Page 53 of A Lady in Name

In the event she had not resisted as he marched her back down to the first floor and into his private sanctum. There he had released her, going immediately to the bell-pull and tugging on it.

“I’ll send for brandy. A sip or two will do much to alleviate shock. Unless you would prefer tea?”

“I want nothing, I thank you,” she’d uttered on a fretful note, already shifting to and fro in a manner reminiscent of a caged animal. Stefan went to perch on the desk, waiting until Lucy should have calmed sufficiently to talk.

She ceased her pacing and turned to look at him. “I cannot stay here, you must see that.”

Stefan warned himself to be careful how he handled her. He tried for a measured tone. “Where would you wish to go?”

“Anywhere!”

He could not forbear a smile. “Highly impractical.”

She struck her hands together. “Oh, don’t jest. Cannot you see how impossible it is I should remain here? Your mother had no notion of Lord Pennington being my father, and yet she saw sufficient resemblance to know that this woman is my sister.”

“Yes, I heard it,” Stefan said smoothly. “And she is only your half-sister.”

“What does that matter? How do you suppose she must feel when she finds you are housing a woman who shares the same father as she? In her place, I should be insulted beyond all bearing.”

Stefan rose from the desk and went to her, attempting to take her hands. Lucy would not let him, instead holding them palm up against him and backing away.

“Don’t touch me! I cannot endure you to touch me!”

He stopped short, a shaft slicing into his chest. For several moments he was deprived of breath, and his mind refused to operate. All he knew was a sensation of corroding hurt.

A knock at the door penetrated his consciousness. Stefan turned sharply, calling out, “Come in.”

The door opened to admit the housemaid. She dropped a curtsy. “You rang, my lord?”

He had done so, yes, but at this precise instant he could not recall why. He struggled to clear his head. “Yes. Yes, I did. Desire Hawkesbury to bring brandy to this room, if you please. And two glasses.”

Turton’s eyes went from him to Lucy and Stefan came to a sense of how they must both appear. His sharpened his tone.

“That will be all.”

The girl gave him one fearful glance and disappeared. The door closed behind her.

Stefan pulled himself together. He crossed to the desk, putting distance between himself and Lucy, and turned there to confront her. She had whisked to the far end of the room, her face averted. He summoned a tone as close to normal as possible.

“Let us begin again, Lucy.”

She turned, casting him a sharp look. “Begin what again?”

“This discussion. Clearly it is time we looked at the best way to provide for your future.”

Her gaze became fixed and Stefan thought her eyes darkened, but in the uncertain light he could not be sure.

“Do I have a say in it, then?”

“Of course you have a say in it,” Stefan returned, snapping uncontrollably. “Did you suppose I meant to force a solution on you?”

She did not move. “I supposed you had decided everything without consulting me. That is your usual practice.”

Stefan wanted to refute the charge with heat, but the germ of truth would not permit him. He had settled it with himself just what would be best, but he was aware of finding alternatives only so he might give Lucy the pretended option of choice.

Suddenly she wafted a hand as if to throw something away. “Let it be some way I may remove from here as soon as may be and I will say nothing against it.”

The sentiments that prompted this he could appreciate, but the urgency behind it gave him pain. Abruptly hating the plan he had made, Stefan knew it nevertheless for the best.