Darius had been satisfied with his first look at the Hathaway chit. He had been preparing to leave in search of other, more appealing entertainments when he had caught sight of her disappearing up a narrow flight of stairs. His curiosity had been piqued. Why the devil should a young lady wish to disappear from the secure environs of her chaperone? Only one explanation presented itself and he did not like it in the least, not when the girl was supposed to be on the bargaining table as his brother’s new countess. He determined to follow her and see what she was up to. If she was meeting anybody other than his brother, he wanted to know of it. Better Roddy start his marriage with some expectation of loyalty from his wife and if the Hathaway girl was playing him false already, then he should know that he had made a mistake. There were plenty of women who would be interested in the position. Roddy didn’t have to settle for an impudent – or imprudent – minx.
So Darius had followed her up those damned stairs…
He should have known it was a mistake but he really had not intended anything other than an investigation into her motives. She was, after all, the girl his bloody brother was interested in and, while he might have few scruples about a great many things in life, the one thing he did still possess was a sense of family loyalty, which was ironic as his family cared nothing for him. Still, his father had asked him to look towards his brother’s welfare and Darius had done his best, ensuring that, under his governance, the family funds had prospered. Judith – and therefore Roddy – had resented the fact that the 5th earl had seen fit to gift his illegitimate son with a healthy portion of the Allingham fortune. But he had done his best by them, despite the animosity.
Now he was keen on seeing his young brother wed to somebody who was of his choosing, not his mother’s. Audrey Hathaway’s name had been mentioned frequently in passing conversation at his club and wagers were beginning to be laid as to the date the banns would be read. Darius had only been back in England for a few weeks and had been meaning to look his brother up, if only to wish him happy for attaining his twenty-third birthday. As they did not habituate the same clubs, Roddy probably didn’t know – or didn’t care to acknowledge – that his half-brother was back in town so Darius had elected a visit to Almack’s in the hope of catching a glimpse of the girl and giving Roddy an unpleasant thrill at the same time. The boy was profoundly embarrassed by their relationship, which was understandable even if it was a little tedious. It wasn’t as if their father had kept them apart. Indeed, the old man had done all that he could to ensure that his two sons had some kind of relationship. It might have worked if the Countess of Allingham had been a different woman. But Judith had never been able to separate the sins of the father from the existence of the son. Darius knew that now that his legal obligations were over, he was unlikely to see either of his half siblings again.
After what had happened that night, it was probably just as well.
He frowned, recalling the way Audrey Hathaway had looked up at him, the way her mouth had suddenly seemed so soft and full that he had been unable to look away, his senses entangled by escalating speculation on how those soft lips would feel beneath his own. It was as if he had been entranced. He had no idea when it was he had decided to kiss her. Indeed, he could not remember when it had entered into his head. All he really knew was, reaching for her had been the most natural thing in the world and he had done so without a second thought.
If he were inclined to in anyway absolve himself of folly, he knew that he had not meant to kiss her. Girls such as Audrey were not the usual grist to his mill. There were plenty of females who were prepared to allow themselves to be made love to; young wives, not so young ones and the more adventurous debutantes were more his style. But females such as Miss Hathaway were strictly off limits. And females on the verge of becoming engaged to his brother were in a forbidden class of their own. However acrimonious his relationship with Roddy had been upon occasion, he would never do anything to deliberately hurt the boy. Somehow, something had gone horribly wrong with his plans for the evening.
‘Just when you think that nothing can surprise you any more in this life,’ he muttered, rising to his feet, ‘something comes along and knocks the wind out of you.’
The lingering flush of desire he felt was nothing more than the aftermath of a particularly powerful shot of lust. Admittedly he did not, as a rule, react so violently to anything as innocuous as a kiss. He had no idea how Audrey Hathaway, an innocent chit with no experience in the art of seduction, had scrambled his emotions so completely but he was wise enough to recognize a warning when he saw it. If Roddy really was planning on marrying the girl, he would make damn sure that he saw very little of the happy couple. Not, he reflected wryly, that he would be likely to see much of them anyway for he was not on the guest list at Birchfield Hall these days.
But having just experienced what must be regarded as a singularly dangerous encounter, he would make damn sure that he wasn’t in close proximity to the girl again. Whatever witchcraft she had wielded over him was best avoided, especially when even the memory of those soft lips beneath his own could make his heart beat all the harder and send desire coursing through his veins all over again…
Chapter Three
December
Four months later…
‘It will be too bad if we cannot make it home by tomorrow,’ Isabella muttered, her face pressed against the chilly glass of the private parlor they had hired for the duration of their enforced stay in The Drunken Maiden, the inn the Hathaways had been staying in since the previous evening when bad weather had made breaking their journey imperative. ‘I have so many things to do.’
‘You might have to do them here,’ Harry pointed out from the table where he and Millie were playing Whist. She was beating him soundly but then, she always did. The girl was shockingly lucky at cards.
Isabella turned to stare at her husband, her frustration obvious. ‘Harry, we cannot stay here. Not at this time of the year. We have other guests coming and we are not there to greet them.’
‘If they are actually mad enough to brave this weather, we have an excellent staff who can take care of them,’ Harry said, determinedly cheerful. ‘And they will not have to wonder where we are. One look at the heavens should tell them all they need to know.’
‘Do you think that our people made it home safely?’ His wife asked anxiously. They had sent their servants on ahead to help prepare the house, just as they usually did after a prolonged sojourn in town. It was not the first time that Isabella had asked this but Harry was as patient as he had been the first time.
‘They left a full day ahead of us, my love. The roads did not present a problem until after that heavy snowfall yesterday morning. They will be safely at Little Paddocks by now.’
‘But Harry -’ Isabella began.
‘Harry is perfectly correct, my dear. I am sure our people are safe at home, although I daresay they will be wondering where we are. We really need to face the fact that we may be forced to stay here for several days,’ her mother said from the fireplace where she was embroidering a handkerchief. ‘Mr. Fumble informed me after luncheon that more snow is expected to fall before tonight.’
Isabella’s gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘But I want to be home.’
‘You sound like Millie when she is told she may not do something,’ Audrey observed from a chair opposite her mother. She, too, was embroidering although the light in the parlor was far from satisfactory. The landlord, Mr. Fumble, had given them two tallow candles to dispel the gloom. They smoked and did not smell particularly pleasant but at least the small circles of light they cast were, if not particularly illuminating, at least cheerful.