by Jen YatesNZ
Nodding her thanks to Baxendene’s man, she asked Brisco’s footman to carry her chest upstairs. Her gaze followed him longingly, but she set her course for the back parlor where she knew she’d most likely find Holly, refreshed from a nap and no doubt chatting with Selena. Hopefully they’d already got their rhapsodizing over the wonderful ‘Uncle Bax’ out of the way and she’d not have to endure further eulogizing of the devastatingly handsome, seducing rogue of a brother/uncle/rake! Her thoughts were degenerating to most unladylike terms, certainly not suited to the tongue of a woman who was a properly-behaved widow, a grandmother, and yet still a virgin.
The thought of the confounded man ever discovering that fact was beyond humiliating!
‘Jane! You look flustered,’ Holly cried, guilt in her voice as Jane entered the parlor. ‘I’m so sorry about all this. It’s absolutely not how I imagined your visit would be! Come rest your feet and take some tea. How’s Mama?’
‘Lady Baxendene could sit up and take a dish of tea. And she’s determined to be present for Selena’s ball. Even if she has to be wheeled in a Bath chair!’
Focusing on the Countess’s health restored her equilibrium a little. Refusing tea, she settled on the edge of the chair, ready to escape the moment she’d delivered Hades’ message to Holly.
‘She will too,’ Holly sighed. ‘I wish I had half her strength and determination. It’s the one thing I can’t help but admire about her—and wish I’d inherited from her. I really see little of her in me,’ she sighed again.
Fortunately Holly was not wanting to dwell on the subject of her mother, being caught up in the changes she’d noticed in her brother’s behavior.
‘Hades seems less antagonistic towards Mama these days. Maybe her being so ill has affected him?’
Secrets! She hated secrets. How to remain true to her friendship with Holly and answer her, while yet keeping her promise to her brother?
‘I really don’t know how he was towards your Mama in recent times. It’s years since I’ve seen him.—I’ve a message for you. He’s invited himself to dinner this evening.’
‘Really?’ Holly’s smile lit up the room.
Jane nodded, determined not to add another word about the shameless—
‘Oh, Aunt Holly! Is he not the best of uncles? I never imagined he’d notice I was in London, let alone make an effort to help launch me!’
Holly smiled indulgently at her niece.
‘Nor had I expected his support in bringing you out yet here he is picking up the tab for all your purchases today and generally being more attentive and helpful than I’ve ever known him to be!’
Jane was beyond commenting, could scarcely keep her thoughts seemly. But Holly noticed anyway for she suddenly caught herself up.
‘Goodness, I’m rattling on. But really, he would’ve laughed me to scorn if I’d thought to invite him to dine with the Culvers and the Luscombes! The young ladies are in their first season and Philip Luscombe is only a couple of years older. Hades will be so bored—and yet he asked to endure it for Selena’s sake! He’s the best of brothers, really caring underneath that rakish nonchalance he puts on.’
Jane had no trouble conceding the same for she’d seen the evidence of it, but she badly wanted to add he was also the best of rakes! He’d not got that reputation for nothing! Trouble was, she’d probably have to concede he’d be the best of lovers—and she only had a kiss to judge him by—so far. Dear God! What had happened to her mind?
Chapter 6
He never arrived anywhere early yet here he was, striding into his sister’s drawing room in expectation of finding Jane already down.
She wasn’t. Instead he had to contend with Holly’s unbridled delight at his presence and her happily expressed astonishment at his support in bringing out their niece. It took him a minute to work out why it made him uncomfortable because he usually never allowed anything to overset him. When the Townville legacy dark moods threatened he took himself off to Bancombe Park until he had his imperturbability back again. He’d been moving to his own tune through the salons of the ton for several years now and all knew not to expect deference or any show of remorse or regret for his actions.
The Great Bax never apologized, but the feeling of discomfort was persistent and not a comfortable bedfellow. It had nothing to do with the secret he withheld from his sister and everything to do with his intention to seduce her dearest friend—and Selena’s chaperone—into his bed. Surely he wasn’t developing a conscience at this late stage of his life?
