Page 58 of Lady Audacious
‘Your mistress will be gone for the majority of the day,’ Reuben told Mrs Blaine. ‘Try and keep this creature occupied,’ he added, ruffling Willow’s ears.
‘She’ll be fine with me. Take all the time you need, pet. Harris and I will make sure the work carries on.’
‘The roof,’ Odile said. ‘They ought to be finished by tomorrow. Please ensure that Harris inspects the chimneys when they have been repointed. I don’t doubt that they will do a proficient job but I don’t want anyone to set a precedent by cutting corners.’
Reuben turned a chortle into a cough as he opened the door for her and she preceded him through it.
‘What is so amusing?’ she asked.
‘The thought of anyone mistaking your gender for weakness. Teaching all those rebellious young ladies was clearly good training for you.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, beaming at him. ‘I shall take that as a compliment, even if it was not intended as one.’
‘I will let you decide,’ he said, winking at her.
She blinked when she walked into the stable yard and was confronted not by his curricle but by a closed carriage driven by a uniformed groom with four horses in harness and another groom ready to join his partner on the box seat.
‘Goodness. I shall feel like royalty.’
‘We have some distance to travel so we might as well do it with speed and in style.’
Harris let down the step and opened the door but it was Reuben himself who handed her in before climbing up behind her. Harris put the step back up, closed the door and the conveyance moved off with a jangle of harness and clip of hooves on the flagstones.
‘Can I ask where we are going, or is it a secret?’
‘It’s no secret,’ he replied, seating himself across from her with his back to the horses, treating her with the respect due to a real lady. Perversely, Odile preferred it when he…She briefly closed her eyes and adjured herself to keep her mind on the business in hand, which was no easy task when seated across from such a glorious Adonis. Miss Mackenzie would be appalled by the speed with which Odile appeared to have lowered her standards, which only served to encourage her salacious thoughts. ‘I put my head together with my secretary and we decided that the address can only be in Portsmouth.’
She blinked at him. ‘Why?’ she asked.
‘Seagrove Terrace is written there as clear as day, as is part of the next line which starts with a P.’ He produced the fragment from his pocket. The writing was faded, yet now that he pointed it out it seemed obvious. ‘My secretary is a native of Portsmouth and assures me we will find a Seagrove Terrace there.’
Odile probably looked as dubious as she felt. ‘A rather long way to go on a whim, I should have thought.’
He grinned across the space that separated them—a very small amount of space yet an unbridgeable divide. ‘Have you anything better to do with your time?’
‘Yes actually, and I should have thought that you would have too.’
‘Ah well, I can enjoy the luxury of pleasing myself, and it just so happens that pleasing you also pleases me.’
‘Well then, thank you,’ she replied primly, absorbing the full force of his charmingly reprehensible smile and reacting to it somewhere deep within her core, which was definitely not a good thing. She had just decided to remain immune to his persuasive manner and remember her place, which was several rungs below his, but she appeared to have fallen at the first hurdle. Really, she was beyond help! ‘How shall we know which premises in Seagrove Terrace, if any, are the ones we require.’
‘My man tells me that it is lined with shops.’ He allowed a long pause. ‘Including an apothecary.’
‘Ah, I see.’
‘You are worried about what we might discover,’ he said softly, reaching across and taking her hand. If she intended to remain aloof then she ought to snatch it back. And she would—she absolutely would. Soon. ‘But don’t be.’ He ran his fingers softly and sensuously down the length of hers, causing her insides to curdle with desire. ‘Nothing bad will happen to you. I will make sure of that.’
She swallowed and simultaneously found the strength to snatch her hand free of his grasp wondering why, if it was the right thing to do, it felt so very wrong. He seemed to sense her turmoil and spoke of other matters for the remainder of the smooth journey, explaining about his eldest sister’s disinclination for a season.
‘She is shy, and not keen to be the centre of attention,’ he said, ‘and I worry that she has formed an attachment to our neighbour in the hope that he will propose and save her from having to be…the centre of attention, that is.’
Odile lifted one shoulder, wondering why he was discussing the matter with her when he must know that she had no experience of aristocratic ways. She did know that a lot of marriages were entered into for reasons of convenience—a gentleman might need a lady’s dowry and a lady might accept an offer in preference to becoming an ape leader—but surely some unions were the product of love. Odile’s soft heart wanted to believe it must be so, and that Reuben’s sister deserved to marry for that reason.
‘If she truly loves the gentleman then I don’t see a problem.’
‘I tend to agree. I shall watch them together and make up my own mind. My mother is more disappointed than Beth. I think she was looking forward to presenting her daughter. But she has two more, so there is always next year, when it will be Avril’s turn.’
‘And what of you? Do you intend to show your face in London for the season or do you welcome your sister’s disinclination for it since it gives you an excuse to hide yourself away in the country?’
