The Girl is Not For Christmas - Emma V Leech Page 0,113

mother,” Agatha said, her eyes suddenly very bright, then her expression hardened. “And why, pray, has it taken so many years for me to make your acquaintance? Hmmmm?”

Livvy opened her mouth and closed it again.

“You know very well our grandfather did not think you a respectable woman, Aunt,” Charlie said. “You also know he would not allow Livvy to have contact with you. I have enforced his wishes since he died. It is none of my sister’s doing.”

Aunt Agatha made a derisive sound and took Livvy’s arm. “Come and sit with me, child.”

Livvy sent her brother an anxious glance but allowed the woman to sit her down on an elegant gold love seat. Agatha inspected her critically.

“You’re not as beautiful as my sister was, but you have a certain something. Those eyes… yes, those eyes are very fine. Have you a beau?”

Livvy flushed scarlet and her aunt chuckled.

“Ah, you do. Is he going to marry you?”

Livvy stammered and stumbled, unable to provide a coherent answer.

“She cannot marry the man she loves, Aunt Agatha,” Charlie said, his voice full of certainty now. “He is a fine man, a nobleman, but he has no money and… and as you once predicted I have made a damned mess of everything. I’ve no doubt you will enjoy your triumph over me, but I cannot give Livvy the dowry she needs, that she deserves. I had hoped to ask you to help my children, Harry needs schooling, university and the girls need to be presented at court and come out… but… but the truth is Livvy needs your help every bit as much as they do. I’ve been a damned fool and I… I need your help. Please, Aunt. I ask not a farthing for myself, I swear, but for them….”

Livvy gaped at her brother, touched that he should humiliate himself so to help her.

“Oh, Charlie,” she said, getting up and running to embrace him.

“There, there, Liv,” Charlie said with a sad smile. “It’s all true. You’ve kept my family together, kept us all in one piece. I know it. I didn’t see it for a long while, but… but I do now. I should have listened to you. I wish I had. King loves you, though. Ceci was right, it’s plain enough whenever the two of you are in the same room. He’s head over ears in love with you and he needs you, Livvy.”

Livvy put her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob.

“Yes, yes, very touching,” Agatha said briskly, patting the seat beside her again. “Now, come and explain yourself to me, girl. Did you say… King? You are surely not speaking of the man we know as the King of Sin?”

Livvy nodded, wiping her eyes and sniffling. “Yes, aunt. The Earl of Kingston.”

“In love with you?” Aunt Agatha said again, clearly astonished.

Livvy put her chin up, a little irritated by that. “Yes, aunt. Me.”

“Well, well,” Agatha said, her blue eyes sparkling. “I think you had best start at the beginning.”

29th December 1818.

King stood on the doorstep of Dudley House and did his best to smooth his hair down. The last three days had been an unmitigated nightmare. The terrible travelling conditions, poor accommodation, and King’s terrible packing skills meant he looked nothing close to the elegant model of a fashionable gentleman he usually resembled. Instead, he looked as if he’d not slept in days, and had spent a deal of that time in a hedge, which wasn’t too terribly far from the truth.

Walsh made a flapping motion to him from the pavement.

“Bloody hell,” King muttered, sucking in a deep breath. It must be well over a year since he last saw his father, and this was not the way he’d wished to repeat the experience. He’d not intended to see him ever again. If he discovered King intended to marry Livvy…. Oh, good God. He rapped smartly on the door. There was no getting away from it. He needed to see Livvy, and Livvy was here. So….

A po-faced butler opened the door, his nose wrinkling a little at the sight of King.

“Lord Kingston,” King said, handing his card over.

The butler’s eyes grew wide.

“I’ve had the very devil of a time getting here,” King said tersely.

As soon as the butler realised he had an earl standing before him and that he was the son of the man his mistress was entertaining at present, the fellow almost bent double. Nothing was too much trouble, and King was shown into a very elegant drawing