Where was Jane anyway? Dammit, he wanted to see her, be near her. She was right. He couldn’t keep away! The rich husky sound of her laughter turned his head as she entered the room with Brisco and Selena, their faces bright with amusement over some tale his brother-in-law was relating.
What was it about Angular Jane that stole his attention? Selena, her shiny black curls artfully arranged on top of her head and clad in white with pink ribbons was an angelic vision. But he had eyes only for Jane.
In a plain olive green gown with a single gold chain at her neck, she should’ve been almost invisible, the effect she was trying for he was sure. But now he’d discovered her she’d never be able to hide from him again, even clad in unrelieved sackcloth.
He couldn’t drag his eyes from her, marveling at the change from plain and angular—though that may have been his untutored youthful vision—to—beautiful and—not lush exactly but definitely curvaceous.
Spying him, Selena glided across the room, her face aglow with delight and happiness.
‘Uncle Bax! I’m so glad you could come tonight. I’m so nervous about meeting all these people.’
‘No need, my dear,’ he assured her easily. ‘You’ll outshine every one of them!’
‘That won’t help me make friends!’ she said, her mouth forming an attractive moue.
‘Be yourself, ‘Lena. You’ll be fine,’ he promised.
Even while he considered the maturity of her response his eyes followed Jane, across the room with Holly, greeting the Culvers. He wanted to steal her away to a private corner where he could have her to himself.
‘Come and meet your guests,’ he said, taking Selena’s arm and leading her to Holly, maneuvering himself around to stand beside Jane when the exquisitely fair Culver twins were introduced to him.
He was everything proper; damned good at faking it anyway, he mocked himself. For it was Jane, standing calmly and politely at his side, who had his attention. The hairs all over his body bristled with it. He wanted to talk to her, touch her, seduce her. God yes!
‘Culver!’ he said, shaking hands with the twins’ father. ‘Your daughters are a credit to you and your lady. One of them would be a feast for the eyes, two is—’
Hell, he’d get called out if he said ‘an orgy’!
‘–almost too much!’
Culver dipped his silver head in acknowledgement and growled, ‘And not for the likes of you, Baxendene!’
Bax grinned easily and clapped a calming hand on Culver’s shoulder.
‘Not my style, old man!’
Culver huffed and moved on into the room to talk with Brisco.
‘I doubt you convinced him,’ a throaty voice murmured at his elbow.
She was talking to him. Not that she looked particularly happy about it, but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Like a green lad, in fact.
For a moment they stood alone as the others ebbed a little way across the room to make way for newcomers who could already be heard in the hall. Seize the moment, he told himself. He was adept at that.
‘I apologize for this afternoon, Jane. Not for kissing you,’ he murmured, leaning a little closer. ‘I could never be sorry about that!’ Her eyes widened in disbelief. ‘But I’m sorry for so obviously discommoding you.’
Color bloomed in her cheeks and the thick sable lashes drooped; the confusion of innocence. Scoffing at the thought, he reminded himself she’d been married for eight years.
And spe
nt most of it sequestered in the country.
The Culver twins in their first season seemed more worldly than Angular Jane.
Once upon a time that air of innocence would’ve bored him. On any other woman it still would.
Then Lord Anthony Luscombe arrived with his son and daughter and after making his greetings wandered over to where Brisco and Culver were already deep in serious discussion. Politics, no doubt.
Luscombe’s lad was positively preening, being the only young gentleman surrounded by a bevy of beautiful young women. A true gentleman would join the group and even the odds, but no one had ever accused the Great Bax of being a perfect gentleman.
For a moment he watched Selena to assure the young Luscombe puppy behaved with propriety, but they didn’t hold his attention for long. Any more than he could evince the proper interest in making intelligent comments on the discussion of Liverpool’s attempt to restructure the nation’s monetary system with the Re-coinage Act.
