Debutantes Don’t Date (10 page)

When the meteors had calmed down and they made their way back towards the house, she
told him of her decision to stay for a couple more weeks and get to know her grandfather
better.

“I want to get to know him before it’s too late. You never know when things will be
taken from you.” She knew this for a fact.

Jasper was oddly subdued and retired to his room as soon as he saw her safely inside.

Grace stayed awake for hours thinking about her father and her Grandpapa and Jasper.
She still wanted to go home. Although the pull wasn’t as strong as it was before.
Realising she had family here in 1814 was not something she had anticipated. Leaving
her only known relative behind wasn’t something she wanted to think about. That’s
why she couldn’t go back to London just yet. She needed to have a family again. Tears
of joy and sorrow mixed as they fell down her face. She thought of her family and
how she’d pushed everyone away when they were killed. No one understood she wanted
to preserve their memory by not letting it get tainted by anyone else. But she was
wrong for not letting her friends in. She realised now that she had made a mistake.
Her friends were only trying to cheer her up and make her laugh. She used to be full
of laughter. It must have been horrendous for them to see her as a shell of what she
once was. No wonder they all gave up on her in the end. She hadn’t had contact with
any of them for at least two years.

Grace burrowed deeper inside her blanket. It was cold here though, especially at this
time of night, when the sun was getting ready to rise. Her fire had burned down to
ashes and although she knew perfectly well how to make a fire, she couldn’t bear to
get out of bed to do so.

Her apartment had central heating. The duvet she had on her bed was filled with wool
and was light, but warm. The blankets on this bed were also made of wool, but they
were so heavy, she could barely move her legs. At least they kept out most of the
cold air.

Her mind turned to Jasper. Her blood warmed at the thought of him. Grace couldn’t
deny her attraction to him. It seemed whenever they were in a room together the temperature
rose. But he didn’t trust her. She couldn’t blame him for that and there was no way
she could tell him the truth. For one, he would never believe her. And why would he?
He thought she was after his money or his title. He’d probably been chased his whole
life for those, so no wonder when a strange American woman showed up and molested
him in the corner at a ball, he thought the worst. Strangely enough, though, she didn’t
want to leave him behind either. It was as though there was some sort of force pulling
them together. No matter how much they tried to fight it, it only took one look to
bring them back together.

Her breath fogged into the room and she once again considered building the fire back
up. It would be hours before anyone came to stoke it.

“All right, on the count of three,” she said out loud in the stillness. “One…two…three…OK,
maybe to five…one…two…three…four…five.” This time she threw the covers off and leapt
from the bed. Oh, the floor was cold. She ran on tiptoe to the fireplace and squatted
down to get it going again. Soon she had a flame going. At least she could survive
in 1814. Her dad and real grandfather took her and her brother camping every year
while they were growing up. She added a few more logs and made her way back to the
bed. Her feet were now so frozen she no longer noticed the cold floor.

She slowly warmed up as the fire chased the chill from the room and she finally fell
asleep as the sun came up.

“Wait!” she called as she ran down the last of the steps of the grand staircase in
the house. With her room so warm, she’d slept in and Jasper and Victoria were already
halfway out the door. “Don’t go.”

Jasper turned towards her with such hope in his eyes her breath caught.

“I wanted to say goodbye before you go. I didn’t realise you would be gone so early
in the morning.”

“Jasper wanted to make an early start, didn’t you, Jasper? Hopefully we can make it
all the way home before nightfall now that the roads are clear.”

Grace wanted to know she would see these two wonderful people again, but she had learned
the hard way to never take anything like that for granted. Against her better judgement
she counted the two of them as her dearest friends and to her sudden panic realised
she couldn’t bear to see them go without at least a proper goodbye.

She flung herself at Victoria, who recovered quickly and returned her hug. “Come back
and stay with us when you’re ready.” She kissed her on the check and added for her
ears only, “Don’t go disappearing on us now, you hear?”

