Alex regarded her with contempt. “Don’t make an even bigger fool of yourself, Miss Lawson.”

Swearing, dredging up the foulest language she could think of, Lily watched Raiford ride away. “You won’t have her,” she vowed under her breath. “I swear it on my life. You won’t have her!”

Chapter 3

Upon his arrival at Raiford Park, Alex went to bid good morning to Penelope and her parents. By anyone’s standards, The Lawsons were an odd pair. Lawson was a scholarly man, occupying himself with books of Greek and Latin, closeting himself in a room for days at a time with his texts and having all his meals sent in. The squire had no interest in the outside world. Through sheer carelessness he had badly mismanaged the estate and fortune he had inherited. His wife Totty was an attractive, fluttery woman, all round eyes and bouncing golden curls. She adored society gossip and parties, and had always set her heart on a splendid wedding for her daughter.

Alex could see how the two of them could produce a child like Penelope. Quiet, shy, pretty—Penelope was the best of them combined. As for Lily…there was no accounting for how she had emerged from the Lawson family. Alex didn’t blame them for casting Lily out of their lives. Otherwise there would have been no peace for any of them. He had no doubt that she thrived on conflict, that she would meddle and torment until those around her had been driven insane. Although Lily had left the Middleton estate after their encounter on the course, Alex hadn’t been able to stop brooding about her. He was grimly thankful that she was estranged from her family. With luck he’d never have to abide her presence again.

Happily Totty informed him that the wedding arrangements were progressing nicely. The vicar would be coming to visit later in the afternoon. “Good,” Alex replied. “Inform me when he arrives.”

“Lord Raiford,” Totty said eagerly, gesturing to a place on the sofa between her and Penelope, “won’t you take tea with us?”

Wryly Alex noted that all of a sudden Penelope looked like a small rabbit in the presence of a wolf. He declined the invitation, having no desire to endure Totty’s chatter about flower arrangements and wedding fripperies. “Thank you, but I have business concerns to attend to. I’ll see you at supper.”

“Yes, my lord,” both women murmured, one in disappointment and the other in poorly concealed relief.

Closeting himself in the library, Alex regarded a pile of documents and account books that required his attention. He could have allowed his estate manager to handle most of it. But since Caroline’s death he had taken on more work than was necessary, wanting to escape from the loneliness and the memories. He spent more time in the library than in any other room of the house, enjoying the sense of peace and order to be found there. Books were categorized and grouped together neatly, furniture was carefully arranged. Even the decanters of liquor on the Italian corner cupboard were placed with geometrical precision.

There was not a speck of dust anywhere, not in the entire mansion at Raiford Park. An army of fifty indoor servants saw to that. Another thirty took care of the outside grounds, gardens, and stables. Visitors had always exclaimed with pleasure over the mansion’s domed marble entrance hall and the great hall with its barrel-vaulted ceiling and exquisite plasterwork. The mansion possessed summer and winter parlors, long galleries filled with artwork, a breakfast room, a coffee room, two dining salons, countless sets of bedchambers and dressing rooms, an immense kitchen, a library, a hunting room, and a pair of drawing rooms that were occasionally combined into a massive ballroom.

It was a large household, but Penelope would be capable of managing it. Since early childhood she had been reared to do exactly that. Alex had no doubt that she would be able to take her place as lady of the manor without difficulty. She was an intelligent girl, albeit quiet and docile. She had yet to meet his younger brother Henry, but he was a well-behaved lad, and it was likely they would get along quite well.

The silence in the library was broken by a tiny tap-tap on the door.

“What is it?” Alex asked brusquely.

The door opened a crack, and Penelope’s blonde head appeared. Her overcautious manner annoyed him. For God’s sake, it seemed as if she considered visiting him to be a dangerous undertaking. Was he really so fearsome? He knew his manner was abrupt sometimes, but he doubted he could change even it he wanted to. “Yes?” he demanded. “Come in.”

“My lord,” Penelope said timidly. “I-I wish to know if the hunt was successful? If you found it enjoyable?”

Alex suspected that her mother Totty had sent her to ask. Penelope never sought his company of her own accord. “The hunt was fine,” he said, setting aside the papers on his desk and turning toward her. Penelope shifted nervously, as if his gaze made her uncomfortable. “Something rather interesting happened on the first day.”

