The Langley Sisters Trilogy Boxed Set (63 page)

“I have never chafed over anything in my life, and I’d thank you not to state otherwise, Ryder. I wasn’t born a gentleman. However, I was born with a sharp intellect, which some of your class believe is reserved for those who live above the stairs with a flock of servants.”

“Still.” His friend’s expression grew solemn. “It is not an easy adjustment, Luke, and the next one, when you take it, will be harder. English men of a certain class don’t like the prospect of change, and you represent it. The new generation of businessmen, the wealthy merchant who will make this country stronger if only the nobility looked further than the end of their noses and saw that.”

“Will, I have been shunned more times than I can count. I know where I stand, and if I choose to take the next step, I know they will never accept me as their equal. However, in my current position as your man of affairs, they have no need to, although I do find it difficult in business dealings that men look to you when it is me who is the more intelligent of the two of us.”

“Those fine clothes have made you delusional, Fletcher.”

They were brothers in every way but birth, he and Will Ryder, and Luke had never met a man he respected more.

“I hate introducing you as my man of affairs when you are so much more.”

He meant it; his best friend hated that they were not equals in the eyes of many. In fact, Luke believed it bothered Will more than him. He had never allowed the difference in their births to cloud their friendship; it was not the same for others, however.
 

When Luke thought about Isabella the difference became insurmountable. Along with his love for her and need to have her in his life was the reality of what she would give up for him. He wanted to marry her, wake with her in his arms, have her belly grow big like Livvy’s with his child, but could he ask her to give up the life she had always longed for? Because there were some who would never accept her if she wed him. She would be shunned, like him, and that would break Luke’s heart.

“Luke, we have never discussed what lies between you and Bella—”

“And as we have arrived at the clinic, now is not the right time, either.” Luke kept his voice calm.
 

“If you wish to talk to me about it—”

“I do not, so I would be grateful if you ceased that line of questioning.”

“Yet I must spill my innards constantly.”

“It is hardly my fault you rattle on like a woman.”

“I’m going to tell Livvy you said that.” Will’s gray eyes twinkled.

“I will deny it to my last breath. Now go and get Isabella and I shall wait with the carriage.”

Will gave him another one of his steady looks, the kind that quelled insubordinates and staff, but Luke just started right back, undeterred.

“I wonder that you still try that with me, Ryder, when you know your looks carry no weight.”

Will shrugged. “I’m hoping one day it will cower you.”

“When have I ever cowered to you?”

“One lives in hope.” Will flicked a hand then exited the carriage, with Luke following.
 

“My toes have been frozen since we crossed the border into Scotland, Luke,” Will stated, stamping his large, booted feet while he slapped his hands together hard. “Lord knows why yours are not the same.”

“I’m not a soft-bellied nobleman like you,” Luke stated, shooting a quick glance at the door of the building before them, but it still remained closed.

Rather than be displeased at his words, Will snorted his amusement. “Had we not been friends for more years than I have fingers to count, I’d take exception to that, Fletcher.”

“Go and get your sister-in-law.” Luke made a motion with his hand.
 

“You look pale, Luke. Is everything all right?” Instead, Will stepped closer to peer into Luke’s eyes.

“Clear off, will you,” he snapped, pushing Will’s shoulder which yielded him nothing.
 

“When you’re surly, you usually have something on your mind. Care to share?”

“No, I don’t. Now go away.”
 

Will chuckled again as he always did when he managed to annoy Luke.
 

Luke wondered how his friend couldn’t see that he was so tense his spine was about to snap. Bella would be here soon. After spending months in this clinic healing, she was about to walk out those doors and he had no idea how she would react to him after what she had said when last they met.
 

What would he say to her? Intent on occupying his mind, he moved to the second carriage that held Will’s valet and would take Bella’s maid on the return journey.

“Everything all right, Bids?”

The driver nodded. “Very good. Thank you, Mr. Fetcher. Bleedin’ freezing, but it’s a beautiful piece of country just the same.”
 

“Everything all right with you too, Sanders?” The valet sniffed a few times before stepping down to stretch his legs.
 

“My head cold is clearing. Thank you, Mr. Fletcher, and I shall be glad of Miss Sally’s company on the return journey.”

Luke nodded, then headed back to the other carriage while shooting another look at the clinic doors. No sign of her yet.

“It’s a pretty day right enough, but bloody chilly. Can see why these Scots have so much hair.”

“What?” Luke pulled his thoughts from Bella long enough to look up at the boy seated above him beside Moses, the driver. “What the hell are you blathering about?”

Jessie wiped his nose on the sleeve of his coat and followed it with a loud sniff. “The Scots, they’re all hairy like, ‘cus it keeps ‘em warm.”

“And the women are lumped in with this generalization too, are they?”

“Weeeeel, there was that innkeeper’s missus.” Jessie’s stories, at best, were loosely related to the truth.
 

“Shut up, you fool,” Moses cut him off with a glare which only made the boy laugh.

He heard the door open then and, suddenly, there she was, Isabella Langley. Looking at his hands briefly to collect himself, Luke inhaled deeply before looking at her again.

