Julia Justiss (21 page)

Nor could he resist reaching out to help when she confessed her need for solace.

It was good that she must leave soon. For, Lord save him, as he had the night she fled the ball and despite his fine words about sending her off with Dix or Nathan,
he
wanted to be the one to console and protect her.

Staring into the flickering flames on the hearth, Adam observed bleakly that reining in his lust was hard enough. Must he grapple also with a growing sense that she was a unique soul he hated to lose?

H
ELENA LEFT HER MEETING
with Adam Darnell pensive and unsettled. The idea of leaving the city had been instantly appealing. Though she would prefer to go with Darnell, he’d quickly caught himself before making that offer, which was just as well. Miss Standish would doubtless put a damper on such an expedition, if she agreed to go at all.

Besides, Helena only wanted Adam’s company if she might have him to herself, able to take his arm and stroll the pathways until they reached the center of the maze. Where, hidden away, she might draw close—and kiss him.

A flush of heat rose in her. No, she had better not claim his escort to Hampton Court. But though attraction had sizzled between them as fiercely as ever this afternoon, she’d also felt linked on a different, deeper level. The temptation to a touching of flesh was both intensified and enriched by a touching of minds.

She’d been amazed that Darnell seemed to comprehend her poorly articulated feelings of restlessness. Having discovered her secret excursion, once again he’d tried neither to bully nor intimidate, but to under
stand—with an empathy she had not experienced since her mother’s flight.

Adam Darnell was almost bringing her to believe that men existed who could be not just desired, but admired and trusted. Admired, trusted—and loved, as she had loved her mother and now loved Aunt Lillian and Charis? If that were true…what would that mean to her plans for the future?

A swell of longing intensified the now familiar desire still spiraling in her belly.

But the only such man she’d met was Darnell, and he was spoken for. Having already several times examined the implications of that fact, she locked her roiling emotions away and forced her mind to focus on the most intriguing information she’d overheard outside White’s.

Deciding to search out the truth of it, she went to Charis’s chamber, where she found her friend still at her dressing table, absently combing her hair.

“What a slug-a-bed you’ve become!” Helena exclaimed with a smile, gesturing to the mantel clock.

“I haven’t your energy, Helena! Though I noticed you weren’t up to greet us when we returned last night.”

Helena squelched a guilty pang at the reason for that omission. “Hurry, now! Your beaux will be calling soon.”

Charis shrugged. “Charlbury and Lord Newsome will stop by, probably. Mr. Dixon, of course, but he comes to see you.”

“And Lord Blanchard, I expect,” Helena said, noting
how Charis looked quickly away, her fair skin coloring. So her friend was definitely not indifferent to Blanchard.

“Lord Blanchard comes to see you, too,” Charis said.

“I hear he’s hanging out for a wife. What do you think of him?” Helena asked.

Charis glanced up quickly, looking surprised and more than a little dismayed. “Would you consider his suit?”

“It isn’t me that his eyes rest on when he sits in our parlor…but a lovely blond lady,” Helena pointed out.

Charis dropped her eyes. “I admit I like him far better than any other young man I’ve met. But it doesn’t matter. He
is
looking for a wife, and Adam has already warned me he must wed a rich one. I shall have but a thousand pounds. A man with Lord Blanchard’s position and connections can do much better than that.”

“He is in the diplomatic service and liable to spend much of his time abroad. Didn’t you tell me you’d prefer to marry and settle at a snug country estate?”

“I do prefer Claygate to London. But…how exciting to travel in foreign lands! Such a vast responsibility to represent the interests of one’s country abroad.”

“Would
you
accept an offer from Lord Blanchard?”

“’Twould be like a dream come true,” Charis admitted. “But ’tis impossible. Adam told me so weeks ago, when I first hinted I would like him to call. Why do you ask?”

Helena grinned. “No reason—except that I wish to
keep abreast of what will make my almost-sister happiest.” Giving Charis a hug, she rose and headed for the door.

“I’m sure he would be willing to offer for
you,
if you gave him the least encouragement,” Charis said with a cheerfulness that sounded forced.

