AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Now, Huntley!" the duke's voice thundered, bringing Leah back to the present moment and the urgent situation at hand.
"Come, Miss," the butler addressed Leah with respect as he approached her, gesturing for her to turn around and head out of the mansion. The servants did not need to be told twice.
The butler spread his arms, like a mother bird guiding her chicks out of the nest and out into the vast world beyond. As if in a trance, she did as she was told, losing the duke from sight of the duke, as he headed in the direction where the smoke was thickest.
A few moments later, she was relieved to breathe in the cool air of the night outside. To her shock, she realized that the smoke signals had lured many of their neighbors out to see what was happening. She tried to cover her chest with her hands, but it was to no avail. Anyone who looked in her direction could see that she was wearing a nightgown. Worst of all, she was standing in the garden of the mansion that was not her home at all.
When the front door burst open, with the duke and another lady running out, Leah could not help but feel relieved. No one was hurt. At least there was that consolation. As for the mansion... she lifted her gaze and noticed that there was less smoke as well.
"We found the source of the fire," the duke announced, pressing his hands to his hips, breathing heavily. His face was darkened by soot and smoke. His hair was disheveled, but even in this state of disarray, Leah could not deny that he was more handsome than she remembered him to be.
"We managed to put it out," he continued, coughing slightly, pressing his hands to his lips. "The damage to the mansion is minimal, thankfully."
Once again, Leah felt relieved. No one was hurt. The mansion was saved. But... how did that fire come to be? And how did she end up here in the first place? The questions to the first mystery of this night came back to haunt her. Unfortunately, that would not be the only thing that would end up haunting her, because when she turned to the crowd which had gathered in front of the mansion, she noticed a pair of familiar eyes, staring at her.
"Leah Gillet!" His voice roared through the darkness, like the voice of an ancient god, ready to wreak havoc on a puny mortal who has wronged him. "What is the meaning of this!?"
CHAPTER2
This evening was a nightmare, one Edward Price had no idea how to wake up from. It seemed that it simply kept on going, one painful minute after another, with each of them bringing new means of torture. The newest one was the addition of the lady's father, who seemed to be furious at her.
"What on Earth are you doing here!?" the earl demanded to know.
To be quite honest, that was the same question that Edward himself had been meaning to ask her from the moment he realized that she had woke up next to him, in his own chamber, in his own bed. But the smoke redirected his attention to a more pressing matter. Now, her mysterious presence was plaguing him once more and he knew that he would need to solve this puzzling mystery.
Edward's attention turned to the lady. Only now did he recognize her. It was Lady Leah Gillet. His neighbor. He remembered seeing her as a little girl, then stopped paying much attention to her as time went by. That was a mistake, because her chestnut brown hair stood in stark contrast to her sky-blue eyes, which darted from him to her father, then back at him, as if pleading for help. Something told him he should not have stopped paying attention to her.
"Father, I can explain," Edward heard her say. Her sentence made him curious. He focused all of his attention on her, but he instantly realized that she only said that so she could have a little more time to come up with an explanation on her own, because she did not seem to know why she ended up there any more than Edward himself knew. This made everything even more puzzling.
"You there!" the Earl of Moore roared at the nearest servants. "Did you see my daughter come out of the mansion with the duke?"
The servant girl seemed confused. She obviously knew that the truth was the last thing that needed to be revealed here, but the earl's accusatory finger would not let her be.
"No," the servant girl trembled. "She... came out with us."
The earl paused for a moment. Edward thought he would leave it be. Then, the servant girl added. "But she came downstairs with him."
Edward exhaled painfully to himself, closing his eyes shut, fully aware that this was the last thing the earl wanted to hear. He didn't blame the servant girl. This was forced out of her. The earl had that look that made one fear for their very own life.
"Leah!" the earl thundered again at his daughter, regardless of the fact that all the servants, as well as the neighbors were listening. "You should be ashamed of yourself! I thought your mother and I raised you to be a lady, and not–"
"I don't know how I got here," Leah interrupted him before her father was able to say something that he might regret later on. Edward knew about words that one came to regret, but after those were said, there was little one could do to rectify the situation. "Someone must have moved me in my sleep and brought me here!"
The moment she said it, Edward realized how ridiculous that sounded. Then again, he knew it to be true. The last thing a lady would do was sneak into a stranger's bedroom, in her nightgown of all things to wear and just lie down next to him, sleeping soundly. It simply made no sense. It was the most preposterous thing he had ever heard. So preposterous in fact, that he almost burst out into a chuckle, but he managed to control himself. Instead, he just listened to the conversation that was unraveling before him, waiting for the right moment to jump in.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that!?" the earl sounded incredulous, and rightfully so. Edward was sure that he also would not believe her if he were in the earl's place. None of this seemed to make any sense. He just knew that it did not look good. In fact, it looked horrible, for both of them.
"I expect you to know me," Leah was adamant. Edward had to admire her courage at a moment like this. "I expect you to know who your daughter is and what she would and would not do."
The earl seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he waved his hand at her dismissively. "You are just trying to excuse your scandalous behavior. I see through your words, Leah. You cannot fool me. I see exactly what has been going on here." He paused, the weight of the following words a heavy burden upon his soul, but he eventually allowed them to roll down his tongue, slightly more silent than before. "You and the duke are... having secret relations."
"Secret relations!" Leah burst out loudly, making a few of the people in the crowd gasp with shock. "How can you say that, Father?"
Edward knew that he could not wait a single moment longer to interfere, not if he wanted to explain that neither he nor Leah seemed to understand how this happened, how she ended up in his chamber.
"I must intervene here," he suddenly said, physically stepping in between Leah and her father, dividing the two sides. Leah took a step back, as if to keep a safe distance from him. He couldn't understand why. Not like he was to blame for any of this. In fact, he put out the fire. He was the hero here, not the villain. However, that seemed to be the image she had of him.
"You'd best stay out of this," the earl growled. "Unless you want me to plant you a facer for what you have done."
