Julia Justiss (10 page)

“I should hope Dr. Thompson would not recommend anyone incompetent,” Belle protested, her tentative decision shaken by Ludlowe’s unexpected opposition.

“One hopes not, though a physician hardly spends enough time at the bedside to know for sure, eh? But then, this is really a matter between you and Jack. I’ll let you
two discuss it—if he’s up to the conversation now. Lady Belle, ’tis always a pleasure. Until later, Jack.”

With that, Ludlowe walked toward the door, pausing on the threshold to give the captain a pointed glance. “Remember my advice, now,” he admonished, and went out.

Left alone with her patient, who was regarding her with a rather reproachful look, Belle took a deep breath and prepared a bit desperately to deliver all the arguments she could summon to convince her troubling guest of the merits of a speedy departure from her house.

A
FTER
L
ADY
B
ELLE’S
unexpected announcement, Jack was irritated to find his reasoning abilities as slow to react as his injured body. Damping down a sense of hurt and disappointment far keener than it should have been, he struggled to evaluate his hostess’s plans to evict him.

Lady Belle still stood silently before him, uncertainty and more than a trace of guilt on her face. “I am sincerely sorry to—to issue so ungenteel an ultimatum. And I do wish it were possible for me to remain in town until you were safely on your way to your family.”

It was quite reasonable that she wished to be relieved of the inconvenience of his care. She had already been more than hospitable. Still, he couldn’t help saying rather stiffly, “I regret having been such an imposition.”

“You were not!” she answered too quickly, the fair skin of her face flushing. “Having wounded you in the first place, ’twas only right that I—”

“Please, ma’am, you said that before, but as I was barely conscious, I didn’t respond properly. You must not consider the accident in any way your fault. I saw the protector come loose. I should have signaled the match to an
immediate halt. I did not. The consequences for that omission rest on my head entirely.”

She stared at him. “Why did you not stop it?”

He looked up into her vivid blue eyes and the intensity of the connection between them crackled in the air. “I don’t know,” he admitted.

For a long moment their gazes held, as if fused by some invisible bond. Then, with a little shudder, she turned away. “Still, I should have noticed the blade was unprotected. It was unconscionable—”

“Enough recrimination,” Jack interrupted. “Shall we agree to share the blame?”

She glanced at him warily, as if surprised by the offer. “If…if you wish, sir. Returning you to Albany isn’t the best of solutions, I know, but would you be amenable to that?”

Since she seemed so set upon ridding herself of him, he ought to agree. He could tolerate the unpleasantness of being tended by a stranger for the few days necessary until he could manage the journey to Carrington Grove.

Except that he found himself wanting with unexpected fervor to remain in Belle’s company. Though thus far he’d had tantalizing glimpses of the woman behind the elusive beauty, he’d not yet learned nearly as much as he wanted about her curious staff or the lady herself.

Prudence advised that the sooner he departed, the better. She was much too beautiful—and affected him much too strongly. His incapacity had protected him so far, but as he recovered, his fascination with her would draw him ever more squarely into harm’s way—as the intensity of his resistance to leave already attested.

Then another possibility occurred to him, sending his flagging spirits soaring. “Your country house is to the north?” he asked.

“Yes, about a day’s journey up the Great North Road.”

“Then if it does not inconvenience you extremely, might I travel north with your party? If you can grant me the privilege of resting overnight at your manor, I should be able to reach home within another two or three days.”

The look of dismay that crossed her face before she could school her features far exceeded the mild annoyance the idea of carrying along an invalid should have generated. “Would that be wise? I thought the doctor said you should not travel such a distance yet.”

So he was right about her reluctance to remain near him—a reluctance, he felt, that stemmed from more than the desire to divest herself of the burden of nursing him. She felt the force that pulsed between them as strongly as he. Though, more sensibly, she was trying to run from it.

A gentleman, after confirming the lady’s unspoken desire not to acknowledge that attraction, would acquiesce. A prudent gentleman, knowing how susceptible he was to her, would seize the opportunity to escape his unsuitable attraction.

