Chapter 12
“Abby, there’s someone that I want you to meet.”
The words tripped past Peter’s lips, and he could scarce believe that he was saying them. He never came backstage to visit his sister at the theater, but he had a strange feeling that if he went with Ruby, then no one would think anything of it.
Well, people might think something of him and Ruby, but he was beginning to think that that didn’t matter, that maybe Ruby was the answer to all his problems.
After all, he needed a wife, didn’t he?
All men did. One day down the road, he was going to need to marry someone, and a significant part of him kept insisting that Ruby was the best choice.
Because as he had stood in the dark hall of the theater, feeling at a loss for her pain at the abandonment of her mother, she had whipped around and given him kindness and sympathy. He had felt her utter, complete, and total acceptance of the fact that Abigail was his sister.
Yes, she might do very nicely as his wife because she had the sort of open mind that would be needed to be his viscountess.
Abigail looked up from her dressing table, which was covered in paint pots, pins, brushes, and various tools of the theater trade. She had already slipped off her curled wig, which matched the exact shade of her hair.
Her long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders in a wave. She was dressed in a beautiful robe embroidered with silver flowers. It was a crimson color, as if she wished to dress as boldly as she lived.
It suited her. For once his sister had stepped out of the painful shadows of her past, nothing had stopped her.
His sister had been born with beauty, and he knew it had been one of the things that had saved her from abject poverty as a child.
His sister had told him her story long ago.
It had broken his heart. He hated to think how she had worked in a public house, working alongside pot boys, making sure everything was clean, turning the meat over the fire, sweating, suffering cruel blows, and, of course, the unwanted interest of male patrons.
Though she had gotten out of the place because she had been articulate, clever, and had shockingly been able to read.
Her mother had known how to read and had taught her before she had died of cholera.
And then her letter had come to him just in time, just before she was about to be put on the town lest she starve or be put in the workhouse.
When they’d first met, his heart bleeding for all the pain his father had caused, he’d asked her what she wanted more than anything in the world, and she’d said she wanted to be an actress.
So, he had paid for her to get an apprenticeship with the theater under an excellent actress. And things had changed, and he had found not only a friend in his half-sibling, but someone to take care of. And he had taken care of her. He had taken care of all his siblings, and he always would.
Abby stared at Ruby, quite reticent for a moment. Ladies had a tendency to act strangely with actresses. Gentlemen were usually far more polite. So, it made sense for Abby to wait and see how Ruby would behave.
“I see. And to what do I owe the honor?” Abby asked.
“Oh,” Lady Ruby began carefully, “I think we should just be clear about it right away. Of course, you are simply one of the most remarkable actresses in London. But I noticed…”
Ruby cleared her throat, her usual daring fading.
“Oh?” Abby prompted, shifting in her seat. “What did you notice? Some peculiarity in the performance?”
“No. She noticed that we’re siblings,” he ventured swiftly.
Abby sucked in a sharp breath. “What?”
Ruby straightened and put in, “I think I know your brother better than most people, and I was able to see on his face such an utter look of pride as he was watching you.”
He wasn’t sure what Abby would say, but Abby’s eyes softened. “That’s very kind. He is proud of me, and I’m proud of him.”
“How wonderful,” Ruby gushed, taking a step forward, clearly relieved by Abby’s response. “I wish I had a sibling, but I don’t. I’m quite alone in the world, you see.”
Alone, he thought. Very alone, he felt certain of it, and he’d been alone for many, many years until he’d discovered his army of half-siblings. But none of them wanted to be known as the Viscount Skyburn’s sibling publicly.
None of them wanted to be attached to the bloodline that had been so cruel to them, or to the man who’d been their sire. Peter wished he could pretend that he was not his father’s son, but, alas, he could not.
“You truly are a wonderful actress,” Lady Ruby said.
Abby smiled. A smile that was so bright it could light up an entire theater. “And you appreciate the profession of acting?”
