Page 6 of To Steal a Lyon’s Heart (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #85)

W hen Daisy and Mrs. Peppers arrived, Lord Alston’s butler, Mr. Keen, took them to the drawing room to wait for her brother.

Lady Amelia arrived first, her beautiful blonde hir coiled on her head, her brow pinched in concern.

Her lovely pale-blue gown matched her eyes and gave her a serene, angelic air.

Daisy couldn’t imagine this woman committing any sort of misdeed.

She hadn’t seen or spoken with Lady Amelia since the dinner Lord Alston and Lady Amelia had shared with her family two years ago.

Daisy had only been seventeen at the time and rather awed with Lady Amelia’s confidence and elegance.

Lord Alston was just as beautiful, in a masculine way. Daisy had been too shy to speak to him.

Her brother wasn’t at home, to Daisy’s dismay, but Lady Amelia took charge of the situation.

“He’s at a meeting, but Mrs. Peppers, I cannot thank you enough for seeing Miss Blakewood home. Do you have time for a cup of tea?”

“I’m delighted to see to the care of this young woman. Such a treasure she is. I wish I could stay, but I must get to my sister’s before the weather turns.”

Lady Amelia nodded in understanding. “I’ve had my housekeeper, Mrs. Keen, put together a basket to take home to your family.”

“How gracious of you, my lady.” Mrs. Peppers turned to Daisy and took her hands. “You’re a bit pale, my dear. I insist you rest after such a long ride. You’re safe now.”

Daisy nodded, her throat tightening. “Thank you.”

“Wait here, Miss Blakewood.” Lady Amelia said before showing Mrs. Peppers out. When she returned, Daisy grew nervous as Lady Amelia sat, followed by a maid with a pot of tea.

“I hope I’m not imposing,” Daisy said.

Lady Amelia shook her head. She seemed far less composed than before. “Of course not.”

“Will my brother return soon?”

“He should—” The front door opened and Lady Amelia went into the hall.

Daisy bit her lip. There was tension in the air she did not know how to read.

Her brother appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened at the sight of her. He hurried to her side and dropped to a knee.

“Daisy, why are you here?”

Daisy swallowed down a sob. She’d done so well keeping her emotions in check all the way here, but now that she’d made it, exhaustion tugged at her body.

“News of your wedding reached Mrs. Miranda yesterday, the same morning I got your letter. She thinks your marriage is a scandal, so she sent me away to protect her daughter’s reputation.”

“How could she send you away?” her brother asked. “She knows mother and father are not at home. The house is closed up for the season! Scandal or not, she turned you out with no regard to your safety.”

Daisy took a steadying breath. “She had her lady’s maid put me on the mail coach in Weybridge.

I think Bailey was supposed to stay with me, but she took my money and left me alone.

Mrs. Peppers, a woman I met on the coach, was kind enough to loan me coin and escort me to you.

” Daisy sniffed. He rubbed her arms, shaking his head in disbelief, and then stood.

“You’ll stay with me and Amelia at Alston House until mother and father return. Where are your trunks?”

“I had them taken to the lavender guest room,” Lady Amelia said. “While you two talk, I’ll have a bath readied. You look a bit peaked.”

“I hope I won’t be a bother,” Daisy said, her gaze flicking between her brother and his new wife. “You’re newly wed, and Lord Alston is still healing.”

“Nonsense,” Lady Amelia said. She gave Daisy a small smile as she left the room.

“You could never be a bother.” He sat on the sofa beside her. “I’m sorry you’ve been affected by my marriage like this. While the circumstances weren’t the best, the rumors are purely malicious.”

“Why should there be any rumors at all?” Daisy asked.

“Amelia’s family—her aunt and cousin—they had a falling out and now they want to hurt Amelia and Alston. This is the only way they can.”

“What are they saying?” Daisy asked. She remembered what Miss Miranda had said about Lady Amelia carrying another man’s child.

“Anything and everything to malign Amelia.”

Daisy cleared her throat. She wanted to know, not that she would believe gossip rags, but knowing her brother as she did, he would marry a woman to protect her virtue.

“Is she... I heard Lady Amelia is with child.”

Her brother snorted and then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve heard that one too, only it isn’t mine, correct?”

Daisy blushed uncomfortably.

“She is not with child,” he said. He sounded as uncomfortable as she felt. Pregnancy was not a topic she would normally discuss with her brother.

“But someday?” Daisy said. She pictured her brother with a little version of himself. She met his eyes and smiled.

Her brother grinned. “Hopefully.”

“I’m glad—astonished, but glad. I wish I could have been there.”

“I know. Mother will be upset I married so hastily, but time was short. Lord Alston’s death was imminent, we thought then. That is the only reason we married by special license. Amelia needed her brother to be there, and we didn’t think he’d live to see the morning.”

“He was hurt that badly?” Daisy asked. She tried to picture the vibrant, beautiful man from two years ago.

Her brother nodded. “He fell from his horse and sustained a broken rib and bleeding inside his body. He had to have an experimental surgery performed to save him. Now he’s awake and mending.”

“Nothing about this sounds scandalous,” Daisy said.

He bit his bottom lip and looked away. “I was living here while Alston was severely injured. We did not have a proper chaperone. I was not behaving honorably,” he said.

Daisy couldn’t believe it. “If you were here it was for honorable reasons, Graham. You always know the right thing to do. Why were you living here?”

He sighed and leaned back in the chair, watching the flames in the hearth.

“I was with him when he fell. I brought him home. Amelia was all alone and frightened for Alston. He asked me to look after her. Those could have been the last words he’d ever speak to me, and I could not refuse him.

I could not abandon her, proper or not. Her relationship with her aunt is contentious at best and Amelia didn’t want her to know about Alston.

I’m not sure it was the right thing to do, but I did it anyway, because I love them. ”

Love?

Daisy had never imagined her stoic brother uttering such a word.

As she studied him she realized he’d changed.

He had come to dinner the night before they’d all parted ways or their respective travels.

The man he was then was not the man who sat next to her now.

He had a softness to his face and lightness in his eyes.

He looked... happy. Is that what love did? Her heart swelled for him.

He cocked his head as he smiled at her and gave her shoulder and affectionate squeeze.

“I’m glad you’re here. And you and Amelia can become reacquainted, no matter how the circumstances came to be.”

Daisy smiled. “I’m glad too. I already feel more comfortable.” Though she was still tired. She wanted to lay down. And comfortable or not, a headache was forming behind her eyes and her neck ached.

“Come, I’ll introduce you to Mrs. Keen and we’ll get you settled.”

“Thank you, Graham. You were always my hero.”

He stood and cleared his throat, blinking rapidly. “It’s what big brothers do.”

After meeting Mrs. Keen and being shown to her new room, Daisy settled into the warm bath that was waiting for her and took the headache powder Mrs. Keen had offered.

Now she was tucked into the soft bed, the gauzy white curtains pulled over the windows to soften the late morning light.

The room was painted in a lovely shade of lavender that soothed her eyes, and the furniture was white and delicately engraved with crawling vines.

The bed was plush with a thick, knitted blanket and down pillows.

She felt like she was lying on a fluffy cloud.

The fire was built up to a lovely cozy warmth, and soon Daisy had to admit defeat and allow her gritty eyes to close.

She still couldn’t believe she’d traveled all by herself to London.

She’d never done anything so scary. Before now, she’d always had a parent or chaperone to see to her safety and needs, but she was proud of herself.

Daisy hadn’t succumbed to hysterics. Instead, she’d kept her wits about her and made it safely to her brother.

Only time would tell what happened next.

Until then, she was safe, warm, and tomorrow’s troubles could wait.