Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake (11 page)

She was practically begging and all
Audrey could do was nod. She didn’t dare tell Millicent what she
really thought for fear the woman would become even more unhinged.
Was Lydell aware of his wife’s misconception? Had he tried to tell
the truth or was he simply letting her believe what she
wanted?

“I am so glad we had this talk,” Audrey
found herself saying. “I must go now. We will visit
later.”

She turned on her heel and walked back
toward the entrance as quickly as her feet could carry
her.

Audrey paused just outside of the gate
and grasped it for support. Her stomach churned. What had she done?
She had believed Millicent last spring and cut Trent out of her
life and kept her resentment alive all this time. Two letters from
Millicent had altered everything. The first saying that Trent had
come to her bed and the second, that her parents were marrying her
to Lydell because Trent refused.

She leaned against the gate and
breathed deeply. She never questioned Millicent about the
circumstances and never thought there was a need. Trent did have a
certain reputation after all. She had also been too hurt and didn’t
want to know the details. Instead, she let her anger blind her. Had
she just questioned Millicent at the time would things have turned
out differently?

There was no guarantee that Trent would
have courted her, or if it would have led to anything permanent,
but she hadn’t even given him a chance to find out. Granted, he
only danced with her a few times and said he wished to call on her
after his return, yet it didn’t mean he had any serious intentions.
It was silly of course, but she had begun to hope.

Her heart constricted at the pain at
realizing she had believed lies and may have ruined her
chances.

Jordan rubbed his eyes and leaned back
in the chair and stretched. Tightness had developed in this
shoulders and neck from studying but at least he had his answers.
There was precedent on how to remove one guardian to replace him
with another. He would just need to speak with Lady Rothsbury’s
brother, Mr. Jonathan Bridges, to make sure he was willing to take
over the task of managing the young lord’s estate until the lad
reached his majority. He would call on Bridges at his offices as
soon as he washed and ready to move on with his day, but he was so
bloody tired.

He glanced out the window from his
fourth floor set of rooms to the street below. Jordan had given up
his space within a small office. He no longer needed to hide his
identity or have potential client’s questioned before he met with
them and had taken to working from his set of rooms in Old Square.
Nobody knew he sometimes resided here, except his valet, butler and
one footman.

A smile pulled at his lips as he
envisioned the look on his father’s face if he had ever learned of
Jordan’s decisions to become a solicitor. Well, his father no
longer had control and Jordan could do as he bloody well
pleased.

That left one question to be answered:
What would Audrey Montgomery think about him being a barrister, or
simply a solicitor? Her mother wanted a title for her daughter, but
what did the daughter want?

What smile he possessed disappeared
when he remembered that the only gentlemen she had granted dances
were already titled or one day would be. Did she have the same
goals as her mother? Jordan wouldn’t have believed it last year,
but perhaps she had changed. He certainly had in the past year, but
for reasons nobody but his family would understand.

A scratch at the door drew his
attention and Jordan crossed the scarred, dark wood floor to find
one of his footmen on the other side.

“Come in Higgins.” Jordan stood back so
the young man could enter.

“A message came for you, Mr.
Trent.”

He tore the missive open. It was a note
from Grace asking that he call on her as soon as possible. His
first thoughts were that there was news of Adele and Julia, but
quickly dismissed the notion. If anyone was to would contact him
about his step-mother and half-sister, it would be one of his
brothers. This was curious indeed. Hopefully all was well with
Matthew.

“Thank you, Higgins.”

The young man also held out a satchel.
“We assumed you would need to call on Mrs. Trent and your valet
packed an extra set of clothes being you didn’t come home last
night.”

Jordan had come straight here from his
sister’s supper, needing to put the thoughts of Lady Lydell from
his mind and work himself to exhaustion so Audrey didn’t plague his
dreams through the night.

“I really should give up these rooms.”
He glanced around at what had been his second home for the past few
years. “What I do here can now be done at home.”

Higgins didn’t say anything but it
would make both of their lives easier if Jordan wasn’t living in
two places.

“I will send word if I will not be
returning tonight.”

The young man bowed and left the room
and Jordan set about preparing for the meeting with his
sister-in-law. Afterward he would travel to the docks to call upon
Mr. Jonathan Bridges.

An hour later Jordan stepped into his
sister-in-law’s parlor to find Grace seated calmly on the settee
while Miss Montgomery paced before the fire. His heart lifted. Had
it been Miss Montgomery who sought him out and not his
sister-in-law?

Any exhaustion he suffered earlier
disappeared the moment he was in Miss Montgomery’s presence. It
wasn’t simply attraction, though he was more attracted to her than
any woman of his acquaintance. She calmed and soothed something
deep inside and all he had to do was simply be in the same room
with her. It had been that way from the first moment he met Miss
Montgomery.

Miss Montgomery turned when the butler
announced his entrance, her face drawn with concern. He dearly
hoped she wasn’t about to deliver another set down. Hadn’t she
promised they would talk? Her expression led him to believe the
topic she wished to broach was far more serious than he earlier
anticipated.

“Is something wrong?”