But whether inspired by Aubrey’s suggestion or not, Jack found he could not. Somehow he knew that until he explored the force that drew them together, he would never be free of her spell, never be able to resume with a clear and unencumbered spirit the sensible course of his life.

So, how to persuade her to change her mind?

Shamed to realize, when it came down to it, he possessed no more scruples than Aubrey, he said, “You are right, of course. I’ve already imposed on your hospitality for far too long. I apologize if it seemed I was trying to foist on you company you are clearly unwilling to accept. I shall make other arrangements for leaving town.”

Her eyes searched his face. “You mean immediately?”

He nodded.

Her brow creased in a frown. “Would it not be more prudent for you to recuperate in London for another few weeks before undertaking such a journey?”

“Perhaps. But I’ve been abroad for more than a year and I’m anxious to return home. The notion of traveling immediately has far more appeal than the idea of being banished to my rooms. However, you needn’t worry—I shall manage the journey one way or another. I’m almost ready to quit my bed in any event.”

“You are not ready to do any such thing!”

“If the wound troubles me on the road I shall be in a bit of a bother, but I traveled in far worse state after Corunna, I can assure you! And I don’t want to inconvenience you any further than I already have.”

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. He should be ashamed, playing on her guilt in so brazen a manner, but he’d make it up to her later. As for physical pain, being able to journey in her company would be worth it, if he had to grit his teeth every mile of the way.

For a long moment she was silent, clearly considering. Jack sensed her trembling on the edge of acquiescence, but he’d pressed as much as his newly flexible conscience
could tolerate. If she did ask him to join her, the final invitation must come from her alone.

Even if Aubrey would berate him as an idiot for being too squeamish to push her the last step of the way.

Holding his breath, he prayed to whichever guardian angel had protected him through the carnage of the Peninsula and Waterloo that she would agree.

“If you cannot be persuaded to remain awhile longer in the City,” Belle said at last, “I should feel better if you journeyed in company. As long as Dr. Thompson agrees that traveling with my party will not place your overall recovery in jeopardy, you are welcome to join us. And, of course, to rest at Bellehaven as long as you require.”

Clever lady, she’d tendered her reluctant invitation with a loophole attached, but ’twas an invitation nonetheless. It remained only to persuade Dr. Thompson to pronounce him fit to travel and he would have a few more days with her after all. Relief, gladness and a surge of anticipation flooded him.

Even as he rejoiced, a whisper of the prudence he’d exiled to the back of his brain warned that proceeding down this road could have far-ranging and unforeseen results. Though, gazing on the loveliness of her face, it was easy to ignore that Cassandra’s call, he wasn’t too dazzled to acknowledge that at some later date, he might well come to believe demons rather than angels had answered his prayer.

T
HREE DAYS LATER
, Jack waited in his bedchamber for Belle’s party to depart, enjoying after over a week of en
forced bed rest the welcome feeling of being fully clothed. Fortunately, his body had continued to make steady progress toward recovery, enough that, with a cogent reminder of how he’d managed the retreat from Corunna under much more dire circumstances, Jack induced Dr. Thompson to reluctantly approve Jack’s removal from the City.

He had seen little of his hostess over those days, Belle warning early on that preparing for the move would likely occupy all her time. Watson had tended his needs, Belle had sent to Hatchards for some books, and a gleeful Aubrey had visited each afternoon, but after several days in the lady’s house without the benefit of the lady’s presence, he was anxious for the journey to begin.

His only regret was that for the trip itself, Lady Belle had announced her intention to ride, relegating him to the company of her companion Mae, who, she assured him, would see to his comfort. When he protested, pronouncing himself capable of sitting upright so both ladies could travel inside and pointing out the possibility of inclement weather, she had merely given him a smile and assured him she much preferred fresh air, regardless of the weather.

He would have to content himself with making the most of the opportunities for conversation that would be presented when they stopped for meals and to change horses. If the roads were not too muddy, Belle informed him, they should reach Bellehaven in time for the late dinner.

