Arlo stiffened at the word, his face assuming a mutinous expression. “My solicitor has already been working on investigating what these supposed charges were. None of the Beaton’s claims hold any water.” Fury tinged his voice as he mentioned the family who had caused so much strife for Delfine when she had only helped an innocent girl. “Not to mention that deviant, Richard, has done this before.” He scowled again, and Delfine’s face hardened.
“I suspected as much.”
Arlo sighed. “This morning I received a telegram confirming that in a week’s time everything should be finalized. Which is why I will be here in two weeks to fetch you.” Lluvia and Delfine’s eyes widened and immediately Arlo clicked his tongue, as if he just remembered something important. “Forgive me. I didn’t consider you may both have patients that need you.”
Lluvia spoke first, her hand comfortably holding Delfine’s as they sat opposite Arlo. “Two weeks should be enough time for me to end my rounds at the hospital. How about you, amor?”
Delfine considered for a moment, then smiled at her brother. “I have only a couple of patients in the final trimester, and I can pass them to a midwife I work with. We should be ready to go when you return.”
Arlo dipped his head and smiled brightly at his sister. “I’ll make the arrangements.” After a moment, he stood and turned in Marena’s direction. He sent her the same guarded and concerned expression he’d been giving her through dinner. “I imagine the three of you would like some privacy. Marena, would you still like to return tomorrow? If you want more time here I can—”
She didn’t let him finish. “Yes. Tomorrow.” Her tone was too sharp and her words too terse for the question. She willed herself to sound more normal, certain that Lluvia and Delfine were staring. “Now that I know these two pests will be back in two weeks, I need to enjoy the last bit of peace and quiet in London.”
“Right.” His tone was discomfited, unhappy. “I will instruct Cyrus to confirm your reservation for tomorrow morning.” He turned to Delfine and Lluvia with a warm expression. “I’ll have the carriage ready for you.” After giving them each a kiss on the cheek, he left quietly without looking at her. Her heart constricted as he walked away.
As soon as the door closed behind him, both her sister and her best friend flanked her on the settee. Lluvia was the first to speak. “Marena Baine-Torres, I’m impressed. A duke.” Her sister’s voice was brimming with laughter, and Marena wanted more than anything for the ground to open up and swallow her.
“I’ve no idea what you’re referring to,” she said sternly, attempting to maintain eye contact with her sister.
“Marena dear, the man had his teeth on your neck and both hands on your bottom.”
She was sure her entire face would go up in flames. Neither Delfine nor her sister were above bringing this entire sordid affair to her mother’s attention, or worse, asking Arlo about it. “I will say one thing and then will never speak of it again.”
The two bobbed their heads at the same time. “Now that the two of you are going to be associating with London’s high society, you really will need to curb that penchant for gossip.”
Delfine cackled, and Marena sighed in defeat, ready to confess. The truth was, she was desperate to talk to them about it. “I may have engaged in sexual congress with the duke.”
A yelp from Lluvia was joined by a lascivious grin from Delfine. “This is a very favorable development.”
Marena shook her head at the insinuation it would happen again. “There is no development.” Something in her chest squeezed so she could barely breathe as she spoke. “I am not in a position to indulge in fantasies where I can be with Arlo. Women like me cannot afford dalliances with nobles. You both know that. I…” Her denials and protests died in her throat. It was no use to lie to them, it would be like lying to herself.
“You looked happy, Mare.” The sympathy in Delfine’s voice was almost unbearable. Marena pressed a hand to her breastbone, willing her heart to stop galloping.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you giggle.” Of course, her sister had to make her laugh even when she felt overcome with regret and frustration. She shook her head after a moment, still stubbornly rejecting that this thing with Arlo could be more than what had happened between them, yet knowing it already was so much more. “It’s too complicated. He’s your brother, Delfine. And what if people start talking?”
“You’re not serious? You’re talking to two women who are in a committed companionship that most of society has deemed either an abomination, a mental disturbance, or both. No one understands more about complicated love affairs than we do.” Marena’s face heated with shame. How could she suggest Lluvia and Delfine didn’t comprehend her dilemma when they had faced so many obstacles and still were not able to freely let the world see their love?
“I’m sorry, hermana. That was so thoughtless of me.”
“It’s all right. It’s not like you weren’t there for most of it. Without you we would not have had a soul to turn to in those first years when we were afraid of telling anyone,” Lluvia reminded her, some of the humor gone from her voice now. “You know what it was like for us.”
“And I’d do it all over again,” said Delfine, reaching for Lluvia’s hand.
“Me too.” Lluvia said, her voice so gentle it cracked Marena’s heart. “Some things, some people, come into your life and force you to reimagine the dreams you had for yourself.” Marena wasn’t quite certain who Lluvia was speaking to, but the message was clear all the same.
“All right, all right, you two. I am aware your undying love is the stuff of myth and legend, but could we focus on my deeply injudicious entanglement.” That broke the heaviness, and Delfine and Lluvia took each of Marena’s hands in one of theirs.
“Is it an injudicious entanglement you’d like to see end?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? The instant answer should have been a resounding yes. That would be the sensible response, the typical Marena approach, and yet yearning burned in her belly like a roaring fire. “He’s asked me to continue seeing him in London.” She shivered at the possibility of having him longer. “He said I could set the conditions.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Then why don’t you ask him? You deserve to be happy, Marena.” Lluvia had always been the risk taker, but maybe she was right.
“I don’t want to have my heart broken.” She thought of the liberties so many in the ton already took with her when they frequented her shop, and felt wary of what would happen once people found out she was involved with Arlo. “I don’t want men coming to my shop thinking they can have me too.”
This time Lluvia put her arms around Marena and sighed. “I wish men didn’t behave like utter prigs, but even after only knowing him for three hours, I have the feeling Arlo would not let that happen.”
“They’d still talk.”
“Hermana,” Lluvia said, tightening her arms until Marena was close enough to kiss her on the cheek. “Mamí and Da did not raise us to let other people’s opinions keep us from reaching for what should be ours. If he wants you, and you want him, why not see where it goes?”