“I need to ask you something,” Miss
Montgomery blurted out.

Grace stood and smoothed her gown.
“Audrey insisted she needed to speak with you but it was a
conversation that needed to take place in private.” She lifted an
eyebrow in interest. “She won’t tell me what it is about but this
was the only place she could speak with you alone without her
reputation being damaged.”

A grin pulled at his lips. “Miss
Montgomery wishes to be alone with me?” He took a few steps further
into the room. “My day just became all the brighter.”

Grace stepped between Jordan and Miss
Montgomery. “You will behave as a gentlemen,” she
warned.

Jordan chuckled. As much as
he wished to be alone with Audrey and
not
be a gentleman, he was in his
brother’s home and clearly Miss Montgomery was upset. “I
promise.”

Grace simply nodded and left the
parlor, closing the door behind her.

Jordan sauntered over to Audrey,
concerned by the paleness of her skin and the worry lines etched
above her brow. His hands itched to smooth them away and ease her
burden.

“Last spring, when you were gone, did
you attend the Grayson’s house party?”

It had been his intention to be there
but at the last moment he had to travel to Bristol. “I had received
an invitation as you know.” Miss Montgomery wasn’t aware of his
profession as far as he knew and Jordan hadn’t told her last spring
because he hadn’t yet asked her uncle permission to court her and
frankly, he had been unsure of her reaction. He didn’t want to be
put in the situation of choosing a career over a lady when it was
far too soon to determine if they would be a good match, despite
how he warmed in her presence.

“I know that is the reason you were to
be gone. But did you go?”

He reached out and grasped her hand in
his. “What is this about?”

“I cannot tell you until I know if you
were there or not.”

“I did not attend the house party but
needed to be somewhere else.”

She closed her eyes and blew out a
breath. What did it matter whether he was at the Grayson’s or not?
However, something had happened during that time that altered her
opinion of him. Would he finally find out what his horrible crime
was?

“Where were you?”

“I traveled to Bristol.”

A frown formed and she tilted her head
as if to study him. “Why?”

It did seem rather odd that he would
choose to go to Bristol when he could have been enjoying himself at
a fashionable house party. “I cannot say.”

She pursed her lips and then gave a
quick nod, as if deciding if she would pry further. “And you were
never at the Grayson Estate? Not even for one night?”

“If I was going to travel all that way
I would have stayed longer than a night.” He assured her. “What is
this about?”

Miss Montgomery sighed again and turned
away from him. “I think I have made a terrible mistake and I owe
you an apology.”

His heart lifted. “What mistake? Is
this about what I did to make you hate me?”

“I never really hated you.” Her
shoulders slumped and then she turned to him, her face a lovely
shade of pink. “Millicent, that is Lady Lydell, wrote to me from
the house party.”

Her face took on a deeper hue. She was
quite lovely in her embarrassment. “Go on.”

“She claimed that you had, that…” Miss
Montgomery closed her eyes and turned away again.

Jordan came up from behind and placed
his hands on her upper arms in encouragement and comfort. “What did
she claim I did?”

“This is not a proper conversation and
I shouldn’t say anything, but you do need to know.”

He leaned in and whispered in her ear.
“What do I need to know?”

“She claimed that you had gone to her
room one night and that the two of you … that.”

Jordan stilled. “I understand your
meaning.” Bloody hell! Why would Lady Lydell say such a thing for?
Didn’t she know such rumors would see her ruined?

He straightened. Miss Montgomery hadn’t
known he had never gone to the Grayson’s. She refused to talk to
him after that time he was away.

“I received another letter, two days
later, that you had refused to do the right thing and her parents
were forcing her to marry Lydell.”

“As I wasn’t there, I was not required
to do the right thing.”

“All this time she has led me to
believe her child is yours as well.”

Jordan turned Miss Montgomery so that
she could face him. “This is why you have been angry with me all
this time?”

“I thought you ruined my friend and
then abandoned her.” Tears moistened her eyes. “I had been warned
about you.”

“That I do not doubt.” He grinned down
at her.

“You shouldn’t be smiling about this.
What will people think?”

Jordan sobered. He doubted that it
would do anymore damage to his already tarnished reputation, but he
was trying to become a respectable gentlemen. Otherwise he would
never be called to the bar and it was something he had worked far
too long for to let it slip through his fingers now.

Audrey glanced down and twisted her
hands together. “Millicent insisted that you had wanted her all
along and only danced with me to be close to her.”

“You believed her?” How could any
gentleman in his right mind prefer Lady Lydell when they could be
with Audrey Montgomery? Jordan placed a finger under Audrey’s chin
and lifted it so he could look into her eyes. “The only lady I’ve
ever wanted to court was you.”

“I’ve known her all of my life. Why
would she lie to me?”

“Jealousy?” If a trusted
childhood friend had told him something about Miss Montgomery, he
may have believed the one he had known the longest as well.
Besides, how could he blame her for thinking the worst? He didn’t
exactly have a pristine reputation. Though he would like to blame
his father for that, he was equally as guilty. He never let
the
ton
believe
anything other than he was a debauched lord only seeking
pleasure.