until we can get you some dresses of your own.”

Olivia swallowed a lump that threatened to set her off again. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Sweetheart, I’m just happy we are here to help.” Penny used the corner of the expensive bedsheet to dab at Olivia’s wet cheeks. Then suddenly, Penny needed the sheet to wipe her own eyes. “I’m sorry I was such a terrible friend. I heard about your parents, and it’s just awful.”

Olivia raised her head and looked at her friend in disbelief. “You’re not a terrible friend. You brought me here, with my brother. You rescued us. I can’t even begin to think what other horrors might have befallen us if we were still out there. I am so incredibly grateful.” Olivia realized she was being effusive, but truly her gratitude knew no bounds.

“To say I am happy to do it is an understatement. Why didn’t you tell someone you were in such dire straits? Surely there was something someone could have done before things got to the point where you were fainting in the streets.”

“Is that what happened? I couldn’t remember.” It was all such a blur after they fled Mrs. Greene’s boardinghouse with Mr. Fennyman on their heels. How long ago had that been?

A rap on the door brought a maid with a request for their presence in Lord Dalton’s study.

Penny rolled her eyes. “Tell him we’ll be down as soon as we’re dressed and Miss Goldsleigh has eaten.” She handed Olivia a cup of mouthwatering chocolate and helped her with the buttons on the borrowed dress.

Once they were on their way downstairs, Olivia confessed, “I took some apples from your kitchen last night.” Not that she was afraid she’d be accused of stealing…but still.

“Certainly.” Penny nodded. “How long had it been since you’d eaten before that?”

Olivia had to think about it for a moment to be certain. “Two days, I think. Yes, two. I’d had some cheese before that. After our money was stolen.”

“Oh, Olivia,” Penny cried. “Two days! Oh you poor, poor dear.”

Well I lived. Thanks to you.” She squeezed her friend’s hand and continued. “But then I got lost in your hallways. I wandered and wandered, then was so tired I had to lie down. I was only going to rest a minute, except I must have fallen asleep.” She paused as the details of a dream flooded her memory. “I had the most fantastic dream. It seemed very, very real—an angel appeared and carried me back to bed. It was the second time I’ve had that dream. It was the same beautiful man who carried me on the street. That first time I thought I’d died, but I woke up here.”

Penny seemed to smother a smile. “Why did you think he was an angel?”

Olivia’s face blossomed with heat. “Because he was so beautiful, Penny. His face was… I don’t know how to describe it.” She thought back to the vision—a strong face, but at the same time lovely with blue eyes. “More of a Greek god than an angel, I guess. I always thought a god would be scary, but this one wasn’t. He had the gentlest eyes I’ve ever seen. And his hair was like golden honey. He looked just like how you’d think Zeus would look.” She cringed at how much she sounded like a fanciful idiot.

“Sweetie, I think you should prepare yourself. You’re going to see
Zeus
again. Very soon, in fact.”

“What do you mean?”

Penny gave an enigmatic smiled and rapped on a thick doorframe before pushing the door open. “Good morning, Henry.”

She found herself in the same room she’d fallen asleep in the previous night. The man behind the desk lifted his head, and Olivia was struck with a waking vision of her dream god. She was certain, at one time this morning, his hair had been perfectly styled. Now, though, the brown and gold locks were disheveled, and his part was no longer exact. A straight, aristocratic nose offset the sharp planes of his cheeks and a square chin with a slight cleft. Strong brows framed light-colored eyes Olivia realized were ice-blue as she and Penny drew nearer.

The marquess stood from behind the dark wooden desk and held out his hand, giving a curt nod when Penny made formal introductions. “How did you sleep, Miss Goldsleigh? You look much improved from yesterday.” His voice was a soft baritone that fit perfectly with his bearing. There was no mention of finding her on his sofa in the middle of the night.

“Well, thank you, my lord.” Olivia hadn’t been intimidated by any of the brutish men she’d encountered while in rougher parts of London, but something about this well-mannered gentleman set her on edge. Was it the blatant look of curiosity when he gazed at her, or the fact that he held her and Warren’s fate in his hands more surely than any of those men had?

“I’ve spoken with your brother again today in an effort to find out more of your situation…”

Olivia forced herself to breathe. Warren was a smart boy, and she’d have to believe he wouldn’t say anything that could put them in jeopardy, but she couldn’t be sure.

“…two days in the park,” he finished.

“Did he also tell you she hadn’t eaten in two days? Two days, Henry.” Penny emphasized her point with a dramatic hand gesture.

The marquess’s intelligent gaze traveled from Olivia to his sister. “He did. Thank you for your exhortations. The point of this conversation was to discover what has happened to Miss Goldsleigh. If you’d be so kind as to let the lady speak, I’m certain we could learn any number of facts.”

Penny’s eyes narrowed. “I’m merely telling you what I know.”

“Indeed. Miss Goldsleigh, as I was saying.” Olivia actually felt his gaze fall upon her again. “How is it you came to London with no chaperone?”