Helena laughed. “Heavens, no! I’m merely the excuse that allows him to call so often. I expect if he thought for a moment I actually believed he was courting
me,
he would hire the next available transport and flee back to Vienna!”

While Charis disputed that assessment, Helena blew her friend a kiss and walked out. A rising excitement distracting her from her own unsettled emotions, she skipped to her room and penned a note, then summoned Dickon to deliver it and wait for an answer.

Her note found its recipient and generated an immediate reply. An hour after her talk with Charis, Helena sat at a table at Gunter’s, Nell discreetly behind her. Moments later, Lord Blanchard rushed in.

Scarcely waiting to complete the usual greetings, he blurted, “Excuse me for being abrupt, but you said the matter was grave and involved Miss Darnell. Is she well?”

“I didn’t mean to worry you,” Helena replied, not at all sorry to have provoked that telling demonstration of concern. “Yes, she is quite well.”

Blanchard exhaled a gusty sigh. “Thank the Lord. Then with what might I assist you in her regard?”

“Lord Blanchard, I fear I am also about to be rather abrupt. But I need to know if the…story I’ve heard of your deep regard for Miss Darnell has any truth.”

For a moment Blanchard looked away. “I hope,” he said at last, “I have not raised expectations that, sadly, circumstances do not permit me to satisfy. Though I have tried to maintain a proper distance, she…she is so enchanting, it is very difficult to pretend myself indifferent.” He looked up suddenly, his eyes widening. “Pray, assure me I have not caused her any distress!”

Ignoring the question, Helena said, “Am I to understand, then, if a, um, distant relation were to settle a rather large sum upon Miss Darnell, you would like to know?”

He frowned. “But Adam assured me she would have no dowry but such funds as he could wrest from the estate.”

“Yes, but what if it
happened
that Miss Darnell were to become the recipient of, say, fifteen thousand pounds?”

After staring at her, perplexed, a slow smile formed on his lips. “If she were dowered with a penny over ten thousand pounds, I should be the happiest man in England.”

Helena smiled back. “I recommend you call on her tomorrow. I believe she may have interesting news.” She rose and extended her hand. “Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Lord Blanchard.”

Blanchard seized her hand and kissed it fervently. “If you mean what I think you mean, Miss Lambarth, you are an angel and I will thank you to my dying breath.”

Helena retrieved her hand. “You may thank me,
Lord Blanchard, by remembering, once you
possess
an angel, to treat her accordingly.”

“I will worship her all my life!” he vowed as Helena curtseyed to his bow and bid him goodbye.

Highly satisfied with that interview, Helena proceeded to Mr. Pendenning’s office. After a short wait, his clerk ushered her in.

“Miss Lambarth!” He took her hands and looked her up and down, smiling broadly. “How wonderful you look! I knew living with Lady Darnell would be good for you.”

“You were right. She and Charis have become as dear to me as my mother.” Better to say nothing of Lady Darnell’s intriguing stepson, Helena thought, suppressing a sigh. “Speaking of Charis, I have finally decided what I wish to do with that unwanted inheritance from my father.”

S
HORTLY AFTER NOON
the next day, Adam Darnell stared at the lawyer’s note in his hand, too shocked to speak.

“It’s true, then, isn’t it?” Charis asked, her face radiant with excitement. “Adam, you will allow me to accept it, will you not? Lord Blanchard has just arrived, asking to speak with you. Helena told me he would call. Oh, please say it’s true and you will give us your blessing!”

Numbly, Adam looked up. Of course he could not deny his sister’s happiness—or his friend Blanchard’s, for that matter. Not for so small a thing as his pride.

“Send Nathan in,” he said.

Charis sprang up and seized him in a hug so tight
his neckcloth almost choked him. “Oh, best, most wonderful, most excellent of brothers!”

The smile on Nathan’s face as he came in was almost as brilliant as the one worn by Adam’s sister. “I expect you know why I’ve come.”

“I knew you admired Charis, but I admit, I never expected a declaration.”