She appeared so small, walking beside her large brother-in-law, and Luke noticed at once that while she walked slowly, she hardly limped and had no cane. Dressed in a long, green coat and matching bonnet, she had on leather gloves and sturdy walking boots. Even at a glance, he could see she had lost the fragile air that had haunted her since the carriage accident that had killed her mother and injured her and her father. Her cheeks were flushed with healthy color and the smile on her face was wide and genuine and she looked beautiful. Bella always had, to his eye, but Luke could see the change in her instantly and he was happy for her, pleased that she suffered no longer.
 

However, he also realized in that moment that any hopes of the feelings he held for Isabella Langley waning in the time they had been apart were unfounded. He was still deeply in love with her, although now he knew it would be worse than before. Before, she had never ventured out, never had friends or entered society. But that would no longer be the case, because the vision before him was not the timid little girl he had dropped here months ago.

She carefully navigated the stairs, smiling and laughing with Will. Luke could hear her voice as she questioned him. Even that seemed stronger, less hesitant.

“Hello, Luke.”

She stopped before him and he felt the tension inside him now she was close.
 

“Isabella.” Luke took the hand she held out towards him and squeezed it, needing to touch her, needing to convey how happy he was that she was well. “You look beautiful.”

Her cheeks bloomed as a smile lit her eyes.
 

“Do I?”
 

He nodded, ignoring Will who was watching intently.

“And you, Luke, you look different, too.”

“I have taken Freddy’s position, since he retired.”

“Can we continue this inside? My ears have just gone numb,” Will stated behind them, opening the carriage door; he then hurried them inside.

***

Bella pretended to settle herself on the seat and drew in a deep, steadying breath. Luke Fletcher took the space beside her, with Will across from her, which she was thankful for. Looking at Luke for long periods of time just made her nervous, and dressed as he now was, as a gentleman, in polished hessians, gray breeches, white shirt and black jacket, he was devastatingly handsome. He’d always made her feel that way; her stomach would flutter and she’d say silly things. It was a curse, but one she’d had since realizing how much she loved him.
 

Bella had said what she had to Luke before entering the clinic because she was determined that when she came out, they would settle matters between them. She had spent far too much of her life thinking about or watching him, and she needed to know, once and for all, if he could push aside his birth and hers, so they could begin their lives together.
 

He’d never spoken of his love, but she knew how he felt, because it was there in his eyes when he looked at her, and his hands when he touched her.
 

She had tried to stop loving him, tried to focus on someone else, but it had been impossible. He would simply offer her his hand to help her down from the carriage and her heart would do a silly little dance as she looked into his pale, blue eyes. He would give her that intense, searching look that he seemed to reserve only for her and she would be lost again.
 

Tall and lean, he had thick brown hair and a body that carried not a spare ounce of weight, honed from years of hard work. He’d often carried her when she had been unable to walk, and those moments had been both heaven and hell. Heaven to be in the arms of the man she loved and hell that she could not tell him how she felt.

“So Phoebe, Finn and Livvy await us in Twoaks?” Bella said, determined not to dwell on the past.

“Yes. Phoebe was too sick to travel here and Livvy is too far along to do so comfortably.”

Bella saw the worry on Will’s face.

“I’m not sure why you are here when you are so obviously worried for your wife?” she added, looking at him.

Both Luke and Will laughed, which forced her to look at the man beside him. Laughter made him appear younger.

 
“Livvy would have worked herself into a bloody frenzy had I not come, Bella. She was sure you would be abducted and sold into slavery if Luke and I were not the ones to accompany you back to London.”
 

Bella had noticed that the only thing that really had the ability to unsettle her brother-in-law was Livvy.
 

“And Livvy is due in four or five weeks, Will?” His skin took on a grayish tinge as she spoke.

“Dear Lord, don’t remind me,” he groaned. “She’s staying at Willow Hall, with Freddy and Jenny while we are away. Our house, she says, is too far away from them should she need them, even though my brother promised to call upon her each day, and I have an army of servants there to care for her.”

“She will be fine, Will. Mother had no problems, so I’m sure she will not, either.”
 

“Tell us about your stay here, Bella. There will be plenty of time to discuss the birth of my children in the coming weeks,” Will said.

“It was amazing,” Bella sighed. “More than amazing. It was fantastic, and everything I thought it would be. I needed to stay those extra months, though, as I was really only beginning to see the benefits then.”

“Your sisters cried, of course, when they received your letter.” Will’s words made Bella smile.

“Sally, my maid, has learnt the treatments and will help me to continue with them. Some are still painful, but are getting easier. I must walk every day, rain or sunshine. This is very important, as the muscles must be used and stretched.”

“Stretched?” Luke questioned.

“I lie on the floor and Sally pushes my leg into various torturous positions, and this allows me the movement I now have. She then digs her fingers into the abused muscles and rubs a smelly ointment into them.”

She laughed as Will and Luke grimaced.

“Sounds most unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant? Yes, it is that, Will, but it does not make me cry as it first did when I arrived here.”

“Good God, I’ll have Moses turn this carriage around at once and thrash the entire staff for inflicting such punishment on you.”

Of course Will was joking, but only partially. He and Finn did not just go through the motions of family life like many of their peers; they participated in it fully. They were loud when required, opinionated and loving. It had taken Bella a while to understand what it meant to have two strong-willed brother-in-laws in her life. For so long, it had been just her, Livvy and Phoebe, but now it was rather like learning to live in a paddock. You were fine if you kept out of trouble and walked in a straight line, but if you veered off course and collected the railings, then either Finn or Will would step in and solve the problem, or gently guide you back into the middle of the paddock.