However, it wasn’t the Luscombe pup who raised the heat level in his gut. Holly was introducing Luscombe-senior to Jane. The bastard was a widower of several years and although in his forties was still a fine figure of a man and a favorite with the fast set. The appreciative speculation in the man’s eyes as he spoke to Jane had an effect on him as visceral as fingernails scraping on slate.
If Luscombe tried anything with Jane he’d better be prepared to face Bax at dawn—and to forfeit his life! Shocked at the vehemence of his feelings, he turned his back and forced himself to concentrate on the discussion, which had moved on to the controversial purchase by the British Museum of the Parthenon Marbles, removed by the Earl of Elgin from the Acropolis of Athens. The debate over the ethics of Elgin’s actions was still waging and since Bax had strong feelings on the issue, he managed to pay attention for several minutes.
‘I’m with Byron on this,’ he said. ‘While I do appreciate the opportunity to see and appreciate such works of art, removing them from their original site is an act of vandalism!’
Culver was firmly in the camp defending Elgin’s actions as a heroic deed of salvage and preservation of the precious objets d’art and the argument kept his mind occupied until they were ushered in to dinner.
Finding himself seated between the Culver twins he wondered what moment of idiocy had convinced him he should invite himself to an evening he could only find tedious in the extreme.
Then he looked across the table into Jane’s laughing countenance and was reminded exactly why he was there. He could watch the light dancing in her topaz eyes, the gleam of candlelight highlighting her rich auburn hair, and cause the fluctuation of soft color in her cheeks by the lift of an eyebrow or the quirk of his lips whenever he caught her eye. And since she was sitting opposite, that was often.
There was no reason to feel bad about tormenting her in this way. He needed to keep her attention away from Luscombe on her right, and Viscount Tolliver on her left. Who the devil had Holly invited that popinjay for?
He wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t! But he savored the knowledge he would have Jane to himself later. He had a plan.
***
Watching Selena interacting with her dinner companions, Jane relaxed. The young woman was sensible, confident and able to make intelligent conversation; a chaperone’s dream, in fact. Although seated between Lord Tolliver and young Luscombe she gave no appearance of being overawed or uncomfortable.
As for herself, she was reasonably at ease with her immediate companions. Lord Tolliver was personable, fair-haired, blue-eyed, well-put together, widowed with a daughter of four years and clearly looking for a wife to give him an heir. And though he conversed intelligently on the latest displays at the museum and art galleries, he was clearly more interested in Selena on his other side.
The elder Luscombe on the other hand, was definitely interested in her more mature charms and went so far as to enquire whether she’d be free to go driving with him in the park. She was relieved to have Selena as her excuse to refuse. He was personable enough if one overlooked his tendency to talk only about himself and his beautiful, accomplished offspring.
She was grateful nevertheless for Luscombe and Tolliver keeping her occupied while the Culver twins kept firing questions and adoring glances at Bax, effectively monopolizing his attention. Serve him right for inviting himself to dinner!
Yet he managed to snag her attention a couple of times, both while Luscombe was prosing happily about his son’s skill with the rapiers and at archery. Thankfully Luscombe had been oblivious to the twinkle in Bax’s eyes and the slow wink which caused her to blink furiously and offer some purely fatuous response that might or might not have been appropriate, but Luscombe had been so enamored of his own story he was oblivious.
When Holly indicated the ladies should leave the gents to their port, Jane rose with alacrity, escaping the dining room with a feeling of triumph.
The relief was short-lived however, as only minutes later Hades appeared in the drawing room, asking Holly if she’d mind terribly if he ‘borrowed’ Jane as he’d just had a note from Lowry to indicate Mama had had a relapse.
She’d settled on the chaise beside Lady Culver when Bax strode across the room to bow before her.
‘Would you be so kind as to accompany me back to Curzon Street, Lady Rotherby? I have taken the liberty of sending the maid to fetch your bonnet and cloak and medicine chest. She should be awaiting us in the hall.’
