Undone by His Kiss (26 page)

A few commoners voiced a sneering remark as they passed, recognizing them as quality, but at last, when Emily feared she’d be lost to the surging throng, Jasper broke them free, wrapped a possessive arm about her shoulders and wordlessly led her into a carriage-clogged alley. At last he stopped against the bricks of an imposing building and released her. She wobbled until his quick capture of her elbow ensured she would not collapse, though he allowed barely another moment for her to regain balance before he yanked her into his arms with a hard press of the lips. Perhaps to confirm she was indeed all right and under his protection.

“I need to remove you.” He grasped her hand again and pulled her further from the square, a flurry of hostility left in their wake. In a purposeful rush, he maneuvered around carriages and abandoned carts. A rumpled broadsheet caught in the breeze and wrapped around her ankle before it broke free and continued its skitter across the cobbles. A pie man’s enthusiastic call to customers cut through the distant rumble of the mob left behind, the shrewd merchant recognizing the opportunity for profit. Sights and sounds became a blur. Eventually Jasper slowed, his backward glances assuring her safety and the ability to keep pace before he hailed a hackney a few streets over.

“This is no place for a woman. You must return home.” His grouse brooked no discussion, although his eyes softened as he handed her into the hack. “Go directly to Nelson Square. I will instruct the driver of a circuitous route.” He continued to issue orders, adamant in his instructions and she nodded, a little numb by the swift-paced events of the afternoon and the commanding possession of his kiss.

The hack jolted forward, capturing her unaware as she looked back for a last glance of Jasper, but he’d already gone.

Chapter 26

“You’ve caused quite a stir this time.” Jasper poured another measure of brandy and glanced to the clock, noting it neared midnight. Having spent the evening negotiating a truce of sorts to extricate his friend from the tumultuous scandal caused by a public display of animosity, the quietude of his study proved a welcomed sanctuary.

“It was bound to happen, an inevitable conflict caused by my father’s lack of discretion and blatant disregard for my mother’s reputation.” Kellaway sank into a chair, his expression a mixture of anger and exhaustion.

“So you say, though I’ve heard the same spoken of her dalliances, Kell.” Jasper said the words softly, though they were honest.

“Her poor choice in retaliation to his years of neglect.” The viscount murmured his answer. “One can only endure so much insult before lashing out.”

The room remained silent for a time, and then Jasper broke the quiet. “Miss Shaw arrived amidst the chaos. Having overheard Beaufort’s bellow for my assistance, she decided to follow.” He tamped a smile at the mention of her name.

“That one is a spitfire, headstrong and passionate in her beliefs.” Kellaway punctuated his statement with a misplaced bark of laughter and smile of private amusement.

Jasper eyed his friend. His fists flexed at what he suspected would follow.

“I’d like to explore her fiery stamina between the sheets.”

Jasper forced his fists open, bit back his immediate retort, and swallowed the remaining brandy in his glass. “Then you’d have crossed a line even I know you’d find reprehensible.” He paused to gain his friend’s attention. “Miss Shaw is your half-sister. A fact she discovered upon arrival to Hanover Square where she witnessed her father at strife with her half-brother.”

“Ha! An interesting twist, isn’t it?” Kellaway shot to his feet. “My father, the scourge, has been at debauchery for decades, fathering children on the other side of the blanket without a care for responsibility or reputation.” All humor absent, his voice rich with disgust, he strode to the decanter and splashed more brandy, downing the liquor in one gulp. “And she, yet another of his victims, her mother a discarded paramour. No wonder Miss Shaw looked at me with a quizzical eye. Apparently she experienced something out of place. Unfortunately the saucy minx is an opportunity missed.”

“Choose your words with care. I’m not above offering you further pain notwithstanding the adequate pummeling you received today.” Jasper’s words held a menacing note of warning.

“It’s of no matter. I’m for Brighton in the morning.” Kellaway dropped his glass to the table, indifferent to its fragility. “I warned you I couldn’t remain in London were my father to spend the season and my prediction of doom has come to fruition. Bearing in mind the concurrence of our unresolved ongoing conflict and the gossip we’ve ignited today, I’ve no desire to stay. No matter it was poorly done of us both. I’ll be gone before sunlight crests your windowsill. Nothing holds me here.”

