Page 24 of A Lady’s Guide to Scoundrels and Gentlemen (The Harp & Thistle #1)

“I ’m going home tomorrow.” Victor didn’t look up from the invoices when he heard Dantes step into the drawing room. “You’re not at death’s door any longer, and Ollie’s nearly ready to leave, too, but he can keep an eye on you two for a bit longer while I refocus on the pub.”

Dantes swirled his whiskey, humored, and went over to sit on a sofa. “‘Keep an eye on us’? And you believe Ollie the best choice for the job?” He watched Victor’s pen scribble across a check. The paper tore off loudly, and Victor set everything to the side.

“I was able to secure a loan with a bank with Lady Vivian’s help.” Victor’s attention was fully on Dantes now. “As you know, we had to get a loan to cover what insurance wouldn’t. Outside of your flat, I mean.”

Dantes narrowed his eyes. “I told you twice not to do that. I have a say in these matters too, you know. Ollie and I both do.”

“You were unconscious and Ollie was injured. It couldn’t wait.”

Dantes held his brother’s eye. “I don’t want to take advantage of her kindness. She already let us live here for the last few weeks.”

“She was happy to help, Dantes, even knowing the risk it put her in. We’re not taking advantage of her.”

Dantes scoffed. “What, so every time we need something, we’re going to turn to Vivian? Like Winthrop does?”

Victor looked away, tapped at his knee, and changed the subject, never one to do well with familial conflict. “Are you planning on chasing after her when she goes to Brighton?”

Dantes pulled back at such a bizarre question. Victor seemed bitter about something, but Dantes couldn’t figure out what. “No, what kind of a question is that?”

“Good, because we need you here. Like you said, you’re a part of this all, too. Just because you’ve got your eyes set on a woman now doesn’t change that fact. I still expect the same hours and work out of you.”

Dantes had to resist rolling his eyes at his brother’s dig.

Off in the distance, the front door opened, and the loud, rapid conversation of Vivian and Ollie echoed as they made their way to the drawing room. When they entered, they were visibly surprised to see Dantes. For the last few days, Dantes had taken long afternoon naps, only waking when his appetite for dinner had roused him, but those naps had been tapering off. Today, he felt pretty good and had only slept for twenty minutes.

Though Vivian’s surprise over seeing Dantes awake and mobile lasted for a beat, she began crossing the room toward him. A warmth built in him as he watched her approach, smiling widely, a brief jolt of happiness cutting through the ever-present caution.

As she walked past him to sit on the other end of his sofa, the desire to touch her was too strong and Dantes covertly reached his hand out to brush hers as she walked by. It appeared to startle her, but when she met his eye, she gave him a private little smile.

“Where were you two causing mischief today?” he asked casually, as if that little moment had not happened.

“Oh.” Vivian waved a casual hand from her seat. “I had to go take care of some things before we leave for the summer. Ollie was bored and came with me.”

“Ah,” Dantes said, taking another sip of whiskey.

“Is it all right for you to be drinking yet?” Concern pulled at her brow. “You won’t have the same tolerance as usual.”

“I know. I’m only having a few sips. I can only tolerate so much of Victor each day and he’s been a constant for far too long. There’s a reason we own a pub, Viv, because we have to drink in order to tolerate each other for more than a few minutes. A barbershop, for example, would not have ended well.”

She laughed at his joke, and his heart swelled. “That worked out well, then,” she said, still smiling before turning to Victor. “How is everything going with the pub, by the way?”

“Good. Now that we have secured the complete funds, we need to move forward with renovations. It should be smooth sailing, aside from any city inspector delays. Waiting for inspections is taking a bit longer than anticipated but, if we’re lucky, we should be opening again this fall. Definitely will be reopened by the end of the year.”

“Oh, wonderful. I’m glad it’s all coming together as best as it can.”

Dantes turned to look at her. “You didn’t have to help us with that loan, Vivian. Really, Victor shouldn’t have gone to you about it. I told him not to.”

Vivian frowned. “Why shouldn’t he have gone to me about it? It wasn’t like he was asking me for my own money.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to think we’re going to come to you for every little monetary thing.”

“Well, I know you’re good for it,” Vivian continued. “That’s really the biggest hurdle in getting a loan. I’ve been to The Harp they were on their own too and we all protected each other. Safety in numbers.”

“I’m surprised your father’s background didn’t cause you any problems.”

“Our mother was from there, so we were able to blend in. By the time we had to move there, she was so deep into her addiction, no one believed anything she said about our father or our old life and Victor and I knew to keep our mouths shut about it. We didn’t have anything to show for it, anyway.”

Vivian looked over at the fireplace.

“After she died,” he continued, his voice quieter, “we were afraid an orphanage would split us up, so that’s why Victor had us live on the streets. We could run when they came looking for us. They were like dog catchers, but for kids. Just snatching them up, didn’t matter if they had parents or not. But in a tenement, you could be cornered. Outside, we could run away.”

“I’m surprised your grandparents were accepting of all of that.”

“They weren’t,” Dantes responded gravely. “But they didn’t know, either. They didn’t support my father’s decision to marry my mother and cut contact with him over it. But one day, after my father’s death, they went to our old house to find it abandoned and starting to fall apart. We didn’t know, of course, but my mother had no idea how to pay the bills. How to pay taxes on the house. She was too melancholy to care to find help, too deep into her addiction, and creditors and the tax people bled her dry. It then took a few years for my grandparents to track us down.”

