A Lord for Miss Lily: A Wallflower’s Wish Read online

  A Lord for Miss Lily

  A Wallflower’s Wish

  Maggie Dallen

  Katherine Ann Madison

  Copyright © 2020 by Maggie Dallen and Tammy Andresen

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  A Marquess for Miss Marigold

  Prologue

  Five years earlier…

  Laura clapped a hand over her mouth at the sight of the gleaming black stallion before her.

  “Like it?” Merrick’s voice was impossibly smug beside her.

  She choked on a laugh. Did she like it? “I love him.”

  Merrick laughed at the awe in her voice as she reached out to let the giant beast sniff her hand.

  She turned to look up at him. “But where did you get him?”

  “A new present from my father.” Her friend’s eyes flashed with bitterness. “For Simon.”

  Ah. Well, that explained it then. Laura clamped her lips shut to keep from saying something he wouldn’t wish to hear. He did not need her sympathy.

  “But as Simon does not even enjoy riding, and I’ve been stuck with his old nag for years now, I thought it was only kind to give Wildfire here a run for his money.” He shot Laura a sidelong look filled with mischief. “Let’s see what he can do.”

  She let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “It’s nearing two in the afternoon.”

  Merrick raised a brow. “And?”

  She pushed his arm, a light playful touch had him grinning. “You know that means it’s time for my embroidery lesson.”

  He made a face, his nose wrinkling in the funniest way. “What is the point of attending? You’re never going to master the skill. You hate it with a passion.”

  He had a point there. It was another of those activities meant to keep women docile in their sitting rooms while men had all the fun.

  She grinned over at him. “Let’s do it.”

  She opened her mouth to tell Merrick his self-righteous, conceited dandy of an older brother didn’t deserve such a fine horse. Simon might have been the heir, but he wasn’t half the person that Merrick was.

  Before she had the chance, her older brother rounded the corner in the stables and caught sight of them. “What’s this?” He laughed as he smacked Merrick’s shoulder. “You actually did it, then?”

  Merrick shrugged. “No one will even know he’s gone.”

  Sebastian shook his head, his expression torn between awe at Merrick’s nerve and fear at the idea of getting caught.

  Neither Merrick’s parents nor his brother were known for their tolerance when it came to Merrick’s pranks.

  “Come on, then, let’s go for a ride.” Laura said, already moving toward the stall where her mare waited.

  “You’re coming too?” Sebastian arched his brows. “Mother won’t approve. And you’ll miss your lesson…again.”

  Laura narrowed her eyes in a glare. “She can’t disapprove if she does not know, now can she?” She knew it was a lie, of course. But she’d take whatever disapproval came her way. This ride would be worth it.

  Sebastian sighed. He knew better than to argue with his stubborn sister. “All I’m saying is, if you get caught, you’re on your own.”

  “Aren’t I always?” she shot back.

  Sebastian sighed again, but Merrick gave her a small smile of understanding. Between the two of them they were forever making poor Sebastian sigh. They were perpetually in trouble, causing trouble, or about to stir up trouble at any given moment.

  “She specifically told me to find you and send you back inside,” Sebastian grumbled.

  Laura rolled her eyes behind her brother’s back, making Merrick snort with amusement. “Tell her you never saw me.”

  “Like she’ll believe that,” Sebastian was muttering to himself. He knew very well that his griping would not change her mind.

  Nothing would.

  Once Laura set her mind on something, nothing could deter her.

  “You’re supposed to be having your lesson with the Morris sisters,” he reminded her. As if she did not know that.

  “They’ll all be sitting around, repeating boring old gossip while sewing.” She gave a little shudder that had Merrick laughing outright.

  “You make it sound like torture,” Sebastian said.

  “It is,” Laura shot back. “Have you ever tried to embroider?” She did not wait for an answer before turning to Merrick. “Have you?”

  Merrick shook his head, still laughing. “Never.”

  “It cannot be that bad,” Sebastian said.

  Merrick winced, eyeing Laura with sympathy. He knew better than to say anything, just as she’d known her sympathy wasn’t wanted earlier. Neither of them wished to be pitied for their lot, but both understood the other’s plight.

  For Laura’s part, she dreaded the day she’d become a true young lady. Right now, she hovered on the edge of childhood, young enough that she could still get away with youthful adventures. But if her mother had her way, that would all be a thing of the past soon enough.

  She reached for the reins of her horse and hoisted herself up into the saddle.

  Unfortunately for her mother, Laura had other plans.

  Those plans did not involve sitting around with a bunch of old biddies, biding her time with embroidery. Which was exactly why she’d participate in this ride. Laura bent to no one’s will.

