The Duke's Daughter (Editing)

Chapter Fourteen

                  Gil never left my side the rest of the time he was in Livingstone Abbey. So much so, that my Aunt Henrietta had to have an intervention.

             "I'm aware that Mr. Yeardley is wonderful young man," she said pompously with her nose up, "But I do believe you should spend more time with young ladies, such as my Livy." I moaned. Every time I would breath the same air as Olivia it was as if I was asking to start another war. 

                  "Yes Aunt Henrietta."

                  "Or Elisa for that matter."

                 "Yes Aunt Henrietta." I repeated.

                  "Good then, now scurry off." And so I did as I was told.

                  I walked quickly out of the Drawing Room when a strong arm whisked me away towards a corner. "Gil!" I screamed. He tried shushing me but couldn't stop laughing. "Don't scare me you idiot!"

                "I'm sorry, love." He stroked my hair, "I missed you today."

                 I blushed a little, "Aunt Henrietta wanted to talk to me about us."

               "Jerry and I had a long talk about us too actually." My eyes grew wide. I examined Gil's face to see if there were any black and blues. "He's alright about it. But I won't be surprised if he's been following me." I grabbed his hand and let it mend with mine. "Len?"

                "Yes?"

              "You do realize this is going to be difficult, the two of us?"

              "What do you mean?" And then it hit me. "Oh." Gil wasn't a royal. Or a lord. Or a duke. He was just the son of a servant. "Well maybe if you become a lawyer--"

              "I don't think that will happen any time soon, love." He looked down.

              "We could always elope." I whispered.

               "What?!" He asked in terror, "What kind of bloody idea is that?"

                "You haven't even thought of that before?"

                "Of course not. What gave you that idea?" It was almost as though he didn't remember Elisa.

                "Never mind." I said walking off. Gil stopped me again, his eyes concerned. "Gil, haven't you tried to elope somebody before?"

                 "Not that I remember, no." He laughed a little.

                 "Well then why did Olivia tell me that you were going to elope Elisa?" 

                  Gil's face grew red and I could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. "That's a bloody lie. Elisa and I were never going to elope! Olivia was the one who planned to marry one of her servants and Elisa told me!"

                  "What?" I asked in utter shock.

                 "Yes, you see, Drew and I were friends at one point in time. And when Elisa saw Olivia planning to elope with one of her servants she went to me and told me to tell Drew. So I did. He went to confront Olivia and she told him a whole bloody mess about Elisa and I going to get eloped!" His eyes were blood shot as he recalled the memory, "Elisa and I are merely friends."

                   My face flushed with embarrassment. This whole time I believed such a heinous lie from Olivia. Yet I couldn't believe it. Olivia seemed so devoted to Drew why would she want to leave him? Then again, Drew is a complete flirt so it would explain something. I began to feel a little sorry for poor Olivia's heart.