“How did your parents meet?” There had to be good memories amongst the bad, and Vivian wanted to know about them. “They had such wildly different backgrounds.”

Dantes chuckled before leaning closer. “Believe it or not, they met at a pub.”

Vivian’s mouth made an ‘O.’ “Really?”

“Yep.” He was grinning from ear to ear now. “My mother, though quite the funny woman with those she was close with, was also rather introverted. I’m guessing that’s why my father took to her, and she to him. She was quiet initially, while he could talk to anyone. They had met at the pub, happened to sit beside each other at the bar, and found they fit well. He figured she wouldn’t run around on him, maybe, and after they left the pub that night, they immediately left for Gretna Green and eloped. They just knew.” He shrugged. “I remember how he used to look at her with awe, but she loved him right back. I never found out if she knew who he was before they married. If she did, I’m sure she liked the thought of his money, but it wasn’t because she wanted to show off with jewelry and whatnot.”

“I know what you’re saying. It was more that she wanted it to get out.” Even though Vivian lived a far more privileged life, she could still understand the unique relief a woman would feel upon an influx of life-changing money.

“Yes.” He looked off across the room with a brief smile of remembrance. “Anyway, Ollie doesn’t remember those tough years. He grew up with my grandparents, and he still talks to them, in fact, whereas Victor and I don’t.”

Vivian wondered what Victor thought about being the heir to their grandfather’s dukedom. Considering none of them had yet mentioned it, she wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

Dantes continued. “Ollie’s entire life was gilded. But he always wanted to be with Victor and me, no matter what we did. He was the only one of us who finished university, but he still went to the pub with us, anyway.”

An intense, warm glow overtook Vivian’s heart. That Dantes trusted her enough to expose another puzzle piece of his life meant so much. She recalled saying those three little words to him when he wouldn’t wake up. But was that truly how she felt?

Yes, she decided. It was.

That being said, it was one thing to say the words while he’d been asleep. She knew the curse wasn’t real, but she also knew he didn’t want to hear them.

But did he feel that way, too?

There was only one way to find out.

And so, she made an unexpected but big decision. It was a major risk.

She took a deep breath and a big chance. “Dantes…” She briefly hesitated. If she was going to turn back, now would be her only chance. She moved forward. “I don’t need to say the words.”

Something in Dantes seemed to still.

It was rather unsettling, and she braced herself. “Did you hear me?” She glanced toward him, but he kept his eyes averted. What would she do if he got upset? If he told her he did not, in fact, feel that way for her?

She braced herself.

But Dantes smiled. “I heard you. I’m too happy to say anything. You’re sure, though? You think you can do that?”

“Yes. I’ve been thinking about it and, in the end, for me, words are just words. But to you, those words hold a lot of fear. It doesn’t make sense to lose you over a simple phrase.”

Worry began to snake through her veins, though. Had she said too much too soon? And how would this all fit into Gran’s stipulation? Was Dantes still against marriage despite what was growing between them? He had asked her before, but she didn’t for a second believe he wanted it. Did she even want marriage after all?

Vivian tucked the sudden explosion of questions back in—they could all be answered later. Dantes was clearly a man who took his time for something like this, and she had plenty of time before her stipulation deadline for them to discuss everything.

“But you’re leaving,” he said after a moment.

Something in the way he said this caused her pause. “Well, I have to, silly. That’s why I want you to join me and my family.”

“You want me to go, too?”

“Yes, wouldn’t it be lovely?”

“Can’t you stay here?”

This wasn’t going the way she had hoped. Why was he asking her to stay? Didn’t he want to go away for a few months?

“No, I can’t. This house gets closed up,” she explained. “And it’s the first chance to have any work done on it in years, as my grandmother became more frail over the years. The house will be filled with workers. Summerwood is already being prepared, and my family will be there too. I can’t cancel it on them.”

Dantes leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I can’t, Vivian. I can’t leave Victor and Ollie to bring the pub back up alone. Especially after everything they’ve done for me.”

To Vivian’s alarm, Dantes, the moment, seemed to be slipping away. She began to panic. How could she go an entire season without seeing him? Three months without him? She had already begun imagining him holding her hand and sneaking kisses at the beach.

But he had only ever kissed her that one time and had never tried again.

How had this not concerned her before now? Now that she had given her heart over to him? Oh, she was a foolish, foolish woman!

But to her abject relief, Dantes wasn’t fully off of the idea. “Maybe I could visit for a few weeks. I’m not sure how well I can travel yet, so it would have to be later in summer.”

“Of course.” Relief washed over Vivian. She had to resist the urge to close her eyes and place her hand on her heart. Instead she smiled and gently set her hand upon his arm. “I couldn’t go an entire summer without you, you silly man. I l—” She barely caught herself in time, her heart stopping in panic. “I like being with you far too much.”

Alarmed by her near-error, she snuck a quick glance to Dantes, expecting him to be red with anger, or his lips pressed tight with disapproval. But to her relief, his face held no expression. It appeared he had not picked up on what she’d almost said.