Page 1 of Never Doubt I Love (Calloway #3)
London, England
January 1816
Entering one’s first Season while in possession of a dowry of thirty thousand pounds was a thrilling prospect indeed, and Olivia Calloway held her head high as she stepped out of the carriage outside her family’s London home. There would be no lady more determined than she to leave Town with a husband, and that was fact.
“Are you going to be ill, Olivia?” Simon, Olivia’s eldest brother, squinted at her in the sunlight, concern on his brow.
Apparently Olivia’s determination looked like nausea from the outside.
“Perfectly well, Brother,” she said, forcing a smile. “Merely tired from such a long journey.” In truth, she was terrified, though she would never admit as much. She had spoken too often of her eagerness to debut to show any fear.
Simon tugged on her hand before she could take a step. “You do not have to subject yourself to the ton just yet,” he said gently. “You could wait until next year. Or I could find you—”
“You are only trying to find an excuse to go back home. Lucy, your husband is being a bother again.”
Simon hastened back to the carriage to assist his wife to the ground, lifting her into his arms with a gentle smile.
Lucy laughed. “I am not an invalid, Simon. I still have the use of my feet.”
“I am simply looking after the health of my future son and his mother.”
Shaking her head, Lucy directed Simon to put her down. “I do not understand why you are so convinced it is a boy. I am determined to believe you will have a daughter.”
“Yes, but not this one. She will come later.”
“How many children do you expect us to have?”
“A dozen? Perhaps more.”
Olivia cleared her throat. “As delightful as it is to watch the two of you go on like this, perhaps we should not spend all day on the street? Unless you are determined to return to Staffordshire, my dear brother.”
Lucy patted his chest before he could speak. “He cannot return to Calloway Park even if he wishes to. Parliament relies on him too much. I promise, Liv, he will not be a bother, and you will have a delightful Season.”
“I am not as important as you seem to think, my love.” Even as he said it, Simon’s eyes locked on a passing rider who tipped his hat in greeting at the same time an older woman waved from a carriage rolling past the house.
Olivia raised an eyebrow. The people of the ton liked Simon to an unfathomable degree, no matter how much he pretended otherwise. His influence and wealth drew in a good deal of admiration from his peers, though he was merely a baron.
“Dash it all, they’ve seen us,” Simon said, lifting Lucy into his arms once more and hurrying inside. “If we are not careful, we will have all of London descending upon us before we have had time to change our clothes.”
“This is what happens when you marry unexpectedly,” Olivia said as she followed. She hoped she would not have to greet any guests today; she had been counting on a quiet evening to settle in before she truly faced the Season.
Her fears must have been written all over her face, because Lucy, who had been returned to her feet again, took Olivia’s hand and gave her a warm smile. “Simon has promised to turn everyone away until we are ready to face the ton . This is my first Season as well, if you remember.”
Olivia had not remembered. In her mind, Simon and Lucy had been together for ages, when it had really only been seven months.
If only Mother had not fallen ill shortly before they were supposed to journey south from Staffordshire. She would be joining them as soon as she was feeling well again, but her knowledge of the ways of London Society would have been especially comforting.
“Let me join you in checking on the house,” Olivia said, squeezing Lucy’s hand. Simon was busy speaking to the butler, Hastings, and likely had a hundred different tasks piling up in his mind. He was never one to neglect his wife, but Olivia could take on some of his load.
By the time they finished speaking with the housekeeper, Lucy said she was tired and would take a tray in her room rather than going down to supper. Olivia promised to tell Simon where his wife would be and then hurried down the stairs to find her brother. Tired though she was, she didn’t want Simon to worry when he was already fussing over Lucy and her condition.
Just as Olivia reached the drawing room, voices came through the partially open door, and she paused. The deeper of the two belonged to Simon, but the other... It was a voice she knew far better than she ought.
Shaking her head, Olivia silently scolded her heart for getting excited at the prospect of seeing Nick Forester again. She had not seen him since last summer, before he’d married, but those months had done nothing to quell the affection she had for her brother’s oldest friend.
“This haberdashery has been causing me nothing but trouble,” Simon said, his weariness clear in his voice.
Nick laughed. “Since when have you owned a haberdashery?”
“Since my wife came across it last time we visited London and despaired at the state of the place. The man who runs it had been struggling for some time after the death of his wife. Five kids, and all on his own.”
“Ah, so it was a charitable endeavor rather than an investment.”
Simon let out a deep sigh. “That is what I thought, until suddenly it became the most popular shop in all of Cheapside. I cannot keep the place stocked long enough, and I have had to hire three more part-time staff members to keep the place from being overrun.”
Nick made a sound of understanding. “And you cannot sell the blasted thing because it belongs to your wife.”
“Exactly.”
“Wives do cause trouble wherever they go.”
“And where is your wife?” Simon asked.
“Emma took it upon herself to browse your library to see if it is sufficient, though I doubt she will be satisfied. The woman is insatiable, and she will bleed us dry one of these days in search of new books. I’ve half a mind to tell her she should start writing her own novels to bring in income herself. As if we haven’t shocked Society enough as it is.”
Olivia chose that moment to step into the room, putting on a smile before she had to hear any more about Nick’s perfect match. “I see nothing wrong with that idea, Mr. Forester. She would be a far better storyteller than you are; that much is certain.”
Nick’s eyes lit up at the sight of her, and she had to remind herself that he considered her a sister and always had. She had once thought herself in love with him, and he with her, but that dream had been dashed to pieces when the never-to-be-married man had suddenly changed his ways and settled down. His nuptials had come almost as suddenly as Simon’s.
