by Ella Edon
Alexander sighed. He was not doing this now.
“If you brought me in here to chastise me about how I conduct myself…”
“I didn’t. Not on my wedding day. And I’m not your father.” Ian turned and leaned against the dresser. “I’ve actually got a task for you. It might mean you miss the wedding, but I feel this is something I can entrust to you.”
Now Alexander was confused and intrigued. He was being entrusted with something? His own parents never did that, saying that he was irresponsible with his lifestyle, so he had to be irresponsible with everything else. He was curious.
“Go on, Uncle.”
“You know about my sister-in-law, Jane Malcolm? I think you might have met her in the past at my home in Ireland.”
Alexander did remember Jane. A petite, blonde little thing with eyes that could entrance a gentleman if he looked long enough. Alexander had felt like that for a moment, until he realized what he was doing and backed away quickly. Jane Malcolm had been far too dangerous to get involved with, as far as he was concerned. Besides, she had been more interested in fawning over Ian. She certainly did seem to adore her brother-in-law.
“She’s the sister-in-law who’s about my age, isn’t she?”
“She is. The surprise baby.” Ian sighed running his hand through his hair. “She would visit us regularly in Ireland until a little after Elizabeth died. At that point, I realized that she was showing me adoration that was a little more than comfortable. She was fifteen. A child. I was old enough to be her father, and she looked at me like I was her knight.”
“I remember that part. I thought it was a little odd.” Alexander spread his hands. “I thought it was simply because she had lost her sister and you had lost your wife. The three of you were close and she wanted someone to hang onto.”
“She had her parents for that, not me. So, I told her it was best she didn’t visit for a while.”
“I bet that went well.”
Ian snorted. “It certainly didn’t. I allowed her to come to our place in London over Christmas as my sons liked her company and they were the same age, but I kept myself at arm’s length.”
“Now you’re getting married and Jane’s objecting to it.”
“From what my family has been telling me and what I’ve gleaned from people of the ton, she’s been going around asking questions and trying to get someone to speak badly of me. She gets what she wants from the old bats, but that’s about it.” Ian sighed and folded his arms. “I don’t know where she thought our relationship was going to go, but I could never see her as a wife. She’s a little sister to me. That isn’t going to change because she wants it to. I’ve received several letters from her over the last few months since I proposed to Anna, and they’re not exactly kind letters.”
“Sounds like she’s lost her mind.” Alexander murmured, but he could see where this was going. “And you want me to steer her away if I see her anywhere around.”
Ian nodded. “I know it’s not exactly something you do, but my sons are in my wedding party, and I can’t have them distracted. Not when my daughters-in-laws are both expecting.”
“So instead, you make your nephew the sacrificial lamb.” Alexander grunted. “Charming.”
“Alexander.”
Alexander looked up. Ian was looking at him intently. It made Alexander want to step back. His uncle was an easygoing man, but he was hard when he wanted to be. After having to accept that one of his sons was a killer who was thus shipped off to the other side of the world last year, it was a wonder he could smile again.
“Your father is constantly telling me that you don’t accept responsibility, that you think everything’s a game.” Ian’s eyes never left Alexander’s face. “I want to prove him wrong. I want you to show him, and me, that you can be responsible. Prove to him that you can do what we ask of you.”
“By steering your former sister-in-law away from disrupting your wedding.”
“I know you don’t really like weddings. So, you can be my personal bodyguard.” Ian pointed at him. “I’m entrusting you with this.”
Chapter Two
That did make Alexander feel a little better. He loved most of his family, and he liked to see them as much as he could, but his grandparents and his parents were driving him mad. They would constantly pester him about settling down like everyone else, and that frustrated Alexander. Weddings were the worst because Alexander felt cornered, especially when the younger children made a beeline for him.
At least this got out of him standing beside his mother with her and his grandmother poking him in the sides and telling him it should be him next. This was the sixth wedding in three years, and it was getting worse.
“I... I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything.” Ian pushed off the dresser and approached him. “I’ll allow your lack of attendance to slide because I need you to do this. I want you to promise me that you won’t let Jane Malcolm into the church. I’ll make sure you get rewarded handsomely for this.”
“I don’t want a money for this, Uncle.” Alexander grinned. “How about a summer at your home instead? You know I love it there.”
Ian chuckled. “I know you do. Still, I do have a reward that has nothing to do with money. I have an empty cottage on my estate, close to the beach. Needs a bit of fixing up, but it’s a good enough dwelling. You do this for me, and that can be your wedding present.”
Not him as well. Alexander scoffed. “As if I’m going to get married.”
“Well, the only lady who’s crossing the threshold will be your wife. It won’t be turned into a love nest for you. You do that, and I take it from you.”