  “I’m just saying,” Sebastian said as he seated his own horse. “If mother asks—”

  “Relax, Seb,” Merrick interrupted. “Of course Laura is coming with us.” He shot Laura a wicked grin. “Who else will give me a run for my money?”

  Laura grinned at his teasing. “Who indeed?”

  Sebastian sighed once more, this time in exasperation, but he did not argue.

  He knew it was true.

  Laura was the only one who could keep up with Merrick and they all knew it.

  “Come on then,” Merrick said, already urging his horse toward the stable doors. “Show me what you’ve got.”

  Laura drew in a breath of fresh air and tilted her head up to the sky as they trotted off toward the meadow. For the first time all day she felt free.

  Alive.

  Merrick galloped past her on his horse. “Think you can keep up?” he teased as he passed.

  She laughed. “Just watch me.”

  They left Sebastian in their dust as they raced one another, neck and neck for the most part. With the wind in her hair and the sun on her skin, Laura tilted her head up to the sky and said a prayer of thanks for this day, this horse...this friend.

  Chapter One

  Five years later...

  Lily peered through a rose bush, attempting to avoid the thorns even as she pushed closer. If she just shifted a bit to the left, she would both be able to see and hear the Duke of Dolan as he escorted Miss Pearson through the rose garden. Balancing on one slipper, she peeked through a rare gap in the leaves, now ab
le to see the path where the tour of the garden would end.

  “It’s not polite to spy, you know,” her friend and ally, Marigold, softly whispered from just next to her as she also hunched trying to see through the dense, thorny foliage.

  Marigold was naturally more shy and cautious. Both traits Lily loved about her friend. Except for right this very moment.

  “Hush,” she replied, not looking at Marigold. “You know you want to hear what he’s saying. Daisy is counting on us.” She reached out and patted her friend’s shoulder even as she leaned further to the right, trying to catch a glimpse of His Grace. “Now head over to the next row so that we might be able to piece together the entire conversation.”

  Marigold let out a sigh, but straightened. “Fine. But only because I think it will help Daisy. Not because I approve.”

  Lily smiled to herself, glad her friend had finally come ‘round to her plan.

  The Duke of Dolan had been paying special interest to Daisy until this afternoon. Lily could tell that his sudden turn of attention had hurt Daisy deeply and Lily was determined to understand why. And that was why she was here. Spying.

  Of course, she also hated most social rules and flaunted them whenever possible. She took great pride in not conforming, and that included—but was not limited to—spying in rose gardens.

  Her mother said that she only engaged in such behavior to prove that she didn’t care about the ton’s rejection. She always fired back that she acted as she did because she’d never cared whether they’d accepted her or not.

  But either way, she’d been designated a wallflower, which was fine by her. It meant no one gave a fig what she did.

  And it wasn’t as though she was unhappy or lonely. She had Daisy and Marigold.

  Her friends had been her saving grace the past few years and she’d do nearly anything to help them and make certain they were happy. Spying on one duke...easy.

  “It’s not polite to spy, you know.” The words were a repeat of Marigold’s but everything else about the statement was completely different. This time it was said with disdain, not resignation.

  The words rumbled low and deep in a baritone she’d recognize anywhere. Lord Merrick.

  She had no use for him.

  “Who said I was spying?” She sniffed, not turning to look at him. She didn’t need to. She knew every line of his face, every nuance of his classically handsome features, from his square jaw to his full mouth to the aristocratic arch of his brow.

  Right about now his warm brown eyes would be glittering with annoyance.

  “Laura,” he said, disapproval evident in the way he drew out the last syllable.

  “It’s Lily now, thank you very much.” She refused to stand but she’d stopped seeing the path visible through the bushes, her eyes clouded with her own irritation.

  He scoffed deep in his throat. “Lily? Really? You’ve changed your name now?”

  She shrugged, finally straightening. Slowly, she pivoted toward him. She always managed to forget how tall he was. The width of his shoulders held a power that, a few years ago, had seemed like a safe haven. Now they just reminded her of how much it hurt when a friend abandoned a girl for prettier, more-sought-after ladies. “Lily suits me.”

  “Suits you? Flaunting your position against the wall suits you?” He crossed his arms, staring down his nose at her as though he knew far better than her what was good or right.

  “Please.” She waved her hand in the air, lifting her chin higher. “What do you know about it? What do you know about anything?”

  “I know that you’ll never make a good match like this. You have so much potential, Laura.” He frowned, that perfect impersonation of his father. In fact, it was the very face they’d made fun of as children.

  She wrinkled her nose as though she’d smell something foul. “You look and sound exactly like him.”

  She didn’t need to say his name. They both knew she meant his father and her arrow hit its mark. His face turned to granite, only a small flicker of pain crinkling the corners of his eyes. “I, unlike some of us, have grown up.”

