Page 59 of Lady Audacious
‘The latter, I do assure you,’ he replied with feeling.
‘Which is all well and good, but have you stopped to consider just how selfish you are actually being?’
‘I beg your pardon.’ He sent her a bemused look. ‘Did you just accuse me of being selfish?’
‘Certainly I did,’ she replied with asperity. ‘I mean, think about it. You send your sisters to London for the season, secure in the knowledge that they will find suitable husbands. That is the whole purpose of the season, is it not? But,’ she continued, not pausing to give him an opportunity to respond, ‘if all the eligible gentlemen followed your example then their choice would be paltry.’
Reuben smiled. ‘No one has ever accused me of being selfish before.’
‘And you are not. Well,’ she added with a mischievous smile, ‘not unless you look upon the matter from the viewpoint of all the young ladies who will go into terminal decline when you fail to show yourself.’
He threw back his head and laughed, relaxed, self-assured and so impossibly handsome that her heart quailed at the thought of his being married, as he inevitably would be sooner rather than later, to asuitablelady. And Odile, as his closest neighbour, would likely see daily examples of his felicity. ‘You exaggerate.’
‘Do I?’
Their driver slowed as they reached the tollgate into Portsmouth and paid their dues.
‘Not long now,’ Reuben said, probably sensing her renewed nerves. He had distracted her so effectively up until that point, mentioning everyone beneath his roof with the notable exception of the ambitious Sarah Farquhar, that Odile had almost forgotten their purpose.
The driver brought his team to walking pace when they reached Seagrove Terrace. Reuben lowered the window, allowing the salty sea air to infiltrate the carriage as he leaned out and looked at the names of the establishments they passed. Odile’s nerves were in danger of getting the better of her and she remained rooted to her seat, staring directly in front of her without actually seeing Reuben’s reassuring presence, deliberately not looking at the names of the premises as they flashed by. Worried about what she would see for reasons that her logical brain was quite unable to fathom.
‘Stop here!’ Reuben instructed his driver.
‘Whoa!’ the driver called, bringing his team to a halt with a stamping of hooves and jangle of harness.
Odile swallowed and adjured herself to look through the window. It was just a shop, she told herself, and it couldn’t harm her. Except, if Reuben was right and someone here knew something about her circumstances, then their discoveries could well shatter the illusions she had built up in her overactive mind about her loving parents’ circumstances. Illusions that had shielded her from the harsh realities of the school regime that had become the only life she knew.
She became conscious of Reuben not watching the shop they had stopped in front of, but watching her reaction instead.
Giles Peabody, Apothecary.The name was picked out in gold lettering over the shop’s doorway. The paintwork was fresh and a steady stream of customers made their way in and out of the premises. ‘Why does that name sound familiar to me?’ she asked aloud, but speaking to herself.
‘Shall we go and ask?’ Reuben suggested.
Before Odile could think of reasons to delay, the door was opened by their driver, who let the step down. Reuben alighted and then held out a hand to help her. She hesitated for just a second, then squared her shoulders, placed her hand in his, lifted her skirts clear of her feet and stepped from the carriage.
Reuben told his driver to wait, then did what he had done on two previous occasions. He tucked Odile’s hand firmly into the crook of his elbow and smiled at her.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘As I ever will be,’ she replied with trepidation. She sensed now that they would definitely find at least some of the answers they sought at this shop, partly because she had heard the name over the door before but could not for her life recall where. Whether she would regret seeking those answers was another matter entirely.
‘Come then.’
He sent her another softly intimate smile that made her forget all about her nerves, about everything other than being there, alone with him and sensing his need to take care of her. It was a heady moment if only because no one had ever put her interests first, at least not in all the years since the accident that had taken her family from her. She had learned to be self-reliant in that time, and yet within days of gaining her independence here she was leaning on the strength of an aristocrat in whose life she had no place, and was never likely to.
It really was extraordinary.
A bell over the door jangled as Reuben pushed it open and stepped aside so that Odile could precede him through it. She did so, feeling vulnerable and fighting the urge to run away. Customers and assistants alike looked up as they entered, no doubt impressed by Reuben’s natural air of authority, to say nothing of tailoring that was far superior to anything worn by the shop’s clientele.
Odile’s attention was drawn to one of the assistants, who had withdrawn his attention from the lady he had been serving and focused it entirely upon her.
‘Odile?’
His mouth dropped open and the bottle he had been holding smashed on the tiles beneath his feet, splattering its contents over his boots.
‘I know you,’ Odile replied, her own jaw dropping in astonished recognition.
Chapter Seventeen
