Free The Pursuit of Lucy Banning by Olivia Newport

the meantime you and Will can gawk and gaze to your heart’s content.”
    “Leo, might that be overly duplicitous?” Lucy’s pulse beat faster at the thought.
    “You could ask Mother to go with you,” Leo teased.
    “Don’t you dare,” Lucy snapped.
    “Or Daniel.” Leo’s green eyes lit.
    “Daniel has a wonderful eye for art,” Lucy said, surprising even herself.
    “He just doesn’t find it practical,” Leo said. “He won’t go without protest. You’ll never get out of the house on your own in the evening. If you genuinely want to look at these paintings, you’re better off with Will.”
    “That’s all true. However, a chaperone would be safer than your shenanigans,” Lucy said. “Perhaps Aunt Violet?”
    “Yes, possibly, if you feel you must have a chaperone. But Will is quite keen to go, you know.”
    “Do I get a vote in these arrangements?” Will asked.
    Leo grinned and raised an eyebrow.
    Will turned to Lucy. “Miss Banning, my friend has asked me to escort his sister and it would be my pleasure to do so. May I see you at seven on Monday evening? We will of course enjoy the company of your aunt.”
    “Good, then it’s all arranged,” Leo said. “I’ll talk to Violet myself. Come on, Will, we have to get moving. The lake can get choppy in the afternoons this time of year.” He tipped his hat to Lucy. “We’re off to the new Columbia Yacht Club. I’m trying to persuade Father to join.”
    And before she could protest further, Lucy was once again alone. With a sigh of surrender, she returned to the study and pulled her book off the shelf to resume her study. As she turned the pages to find her place again, Will’s features mingled in her view of every painting.
    Will Edwards was simply her brother’s friend. Leo had brought many young men home with him over the years, and none of them had ever made Lucy think twice about Daniel Jules. She had known she would marry Daniel as surely as spring gives way to summer. Her future with Daniel Jules was not imperiled because of Will Edwards. Lucy was certain of that. After all, she had met Will only three days ago, and she had been testing her feelings for Daniel for weeks.
    Lucy’s realization of how she felt about Daniel was indistinct. She didn’t have a list of reasons not to marry him. She harbored no ill will toward him and in fact held cherished memories. Clearly he would be a successful banker and offered her a comfortable life. In time she was sure she could broker an agreement that allowed her some involvement with the orphanage. All she had to do was make it seem advantageous to Daniel, which she was confident she could do. Their families would continue flowing in and out of each other’s lives.
    Still, it would not work.
    Lucy sighed again, this time in fatigue. The words and pictures in the book were not sinking in. Maybe a short but brisk walk would help. Lucy reached for the miniature tin hammered box where her father kept his business cards. She wanted one for a bookmark. He fastidiously had kept the box on the same corner of his desk for at least ten years.
    But the box was not there. Not on the desk. Not on the credenza. Not on a bookshelf. Not in a drawer. Lucy was sure she had seen it on Thursday.
    Was it possible Samuel Banning was not as forgetful as the family chided him for being? Or perhaps far more forgetful than any of them imagined?
    Lucy put the book back on the shelf without a bookmark, picked up her textbook, walked down the hall to the foyer, and started up the steps for a cape to wear outside.
    That’s when she heard it. It stopped almost as soon as it started, a soft mewing, faint but earnest. Lucy froze on the stairs and cocked her head to listen. Nothing. Richard had been nagging to get a kitten, and Lucy wouldn’t put it past him to sneak one into the house. Her skirts swished as she began to move again.
    There it was. She stilled her skirts and held her breath.
    And it came again.
    It was no kitten. With