“Ah, Miss Calloway, as lovely as ever.” He stood and offered a flourished bow.
She allowed him to kiss her knuckles but pulled her hand away quickly. “What brings you to London, Mr. Forester? I thought you would be taking to country living now that you are settled.”
“He is under the ridiculous impression that he still has admirers who will miss him if he does not show his face now and then,” someone else replied.
The smile that stretched across Nick’s face was so different from the one he had given Olivia that she had to wonder how she had ever thought the man could be in love with her. He had never once looked at her the way he looked at his wife as she entered the drawing room.
Despite being in company, he pulled his wife into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, as if it had been days since he last saw her, rather than minutes. “Ah, you certainly know how to cut me down, my love.”
“For which we are all grateful,” Simon said. “Mrs. Forester, I still cannot comprehend how you put up with your husband.”
Mrs. Forester grinned, still wrapped in Nick’s embrace. “He makes up for it in other ways.”
“In every way she deserves,” Nick replied, this time planting a kiss directly on her mouth.
Heat flooded Olivia’s cheeks, and she pressed her palms to her face to cover her blush at the sight of such affection. She was not embarrassed by the affection, but seeing the way men like Simon and Nick treated their sweethearts was likely to give her too much hope. Was it so much to ask to find someone who treated her like that? Like someone precious and valued? If she could be so lucky...
Simon cleared his throat.
Nick merely laughed. “Do not pretend I have not seen you similarly engaged,” he said, tucking his chin over Mrs. Forester’s shoulder as he held her from behind.
“You most certainly have not,” Simon replied, though he flushed scarlet.
“Close enough to it. Now, do you have space at your table for two poor country bumpkins?”
Simon let out a deep, bone-weary sigh, though a smile played at his lips. A part of Olivia hoped he would turn the Foresters away just so she could have a chance to recover from seeing Nick again, but her brother was far too good a friend to do that. Nick was likely the only person Simon would have allowed into the house on a day like today.
“Do not feel obligated to say yes,” Mrs. Forester threw in before Simon could say anything. “We are certainly not poor, thanks to my excellent management skills. The Mackenzie lands are doing better than ever under my hand, no thanks to my useless husband.”
“Yes, we all know you married me for my charm, not my intelligence,” Nick said. “I am happy to leave the difficult work to you.”
Olivia perked up. Did Mrs. Forester really run the estate she was to inherit? Though not unheard of, few women owned land and therefore few had a chance to prove themselves important in their own right. Not that Olivia had any desire to be on her own—she still had high hopes for the Season—but what if she found someone not of the noble class? What if she did not even marry a gentleman?
Her dowry could serve as a means to purchase land, and she could assist with the running of an estate, just like Mrs. Forester. She did not need someone of high birth, though that was exactly the sort of man her dowry would attract. However, she could not deny her dowry would attract far more than that, and fear pooled in her belly at the thought of being pursued by fortune hunters who would not have her best interest at heart. That dowry would likely be both a blessing and a curse.
“Of course you can stay for dinner,” Simon said, breaking Olivia out of her thoughts. “And have I told you how grateful I am that Forester has finally found someone cleverer than him?”
Mrs. Forester laughed. “Many times, my lord, though I will never tire of hearing it.”
“We are only missing Lucy,” Simon said, and his complexion paled as he realized Olivia was here on her own.
Olivia gave him a smile. “She is only tired and decided to take a tray in her room. No need to fret, Brother.”
Simon frowned, his hesitation clear, but then he offered his arm to Mrs. Forester. “May I?” She nodded, and the pair of them disappeared through the door.
Olivia only realized what was happening just as Nick offered her his own arm. “Oh,” she said, too startled to hold it back.
Nick raised a golden eyebrow. “Oh? What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Frowning, he leaned closer as he tucked her arm through his. “I know it has been a few months since we saw each other last, Olivia Calloway, but I can tell when something is bothering you. That ‘oh’ did not mean nothing .”
What else could she say but the truth? “I suppose... I always thought perhaps...” Oh, this whole thing was humiliating! Surely he knew how she felt about him. She had never hidden her affection.
Nick did indeed fill in the blanks, his brow furrowing. “I always told you we were never meant for each other, Liv. You are the sister I always wanted, and I hope I never gave the impression that—”
“You did not.” At least, nothing beyond what she had interpreted. “I simply... I hoped.” And it was high time she moved on and found her own love match.
Though Simon was surely wondering what was taking them so long, Nick bent down and brushed a kiss to Olivia’s forehead. “You are going to find a man who loves you with every breath he breathes.”
Tears pricked at her eyes, but she willed them back. “How can you be sure?”
Nick smiled. “Because there is no one in the world like Olivia Calloway, and sooner or later someone is going to earn your glowing heart. Besides, Emma and I are to be your chaperones this Season, and there is nothing in the world the two of us cannot do.”
Olivia’s heart skipped a beat as Nick led her to the dining room. “What? But Simon—”
“Your brother is far too busy to give you proper opportunity, what with all his businesses and matters of Parliament, and with Lucy in her condition and your mother back at home, someone has to ensure you have every chance of finding a husband.”
As Olivia settled into her chair a moment later and the servants set out the first course, she forced herself to keep her breathing even. It was not an easy feat. The prospect of facing the Season had been difficult enough even with Lucy experiencing it all with her, but if she was to spend the next months with Nick nearby, she was certain she would explode from trying not to compare every man to him.
So much for determination. Coming out of this Season for the better was going to require a miracle.