“So, it comes with a stipulation as well.”
Ian sighed, then he reached out and hugged Alexander.
“Show that you can be a man and not a little boy for once in your life, Alexander. I know you can easily do that. There are rewards at the end.” Leaning back, he asked, “Will you do this for me or not?”
Alexander was tempted to tell his uncle to shove it. After he heard the stipulations to the cottage, he should have said no and that he wouldn’t be forced into marriage. But Ian was giving him a chance to show that he could be relied upon, something his parents lamented about. They thought he amounted to nothing and were trying to force him into the right direction, and it wasn’t working. He didn’t want his uncle to do the same thing.
Still, this was a favor for Ian Harrison, a gentleman who had more faith in him than anyone else. Alexander was willing to do anything for his favorite uncle, no matter what he asked. Even making sure a jilted woman didn’t come bursting in while the bride and groom were making their vows.
Jane stood under the overhanging branches of a tree and watched the church doors. She had been watching the guests go inside, chattering away happily. Children were running around screaming with laughter. Jane even saw Ian’s sons, David and Geoffrey, greeting the guests. Everyone was smiling and looked so happy.
The more she watched, the more Jane realized that she was being a fool. This was getting ridiculous. As Jane played everything over in her mind, everything she had heard over the last few months, Jane was beginning to notice how obsessed she had become and how pathetic she was being. Over a gentleman she had known practically all her life.
As a young girl, Jane had imagined what it would be like to be Elizabeth. To marry a man like Ian Harrison. But that had all blown up in her face. She was longing for something that would never happen, and Jane had refused to see it.
Now she stood watching the guests go into the church, and she saw Anna Day coming up the path with her daughter and David Harrison’s wife as her attendants. They all looked gorgeous in their beautiful dresses. Anna looked absolutely radiant with such a beaming smile. She really was a handsome lady.
She didn’t deserve any of this. Anna had lost two husbands through no fault of her own. Jane had thought it would be enough for Ian to run away, but he knew everything, and he was sti
ll there. The gentleman was loyal. Jane couldn’t fault him for that.
She was a stupid little girl who couldn’t let go of the past and now here she was, about to make a complete fool of herself. Was that really what she wanted?
No. It wasn’t. She shouldn’t have come here.
“I figured you might be out here.”
Jane gasped and spun around. A tall, slim gentleman with dark hair was standing by the church wall. Or rather, he was leaning against the wall with his hands behind him, watching her with a slightly lazy smile. He was wearing the wedding colors of the groom, his coloring was very similar to Ian’s. He even had flecks of silver at his temples despite his young age. This wasn’t one of Ian’s sons.
Then Jane remembered.
“You’re Ian’s nephew, aren’t you? Alexander?”
“That’s my name.” Alexander Harrison pushed off the wall and stepped towards her, ducking his head beneath the boughs. “Ready to disrupt the celebration, are we?”
Jane was about to give him a sharp retort when she saw his eyes. They were sapphire blue, piercing. They had Jane rooted to the spot and she couldn’t look away.
A slight tremble went through her body, her heart skipping a beat. Jane pushed it aside. She knew of Alexander’s reputation. He was a rake, a man not to be trusted and certainly not a man she should find attractive.
Attractive? She really had gone mad.
“I must warn you, Miss Malcom,” Alexander said as he looked down from his great height, “I’ve been advised to stop you from going inside, and I don’t want to have to manhandle you away from the church. That wouldn’t look good for either of us.”
“It’s Lady Jane, Mr. Harrison,” Jane said stiffly. “I am the daughter of an Earl.”
“My apologies.” Alexander gave her a slight bow. “My Lady.”
Jane glanced over her shoulder. The sound of the organ was coming out through the open doors, filling the churchyard with gay music. It left her with a slightly heavy heart as she turned back to Alexander.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything. I…” She licked her lips and looked at the ground. “I was just standing here, watching everyone going in. It’s made me think a little more about things.”
Alexander was silent. Jane glanced up and found him watching her closely. She swallowed and resisted the urge to shuffle from foot to foot. Then Alexander said something that completely threw her.
“Would you like to talk?”
Talk? From what Jane remembered of Alexander Harrison, he wasn’t one to talk. He had fun with the children, who seemed to adore him, and he flirted a lot, but he wasn’t a person who talked. Nevertheless, he was holding a hand out to her with a slight smile. Even that smile made Jane go weak at the knees.
She shouldn’t touch him. If she did, Jane was going to make a fool of herself. Again. Even just being alone with him, like this could ruin her reputation. She looked around.
She finally reached for his hand. “Somewhere that’s not the churchyard? I don’t fancy being here when they come out.”