“I appreciate all the arts,” Lady Ruby enthused. “If I had not been born to the position that I have, I think art would be what I would pursue. Or perhaps I’d be a writer.”
“Of course you would,” Peter said, his lips twisting with amusement. “You’d be a pamphlet writer and a revolutionary.”
Ruby laughed. “Perhaps you’re right. There are several ladies who I quite admire who write pamphlets and no doubt I’d be like one of them.” She frowned. “Though I fear I might get myself shot or hanged.”
Abby’s eyes flared. “You’re different, aren’t you?”
Ruby smiled. “Only because of the way I was raised. When you’re like me, you can almost get away with murder. Actually,” she said, frowning, “I wager I could get away with murder if I wanted.”
Abby snorted. “You’re honest about your station. I like that.”
Abby stood then, crossed to the sideboard by the fire, and poured out three glasses of wine. She handed one to Lady Ruby and then another to her brother.
They exchanged a quick glance, and then they all grinned as they realized that in this room, if in no other, their need be no deceptions.
He liked Abby better than almost anyone. He felt he could be himself with her.
Now, he began to suspect he could also be himself with Ruby. The thought was oddly frightening and hopeful at once.
“Are you angry,” he asked softly, “that I’ve brought her backstage?”
“I can’t be angry with you, Peter,” Abby said before she took a sip of her wine from its Italian glass.
“You’re too good and too kind, and it seems this one,” she said with a gesture of her chin to Ruby, “isn’t going to blackmail us.
She has too much money of her own. She doesn’t need to blackmail anyone. ”
Lady Ruby sputtered on her wine. “Have you been threatened with blackmail before?”
“No,” she said. “No one has ever suspected before. And I mean to keep it that way.”
“Why?” she asked. “The two of you are spitting images of each other. Would it be so very terrible if people knew? After all, it seems to me that the ton has peopled the world with children who are not…”
Abby winced. “Yes, but my father was particularly awful about it. He didn’t want me, you see? He cast me and my mother out like we were refuse or rubbish. He did that to all his unwanted children, and all children were unwanted except him.”
The emphasized word was accompanied by a wink at her brother.
He sighed. “I’m not really sure I was wanted, just an heir was wanted.”
Abby smiled softly at him. “You had to deal with him almost every day, didn’t you? I think you might have had the worst of it, even if you did have good food and a clean bed and more money than I could ever dream of having.”
“I did, unfortunately,” he said. “He liked to keep me close, though I tried to run hard and fast away.”
That caused Lady Ruby to stare at him for a long, hard moment, and he feared he had said too much. She did something to him though. She made him want to say too much, feel too much. Could he be with her? Could he make her his wife and survive it?
He’d been so good at running for so long. He could always outrun his feelings. And he’d been certain that he always would.
“What do you think, Abby?” Peter teased. “Do you think we should trust her, or do you think I should go throw her in the Thames?”
Abby whacked him on the shoulder. “Don’t say such things. It’s not a funny joke. Too many men do things like that.”
Lady Ruby rolled her eyes. “He only says something like that because he never would, and he doesn’t know any men who would either. At least he thinks he doesn’t.”
Abby shuddered. “It’s not a joke.”
He winced. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it.”
“It’s all right,” Abby said.
“It really is,” Lady Ruby said. “I do appreciate your attempt at humor, and I certainly love the fact that you love your sister so well that you would defend her with such intensity. You can always hie me out into the mud if I betray you both, and the contents of street mud are so horrifying that it would be a truly terrible punishment. I’m not going to tell anyone if you don’t want me to, but I would like to know you better if that’s all right. ”
Peter held his breath. He had made a fool of himself with his joke. The truth was he would do murder for either of the ladies with him at present.
But Abby needed to know he would never betray her secret. She had been betrayed too many times.
And somehow, Ruby’s response and her protection of his sister? It made him…love her.
Bloody hell. It did. The feeling coursing through him now. It had to be love, didn’t it?
