Chapter Thirty-Six

Penelope had known she would be uneasy when the time came to face Liam again. But she hadn't expected to be shaking.

The drawing room was still and quiet when she entered. Liam stood facing the door. Both Mrs. Greenberrys watched him. Nicolette and Henri didn't seem to know who to watch.

"What are you doing here?" Liam asked.

'Twasn't the most loving of greetings. "I'd hoped to see you before you continued on to Ireland."

That obviously surprised him. "Did you miss me that much?"

"I have missed you, and I was deeply disappointed not to have been given the chance to say goodbye in Yorkshire." She chose not to point out in that moment that he had prevented that farewell.

"You knew what inn I was at," he said. "Would it have been so difficult to have followed me there?"

"I sent a letter to the inn I guessed you had stopped at," she corrected. "And the response you sent back indicated you were not overly keen to see me, not merely at that inn but ever again."

Liam's eyes darted about the room. "I would never be so dismissive of my own sister. I cannot imagine why you are maligning me this way."

Everyone was watching them now, listening intently as Liam tossed her into the figurative muck. She had held out some hope that his anger had cooled and that this reunion would not be entirely awful. Being wrong about that was heartbreaking. And while she would like to keep the peace with her brother, she was standing in a room with hopefully her future in-laws, whom she needed to not think of her as a heartless liar.

"I have your letter still, Liam," she said. "I would be willing to read it aloud so we can all determine if I have truly so wholly misinterpreted your words."

Liam's expression froze. A tiny bit of color crept over his face. He took a nostril-flaring breath, releasing it slowly. To the senior-most Mr. Greenberry, Liam said, "I do not wish to delay the meal any longer than it has been. Please, begin without us while I have a private conversation with my sister." And in a rare showing of public poor manners, Liam didn't wait for a response nor for his host to indicate if the plan was to his liking. He simply took hold of Penelope's arm and began leading her out of the room.

Niles stepped into their path. He met Penelope's eyes, his unspoken question obvious.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him.

Liam led her around Niles and out of the drawing room. They made their way from the entryway, down a corridor, and to a door leading out onto a terrace.

When he finally released her arm, he said, "I am beginning to suspect that I will never stop being humiliated by you, Penelope."

"What have I done this time?"

"I have spent the past two days smoothing things over with the Greenberrys, salvaging their opinion of us by explaining that you and Mr. Niles Greenberry simply didn't suit and that it was in everyone's best interest to forgo the planned match. I made so many excuses for you, for him, for us, and just when I feel I have made progress, you arrive making sheep eyes at their son and grandson and undo it all." He spoke in a tense, quick clip. "In their eyes, I will now either be an idiot or a liar."

"We will simply explain that Niles and I made our decision after you left and that when you arrived here a few days ago, there was no reason for you to think anything had changed between him and me."

"Which will only convince them that I am irresponsible and neglectful. Is that really so much better?"

Penelope pushed down her growing frustration. She knew she had caused her brother difficulties, but he seemed determined to think the worst of her and lay at her feet the blame for everything. She could argue with him, point out the many ways in which he was being horribly unfair. Everything she did met with his disapproval. Everything she did was wrong in his eyes. But she didn't want to be at odds with him. If there was a way to make this right, and she wasn't sure there was, she wanted to try. "What do you need from me?" she asked, leaning against the low wall of the terrace, wrapping her arms around herself as a shield against the chilled air. "What can I do?"

"I don't know," he muttered.

The both of them feeling sorry for themselves wouldn't help anything. "There must be something," she insisted. "We cannot leave things this way."

"Most of Dublin society views it as a tragic thing that the older of the Seymour siblings was not male, as you are considered far more competent than I." He began pacing, something she didn't think she'd seen him do before.

"I have never heard anyone express that sentiment," she said.

"Not to you, no." His words were clipped and tense. "They view me as a laughingstock. I had hoped that view wouldn't spread to England."

"I truly don't think it has," she said. "I don't even honestly think that opinion is held in Dublin."