“I had no other options. Staying at home was untenable.” How she chose to tell this tale was paramount. How much should she say? Was she likely to get sympathy from this gentleman? This peer? She was certain there would be no problem winning over Penny, but her brother was another matter.

Lord Dalton’s eyebrows angled together. “More untenable than fainting in the streets from hunger and exhaustion?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Penny grabbed Olivia’s hand and clutched it to her, Penny’s eyes most earnest. “You can trust us. My brother acts gruff, but I assure you he’ll assist in any way possible.” The look her brother shot her would have cowed anyone else, but Penny merely clucked her tongue at him. “Tell her you’re going to help.”

“I will do what I can, within reason.”

Olivia interrupted Penny before she could launch into a further attack. Such a scene wouldn’t help her cause in any case. “It’s all right, Penny. You’ve done more than I could ever ask. You’ve been unaccountably generous, my lord.”

A ghost of a smile appeared, and the tension around his eyes lessened as if he was making a concerted effort to put her at ease. “As I said, it is my desire to help if I am able. If you can tell me what happened to you, there stands a better chance that I will be able to assist you and your brother.”

What choice did she have? She was certainly out of options. She took a deep breath and looked to the window and the garden beyond. The first lie was always the hardest. She’d simply tell the same lie she’d told everyone else who’d asked. It was a well-practiced fabrication, and she regretted how it rolled off her tongue with such familiarity. “A series of misfortunes, really. After my father and stepmother died, and my father had no heir, the title and everything went to my cousin.” Here she paused. She didn’t want the taste of his name in her mouth. “Reginald.”

“Oh,” Penny said.

The marquess remained silent but attentive.

“Reginald insisted I marry him. I declined—a number of times and most vehemently in fact, but he was persistent. First he cut off my allowance, then refused to allow me to leave the house, thinking I’d be forced to accept out of desperation.” Olivia paused, and Penny gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. “Reginald is a drinker, and very mean. Still, it took him a month to hit me the first time. And then…” Olivia sighed, “…if he’d ruined me, I’d have had no choice but to marry him. I made sure I was never alone with him, but when he was drunk, he never seemed to care if Warren was there or not.”

Penny looked horrified. “What did you do?”

“One night, we ran away,” Olivia answered simply, as if it was nothing at all to escape her tormentor, and sheltered twenty-year old women ran off to the city all the time.

“I see,” the marquess interjected noncommittally. Still, Olivia sensed interest in his unwavering blue gaze.

Penny, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed, rapt. “How?”

Olivia explained their plan – at least what the plan had originally been before the result of the dead man in the kitchen.

“You’re so brave.” Penny wrung her hands. “I can’t even imagine how horrible that was for you.”

“Well, it may have been brave, but it wasn’t the most well-thought-out plan. My father had always told me I would be taken care of financially when he passed, but Reginald said there were no such provisions. We were coming to London to inquire with Father’s solicitor. Unfortunately, we’ve never been able to see him.” She didn’t mention that she
couldn’t
see him and risk the magistrate finding them. “We started out in a nice hotel until I began to fear the money would run out, so we kept moving to less-elegant accommodations, to put it mildly. Our last place was a flophouse in Seven Dials.” Again her friend gasped. Even Lord Dalton raised an eyebrow. “I had thought it would be so easy to find employment in such a big city. I had already sold all my clothes and jewelry to buy food for Warren, and when that money was stolen, we had nowhere to go.”

Penny’s free hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, Olivia! Why didn’t you seek out any of your friends?”

“Indeed. You had no relatives to assist you at all?” The marquess ran a hand through his hair, and a thick curl fell across his eyebrow.

“We would have helped,” Penny insisted.

Olivia smiled with as much sincerity as she possessed. “While you are clearly a greater friend than I ever could have hoped for, what was I to do? Show up on your doorstep and say, ‘Hello. Remember me?’”

“I don’t know,” Penny protested. “But there must have been someone.”

“If I could have thought of someone, anyone, we wouldn’t have been in that horrible place.” Olivia closed her eyes and shuddered at so many unspoken memories. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You’ve been… I can never repay your kindness.”

“It’s all right,” Penny answered sincerely. “I didn’t mean to sound as if I thought you were being irresponsible. Quite the contrary.”

Olivia wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure. I was considering the only way to keep Warren alive was to… Well, I didn’t.”

“What possibility?” Penny asked, but Olivia didn’t answer. “Whatever it was, don’t think of it another second. Now you have us, and there is no way my family will allow you to return to that odious cousin of yours.”

Olivia laughed at her friend’s ferocity. “If nothing else, it feels so good to be clean and rested and safe. If even for a little while until I can figure out another solution.”

Before Penny could further promise her family’s support, the marquess spoke up. “Nonsense. It would make no sense to rush out willy-nilly and endanger yourself further. It would be shortsighted to charge back out there without serious consideration into your future, for both you and your brother. Please accept our hospitality for as long as you need it.”