Chapter Nine
“Your brother is here for you, my lady.” One of Jocelyn’s maids stood in the guest room door, where Allison had taken refuge after her earlier conversation with her friends.
“Thank you,” she told the woman stiffly, her stomach roiling with sudden nerves.
She put her book aside and stood, biting her lip and then squaring her shoulders. Lucien could not make her leave, and she wasn’t about to let him browbeat her into coming back to his home. The time had come for her to start living her own life.
When she reached the sitting room, a sigh of relief went through her.
“Morgan!” she cried, rushing across the room to embrace him. “When she said my brother was here, I expected it to be Lucien.”
Morgan grinned. “Well, we had a discussion, and Adrian and Lucien decided that I should be the one to come.”
Her face fell. “So, you have come on their behalf, then?”
He took her hand and led her to a small sofa in front of the fireplace. “Don’t say that like it’s such a bad thing. We’re all worried about you. We just wanted to know that you were safe.” He gestured around at Jocelyn’s lovely home. “It looks like you’ve found a good place to land, though.”
She sighed and sat down beside him. “I’m only going to be here temporarily. I’m going to start looking for a place of my own. I’ve decided that it’s time.”
“You could stay with Fiona and me if you’re butting heads with Lucien,” he offered.
She smiled. Morgan was probably her favorite of her three brothers. He was calm and level-headed, and she didn’t think he’d ever try to impose his will upon her the way Lucien did. Plus, she was very fond of Fiona, who poured her heart and soul into the Brookhaven Orphanage and understood Allison’s passion for Mercy House perhaps more than anyone else in her family.
“I’m certain that would be very nice, but you and Fiona are building a life, as are Lucien and Serenity, and Adrian and Vanessa. And you know I can’t bear to be around Mother. I’m tired of being the odd one out, the constant guest. I want a home of my own, something I can decorate as I wish. With my own servants where I can come and go as I please.”
“Soon you’ll marry and—”
“Not you, too!” she cried. “When are the three of you going to believe that I have no intention of marrying anybody? I don’t want to be shackled to a husband for the rest of my life any more than I want to be shackled to Lucien!”
Morgan bit his lip and leaned back, crossing his legs as he stared at her carefully. “Don’t you want what we have? Spouses, who love and support us? Children?”
The thought of children gave her a little pang, but she’d long ago decided that having no children was the consequence she’d have to pay for living a life of freedom. “All of you seem very happy, and perhaps if I found a man who treated me the way you three treat your wives, then I might reconsider.”
Her brothers truly had wonderful marriages. But she’d seen her mother and Winters. She’d seen her friends one by one be sold off to the highest bidder and enter into unions where they were subjugated in every possible way. She didn’t want some man to pilfer away her inheritance. She wanted to use it to help others and do some good to make up for all her father and Roger's evil.
“You’ll never meet anyone like that if you stop looking,” Morgan advised. “After Anne died, I thought I’d never be happy again, but then Fiona came into my life and changed everything.”
His words brought back those dark days after Roger had caused Anne’s death. When Quinn had brought Allison back from France, she’d found her family shattered. Morgan had retreated into his house, his grief a tangible thing. But a year or so later, he’d started volunteering at the orphanage Fiona ran, and they’d fallen deeply in love. In fact, it seemed as though he was far happier with Fiona than he’d ever been with Anne, and though Fiona couldn’t have children, Morgan’s children loved her and had even recently started calling her mother.
“Well,” she conceded. “If love comes along, I promise I won’t send it away. But until that happens, I’m going to live my life the way I want to, which does not involve going to balls every night of the week, stuffed into a gown that won’t allow me to breathe, talking to the same boring people about the same boring things.”
Morgan laughed, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “When you put it like that, it does sound very unappealing.”
“You’re so lucky to be a man,” she told him.
“A lot of things aren’t fair,” he agreed. “But things are changing. It’s a whole new century. My daughters will have a far different life than you.”
“I’m glad of that, but it does nothing to help my situation now,” she huffed.
Morgan reached over and squeezed her hand. “If you’re dead set on this course of action, I’ll talk to Lucien. You’re right. You’re a grown woman with your own money, and you should be able to do as you please.”
She tightened her hand around his, surprised and thrilled by his response. “Thank you, Morgan. That means so much to me.”
“Do you have a house in mind?” he asked, releasing her hand as a maid came in to serve them tea and biscuits.
“I haven’t even begun to look,” she said, reaching forward to pour them both tea. “But I plan to start tomorrow.”
“If you need any help, you know all three of us will be glad to make suggestions or referrals. Don’t ignore your many resources just because you want to prove to us all that you can do it yourself.” Her brother raised his eyebrow, making her laugh, because that was exactly what she’d planned.