Page 39 of The Lost Lord
“He’s already a lord, supposedly. Or is that one more lie?” Livingston snarled.
“Not a lie. It’s a nicety. Should it come to pass, the king may expect to meet Miriam,” Richard said hastily. “She could become Lady Northcote.”
“As if I care about that.” The man settled back into his chair. “Mrs. Kent, what do you think of this?”
“I think it’s up to Miriam,” Mrs. Kent replied softly with steel in her voice.
“I wish it. I want you to come, Mrs. Kent, if you’re willing.” Miriam gripped his hand excitedly. She could wait for her wedding night a few days longer.
“Please,” Richard interjected with a small smile. “I wouldn’t consider traveling without you.”
“Ganging up on me is a foul play,” Livingston mumbled, but Richard could see he would relent. He speared a sausage and pointed it at Richard. “You had damned well better bring her back in one piece. I’ll murder you myself if anything happens to my daughter.”
August
Chapter 17
As July came to a close, everything was falling into place.
He and Miriam prepared to board theNew Hope, a scheduled packet running between New York and London. The tickets had taken a substantial portion of his funds from Howard. Richard found himself skipping meals to keep his spending to the absolute minimum. At the warehouse, he worked like an ox alongside the hook men unloading the boats and moving cargo into the nearby warehouse.
On two occasions, Howard signaled that he was to drive a wagon uptown to make a special delivery in the middle of a field. Richard never asked Howard anything about them. He was one link in a chain. But he wondered where the escaped slaves went. What the people whose lives he briefly touched did with their tenuous freedom.
“Watch your step!” Howard shouted. It was embarrassing how difficult it had become to keep his new wife’s hands off his body. Considering how Miriam took every opportunity to corner him for a lingering kiss, Richard thought he deserved a nomination for sainthood. Only that morning she’d slipped into his bedroom at Cliffside in nothing more than a thin night rail. Half awake, he’d barely rolled away in time to prevent her from grasping his fulsome arousal by pure, innocent accident.
“Have mercy, Miri,” Richard had groaned. “I am only a man.”
“Are a woman’s desires less?” she responded with affront.
“Hardly. We haven’t the time to do a proper job of it right now.” Richard had chucked her under the chin before moving to dress behind a screen. It gave him time for his discomfort to subside. “Besides. What if you hate my family? Don’t you think it’s proper that you should meet them before making our marriage permanent?”
Miriam had pouted. Richard found her genuine frustration endearing rather than manipulative.
“You make me feel as if you don’t want me. As a woman,” she stammered.
“Oh, Miriam, I want you badly indeed.” Richard had more self-preservation than to dream of taking her innocence beneath her father’s roof. The thought of bringing her to his rooms with their indelible memories of Lizzie was unthinkable. Even if he hadn’t had ulterior reasons to give Miriam a path to back out, Richard had no place to give her the experience she deserved. He’d tugged out the key he kept around his neck. “I will use this when the time is right.”
Her mouth had quirked up at the corners. “It won’t work on the ship. I’ll have to give you another.”
“I shall become chatelaine of all your bedroom keys.” He’d kissed her hand, then his wife’s cheek.
His wife. Richard could hardly believe his good fortune. He had a beautiful, sweet bride who adored him. In his wildest fantasies Richard had never imagined such an outcome. Every day that passed without Lizzie darkening his doorstep let Richard relax his guard a bit further. Until that afternoon when he returned for one last time to his airy rooms in Manhattan to finalize his packing. An ivory envelope on thick, expensive paper lay on the wooden table in the entryway of his home. Edward recognized the handwriting as his brother’s.
“You’re leaving, then?”
Richard leapt out of his chair, heart pounding. “Lizzie.”
She smirked coldly and paced the floor. “As you see.”
“Get out.” How long had she been waiting in his apartment?
Her smirk grew colder and harder. “I understand you’ve taken a wife. Kind of you to invite us to the wedding. I thought you’d abandoned us.”
Richard gaze fell to her belly. Lizzie turned on her heel, preventing closer inspection.
“You’ve done well. Frankly, I’m surprised Miriam has fallen for you. She always was so much cleverer than every other girl at school. I should think she could see through your naked ambition. Through your lies.”
“I never lied to her,” Richard hissed furiously.