"I have shielded you from a lot of it, Penelope."

Was that true? She'd not noticed even a hint of what he insisted was a widespread view of their family. Surely if his worries were founded, it could not have been kept from her entirely.

He continued on. "You no longer have to interact with Dublin society if you don't wish to, but at least until Mother feels she'd like to venture to London, Dublin is the entirety of my social circle. And they think I'm a dunderhead."

"You will return this time having seen your sister married into a respected English family. Surely that will be to your credit."

But he shook his head. "They will say, ‘Miss Seymour got herself married into a respected English family.' I will receive no credit for it."

She chose not to press her suspicion that he was imagining more in other people's evaluations than was actually there. How he felt this would impact him was the crux of the current matter.

"Liam, I cannot be blamed for what other people might say or think. It is unfair to hold their opinions against me."

He stopped walking and turned to face her. "You truly wish to marry Mr. Niles Greenberry?"

"I do." She bounced a little to keep warm.

"And I suspect you actually followed me here, not because you missed your brother but because you need me to sign the marriage agreement?" He eyed her the way a barrister might upon catching a criminal lying in court.

"I have missed you," she insisted. "And had your letter not dismissed me so entirely that I knew that feeling was not mutual, my missing you might have been reason enough for me to follow you here. But yes, I also need you to sign the marriage agreement." Her teeth were chattering a little. "If you will not do so as a kindness to your sister, I hope you will at least do so as proof that you are the competent head of your family the world ought to see you as."

"You intend to subject me to extortion?"

Frustration pushed a sigh from her. "I do not intend to lower myself to extortion."

"Neither do I," he said. "But I do have a requirement."

At that, her uneasiness turned to unabated anxiousness. "What requirement?" The question was almost indiscernible, cold shaking her from deep within.

But footsteps on the terrace stopped whatever response he might have made. They both turned to look.

Niles was walking toward them, holding her red wool cloak.

Liam looked none too pleased. "I believe I told you this was meant to be a private conversation, Mr. Greenberry."

"It has apparently escaped your notice, Mr. Seymour, that your sister is chilled to her core." Niles set the cloak on Penelope's shoulders. "Your demands for a private conversation cannot be allowed to supersede her right to not develop an inflammation of the lungs."

"I didn't—" Liam had the decency to look a little ashamed. "I didn't realize. I should have. I'm sorry."

Niles fastened the frog closure near her neck.

Penelope pulled the voluminous length of the cloak around her, sighing at the relief it provided from the cold air.

Niles moved to stand beside her. He set an arm around her, another buffer from the chill. "Now, Mr. Seymour, please continue your discussion about the not-extortion condition under which you will sign the marriage contract."

"This is a private conversation," Liam insisted.

"As the outcome of it impacts me as well, I believe I ought to be included."

Liam's expression grew ever more determined. "My condition is simple, really." He looked directly at Penelope. "You marry in Dublin. I will be seen to be part of your good fortune, and you will be seen treating me like the competent head of the Seymour family. I don't mean groveling but a show of respect and confidence in me and enough deference that I won't be laughed at."

"I have always respected you, Liam. And I do have confidence in you. That you insist on believing otherwise is frustrating."

"Society is driven by perceptions," he said. "I need the people who have influence on my future to believe I am worthy of having one."

"Showing to all the world that I love you and believe in you is no burden at all," she said.

"Prove it." Liam's expression grew more unyielding. "The only reason you were not going to be married in Ireland was because the Greenberrys asked that the ceremony take place here. I am asserting some authority in that matter now. Agree to marry in Dublin and show society there that I am worthy of respect, and I will sign the marriage agreement."

That was asking more than he probably realized. All of Niles's family was in Cornwall, generations of them. They had been married in the local church for centuries. Most of his family would likely not go to Dublin. And the Gents would not necessarily be able to make the journey either.

"You'll not budge on this?" she asked.

"I cannot. Too much depends upon it."

