Page 10 of The Lyon’s Dilemma (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #86)

F elix enjoyed the journey back to London. The distance was such that he would normally do it in a day, leaving at sunrise and arriving at his London residence late in the evening. His own teams awaited him at seven inns along the way, and the carriage was well-appointed and well sprung.

Adaline said that Melody could not travel for fourteen or fifteen hours, no matter how comfortable the carriage, so he gave orders for a rider to take rooms at the half-way point of the journey, and set out to enjoy traveling with the woman he loved and their daughter.

By the time they arrived at their stop for the night, he had tumbled even further in love, though he would not have considered it possible. My ladies , as he’d decided to think of them, were excellent company—far better company than the estate files with which he normally traveled.

Melody and Adaline sang songs and played games. Adaline read to them both, and then, after bit, opened her reticule to produce the dragon’s tooth.

“This is a special necklace,” she told Melody, draping it around the girl’s neck. “And that is a dragon’s tooth!”

“How did you get it?” Melody asked skeptically, lifting the pendant to peer at it. “Are you sure it’s a dragon’s tooth?”

“Well, that is what I’ve been told,” Adaline answered. “And dragons’ teeth, I’m told, grant wishes, though I do not know if it is true! Shall I make you a story about a dragon’s tooth?”

At Melody’s nod, she asked, “What will you have in the story? Three things, remember. The dragon’s tooth is one, so two more.

This was obviously a practice with them, for Melody furrowed her brow in thought and then decided the story should contain a pony and a pet puppy. Would Melody like a puppy? A silly question. What child would not want a puppy? He had better talk to Adaline.

His beloved began to spin a tale in which a dragon’s tooth that granted wishes was passed from person to person, performing its magic for each one, three wishes apiece.

One of the fortunate recipients wished for a pony, was granted the most beautiful pony that ever lived, and then wished for a stable and a field full of lush grass.

One was a lost puppy, who wished for a little girl to love and be loved by, and was found by a homeless little girl.

The puppy then wished for a family to love them both and finally a farm for them all to live on.

Felix was enchanted, as was Melody—he was sure this was to become a favorite story.

“What should I wish for?” the girl asked eventually, lifting the tooth and considering it with near-reverence.

“Well…I’m not sure,” Adaline told her. “It seems to me that your wishes may have come true already.”

“That is true,” Melody said in a grown-up sounding voice after a few more moments of speculation. “If I can get a puppy. To go with my pony.”

Felix bit back a snort of amusement. Adaline grinned and caught his eyes with her own. Then she said, “And now, I’ll take it back. It belongs to a friend of mine who asked me to retrieve it for her from that country party. I need to keep it in my bag, where it is safe.”

“All right,” the girl answered with obvious reluctance, but then obediently pulled the necklace over her head and handed it back to her mother. “But will you tell me that story again?”

“As many times as you wish,” Adaline promised.

After lunch at an inn along the way, they took a brief walk around a village market, and he purchased cheap but sparkly combs for both his ladies, and a handful of ribbons for Melody.

Pink and blue for the promised pony. And red, “In case I decide to wish for a puppy,” his daughter said. “She will have a ribbon too.”

In the afternoon, he and Melody played several games of chess. She was only learning the game, but he thought she showed great promise. And in the evening, after a shared dinner, Adaline left Melody to the supervision of her nurse and came to his room.

He could not have imagined that two days of travel could pass so quickly and so pleasantly.

It was a rude shock when, near the end of the second day, a messenger caught up with him with an urgent message.

Standing by the coach, where Melody sat all ready for the last stage of the journey, he read the brief missive.

A disaster. A fire at Willowbank Close, his principal seat.

“You’ve come from the Close?” he asked the courier.

The man looked as if he had been in the saddle for hours.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“How bad is it?” Felix asked. “Was anyone injured? Any animals?” Adaline slipped her hand into his free one, and he squeezed her fingers, the rest of his attention in the courier.

“It started in the stables, Your Grace. We lost two horses. Got the rest out. One end of the stable block and part of the adjoining wing of the house are burnt out. I don’t know how bad the rest is, Your Grace. As for the people, a few burns. No one was killed.”

Felix let out the breath he did not know he had been holding. “That’s something. That’s… it’s good. We can rebuild things. Adaline, I must go to Willowbank Close. You heard?”

“A fire, Felix. Of course, you must go and make certain your people are cared for.”

She understood. Of course she did. Even in the midst of his busy planning, he spared a thought for what a wonderful duchess Adaline was going to make.

