Not Wicked Enough Read Online Free Page B

stairs.
     
    “Lily?” Ginny’s voice came from behind her. “You’ve gone left. It’s the other way.” Lily returned to the stairs and found Ginny and her brother waiting for her. “I should have pointed,” Ginny said.
     
    “No harm,” she said. “For here I am. Safe and sound.”
     
    They reached the Oldenburg salon without further incident. The salon proved to be a smallish room set in a tower at the west end of the house. While not strictly a castle, Bitterward was an old enough structure to have been built with two round towers at the east and west. The Oldenburg salon had the architectural advantage of having windows along the curved outer wall that overlooked the very garden that had attracted her admiration before. The early roses were in bloom, and she wanted to walk outside again just to breathe in the scent.
     
    The salon was charming, with a fireplace mantel of carved mahogany polished to a sheen, as were the paneled walls and ceiling. Very pretty, though she would have preferred if the room had retained more of its Gothic decorations rather than a Tudor character. “This is a newer part of the structure, I presume?”
     
    “Relatively,” Ginny said. “I believe this wing was remodeled during the reign of Charles I. Mountjoy would know.”
     
    “Yes,” the duke said. He tugged on the bottom of his waistcoat, but nothing was going to improve the lay of the fabric except for a pair of scissors and needle and thread. “This wing was extensively redone.”
     
    Ginny put her palms on Lily’s shoulders and slid herhands down until they were clasping hands. “She adores ruins, Mountjoy.”
     
    “Does she?”
     
    “Yes,” Lily said, looking at him from over Ginny’s shoulder. “She does.”
     
    “After we’ve eaten,” said Ginny, “perhaps you’d like a tour of the church? It’s not far, and I’ve been told it’s Anglo-Saxon.”
     
    Lily gave Ginny’s hands a squeeze before she released her and strolled to a love seat upholstered in dark green velvet. The green would make a striking contrast with her primrose gown. She was never going to marry, for her heart was no longer available for such emotion. But that was no reason not to show herself to advantage when the opportunity arose. Life ought to be lived with due consideration for the beauty of one’s surroundings, and that included the elegance of one’s attire.
     
    “I should adore that,” Lily said.
     
    Ginny sat on an upholstered chair that made her look even more drab and wan than she had in the hall. Lily made a mental note to speak with her brother the duke at her earliest opportunity regarding his lack of attention to his sister. Surely, he had not brought her home to her family only to abandon her to loneliness all these months? She feared he had.
     
    The duke moved a chair nearer his sister and sat. He did not seem much at ease, and yet he was the most vital man she had met in her life. Full of repressed energy.
     
    “I don’t know how much we shall see of Mountjoy,” Ginny said. “He’s the parish magistrate, and the Sessions are on. He’s forever doing this and that about the property. Always meeting with someone or attending to business that keeps him from home.”
     
    His eyebrows rose. “The responsibilities of an estate like Bitterward are not ones I care to delegate.”
     
    “Then I imagine we’ll see very little of you, your grace.”
     
    He nodded. “To my great regret, of course.”
     
    Though she did not say so to Ginny, industrious and useful occupations seemed in keeping with the man. She suspected as well that a man as vital as him had a mistress or a lover or two somewhere not far away.
     
    “He’s going to marry the daughter of one of our neighbors. Miss Jane Kirk. You’ll meet her by and by. You’ll like her exceedingly. She’s two younger sisters, both delightful. You won’t meet Miss Caroline Kirk, though. She’s away just now.”
     
    “Congratulations on your upcoming