Lovers Forever Read Online Free PDF Page A

sweet agreeability, and that made her a universal favorite of nearly everyone who met her.
    It was clear Margaret took after the Mandeville side of the family, which was only natural, considering that she had been Gregory’s much younger sister. Hester was clearly related to her—she had the thick fair hair of the Mandevilles but also possessed her grandmother Theresa’s beautiful violet-shaded eyes.
    Staring at the pair of them as they rushed up to her, Tess felt her eyes sting with tears. They had never failed her, and even now they were running a terrible risk coming to her this way. If Avery should find them . . .
    â€œHurry, child, we must get you away this instant,” Aunt Meg said in hushed tones. “I gave him all the laudanum I had on hand in his wine at dinner, but it wasn’t very much, and although he is sleeping soundly at the table at this very minute, I do not know how long we have. I dismissed that impertinent butler of his and told him Avery had given word that he wouldn’t need him anymore this evening. The man couldn’t very well argue with me, but he did not like it! We dare not tarry—you must be gone from here this instant. There is not a moment to lose!”
    â€œBut what . . . ? How did you . . . ?” Tess asked disjointedly, trying to grasp this unexpected change of events.
    Her blue eyes smiling gently, the cloud of white hair framing her still pretty features, her great-aunt murmured, “How did we know what he planned? I suspected something was going on the minute the messenger arrived with Rockwell’s letter this afternoon while you were gone. Avery glanced at it, and such a scowl marred his features! He disappeared immediately into the library, and when he came out several minutes later and dismissed all the servants, except those two rascally creatures he brought with him from the continent, I just knew he was up to no good! But I couldn’t decide what it could be, until he sent Lowell upstairs to put the letter in your room and I spied your uncle’s handwriting on it when we passed on the stairs. When I realized that he had read your letter from Rockwell, it wasn’t hard to figure out.” Aunt Meg suddenly flushed. “After Lowell had come back down, I slipped upstairs and into your room and, I’m ashamed to admit it, child, read Rockwell’s letter, too, but only after I saw that Avery had opened it—I never meant to snoop! Once I learned that Rockwell was coming, I knew that Avery would be forced to act immediately if he didn’t want you and your fortune to escape from him.” Contritely she added, “I know he is an unpleasant man, but I never really thought he would go this far. I’m sorry, my dear, that I didn’t realize the danger. I would never have put you at risk, if I’d even suspected for a moment that he was of the same monstrous stripe as my late brother.”
    â€œBut what about you?” Tess asked worriedly. “Once he awakes and finds me gone he’s going to know that you helped me—I cannot leave you here alone with him!”
    â€œDo not worry about us,” Aunt Meg said firmly. “You are the one in the most pressing danger. He may suspect our part in your escape, but he cannot prove anything without admitting his own cold-blooded plan.”
    Hester agreed. “Tess, he is no doubt going to wake up with a terrible head later, and if Aunt Meg and I greet whatever tack he tries with us with wide-eyed innocence, he is probably not going to believe that we were able to plumb his plans or that we would drug him, steal his key, and set you free.” Hester smiled deprecatingly. “Look at us—would you suspect us of such nefarious activities?”
    Despite the gravity of the situation, Tess had to smother a chuckle. Two more unlikely miscreants would be hard to find. Both her great-aunt and her aunt were, like herself, small women, finely made with