Grace turned to Jasper but before she could hug him too, he bowed stiffly to her.
The kiss he gave her hand, however, heated her all the way to her toes, awakening
a yearning deep within her core. She clutched his fingers, but he dropped her hand
and climbed quickly into the carriage without a backward glance or a word.

Grace flinched as the carriage door shut behind him. She quickly called out, “Drive
safe!” as the carriage jerked into motion. She could see Victoria waving through the
window but not Jasper. It was as though he wasn’t there at all. She stood immobilised
on the front steps as she watched them drive away, rapidly blinking to keep her tears
from falling. She turned to her grandpapa with a watery smile when he gently squeezed
her shoulder.

“Come, my girl, I want to show you the portraits of your father and uncle.”

She could see the love and understanding in his eyes. She remembered he once stood
on these steps too and watched his loved ones ride away.

She took his arm and went inside to learn about her family history.

Chapter Eleven

Jasper understood why Grace wanted to stay, but they were getting married soon. He’d
hoped she’d want to spend time with him. He denied it was jealousy churning in his
gut when she told him she was staying behind. How could he be jealous of an old man?
Her grandfather, no less? The thought disgusted him.

He’d spent the last night at Lancaster Manor pacing the floor of his room. When she’d
told him she was staying, he wanted to hit something or wrap his hands around her
pretty little neck. What was it about
her
? Why did he want her so much? When she was near, he became tense with need and frustration.
Just thinking about her made him hard. It happened at the most inopportune times,
like when his valet was trying to dress him. Jasper must remember to reassure the
poor fellow that it wasn’t him that caused Jasper’s desire. It was Grace.

She wasn’t what she seemed. She was hiding something, he could tell. But what? He
didn’t trust her.

He reached the bed and sat down. He thought back to the night of the ball, to when
they met. He was the one to approach her. She could, of course, have staged the encounter
by causing the scene under the table, but how would she know he would come? Or was
she after just any man? She was the one who led the way to the alcove…but he followed
her. Why? He felt the rise in his blood and grinned. Something pulled him to her from
the start. From the moment he laid eyes on her bare leg as she struggled from underneath
the table, he had to have her. How could he not rescue her? How could he not follow
her anywhere she led?

In his room at Lancaster Manor, he relived the fateful kiss. He could almost feel
her against him again and although she’d never been in this room he swore he could
smell her scent. He closed his eyes and imagined her here with him, the way she was
at the ball; wild and uninhibited. She certainly didn’t behave as a demure young miss
when she approached him that night in the alcove. He could once again feel her hands
grasp his lapels.

His manhood strained against his breeches at the memory of her lips pressing into
his. His fantasy took things to where they would have ended if Mrs Barrett hadn’t
walked in.

Her skin glowed in the firelight as he imagined her here. He slowly lowered her gown
over her lusty breasts, down to her waist. His fingers itched to come in contact with
her skin and his lips twitched with unleashed desire. He was as hard as rock and hot
as sin. He reached down to release himself from the confines of his fall. His member
sprang forth and twitched as it brushed against his hand. He didn’t want that. He
wanted Grace to ease his desire not his own hand.

He opened his eyes and blinked at his surroundings. This was ridiculous. At this rate,
he’d never get any sleep. What he needed was time away from her.

He shed the rest of his clothes and climbed beneath the sheets naked. The coolness
of them helped with the swelling and he relaxed enough to doze.

The sun had yet to make an appearance when he knocked upon his sister’s door next
morning. He waited to the count of ten before knocking again. His hand was raised
for the third time when the door swung open to reveal his sister who was sleepy and
none too pleased to see him.

“What, pray tell, is it that I need to enjoy the pleasure of your presence so early
in the morning, brother?”

“We are leaving at first light.” At Victoria’s quizzical stare he added an explanation:
“We should be able to make it to London by nightfall.”

“Very well,” she said shutting the door in his face.

