Read Online Lily (Flower Trilogy) by Lauren Royal - Free Book Online Page B

cheerful, turquoise-toned drawing room. With the three of them together, it felt just like old times.
    Almost. Violet, of course, was married now, and a mother of three herself. Although she lived close by and they saw each other often, Lily did miss the nights when they’d all snuggled in one of their chambers, chatting and giggling away the hours.
    She watched Beatrix wander the room, her little black nose poking here and there as she searched for something familiar. Suddenly Lily wished for the old and familiar, too. “You should come home to sleep one night, Violet.”
    “At Trentingham?” Violet stopped pacing, which meant tiny Rebecca started snuffling. The baby seemed to prefer constant motion.
    “I’ll walk with her,” Lily offered. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on her niece.
    When Rebecca was settled in Lily’s arms, Violet dropped onto one of the turquoise velvet chairs. She lifted her spectacles and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
    “Why should I stay the night at Trentingham?”
    “A sleeping party. ’Twould be like the old days.” As Lily walked back and forth cuddling Rebecca, her gaze swept over little Marc asleep in a cradle. She smiled to see Rose playing with Nicky on the floor, his miniature English warship in fierce conflict with her Dutch one. “I know you rarely let your children out of your sight, but you do have nursemaids. They could relieve you for one night, do you not think?”
    Violet seemed to contemplate that odd idea for a moment, then grinned. “Perhaps I could find time to read a book.”
    “No,” Lily said, then reconsidered. If some solitary time to read was what her sister needed, she wouldn’t want to deny her. “Of course you could read, if that’s what you want. But I was thinking we could spend the night together. The three of us, like we used to.”
    Rose looked up with a wicked smile. “And read Aristotle’s Masterpiece ?”
    “Not that,” Lily said quickly, remembering the hours they’d all spent together stealthily reading the scandalous marriage manual before Violet’s wedding. Lily had found Aristotle’s Masterpiece an uncomfortable combination of intriguing and embarrassing, and she’d not been sad when it moved to Lakefield along with her sister.
    But then, that had been years ago when she was only sixteen. The mysteries of the bedchamber, which had seemed frightening and unimaginable then, were easier to imagine now.
    In fact, her imagination had been working overtime lately.
    Still, dragging the Masterpiece back out was not what she had in mind. “I just thought . . . I thought it would be nice to talk.”
    “Bang!” Nicky sailed his ship closer to Rose’s. Beatrix’s small head whipped back and forth, following the battle. “Bang, bang!”
    “Quieter,” Violet cautioned. “Your sister is sleeping.”

    Rebecca had nodded off in Lily’s arms. Violet gazed at her daughter tenderly. “Of course I’ll come sleep at Trentingham. Someday soon. It will be great fun.” She sounded enthusiastic, but her brown eyes filled with concern. “Is there something in particular you’d like to talk about?”
    “No. Just . . . life.”
    Rose aimed a tiny Dutch cannon. “ I want to talk about Lord Randal.”
    The one thing Lily did not want to talk about. Despite her promise, she felt she’d heard her sister gush over the man quite enough. Especially because, regardless of all their plotting, Rose seemed to be making no headway.
    “How many times,” she said, more peevishly than was her nature, “do you suppose he has asked you to call him Rand?”
    “Oh, about a million,” Rose said gaily. “But I like to think of him as a lord. My lord.”
    Lily feared Rand would never be Rose’s lord. He’d made it clear, with words and a kiss, which sister he preferred. And while she had no intention of going back on her word by allowing him to get closer, she’d seen nothing to make her believe he’d turn to Rose instead.
    She met Violet’s gaze,