Abby blinked. “Why?”
Ruby shrugged, trying to make light of it but failing, for her eyes shone with emotion. “Well, I like your brother.”
“Are you going to marry him?” Abby asked.
Ruby swallowed. “Why would you say that?”
“Because the two of you are already acting as if you’re married, or far more intimate than a young lady like yourself and my brother should be. Even I know that,” Abby said. “And you’re here together with me. He never would have brought you here if he didn’t care about you very much.”
“I don’t see why we shouldn’t,” he blurted.
Ruby sucked in a breath, clearly stunned. As if to cover how much she might wish him to ask, she said with forced cheer, “I have several good proposals, you know.”
“I’m sure you do,” he said with a grin. “But quantity will never surpass quality.”
Ruby grinned right back. “I love how well you think of yourself. Ever the arrogant aristocrat.”
“He can’t help it,” Abby said. “He is an arrogant aristocrat. You’re an arrogant aristocrat.”
Ruby burst out laughing. “So I am.”
But then Ruby winced. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Do you really think it’s a good idea, us getting married? We’ve known each other for two seconds. And we’re both so bold and wild. Won’t we always be arguing?”
He hesitated. How best to say it? “You come from a family of power. I come from a family of power. We don’t need to know each other for long.
Are you hiding anything? Are you mad? Are you secretly destitute?
If so, you are as good an actress as Abby.
And who cares if we argue? Who wants to agree all the time? ”
Lady Ruby’s eyes widened before she guffawed. “I suppose constant agreement sounds rather sycophantic. But I must warn you about my family. We are quite possibly mad,” she said. “My family does seem to act like utter loons upon occasion, but you’ll have to wait and see if it comes out in me.”
He stared at her for a long moment, not caring about her parents. Not caring about anything other than her. “I need a wife.”
“I don’t need a husband,” she countered.
“No, but things will be easier for you if you have one, and if you ever want to have an heir, you’ll need—”
“My goodness, what a thing to say,” she replied.
Abby batted her brother again. “I don’t want to hear about future heirs between the two of you. That is one step too far for my company. But I’ve never seen a couple act so naturally together. Say yes already.”
Ruby swung her gaze to Abby. “Truly?” she asked.
Abby snorted. “You two act as if you’ve known each other forever, which I think is singular and clearly a good sign, and, unfortunately, I think my brother is right.
Lords and ladies don’t really have to know each other to marry.
I think it’s a wonderful idea. He needs someone, and I think someone like you would be good. ”
Ruby cocked her head to the side. “You don’t know me at all.”
Abby began to laugh. “Lady Ruby Reynolds? Of course I know you. I know everything about you. I know a playwright who’s basing a character off you, and one of my friends is going to play her.”
“Oh, God, are you quite serious?” Ruby asked, not certain if she should be flattered or appalled. “Is there a way I can get it stopped?”
“Oh, no, and you shouldn’t want to,” Abby said brightly, lowering herself into her dressing room chair, lounging easily now. “I think you’ll love it immensely. It’s quite an honor to you. She’s the most wonderful character. Bold, saucy, and makes all the men dance to her tune.”
“Well, if you say it’s an honor to me, then I suppose I shall have to trust it,” Ruby said, rather liking the sound of the character.
Ruby turned to Peter, eyeing her wine, more vulnerable in this instant than he could ever recall seeing her.
She turned the glass stem in her fingertips. “Are you asking me to marry you, here in front of your sister?”
“Why not?” he said.
Ruby laughed. “Why not? That’s not very romantic.”
He looked at her. “Are we going to be romantic?” he breathed.
Lady Ruby blinked. “No, we’re not. Are we? We’re going to be better than that. We’re going to be honest.”
“Is that a yes?”
She nodded. “Yes!”
He smiled, waiting for the joy to hit him. He’d found his wife. He’d found the perfect partner. A woman he loved.
So, why didn’t it all feel like heaven?