A vague expression of interest crossed her face. “Oh, my lord? Was there an accident of some sort? A collision?”

“You could call it that,” he said dryly. “I met your sister.”

Penelope gasped. “Lily was there? Oh, dear…” At a loss for words, she closed her mouth and looked at him helplessly.

“She’s quite extraordinary.” Alex’s tone was far from complimentary.

Penelope nodded and gulped. “There is usually no middle ground with Lily. One either likes her tremendously, or…” She shrugged helplessly.

“Yes,” Alex said sardonically. “I’m of the latter persuasion.”

“Oh.” Penelope’s forehead puckered in a dainty frown. “Of course. Both of you are rather decided in your opinions.”

“That’s a tactful way of putting it.” Alex stared at her closely. It was unnerving to see the echoes of Lily in Penelope’s sweet, gentle face. “We talked about you,” he said abruptly.

Her eyes turned round with apprehension. “My lord, I should make it clear that Lily does not speak for me or the rest of the family.”

“I know that.”

“What was said between you?” she asked timidly.

“Your sister claimed that I must frighten you. Do I?”

Underneath his cool appraisal, the color rushed to her face. “A little, my lord,” she admitted.

Alex found her sweet shyness somewhat irritating. He wondered if she was capable of snapping back at him, if she would ever take him to task when he did something to displease her. As he stood and walked over to her, he saw her flinch involuntarily. Coming to stand next to her, he put his hands on her waist. Penelope bent her head, but Alex was aware of her quickly indrawn breath. Suddenly he couldn’t rid his mind of a disturbing image—picking Lily up from the ground, holding her lithe body in his arms. Although Penelope was taller, more voluptuous than her older sister, she gave the impression of being much softer and smaller.

“Look at me,” Alex said quietly, and Penelope obeyed. He stared into her brown eyes. Exactly like Lily’s. Except these eyes were filled with startled innocence, not dark fire. “There’s no reason to be uneasy. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Yes, my lord,” she whispered.

“Why don’t you call me Alex?” He had asked it of her before, but the use of his name seemed to be difficult for her.

“Oh, I…I couldn’t.”

With great effort, he suppressed his impatience. “Try.”

“Alex,” Penelope murmured.

“Good.” He bent his head and touched her lips with his own. Penelope didn’t move, only brushed his shoulder with her hand. Alex prolonged the kiss, increasing the pressure of his mouth. For the first time he sought more than docile acceptance from her. Her lips remained cool and still beneath his. All at once Alex was puzzled and annoyed to realize that Penelope considered his embrace a duty she had to endure.

Lifting his head, he looked down at her placid face. She looked like a child who had just obediently downed a spoonful of medicine and was suffering the aftertaste. Never in his life had a woman considered kissing him to be a chore! Alex’s tawny brows drew together in a frown. “Dammit, I won’t be tolerated,” he said gruffly.

Penelope stiffened in alarm. “My lord?”

Alex knew he should play the gentleman and treat her with tender respect, but his full-blooded nature demanded a response from her. “Kiss me back,” he commanded, and crushed her against his body.

With a surprised squeak, Penelope twisted away from him and slapped his face.

Not exactly a slap. He would have welcomed a vigorous, hearty slap. This was more like a reproving pat on his cheek. Penelope retreated to the door and regarded him tearfully. “My lord, are you testing me in some manner?” she asked in a wounded voice.

Alex looked at her for a long time, keeping his face expressionless. He knew he was being unreasonable. He should not expect something from her that she was not able or willing to give. Silently he cursed himself, wondering why he was in such a devilish mood. “I beg your pardon.”

Penelope gave him an uncertain nod. “I suppose you are still excited from the hunt. I have heard that men are very affected by the primitive atmosphere of such events.”

He smiled sardonically. “That’s probably it.”

“May I be excused now?”

Wordlessly he waved her out of the room.

Penelope paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder. “My lord, please don’t think badly of Lily. She is an unusual woman, very brave and headstrong. When I was a child, she used to protect me from everyone and everything that frightened me.”

Alex was surprised by Penelope’s little speech. It was rare that he heard Penelope put more than two sentences together. “Was she ever close to either of your parents?”

“Only to our Aunt Sally. Sally was an eccentric in the same way my sister is, always seeking adventure and doing unconventional things. When she passed away a few years ago, she left her entire fortune to Lily.”