“You have a sister who wants to know you, or speak to you at the least.” Jasper knew well Kell could not be forced to do anything he didn’t choose, but a hope that he’d feel some shred of obligation forced Jasper to cajole him.

“I have nothing to say that would interest the lady.”

The response contained a fair amount of tergiversation despite the absence of hesitancy.

“Let her decide.” Jasper stepped closer. “Make time tomorrow.” His forceful tone underscored the adamant command hoping to convince his friend.

“She’ll be in London when I return, whenever that may be.”

His blithe answer ignited Jasper’s anger. “You’ll make time.”

“I can’t rearrange my plans for every by-blow my father leaves strewn across the countryside.” Gone was any reasonable tone. Kell’s capricious attitude added another layer to the thorny situation.

“I hope that is alcohol speaking more than conscience.” Jasper exhaled a deep breath. “You’ll spare time for Miss Shaw tomorrow morning.”

“You’re that taken with her then?”

“This isn’t about favors repaid despite I risked my life interceding in the familial mess you exploited in the square—” Frustration raised his voice.

“He deserved the humiliation.” Kell snarled his response.

“Not the matter at hand.” A quick flash of Miss Shaw’s stricken expression when she’d stumbled and his heart constricted for fear he would not reach her in time, laced his words with unharnessed veracity. “Speak with her.”

“As you like, Jasper. I’m nothing if not loyal to a friend.” Kellaway dared a complacent smile.

“Then I will see you tomorrow, as tonight I am wrung out.” He spared not a look over his shoulder and made for the stairs, ignoring Kellaway’s throaty chuckle as it followed him from the room.

Sleep had become her enemy, evading her efforts as her mind spun with questions concerning Kellaway and her father, her mother’s affair and at last, Jasper’s fierce protection. Now she stood before her mother’s bedchamber door anxious for answers to at least one of her problems. With determination to understand the truth and set her life to rights, she’d settle the turmoil of her past and be free to plan the future. Still, her fist hung in midair, resolve evaporating with the worry of her mother’s unknown temperament.

She stalled, considering Kellaway and the unlikely truth he was her sibling. At least this discovery solved the ambiguous puzzlement she’d experienced from their first walk in Bandlewit’s garden. She’d attempt to find Kell this morning and acknowledge their relationship for no other reason than peace of mind. She didn’t wish to complicate his life, nor hers.

Squaring her shoulders she gave the door a sturdy knock, her mother’s bid to enter in quick return.

“I’ve come to check on you. I know I’ve upset you with my actions and words. Perhaps if I could understand more fully…” Her words trailed off in wait of any sign her mother was receptive of conversation, but instead time stretched, her mother’s expression processing a variety of emotions, none of them encouraging.

Mary entered amid the silence.

“Miss Emily, you have a gentleman caller. I apprised him of the unseemly hour and requested he return later in the day, but the viscount insisted I inform you now of his arrival.”

The housekeeper handed Emily a card and as she read her mother sidled to her elbow.

“Lord Kellaway. How dare he set foot in this house.” Bianca stormed from the room, Emily following behind to clatter down the stairs and arrive in the hall in tandem much to Kellaway’s surprise.

“Get out.” Bianca Shaw pulled her shoulders back, her slender posture held with indignation. “You have no right.” She waved her hands in a frantic motion as if shooing a pesky insect from the kitchen.

It was the wrong thing to say to Kellaway. The viscount considered himself an eclectic combination of pariah and paragon. One did not bully Benedict Hampden, Viscount Kellaway. Emily understood the subtle shift in his posture, as if he barely aborted the reply on his tongue.

“I am here to address Miss Shaw. No one else.”

Emily took a bold step to intercede, but her mother also advanced.

“My daughter will have nothing to do with you. She wants for nothing from your father.” A note of hysteria laced the words.

“Her father,” he countered, unaffected by the show of emotion.

“He filled our accounts and left us behind, so you’ve won that battle. He is your father. He has not returned, and as I’ve come to realize, he never shall.”