What couldn’t be changed might as well be turned to advantage, so during the trip he intended to subtly cull as much information as possible from the loquacious Mae. If
his luck held, after their arrival at Bellehaven he’d be able to linger in Lady Belle’s company long enough to profit from whatever he’d learned.

As the door opened, Jack looked up, the automatic leap in his pulse slowing as Watson walked in.

“All yer gear from Albany be stowed, Captain, and there’s a groom to lead yer horse. Lady Belle sent me to tell you ’tis time to load the coach.”

“Thank you, Watson. I’m ready.”

Having practiced walking the last few days, Jack managed to shrug on his greatcoat, lever himself to his feet and proceed toward the door with a minimum of light-headedness, though he was still damnably weak. He was more than ready, he acknowledged, not only to travel with Lady Belle, but to shake off the last vestiges of illness and feel himself again.

Still, he was decidedly woozy by the time he reached the carriage. Watson stepped before him to open the door—and doubtless insure he managed to haul himself into the vehicle. “Settle yerself in, Captain,” the butler said. “There be a hot brick for yer feet and a hamper from Cook with victuals for the journey.”

Though he felt better now that he was seated, his exertions in descending the stairs had set his chest to aching again. The pillows tucked in the corner beckoned invitingly, as did the carriage blanket and the warmed brick at his feet. He eased himself into a semireclining position and closed his eyes, appreciating anew Belle’s thoughtfulness in giving him the entire seat to himself.

A moment later, Watson handed Mae into the coach.
Though her traveling cloak of red satin—which, for a change, fully covered her famous attributes—and the matching chip bonnet looked cheery, her compressed lips and mournful expression were in such marked contrast to the animated demeanor she’d exhibited on the other occasions Jack had met her that he felt immediately moved to apologize.

“’Tis a dismal prospect, I fear, being shut up with an invalid. I promise you, ma’am, I’ll cause you no bother.”

That won him a smile. “Lands, Captain, you be fine company for the eyes, even without you conversing, which Belle says you still ought not to do overmuch. ’Tis leaving London that has me so down-pin. My old friend Polly, whose new protector is a regular Golden Ball, said I could stay with her in her town house—which has everything bang up to the mark, the furniture with carved feet and dogs’ heads everywhere! Though good English oak be fine enough for me, but I suppose I know my duty clear as anyone. Couldn’t let Belle go tearing off to the wilderness with That Person and none but Watson to tend her, the chit being too young and helpless to be of use.”

Before he could comment, she sighed and continued, “Even if I don’t know how I can stand it. A few cows in a London park be well enough, but…but to actually
live
in a place with nothing for miles around but trees and fields and wild animals?”

Jack had to grin. “You are not country-born, then?”

Mae shuddered. “No, sir. Give me shops on every corner, lamps to light up the night, carriages rattling by at all hours and neighbors who don’t live ten miles off, like
Belle says they do at this manor of hers. But it’s going I am, so I’d best resign myself and not fill your ears with my complaining. Just hope we make it there unharmed,” she finished darkly.

Did Mae worry about footpads? “Incomprehensibly enough, I’ve lived most of my life in the country north of Lady Belle’s manor. Let me assure you, ma’am, the area is very civilized. I’ve ridden from my home to London many times the last ten years without so much as a glimpse of a highwayman. In fact,” he added, hoping to cheer her, “we’ll pass some superior inns with very skillful cooks.”

Mae brightened slightly. “Well, that’s something. Indeed, I’m feeling a bit peckish. Should you like a mug of ale and a bit of bread before the coach sets off?”

At that moment, the carriage door opened and Lady Belle’s presence wafted to him on a wave of scent and sight. As usual, she was plainly garbed in a gray habit under a matching wool cloak. A veiled hat masked her hair and left only the pale skin of her face uncovered.

But she had no need of intricate designs or fancy trim to draw the eye. The simple cut and sober hue of her clothing served only to make her skin more luminous, the blue eyes more arresting.

By the time he’d pulled his senses free of the spell she seemed to cast over him whenever she came near, she had already bid him good day and expressed her hope that he had everything necessary to make his journey comfortable.