She turned to the remaining gentlemen. “Forgive me. With the unreproachable quality of the remainder of my guests, I’m certain that awkwardness won’t be repeated.”
Several of the men sat straighter at her praise.
Lily looked around the grouping and gave them her very best smile. “Now, I fear I’m about to be quite controversial, but I must declare that I thought the horses in Paris to be just as high a quality as any we have here.”
There was a collective groan amongst several of the gentlemen, and one of them said, “Please don’t get Lord Porter started on the Auvergnes! We’ll be here till midnight.”
“Now that you mention it…” Lord Porter said, leaning forward eagerly.
Lily laughed.
CHAPTER 14-LILY
Lily still felt somewhat bewildered as to why Bradford was occupying her parlor so consistently, though she’d stopped fearing that he would reveal her secret in some spectacular fashion to the other visitors. After all, he’d promised not to.
However, it didn’t help that she couldn’t precisely remember the entirety of their conversation from the other day. Bits and pieces of it swirled in her mind and buzzed around her head like flighty mosquitos, then darted away before she could fully organize what exactly had been said.
The sum of it—or so she thought she remembered—was that Bradford wanted to get to know Lily well enough to know what she’d lied about when she’d been his governess. She supposed that was fair enough—odd, but fair. It was a small price to pay, considering what he could have demanded.
The part that concerned her was when he’d admitted he wanted restitution. If he wanted money, she had no doubt that her brother would pay him. However, if that were his goal, certainly he would have met with William instead of her. She doubted her pin money would be enough to cover such a thing.
Lily vacillated between thinking he was there solely for his own amusement—though that theory was easily discarded, as he’d never leave Rebecca behind on a whim—or that he meant to somehow use the knowledge he had against her for his own gain.
That was a frightening thought that nipped at her heels every night as she tried to fall asleep. And every night she determined that she would not look for him to arrive, that if he smiled at her, she wouldnotreturn the sentiment, and that she would cease to find him amusing, witty, or kind. It was a promise she couldn’t seem to keep.
Over the next week, Lily did her best to ignore him, but it was impossible—impossible! What with him looking the way he did, and smelling the way he smelled—she’d never found the faint traces of a cedar-lined closet so fascinating, but she thought his must be a rare kind of closet.
She came very close to asking William for a new one of her own. Perhaps if her clothes smelled the same as Bradford’s, she’d soon get used to the scent, and she wouldn’t be nearly as affected when he sat next to her.
Lily also found herself inexplicably irritated at the other gentlemen who visited—even those who were kind and genteel. Her parlor was so full of visitors, she and Bradford had barely managed to speak five sentences to one another. She grew anxious to have Bradford alone so that he might ask his questions and be satisfied. Besides, she wanted the opportunity to ask him about Rebecca.
So several mornings later, Lily gratefully accepted Bradford’s invitation to walk with him. The park where they met was one of the most fashionable, but it was not the typical time for promenade. They had come so early that hints of mist still lingered in the recesses of the lawn and hung above the far pond.
In the distance, a distinguished-looking elderly gentlemen strode through the greenery with purpose, disappearing into astand of trees along the path. Lily guessed that his physician had recommended the exercise. Other than him, the only other occupant of the park was Mabel, who trailed at an appropriate yet discreet distance.
Bradford looked very fine today in a deep-brown coat and black pants. She found herself continually surprised at how well he appeared to have taken to city life—he looked every inch the elegant gentlemen.
Not that he had appeared less so in Northumberland, but there he’d loosened his cravat or rolled up his shirtsleeves later in the day. His boots had been of quality make but much more broken in than the perfectly shined ones he wore now.
She couldn’t decide which version of him she preferred. She batted the odd thought away—her opinion of him hardly mattered. Lily took a deep breath to settle herself; the loops of fine braided trim on her walking coat rose with the motion.
For many moments, the only sound was the crunching of their footsteps in the pea gravel on the path. For all that she typically admired Bradford’s patience, this morning Lily wished he’d get on with it already. Finally, she would have her answers, and he would have his. This entire matter would be settled and he could?—
What?she asked herself.What will he do once he has satisfied his curiosity?
A deep pang of something close to regret opened within her. Lily shook her head, chastizing herself for the ridiculous emotion. This issue with Bradford was a distraction from her Season, nothing more.
Hadn’t the previous week proven as much? He’d scared off several of her suitors—granted, those gentlemen hadn’t been particularly welcome in the first place, as far as Lily was concerned. But even so, she was so distracted by Bradford’s very presence that she could barely pay more than passing attentionto the suitors who’d come to visit. Therealsuitors, she reminded herself.
“What are you thinking of, Lily?” Bradford asked.
Lily startled and looked up into his deep brown eyes. “I was just wondering why you’re really here.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I’ve already told you—I came to London for you. I came to find out the truth for myself.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand. You know my true name now, my identity. Is that not enough?”
“It isn’t.” He paused abruptly in the pathway and turned toward her; she had no choice but to stop, lest she bump into him. “I want to know who you trulyare—the truth of who lived in the adjoining room to my daughter all that time.”