If they saw her, Jane knew there was going to be a scene. She had already made enough of a fuss; she didn’t want to do anything further.
“Of course.” Alexander grasped her hand. “Come on. I know a place where we can talk in private.”
Jane wasn’t sure about being alone with him. Someone could come along and find her alone with a rake. Then again, she had managed to sneak out of the public house’s back door without Rachel noticing, so proprieties had already gone out the window.
Jane followed Alexander out of a side gate and across a path. They headed through the trees and into a field. Jane didn’t even know this place was here. Just on the other side of the field was a stone bridge with the river running through. She could hear the sounds of the water from where she stood. With the blue sky and a deer prancing around on the other bank, it looked idyllic. Perfect even for the end of September.
Alexander went to where there were two large stones sticking out of the ground. One was low enough for Jane to sit on, which she did once Alexander settled against the other. Hands twisting in her lap, Jane looked around. Anywhere but at the gentleman in front of her.
“I love Ian.” She felt embarrassed saying that now. “I still do. But I think I’ve been fooling myself. I believed what I felt was a romantic kind of love, one that is between us. I thought if I kept coming back and showing how I felt to Ian that he would see me as the one he needed, someone who could mend his broken heart after my sister died.”
“And it didn’t happen,” Alexander said. “Because my uncle didn’t see you the same way.”
It was a mere statement, but his tone was not judgmental at all. But it still made Jane cringe.
“No, he didn’t. I’m only just beginning to realize that.” She ran her hands over her face. She wanted to cry over her own stupidity. “I’m such a fool. If I had gone in there and made a show of myself, I would have looked like I was completely insane. Word would have gotten around, and then I would have been a laughing stock. Mother and Father would have fits over it.”
Alexander stayed silent for a moment. When Jane looked up, he was watching her pensively. There was nothing in his expression that said he thought she was unstable. It made Jane want to cry even more. He was the first person in her life who had listened to her and not made any judgements.
“What made you change your mind?” Alexander asked.
“I…” Jane stood and began to pace. She couldn’t bring herself to sit still for long. “I’ve watched Ian with Anna Day over the last couple of months. He proposed to her just moments before I found him. And I’ve seen the way the two of them are together. It’s genuine affection, love for each other that you couldn’t hide. And I…” She swallowed. “I began to think that maybe I was wrong about her.”
“And yet, you still turned up.”
Jane flinched. “I was trying to keep myself angry. At Anna. At Ian. At anyone. Keep on with what I planned to do. And yet, I just couldn’t.” She briefly closed her eyes. “I couldn’t.”
“Maybe it’s for the best.” Alexander said quietly. “You wouldn’t have been able to recover from it had you gone in there.”
He was right, and Jane was just beginning to realize that herself. She opened her eyes and looked at him. His expression hadn’t changed.
“Have you ever made yourself a fool over a woman?”
“Never. I don’t believe in love.”
“You don’t?”
Alexander snorted. “Never have, never will. It may exist with some people, but I don’t believe it for myself.”
Jane was surprised when she heard his declaration. She had heard many things about those who were jaded by love, didn’t think it was something magical to keep hold of or even go looking for, but she had never heard about someone who didn’t believe in it for themselves.
Then again, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Alexander’s reputation preceded him. Jane didn’t need to meet him to know exactly what he was like.
“I’ve heard of your reputation,” she murmured. “You’re quite well-known with the ladies of the ton. Most of the whispers I’ve heard about you certainly made me sit up.”
Alexander’s mouth twitched in a wry smile. “A lot of talk about me would make anyone sit up. I’m not exactly discreet.”
“I’m sure you’re not.”
They stared at each other. Behind them, Jane heard the church bells chiming. The ceremony must have finished, and they would be coming out soon. Jane was glad Alexander had taken her away now. She didn’t want anyone to see her.
Such a stupid little fool she was.
“Look, Lady Jane Malcolm,” Alexander sighed and pushed off the stone, towering over her, but with no animosity. “A part of my uncle still cares for you. He still considers you family. But he’s not about to let you ruin things for him. Give him some time and let him get used to his new life with Anna. Then ask if you can talk to him.”
<
br /> “If he wants to talk to me at all,” Jane grunted.
Alexander smiled. His expression softened. “I’m sure he will. Ian is a very forgiving person.”
The way he said it had Jane smiling.
“You sound like that’s a curse.”
“It can be with a lot of people. With me, forgiveness doesn’t happen often. My parents have seen to that. No matter what I do, they don’t give anything away.”
There was a bit of pain in his voice when he said that. Jane peered up at him, but then the pain disappeared. Alexander cleared his throat and stepped away, looking anywhere but at her.