‘Certainly, Lord Baxendene,’ she responded formally, and rose to take the arm he offered her. As they left the room she was conscious of every eye following them and she could only be grateful he’d been so clear in the reason for his apparent abduction.
Walking close to him back into Curzon Street, Jane struggled to keep her thoughts on Lady Baxendene and what herbs would be best for her at this stage. But the truth was, she was glad to be out of the party and alone with Hades. Lord she was a fool!
At Baxendene House he divested her of her cloak and bonnet, handing them to the butler and requested tea to be served in the library since Jane had missed tea at Holly’s.
‘Shouldn’t we go straight upstairs to see Lady Baxendene?’
‘Whatever for? She’ll be soundly asleep,’ he said, his voice a deep caress and his breath stirring the tendrils of her hair. ‘I wanted out of that boring party—and you all to myself.’
Snatching her hand from his arm, Jane swung round to confront him. His eyes—dear God—his eyes! Smoky grey, gleaming with laughter, satisfaction and mischief. She almost stamped her foot, which was likely the only way she was going to restrain the impulse to throw her arms around him and beg him to kiss her again.
‘And what the Great Bax wants the Great Bax gets? You’re no better than a spoilt child!’ Somehow she managed to sound angry as she made a move to leave the room. ‘If you think I’m—!’
In one step he blocked the door, standing with his hand over his heart. The laughter had left his eyes, and now his gaze was somber, pleading.
‘Please stay, Jane. I promise to be the perfect gentleman. I need to talk to you.’
Searching his face she could see nothing but sincerity.
‘Very well,’ she murmured, allowing him to settle her in a large wingback on the far side of the fireplace to watch while he made expert use of the tinder box to light the fire laid in the grate. Once the logs caught he settled into the other chair, seeming in no hurry to break the silence.
Jane relaxed and waited. Only when the flames started to leap and crackle did he sit back and stretch his legs out towards the blaze. Strong fingers clenching and unclenching on the arm of the chair belied his relaxed appearance.
‘What the devil am I to do about Holly?’ he asked at last, sitting forward again, elbows on his knees and fingers tangled in his hair.
Jane’s hands itched to follow, and before she could order her thoughts to answer him, he continued. ‘I can’t talk to anyone else about this. You’re the only one who knows—and you’re Holly’s frie
nd.’
Now he was looking directly at her, his eyes deeply troubled. Jane forced her gaze to the fire. She couldn’t think when he looked at her like that.
‘What do you want to do? What is your heart telling you?’
He didn’t flinch at the suggestion he might have a heart, much less listen to it.
‘I have to tell her. She deserves to know who she really is, to know why Mama is as she is. In fact, Mama deserves Holly know that. I can’t believe any man—my father—could be so cruel! To them both. I know he thought he was securing Holly’s future—but at what cost? Might she not have been better left with a mother who loved her? Mama never visited her in the nursery or showed any interest in her whatsoever. Holly went to live with Celia when the twins were born, supposedly to help. Celia brought her out. None of us could understand. Mama told Celia to see to it and send her the bills. To her credit, she spared no expense, but never once showed her face in London that season. Though she did attend the wedding.’
He continued staring into the fire though Jane doubted he was aware of it spluttering and crackling in the grate.
‘I can’t imagine what Mama has suffered. The guilt because she couldn’t love Holly as she did the rest of us, no doubt blaming her for Papa’s death. The bitterness she must’ve borne at being ostracized by many for a sin she hadn’t committed. And all these years, I idolized Papa and reviled Mama. In a way we’ve all suffered for Papa’s—infidelity—his inability to control his passions.’
‘You don’t think that’s the pot—calling the kettle black?’
His gaze was suddenly turned on her, a piercing, icy grey.
‘I don’t bed other men’s wives and I’ve never made vows of love and fidelity—nor will I! He did. He’d no right to do that if he’d no intention of keeping those vows. In truth, Mama should never have promised to keep Holly’s identity secret at the cost of her own good name. What has it achieved?’