“That was before a certain relative intervened. Cousin Cornwallis, I believe her name is? Or so Miss Lambarth just informed me.”

“Cornwallis,” indeed, Adam thought, recalling the location of Lambarth Castle. “What if there is no endowment?” he asked, trying to check his irrational anger.

Nathan’s grin faded. After regarding Adam for a thoughtful moment, he shrugged. “So be it, then. I’ve come to realize a lifetime of happiness with someone you adore is worth far more than advancement in your career. Adam, have I your permission to ask Charis for her hand?”

Feeling a bit ashamed, he replied, “Of course, Nathan. I shall be proud to call you ‘brother.’ And by the way—the endowment, in the amount of fifteen thousand pounds, has already been deposited to my bank. Call upon me later and we shall set the lawyers to drawing up the settlements.”

Blanchard’s smile returned. “Charis
and
the dowry? ’Tis almost too wonderful to comprehend! Though I can understand your…disgruntlement, a little. A man has his pride. Suffice it to say, I shall always be very grateful to the eccentric nature of your distant connec
tion, Miss Cornwallis, for choosing to bestow so generous a gift on her only living unmarried female relation.”

“So those were…ah, yes, the rather unusual terms,” Adam replied. “I appreciate your discretion. And I wish you both very happy.”

Blanchard whacked him on the back. “We’ll name the first boy after you, I promise!” he said, and hurried out.

Adam sat down and stared into the fire. A low-burning, proper fire now, not the obscene blaze of heat a certain young lady preferred. A young lady whose generosity he had to grudgingly admire, much as that largesse now chafed and embarrassed him.

At least it appeared the story of the fictitious Cousin Cornwallis would spare him having the whole world know that a slip of a girl had bestowed on the sister he was supposed to provide for the funds—and joy—he could not.

Just then the door was pushed ajar and that same dark-eyed lady beamed at him. “As if you hadn’t already guessed, Charis and Lord Blanchard are now engaged. She sent me to ask you to join them in the parlor.”

“Should I not first go down on my knees and humbly offer my thanks to ‘Cousin Cornwallis’?” he asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Her smile dimmed. “Perhaps, but since from what I understand, that lady lives somewhere near the Irish Sea, ’twould rather delay your arrival in the parlor. I doubt that Charis wants to wait that long to share her
joy. Besides, I believe Charis’s joy is all the thanks Miss Cornwallis would require.”

At least she didn’t intend to rub his nose in her benevolence, which was some relief. Still stung, though, he replied, “I rather wish Cousin Cornwallis had mentioned something to me before dispensing her money so liberally, but tell Charis I shall be down directly.”

Miss Lambarth stilled, her eyes scanning his face. “Why would you wish that?”

“Because as head of this family, ’tis
my
responsibility to protect my sister and assure her future!” he retorted savagely, furious that she did not understand what any girl with the least degree of breeding would have known. Of course, it would never have crossed the mind of a gently bred girl to intervene without consulting him in the first place—nor would such a girl possess resources in her own name she could draw upon. “You can’t expect me to be truly grateful to be shown how poor a job I was doing.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you or flout your authority. Isn’t it enough that Charis shall be able to marry where her heart is, without thought of fortune?”

“Of course I am gratified that she will be happy. If you will excuse me, ma’am, I will go tell her so.” He rose from his chair, his illogical fury, resentment and chagrin untouched by her explanation.

“I am sorry you are angry. But I am not sorry about Charis’s gift.” As she stood aside to let him pass, she added fiercely, “If I were meek and conventional and biddable, I’d be dead.”

Even this reference to the indignities she’d suffered
caused him to hesitate but momentarily. For once, fury burned hotter than attraction. Brushing past without any desire to touch her—unless it be to wring her neck—Adam stormed down to the parlor.

The raptures of his sister and her new fiancé, so occupied in gazing and smiling at each other it soured his stomach, led Adam to take his leave as soon as possible.

At first he thought to go to his club. But realizing that the glad tidings would soon be out and not in a humor to deal with speculation over his sister’s great good fortune, Adam decided instead to visit Miss Standish.