As if to underline that truth, she said to Melody, “Darling, just sit tight for a moment. We will carry on to London once I have helped His Grace on his way. He must go and look after the people and horses who have been hurt by the fire.”

“Yes, Mummy,” Melody said. “I am sorry about your fire, Duke.”

“Thank you, Melody. Adaline, you continue in the coach. I will arrange a riding horse—it will be faster.”

“I shall organize a bundle of food for you to carry.” She smiled at the courier. “Come with me. I shall arrange a bath, a meal, and a room in which you can rest before you return.”

What a woman. No fuss. No complaints. She saw what was needed and got on with it. Felix was on his way in fifteen minutes, taking only enough time to assure Adaline that, if she took the dragon scroll into Mrs. Dove Lyon, he would write to the lady and agree to her terms.

“I should be back within the week, my love,” he told her, kissed her on the lips despite the busy innyard, and rode on his way.

It was more like nine days, but at last Felix arrived back in London. The fire was worse than the courier thought, having broken out again after everyone was certain it was extinguished. They had lost more than half the stable block, and most of the west wing of the house.

There were casualties among those who fought the fire, but no deaths. And the stable master had suffered a broken leg when the horse he was rescuing panicked and ran over him on its way back into the worst of the fire.

He had had two letters from Adaline during his absence. The first was a chatty epistle about Melody, her pleasure at being in her own home, and her curiosity about the ducal townhouse. “I told her that we would visit once you were home, Felix,” Adaline wrote.

She had not yet seen Mrs. Dove Lyon. “I have sent Mrs. Dove Lyon a note letting her know that I have the dragon scroll and tooth, and that I met you at the house party. I thought it best to notify her that we are betrothed. I think you are correct in saying that this was her intention, darling, but let us leave nothing to chance. I will write again once I have seen her.”

And she had written again, three days later—a remarkably short letter to say that Mrs. Dove Lyon had approved their betrothal and had arranged a license and an appointment at St Mary’s Whitechapel.

The wedding was tomorrow, and the marriage agreement was waiting for him on the desk in his study.

He would sign it before the wedding, but he couldn’t wait until tomorrow to see Adaline, and besides, Melody wanted to visit his townhouse.

Her room was ready—the letter he had sent to his housekeeper had meant all was prepared for his new bride and his daughter. It lacked only her personal items.

He wouldn’t wait. He would call on Adaline right now. It was late in the day, but surely Adaline and Melody would be at home, and it was not too late for a short excursion?

But when he arrived at the address Adaline had given him, her butler refused him. “Mrs. Beverley is not receiving visitors,” he said.

“I am the Duke of Kempbury, Mrs. Beverley’s betrothed,” Felix told him. “Let Mrs. Beverley know I am here, please.”

The butler sniffed, but went away to carry the message to his mistress, leaving Felix in the entry hall. A few minutes later, Adaline called down to him. He looked up. She was standing on the upper landing, leaning over the balustrade, smiling down at him. “Kempbury. You are back in London.”

Kempbury? Was she cross with him? “Of course. It is our wedding tomorrow.”

“Yes, which is why I am turning away guests tonight, dear man. I want to be at my best for you.”

“But not me, surely?” He sounded like a whiny boy, and all because his plans had been overturned. Felix moderated his tone, and managed to say calmly, “I thought you and Melody might like to have a quick look at my townhouse. It would not take long.”

“Tonight, Kempbury? No, surely not. We shall see it tomorrow. I shall see you tomorrow, at the church. And afterward, I shall make it up to you for not receiving you tonight.” There was a wealth of promise in her voice, but Felix could not deny that he was disappointed.

“If that is what you want, Adaline,” he managed to say. “I shall see you and Melody at the church.”

Adaline chuckled. “Tomorrow,” she said. “But Melody will not be joining us, darling. She has a bit of a sniffle.”

He knew something was not right. “How is she? Has she seen a doctor? Should I call one?”

That prompted another laugh. “Oh, Kempbury, how sweet of you. It is just a sniffle. Children recover quickly, I promise you. She needs to stay at home in bed for a day or two.”

With that, Felix had to be satisfied. Outside on the steps, he wondered what had just happened. Something was off. Adaline was not herself. She had not seemed at all concerned about Melody, and she had called him “Kempbury”, thrice.

Surely, he had not been mistaken in her? She loved her child, he knew that. And she loved him, did she not? Perhaps she was overwhelmed at the thought of the wedding. Yes. That must be it. Tomorrow, she would be his wife, and all his doubts would fade away.