Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
‘May I present to you Miss Eliza Melrose,’ Johnny says, pulling me close. ‘Eliza, this is my little brother, Lord Sampson Winter.’
‘Also known as the best-looking brother,’ he adds cheekily, bowing dramatically. ‘Enchanted, I’m sure. My brother has told me much about you, Miss Melrose.’
‘He has?’ I blurt.
‘Oh, much,’ he adds, and my cheeks burst into flames.
‘How delightful.’
Johnny smiles mildly and goes to the carriage, reaching inside, and a gloved hand appears, laid upon his. ‘Mother,’ he says, and she appears, his mother, the illustrious, beautiful Wisteria Winters. Utterly breathtaking. Dark hair, green eyes that are a perfect match for Johnny’s, and a sculptured face that would be the envy of women far and wide. My God, she’s quite simply a celestial being.
Smiling demurely, she steps down onto the cobbles and pats Johnny’s cheek affectionately before casting her eyes across the silent crowd, a somewhat pointed look tarnishing her soft features. And behind her, another woman appears, a younger woman, whom I suppose is around my age.
‘Mother, Taya, this is Eliza Melrose,’ Johnny says, presenting my useless form to them. ‘Eliza, my mother, Lady Wisteria Winters, and my sister, Lady Taya Winters.’
‘So you’re the one who’s dragged me back to London,’ Wisteria Winters says quietly, her smile sedate.
‘I…’
‘The truth has dragged you back, Mother,’ Johnny says, and she smiles at him, so fondly, before she takes a few steps forward, reaching a now quiet Lymington who is still being held by the constable, looking rather stunned. She looks him up and down in a way no woman should look at a man. ‘I would not wish for my worst enemy to sustain the miseries bestowed upon us by the Lymingtons.’
My eyes bat back and forth between them and my hand around Johnny’s tightens, as Sampson and Taya take a leisurely wander around Lymington, their expressions cold, their demeanour hard. The Winters clan. Sampson is fashioned quite differently from his older brooding brother, he seems playful and cheeky, but is equally as handsome, if more boyishly. And the sister? Beautiful like her mother, but fierce like her brothers. My God, what a force.
‘You’re heathens!’ Lord Lymington barks, looking rather flustered, his stick wobbling. ‘Do not listen to the rubbish they spew.’
‘No, fine sir,’ Sampson leans into his ear, his lip curled. ‘We are nobility, and your lies and deceit will not chase us away again.’
‘Jesus,’ I whisper.
‘That’s what I said,’ Frank says from beside me.
I swing my eyes to his. ‘You know everything?’
‘I had no choice but to listen.’ He nods to Johnny. ‘He’s quite a determined fellow, don’t you know.’
‘I do know.’ I follow his gaze and find it’s rooted on Johnny’s sister, Taya. ‘Tread carefully, brother,’ I warn, not imagining Johnny taking all too kindly to a union between Frank and his sister, or, more fittingly, any dalliances.
‘Come,’ Johnny says, claiming me and leading me on, but bringing us both to a stop when Papa coughs loudly. ‘Bugger it all,’ he whispers, looking to the heavens.
‘What?’
‘We cannot leave.’
‘Why ever not?’
‘Because part of the deal I made with your father included a traditional courtship.’
‘Wonderful. So now I am simply part of another deal.’
‘You speak as if you are troubled by that when I know it not to be true.’
‘You speak with too much confidence.’ My nose wrinkles as Johnny turns me back and walks me over to my father.
‘Mr Melrose,’ he says politely, practically handing me over to my father. What is this craziness? ‘If I may, I should like to call upon your daughter tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’ I blurt, outraged. How must I survive until then?
‘You may,’ Papa says, ignoring me. ‘My daughter has work to do.’
‘I do?’
‘You do. I believe there’s a rather interesting story about two families at war to be told.’
I inhale. ‘What?’
‘That was also part of the deal,’ Johnny says.
‘An easy part,’ Father adds, and my heart soars, both for Papa and for Johnny. But…
‘There was a hard part to this deal?’
‘Yes, there was a very hard part.’ He looks at Johnny, and I hear Mama exhale, almost dreamily. ‘We’ll get to that later.’
We definitely will, but for now… ‘You know, if I am to write a story accurately,’ I say, my conniving mind working fast. ‘I must do my research.’
‘Oh?’ Papa says, head tilted.
‘Yes, I believe I must sit with His Grace and take notes.’
Johnny looks at Papa and shrugs. ‘She has a point.’
‘Always does,’ Papa agrees over a small laugh as he wraps an arm around Mother’s shoulder, the other around Clara, and leads them towards the house. ‘Frank will chaperone.’
My shoulders drop, Frank grins, and Johnny rolls his eyes.
But it is better than tomorrow.
Chapter 19
When we arrive at Johnny’s house, Wisteria Winters goes upstairs with Sampson carrying her bags, and Taya settles in the drawing room. ‘You can wait here with my sister,’ Johnny says to Frank, pointing to a chair, and, a surprise unto me, Frank doesn’t protest, which only makes me somewhat warier. I watch him move quietly across the room and lower himself to a chair as Johnny’s sister eyes him carefully. I’m about to voice my concerns, but Johnny leads me to his study and shuts the door, before guiding me to a chair and encouraging me to sit. Then, once he has placed a kiss upon my face, he pours wine into two glasses and joins me.