Page 76 of Indecently Employed
After all, that was what Ajax had asked for, wasn’t it? Before he’d come to accept that he wasn’t a useless, contemptible wretch of a man. Before Susanna had arrived in his life. Before she’d loved him.
And if she loved him, he must have some redeemable qualities, mustn’t he?
Movement at the window caught his eye. Susanna and Charlotte rode past, the latter staring into the house as if she might unravel the mystery of the waiting carriage from her distant vantage point. Susanna, of course, radiated beauty from atop her horse.
Mr. Jutton noticed them as well, for he picked up his teacup and tapped his finger against the side before speaking, the redness having receded from his face.
“It is on my wife’s insistence, then, that I have finally come. She is a godly woman, and fears for the girl being brought up in this household.” He looked back to the window—a little glumly, Ajax thought.
“Does she?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Despite his outward casualness, though, his heart hammered in his chest. He would not allow it. He could not allow it.
And yet, if that was what Charlotte wanted…
He pushed up from his chair and stalked over to the sideboard, where he lifted a crystal decanter in Mr. Jutton’s direction. “Drink?”
The man nearly choked on his tea. “I should think not!”
“Indeed? And here I thought we would not get on!” Ajax said, pouring himself a small measure and realizing that his hand was shaking. “Now tell me, sir, what is your and Mrs. Jutton’s opinion on the occult? You know, spirits and crystal balls and that sort of—”
“Rubbish,” Mr. Jutton muttered, visibly angry as he set down his teacup. “Absolute rubbish. Not that I’m quite sure what bearing that has upon our current discussion.”
Ajax narrowed his eyes. “I see.” He threw back his drink, focusing on the burn of the liquor as it made its way down. How could he have considered the blastedJuttonsa proper family for Charlotte?
Before he had a chance to further lay his trap, Charlotte threw open the door. She stood just inside the threshold, her eyes sweeping the room, from Mr. Jutton to Ajax and back again as the men stood up.
“Papa?” she said in the sardonic way she always addressed him, though perhaps with a little less brazenness than usual. Or maybe that was just Ajax grasping at threads.
Susanna arrived behind her, looking a bit flustered, though the added color only heightened her beauty. His heart skipped a beat. Everything he needed was here. He would not be denied his family.
Ajax held out an arm, welcoming Susanna to his side and placing a possessive kiss upon her lips. She flushed deeper, embarrassed, but Ajax would be damned if he’d allow someone as insipid as Samuel Jutton temper the affection he would display for her.
“Might I introduce my wife, Mrs. Susanna Sedley, and my daughter, Miss Charlotte Sedley.” He narrowed his eyes at Jutton, practically daring him to say something. The man opted not to, instead looking down at the teacup in his hand as his own face reddened.
“And this is Mr. Samuel Jutton.” Ajax looked to Charlotte, and felt a sadness come over him. Sorrow for Nancy and what had been, twisted up with an intense and urgent fear. Fear that their daughter might leave him. With some difficulty, he managed to add, “Your mother’s brother.”
“I see,” Charlotte said, betraying nothing.
Jutton frowned, completely ignoring his niece. “Wife? Begging your pardon, but I assumed that… well, I was informed by your solicitor that you were unwed.”
“Were you now?” Ajax mused, pausing to allow for a buildup to his next barb. Susanna looked at him sternly, as if he were a schoolboy. Were the situation not so fraught, he would have found it incredibly alluring. As it was, it was merely slightly alluring. He smiled at her and swallowed his words.
“Mr. Jutton,” Susanna interjected brightly, her voice crisp and self-assured. “You must be exhausted. Please do us the pleasure of dining with us this evening.” She punctuated the invitation with a serene smile that made her look positively angelic. Ajax wanted to reach for her once more, to feel her warmth against him.
Jutton looked about nervously. “While that is extremely kind of you, ma’am, I believe I shall return to my lodgings in Beverley.” He had clearly expected neither a polite reception nor to find someone like Susanna here. Pious as he claimed to be, Ajax supposed he must’ve built Gallox Castle up in his mind to be a house of horrors—Castle Udolpho come to life, from which he must rescue his inconvenient, yet still innocent, niece. Jutton looked at Charlotte and finally addressed her for the first time. “Ishall return tomorrow to fetch you and your effects.” He looked her up and down with his beady eyes, then added, almost as an afterthought, “Niece.”
Ajax glanced at Charlotte. She stood stock-still, staring at Jutton.
He followed her gaze back to her uncle, searching to find some shred of humanity in the man. He looked much the same as before: put upon and somewhat embarrassed to be carrying out the task he’d been assigned, to fetch his late sister’s bastard from her degenerate father. Ajax felt his irritation growing, and he stared at Jutton for longer than he wished to, willing himself to find any real emotions behind the man’s eyes. Sadness, wistfulness, eagerness… anything that might speak to a love for his late sister.
He found nothing. Furious, he looked to Susanna, whose perfect lips were pressed in a hard line as she watched him, worried. He reached for her hand and squeezed it, trying to convince himself that he had no reason to be afraid.
The sound of Charlotte’s skirts rustling as she crossed the room cut through the silence, and he realized that no one had spoken for quite some time. The fire cracked and popped, and he could hear the faint sound of Gideon calling out to someone in front of the house. Life continued on around him, even as here, in this room, his own hung in the balance.
Charlotte now stood only a few feet in front of Jutton, scrutinizing him openly and without a hint of shame. The man coughed, glancing about him for a refuge that wasn’t there.
“I knew you would come,” Charlotte said, cocking her head.
“Oh… oh did you?” Jutton answered meekly, clearly unnerved by his niece’s manner. “Your mother made mention of me, I assume?”