Emily’s head jerked round to witness her mother’s crumbling emotion and honest admittance. Never had her mother uttered these words, and a small flicker of hope breathed to life. Perhaps through this confrontation and their argument only days ago, she might be able to let go of her perceived reality and rejoin life.

“My father’s choices are not my responsibility.” Kellaway turned toward Emily, his message clear. “I will be in London only through this morning.” He stepped to the door and left, his indifference lingering in a slow wake behind.

“Mother?” Emily took a small step, unsure how her mother would react to the emotional upheaval of having her lover’s legitimate son barge into their home and demand attention.

“Your father loved me and I loved him.” She stared at Emily, her eyes glossed over with the teary-eyed confession. “He promised me many things and convinced me they were all possible until it came time for him to make a choice. Then she won. She won out. Still your father assured me he would return. He would make it right. He promised and I believed him and waited. I’ve waited so long, Emily.” Bianca began to weep silent tears. “How long am I supposed to wait? He’s kept us here in a fine town house with no wants aside from one.” A broken sob interrupted her lamentable confession. “Him. I miss him. I want him back. It’s been years and I haven’t stopped loving him or wanting him beside me.” She sobbed a raw sound and as Emily reached for her she pulled away, hurrying to the foot of the staircase. “I thought I could convince him with my letters, but it matters not that you never mailed them. He wouldn’t have come. I refused to see it, but all along he’s loved his title more than anyone or anything. In truth, he chose himself above everyone involved.” She took the first step and then another. “He’s made his choice.”

Emily watched her mother climb the stairs and pain gripped her heart. She’d grown accustomed to the dull ache of knowing her father cast her off as a by-blow. Expendable. Not worth knowing. Yet in watching her mother’s mind deteriorate, she’d fine-tuned her own intelligence and recognized independency would prevent any man from scarring her feelings and ruining her life. For countless years her mother mourned a man who didn’t deserve her loyalty. A man who continued his exploits with little onus of the pain and rejection he left in his wake. Perhaps that was why Emily favored the orphan hospital. In so many ways, she understood the burden of each child’s heart, wanting to take them under wing, protect and ensure they lived a happier childhood than the one she’d experienced.

Years ago, her father abandoned them, seemingly tired of his mistress and uncaring of his daughter. Forever the pain proved too raw to confront, shifting from hurt to anger to rage and at last, acceptance. If Kellaway’s visit achieved that final hurdle for her mother and forced her into a clearer recognition, then every tear was worth the price. Perhaps they could move forward and build a brighter future, once and for all. Hope always provided a path forward.

And like that, it no longer mattered. Emily didn’t care to speak to Kellaway, his purpose realized. Let him take his leave from London. What did it matter? She needed to see Jasper. To find the one man who’d shown her respect and consideration, protection and passion, a man who touched her soul with his kindness and green-eyed adoration.

She dashed upstairs to change her clothes and don her finest day gown. Jasper must know it all by now. Her illegitimacy. Her mother’s embarrassment. Her reluctance to allow a man to consume her heart. Still he hadn’t offered her anything but acceptance and how had she answered his consideration?

She needed to see Jasper.

And profess her love.

Chapter 27

She didn’t waste time walking. After Agnes arranged her hair in a pretty cascade of waves that flowed around her shoulders, she chose a clever bonnet, the exact shade of the gold flecks that danced in Jasper’s eyes. She gathered her pelisse and reticule then bustled to the curb to flag a hackney with haste. The driver did an excellent job maneuvering through the late morning traffic, but still she balanced on the edge of the bench, anxious to be free as soon as the hack rolled to a stop on Bond Street.

Everywhere she looked there was activity to mar her path. A newsboy hawked fresh printed sheets on the corner, an elderly costermonger rolled his cart laden with fresh fruit and over her shoulder she heard the scrape of men at work with iron shovels. Pedestrians, focused on their business of the day, brushed past, spurring her into motion. Amidst it all, words spun in her mind, suggested and revised, anxious to be spoken and all punctuated with Jasper’s soul-searing kisses.

Considering the hour, it seemed likely Jasper would have opened the office by now and she didn’t wish to squander precious time arriving at his apartments only to discover his absence. Her heart beat a rapid tempo as she approached the building and entered.