So that was how Lily had obtained her means to live. The information hardly improved Alex’s opinion of her. Probably she had deliberately courted the old woman’s favor, and then danced upon the deathbed at the thought of the money she had inherited.

“Why hasn’t she ever married?”

“Lily has always said that marriage is a dreadful institution devised for the benefit of men, not women.” Penelope cleared her throat delicately. “Actually, she hasn’t a very high opinion of men. Although she does seem to enjoy their company…going hunting and shooting and gaming and so forth.”

“And so forth,” Alex repeated sardonically. “Does your sister have any ‘special’ friends?”

The question seemed to perplex Penelope. Although she didn’t quite understand his meaning, she answered readily. “Special? Well…er…Lily keeps company quite often with a man named Derek Craven. She has mentioned him in her letters to me.”

“Craven?” Now the entire sordid picture was clear. Alex’s lip curled with disgust. He himself was a member of Craven’s club. He’d met the proprietor on two occasions. It only made sense that Lily Lawson would choose to associate with such a man, a cockney who was disdainfully known in polite circles as “flash-gentry.” No doubt Lily had the morals of a prostitute, for a “friendship” with Craven could mean nothing else. How could a woman who had been born into a decent family, provided with education and all her material wants, sink into such degradation? Lily had willingly chosen it, every step of the way.

“Lily is merely too high-spirited for the kind of life she was born to,” Penelope said, guessing at his thoughts. “Everything might have been different for her, had she not been jilted all those years ago. The betrayal and humiliation, being abandoned like that…I believe it led her to do many reckless things. At least that is what Mama says.”

“Why hasn’t she—” Alex broke off, looking toward the window. He had been alerted by a sound outside, the grating of carriage wheels upon the graveled drive. “Is your mother expecting callers today?”

Penelope shook her head. “No, my lord. It could be the dressmaker’s assistant, come to do some fittings for my trousseau. But I thought that was tomorrow.”

Alex couldn’t explain why, but he had a feeling…a very bad feeling. His nerves sparked with a sensation of warning. “Let’s see who it is.” He sent the library door swinging open. Striding to the gray-and white-marbled entrance hall with Penelope at his heels, he brushed past the elderly butler, Silvern. “I’ll take care of it,” he said to Silvern, and went to the front door.

Silvern sniffed in disapproval at his lordship’s unorthodox behavior, but did not voice a protest.

A magnificent black and gold carriage with no identifiable crest had come to a stop at the end of the long graveled drive. Penelope came to stand by Alex, shivering in her light gown as the breeze touched her. It was a misty springtime day, cool and fresh, with billowing white clouds overhead. “I don’t recognize the carriage,” she murmured.

A footman dressed in splendid blue and black livery opened the carriage door. Ceremoniously he placed a small rectangular step on the ground for the convenience of the passenger.

Then she emerged.

Alex stood as if turned to stone.

“Lily!” Penelope exclaimed. With a cry of delight she hurried to her sister.

Laughing exuberantly, Lily reached the ground. “Penny!” She flung her arms around Penelope and hugged her, then held her at arm’s length. “My goodness, what an elegant creature you are! Ravishing! It’s been years since I’ve seen you—not since you were little, and now look at you! The most beautiful girl in England.”

“Oh, no, you’re the beautiful one.”

Lily laughed and hugged her again. “How nice, to flatter your poor spinsterish sister.”

“You don’t look at all like a spinster,” Penelope said.

In spite of Alex’s amazement, his emotions rallying to battle-readiness, he had to agree. Lily was beautifully dressed in a dark blue gown and velvet cloak edged with white ermine. Her hair, unconfined by a ribbon, curled prettily around her temples and lay in wisps in front of her dainty ears. It was difficult to believe she was the same outlandish woman who had dressed in raspberry breeches and straddled a horse like a man. Pink-cheeked and smiling, she looked like a well-to-do young wife on a social call. Or an aristocratic courtesan.

Lily saw him as she looked over Penelope’s shoulder. Without shame or even a trace of discomposure, she disentangled herself from her sister and walked up to the circular steps to where he stood. Extending a small hand to him, she smiled impudently. “Straight into the enemy camp,” she murmured. The sight of his thunderous scowl caused her dark eyes to gleam in satisfaction.