They almost made it. They were thanking Lord Lancaster for his hospitality when she
called from the top of the staircase.

“Wait!” Her voice was filled with panic and Jasper couldn’t help but look at her.

“Don’t go.” Despite his best intentions, his heart leapt in joy at her words. She
wouldn’t be staying after all. But when all she said was goodbye, the joy he’d felt
moments before shattered to a million pieces. It was all he could do to bow stiffly.
But when he took her hand, his kiss contained all his longing for her.

The carriage ride back to London was silent. Victoria made a valiant effort to engage
him in conversation, but after several attempts she gave up and watched the scenery
through the window instead.

“I need you to find something out for me, Neal.” Within ten minutes of arriving home,
Jasper walked into Neal’s study without even knocking.

Neal looked up from the paper he was reading. “Grace Lancaster?”

“How did you know?” Jasper said as he slumped into a chair.

“What else would it be about? You seem to be able to run your business endeavours
by yourself and you’ve never asked me for a favour of this kind before. She arrived
out of thin air with a dodgy story about memory loss and a boat fire. Of course you
want me to look into her.” Neal lowered the paper, steepled his hands together and
rested his chin on them.

“I need to know her past and what she wants before the wedding. I need to know what
I am marrying.”

“You are still marrying her, then?” Neal asked the question with no sign of shock
in his voice, as though he already knew the answer.

“I have to.” For more reasons than one, but he wasn’t about to tell Neal that.

“It’s not only the scandal we’re talking about, is it?”

So much for keeping it to himself. “I just have to marry her. I’d prefer not to discuss
the why.”

“It’s your decision. I’ll tell you what I already know.”

“You’ve already looked into her?” Jasper shouldn’t have been surprised. Neal tended
to ‘look into’ everything.

“She is to marry my wife’s brother, of course I’ve found out all I can about her.
Unfortunately, it’s not much.”

“Meaning?”

“For a start there was no fire on any ship around the time she arrived and, to make
matters worse, there weren’t ships from America that came in then either.”

Dread settled in the pit of Jasper’s stomach. “What are you saying?”

“Well, for one thing she’s not who she says she is. And for another, I think my wife
knows.”

“Victoria?”

“She’s the only wife I have, the last time I checked.” Neal raised his head and stared
at Jasper. God, he was unnerving.

Jasper ran his hand through his hair. He would never have thought his sister would
do this to him. Had they arranged the whole thing before the ball?

“I could contact some old friends at the Bureau, see what they can find out…or I could
get it out of Victoria.”

Jasper didn’t like the sound of either of those. He supposed Victoria would be the
best bet, but he didn’t like the gleam in Neal’s eyes. And if the Bureau was involved
there might be no way to keep the damages minimal. Jasper peeled himself from the
chair. “Thanks, Neal, I’ll let you know.” He showed himself out of the room and stood
in the hallway for a moment while he weighed his options.

Before he could come to any conclusions, Victoria found him.

“Come into my drawing room, Jasper, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

Jasper closed the door behind him, sat in one of Victoria’s uncomfortable floral chairs
and waited while Victoria poured tea.

She stirred the sugar into her tea and then her milk. She took a sip and then another
before placing her hands gently in her lap. She smiled at him. The ritual took ten
minutes.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

“No. Aren’t you?” She smiled again at him.

“You’re the one who invited me in here and poured tea.” He ran his hand through his
hair again. “All I want is a brandy.”

“You’ll have to see Neal about that, I don’t have anything stronger than sherry. You
can have that if you prefer.”

“No thank you.” He hated sherry, the sickly sweetness stuck to his tongue.

Victoria smiled again.

He couldn’t handle it any longer. “Who is she?”

“Who is who, Jasper?”

“Grace. Who is she really?”

“She’s who she says she is. She’s Grace Lancaster from America.” She looked him in
the eye and he knew she wasn’t lying.

“Why is she here?”

“She’s not, she’s at her grandfather’s, as you well know.”