To have the future that was now within reach, Niles had to endure more pain. She didn't want to inflict that on him, but what else could be done? "Niles and I will need to talk about this."

Liam met her eye with a gleam of triumph in his gaze. "Discuss it between the two of you. I will return inside."

She watched him walk through the terrace doors. "Do you think I ought to warn him that I now know how to punch like a pugilist?"

"He deserves one just now, I'd say." Niles pulled her fully into his arms. "Give him a moment to get farther away, then we'll go inside as well. Even with your cloak on, you are cold."

Despite her heavy mind and heart, she could smile at that. "Thank you for coming to my rescue."

"An incomplete rescue, I'm afraid. He is still holding our future hostage with his demands of you."

"Of both of us."

They walked together, his arm still around her, through the terrace door. The pace was slow, giving them time to talk before they crossed paths with anyone. The rest of the group would have already begun their meal. Liam had insisted.

"I've spent so much time the past weeks castigating myself for being such a selfish and unfeeling sister. But I am beginning to fear that Liam's grievances against me are broader and of longer standing tha n I realize. I am not certain they can be overcome."

"You are not selfish or unfeeling," Niles said. "That your brother has convinced you otherwise is inexcusable."

"I have begun to feel relief at knowing I'll be living in England and he will be in Ireland." She leaned her head against Niles. "Which adds weight to his accusations regarding my selfishness."

"Wanting a respite from unkindness is not selfish." Niles kissed the top of her head.

"Will you promise me, Niles, that you'll always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Kiss my head like that. I never fail to feel better when you do."

His arm slipped from her shoulders to her waist. "For you, my Penny, I would do anything at all."

She stopped and turned to face him. They stood at the end of the corridor, far enough inside to escape the chill but not near enough to the drawing room or dining room to be overheard. "Does that ‘anything at all' include getting married in Dublin?" Liam ought not to be demanding this of them, but since he had, there was no avoiding the decision they had to make. "I realize it would mean you wouldn't be married in the chapel where your family always has been, and very few of your family members would be in attendance. And with the state of Lucas's father's health, he and Julia most certainly wouldn't be there. And Henri and Nicolette's income does not allow for such journeys, especially after having very recently made several. Aldric has a new estate to see to. Digby has not been granted much peace at his estate and must long for a bit of it. Kes and Violet must long to be back home as well. It is possible not one of the Gents would be there, and they are so important to you." Emotion cracked through the words.

He brushed his hand along her cheek. "Penelope Seymour, do you not know that you are important to me?" He smiled softly. "Fate has given us this miraculous chance for us both to pursue the dreams we have but to do so together. I would marry you on a mountaintop or in the depths of the sea or at the farthest reaches of the earth, with only the two of us there if need be."

"Dublin seems a less complicated option than any of those," Penelope said. "And unlike underwater or mountaintop weddings, those solemnized in a chapel of the Church of Ireland are recognized and binding in England. That makes Dublin the less scandalous option as well."

"Far less."

She breathed more easily. "This isn't the insurmountable obstacle I thought it was?"

"We have overcome far more difficult impediments."

Penelope sighed; she couldn't help herself.

He tipped her head upward. Their eyes met. "We should tell your brother to begin planning a Dublin wedding. But we'll keep our decision to ourselves for a few minutes."

"Why?"

Niles brushed his hand along her hair, tucking a tuft of it behind her ear. "Because Liam deserves to stew for a while." He leaned closer. "And because I intend to take my time kissing you."

"Yes, please," she whispered.

He lowered his mouth to hers, his lips caressing hers unhurriedly. Penelope's cape fell back as she hooked her arms around his neck, holding him close, reveling in the feel of his arms wrapped around her.

"We're getting married, Penny," he said, his breath tickling her lips.

"Yes, we are."

He lifted her from the ground and spun her about. Though she hadn't giggled a day in her life, she did so then. And that giggle turned to a laugh of absolute joy as she spun with him. They were going to be together. Always.