Page 28 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

“Gladly, sir,” the young butler said, accompanying Derrek as he strode back toward the parlor. “I do not hear from Lord Linton or Lord Albert often, but they have charged me with keeping them informed about the goings on here in England. They have been especially interested in the progress Princess Victoria has been making in her education and introduction to society.”

Derrek nearly missed a step. It could have been a coincidence, but given everything else, Linton’s and Lord Albert’s interest in news of Princess Victoria could be the connection he needed to prove their involvement with Conroy.

“Tell me all about it, friend,” he said with a smile, gesturing for the young butler to enter the parlor with him. Tea had been set out on one of the low tables, and a maid stood bright-eyed and ready to help. “Tell me everything you know.”

Between the two young people, Derrek was bound to learn something that might help him tighten the noose around both Lord Albert’s and Conroy’s necks.

Ten

It was uncanny how swiftly Jeremy was able to adapt to the new life he suddenly found himself living. When Derrek had whisked him away from his shop in the middle of the night over a fortnight ago, he’d expected to be dripping with misery and anxious to return to his work, his customers, and the lads who depended on him with all due haste.

Instead, he’d adapted to life in a rural village with almost alarming ease.

“Everything you ordered is packed in the parcel, Mrs. Norton,” he said with a smile as he handed the latest gown that he and Clary had finished together to the miller’s wife. “If you need anything at all, please do let Miss Jones know.”

Mrs. Norton accepted her parcel with a gracious smile. “You are so kind, Mr. Wilkes. And pay no attention to the whispers and gossip about you that swirl in the sludge of this town. You are a right and proper gentleman and not a stranger in our midst at all.”

Jeremy kept his smile in place as the woman departed, but it was a brittle smile that shifted to a perplexed look once the woman was out the door.

“I cannot determine if that was a compliment or an insult,” he said, shaking his head and turning back to where Clary was tidying up from the work they’d spent all day doing.

Clary laughed. “It was a compliment from Mrs. Norton hidden in an insult from some of the less desirable people of this town. Villagers do not take quickly to strangers.”

“Well, if that is all it is,” Jeremy said, keeping his eyes downcast as he moved to help Clary with the tidying.

It did not matter that he’d been given a warm welcome by Clary and many of her customers, Jeremy was acutely aware that several of the other villagers had noted his closeness with Derrek and had raised their eyebrows. He was uncertain whether country folk would be more or less vicious than their counterparts in the city if they discovered men like him and Derrek among them, but he had no wish to find out.

His thoughts of Derrek had him peering out the window as he gathered some of the pins he’d discarded while working earlier and put them in the cushion where he should have stuck them to begin with. The village high street was growing dimmer by the moment as the sun set over the western horizon. Derrek should have been there already. He’d come to fetch him every day just as the sunset began so that Jeremy did not have to walk home through the woods alone.

“Looking for your man?” Clary asked with a hint of teasing in her voice as she packed away bolts of fabric.

“He is ordinarily here by now,” Jeremy said, half to himself. He failed to catch the implication of his reply quickly enough and stood straight with a jerk when he realized what his words truly said. “That is, he is not my man. Not in that way,” he rushed to defend himself, twisting to face Clary.

Clary wore a knowing smirk that grew even wider when she saw Jeremy’s discomfort. “You cannot fool me, Jeremy Wilkes. I know the look of a man in love when I see him.”

“Do you?” Jeremy asked with a bit too much challenge.

He did not realize how his question might be taken until Clary’s clever look fell.

“Yes, I do,” she said with a sigh. “I know what love looks like when it is in full bloom and blush, and I know how it can appear when it has faded and taken a fancy in someone else.”

There was most certainly a tragic story behind his friend’s words. “I am so sorry,” Jeremy said, his heart going out to Clary.

Clary sucked in a breath, squared her shoulders, and went back to sorting the bolts of fabric and boxes of thread and ribbon that they’d taken down throughout the day for their work. “That’s enough about that. The past is the past, and I’ve no wish to revisit it.”

Jeremy rather wished she would revisit it and tell him everything so that he could be a true friend to her and give her a needed shoulder to cry on. The chief reason he had adapted to village life so quickly was because he’d found a true friend and kindred spirit to spend his days with.

Not to mention a handsome and strong champion to while away his nights with.

Not that anything had happened between him and Derrek in those nights. Not unless waking in a certain state every morning and suffering through until it went away counted as something.

He glanced out the window again, brow furrowed as he tried to guess how much longer the twilight would last.

Clary seemed to read his thoughts. “You might as well go now,” she said, the teasing twinkle back in her eyes. “You’ll need the light to find your way home to your man. I’d wager he’s waiting there for you with a supper of sausage already waiting.”

Jeremy instantly flushed hot. “You are a lady,” he said, turning away from the window and walking to fetch his coat and hat from the hook where he’d hung them earlier. “You are not meant to have knowledge about such things.”

Clary laughed. “I’m a country lass with a colorful family,” she replied. “I know more than is good for me.”

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