Loving Lucy by Lynne Connolly Read Free Book Online Page B

appointed, rows of brightly coloured Corinthian columns heightening the effect made by the highly polished floor, inset with coloured marbles from all over the world.
    She took Lord Royston’s hand and looked up into his face. “I’m surprised Lady Norris invited you,” she said, smiling prettily at him.
    “Oh, I’m received everywhere these days,” he replied calmly. He led her into the set.  
    It wasn’t possible to exchange more than trivial pleasantries during the course of the dance; something both parties were extremely good at. They passed from the weather to the new fashion in colours, to the shocking prices hunters were fetching these days with hardly a thought. At the end of the dance, Lucy began to move towards her mother and Aunt Honoria, but Lord Royston had other ideas. “Just a moment, if you please. I need to say something. Will you grant me a moment’s privacy?”
    Lucy looked at him wonderingly, but she knew no harm could come to her with Philip, whatever her mother said, so she allowed him to lead her away. They passed through a card room to a small anteroom near the main salon. “I can’t say too much to you here,” he said, “But I would appreciate another visit from you soon. I have things to tell you.”
    He stood close to Lucy, but she didn’t mind a bit. She was reminded of their long lost friendship, ruined by ambition and greed. “What things?”
    He sighed. “About your future husband. I completed the enquiries your mother began and abandoned.”
    She was startled enough to stare directly at him, the polite smile fallen away. “You had no right.”
    He met her stare, his blue eyes grave. “I have some right. I’m the head of the family, and I have always been your friend. Mr. Chumleigh had them completed. He’s your legal guardian, is he not?”
    “No.” she denied vehemently. “He’s my trustee. I’m four and twenty, I have no guardian.”
    He smiled thinly. “I beg your pardon. Trustee, of course. Then he has completed the enquiries to safeguard your fortune.”
    “And has he found anything?”
    “I’d rather not say here and now. It’s not the place, and I haven’t the papers with me. If you could favour me with another call to my house?”
    “I’ll talk to my mother,” she informed him. Even if he was a relation, she shouldn’t have consented to come here with him, she realised.  
    “No. Just you. If you are old enough to make your own decisions, come on your own.”
    “I couldn’t possibly come on my own.” Lucy felt outraged. “The proprieties.”
    “Bring your aunt. I’d like to talk to you without your mother’s constant presence.”
    “Why? She has every consideration for me.”
    “That’s the trouble.” His voice was wry. “Her opinions seem to be of paramount concern to you. I want to see if you can still think for yourself.”
      “Of course I can.” she protested indignantly.
    “I hope so. You always used to. Lucy, I don’t want to be at outs with you. Before your father died we were good enough friends, were we not?”
    She thought back to that time, and remembered a charming and fun loving playmate, one she had seen every summer. “Yes, we were. What happened, Philip?”
    He turned away to rest his arm on the mantelpiece, and stroked his chin with one finger. “Bernard thought your father’s suggestion that he marry you was a good one, but when you refused, he became bitter.” He turned back to her, bleakness filling his expressive eyes. “I never meant for it to happen, but I was the younger brother, and it was none of my business. Bernard took it personally, and signed up.”
    “Did he love me? He never said so.”
    Philip laughed, but it sounded more like a choke. “No, he didn’t. He liked you, and the match appealed to his sense of neatness. He would have the fortune, and the earldom. But you would have had to share him, Lucy, and I don’t think you would have liked that.”
    She stared at him, eyes wide and reached