  Her hands came to her hips. “Grown up? Is that what you call becoming as snotty as the rest of them?”

  He scoffed, stepping closer. “They will find husbands.”

  Ouch. He’d struck back, and his blow had been just as hurtful as hers.

  She’d spent her first season sitting on the sidelines. She’d watched others dance and make merry as she sedately stood at her mother’s side. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wished to dance. That year, she’d been...unable.

  Ravaged by a disease of the lungs, she’d hardly made it through alive. In fact, her mother hadn’t wanted her to participate in that season at all. She’d thought her daughter should wait until she was stronger so that she might make the best impression.

  Lily had refused. At the time, her best friend, Lady Abigail Purewater, had been coming out and she’d desperately wished to join her. Back then she’d considered Abigail a sister. If she were honest, she’d dreamed the two of them would be the toast of London. She’d convinced her mother to allow her to participate.

  In the end, her mother had been right. She’d have been better off at home.

  But she’d not tell him any of that. She’d not tell anyone. Let them think her strong-headed and ridiculous. She cared not. She’d not share that she’d been weak.

  “I don’t care if I find a husband.” Her spine straightened with every word. “I am more content to be me than to be valued by others.”

  He shook his head. “You’re so stubborn. You know that, don’t you? You’ll become a spinster rather than compromise even the slightest?”

  Her lip curled. Become one of the Abigails? Simpering and sweet on the outside but absolute vipers within? She thought not. “Have you ever considered that I am right and that you and all the rest of them are the ones who have it wrong?”

  He frowned at her, the perfect arch of his brow drawing together. “As I was once like you, I have carefully considered both sides so I can tell you with absolutely certainty that you are wrong and-—”

  “Stop.” She held up her hand. “I’m sorry I asked the question. I don’t want to hear your answer.”

  He shook his head. “Laura—”

  “Lily.”

  He drew in a long breath, staring at her. “Laura.”

  She raised her brows. “And you say that I am stubborn.” She moved toward him holding up a single finger. “Lily.” She spoke the name slowly as though he might not understand.

  He grumbled deep in his throat. “Using that name only encourages your nonconformity.”

  She shrugged. “Even my mother has begun using it.”

  His brows lifted at that. “Your mother, of all people, is using your wallflower name?”

  That made her smile. Granted, after Lily’s near death, her mother had become far more flexible, but she was still a formidable woman, as Merrick well knew. “She’s come around to see things my way.”

  He shook his head. “How did you manage that?”

  Lily stared to the side, for the first time during this conversation, she wasn’t irritated and she certainly didn’t feel confident. Memories of the months she’d spent in bed flooded her thoughts and her shoulders hunched.

  “Lily?” he asked softly.

  That nearly made her smile. He’d used her new name and he’d always managed to sense when she needed him to soften the most. “It doesn’t matter, Merrick. She did.”

  “I sense that there is more you’re not telling me.”

  She shrugged. “What you need to know is that I will never be the person you want me to be.”

  “But why?” he asked. He took the last step that brought him within arm’s reach. “Try to understand. Our friendship was always so important to me. And we could be like that again. Compatriots, not in a rebellion against our parents, but in the battle of finding the perfect match.”

  So that’s what he wanted, was it? The perfect
match.

  Not surprising. After Abigail had unfriended her to join a group of proper ladies, she and her new group of friends had seen fit to torture Lily at every opportunity. They’d put nettles in her skirts, made sure she didn’t get the best invitations, bumped into her on the dance floor on the rare occasion she was asked to dance.

  That’s when she’d hidden along the wall and met Marigold and Daisy.

  And what had Merrick done? He’d courted Abigail.

  It wasn’t as though Lily had wanted Merrick to court her. He was her friend, that was all. In fact, he wasn’t even that. He’d been her older brother’s friend, but she’d thought they’d had a friendship of their own as well. She’d always seen him as her fiercest ally, even after he’d gone off to tour the continent.

  But she’d learned the truth when he’d returned to London that season a changed man. Rather than be her friend and take her side against the merciless snobs of the ton, what had he done?

  He’d courted the very woman who had seen to her social humiliation.

  She’d die before she tried to join that woman’s circle now, and having Merrick ask it of her now only strengthened her resolve.

  “But I thought you’d found the perfect match already,” she said, her smile cool and detached. “Are you not still courting Lady Abigail?”

  His face flinched in pain, every muscle tightening as a muscle in his jaw ticked. “As a matter of course, I am not.”

  She cocked her head to the side, shock warring with curiosity. “Did you end it?”

  He reached up and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “That is none of your business, Laura.” Then he turned to leave.

  None of her business? He was no longer courting her sworn nemesis? Her friend-turned-enemy?

  He wasn’t going anywhere.

  Lily needed to hear this story.