When a Rogue Falls

by Caroline Linden

  A sheen of sweat broke out on Jasper’s forehead despite the cool morning breeze still playing over the grassy area. See Adeline home safely?

  As he stood mute and confused, a footman returned and collected Adeline’s and Lady Melton’s archery gear and then disappeared again.

  “We shall see everyone this evening,” Lady Georgina called with a wave before turning and departing with Crauford.

  “Come, Josie.” Lady Melton slipped her arm through Lady Josie’s, and they followed the footmen from the clearing. “Good day, Adeline.”

  Jasper kept his stare trained on the retreating women, certain they would turn at any moment and laugh at their jest. They could not be serious about leaving Adeline in his care without a proper chaperone, especially after the fuss her brother had made about their time in the country.

  The sinking sensation that he’d been duped by none other than Lady Melton froze Jasper where he stood.

  Chapter 19

  ADELINE SHIVERED IN the morning chill, noticing the brisk temperature for the first time since Jasper’s arrival. She remained quiet as Jasper unbuttoned and removed his coat, settling it around her shoulders with care. The new clothes suited him well, and anyone would be hard-pressed to believe this was his first time in their fair city. He walked with the confidence of a man who knew his place in life, who had no question about his worth and could give a damn what others thought of him. It was the thing that had drawn her to him during their first meeting when he stuck his rain-soaked head into her carriage and gave her a simple ultimatum: find refuge at Faversham Abbey, or remain stranded alongside the road.

  “Thank you, my lord.” She pulled her skirts from her waistband and tugged the coat tighter around her shoulders. “This is very kind of you.”

  He brushed his dark hair back, and she noted he’d had it trimmed since their arrival in London. She could not say whether she preferred the shorter, more fashionable style or his locks hanging over his collar.

  Adeline allowed her stare to wander from his hair to his face and down to his neck, his scars only slightly visible above his collar. In her opinion, the burn marks did more to enhance his appeal rather than deter from it. Odd that no man in society had gained her notice beyond a single dance—or refreshment—at a ball, yet Jasper, despite his stern demeanor, caused her to think through her every remark and take extra care with her appearance.

  The ache of her head from the pins placed with precision to hold her curls high atop her crown was evidence enough of this. If Theo had noted the extra time she’d spent preparing for this usual archery practice, she hadn’t mentioned it.

  However, leaving Adeline in Jasper’s care was enough to solidify in Adeline’s mind that Theo was meddling…which was highly suspect as Theo was not usually one to notice connections between individuals, especially from simple glances or witty remarks.

  “My carriage is across the park to the east at Albany Street,” he said as if apologizing. “Is the walk too far?”

  He glanced down at her feet, and Adeline was happy she’d selected her well-worn half boots that morning.

  “I think a stroll through the park sounds lovely, Lord Ailesbury.” Adeline made no attempt to hide her grin. Since their return the previous day, she’d thought they would never again enjoy a moment of privacy without her brother hovering close by with a watchful eye. It had been something she’d taken for granted while at the Abbey. London afforded no seclusion, but that found behind the closed doors of a married couple’s bedchamber. Even at her family’s townhouse, there were her siblings and servants always about. And Jasper and she would never know the privacy of a bedchamber.

  A walk through Regent’s Park long before the fashionable members of society ventured forth from their homes was the most solitude they could hope for in London.

  Adeline was shocked Theo had departed without leaving so much as a chaperone to accompany them. When Alistair learned of it, she would likely receive a sharp reprimand from her husband.

  They’d all accept such a fate to help one another, though, Adeline included. Had she not assisted Theo and Georgie in their scam to compete in their first tourney and thus faced her brother’s wrath?

  She and Jasper fell into a companionable silence as they followed the path toward the more populated section of the park. The sun rose ever higher, and soon, Adeline could feel nothing but Jasper’s warmth. Though he knew nearly nothing of London, she felt protected and safe by his side, much as she’d been when they first met.

  “The park is lovely, so serene for an area surrounded by such a bustling city.” He kept his steps short and unhurried, matching Adeline’s measured pace. It appeared he was in no rush to return to his coach and deliver her home. “If I were to close my eyes and listen, I could swear I was back on Faversham land.”

  “Amazing, is it not?” Adeline turned her face skyward, allowing the breeze to caress her skin but confident Jasper’s coat would keep the chill at bay. “One would not believe the marvels to be seen within London if they did not see them with his or her own eyes.”

  “I can now understand your love of London,” he replied.

  Adeline felt his stare on her, and heat blossomed at her core. Something about the man—his strength, his resilience, his kind heart—had Adeline doubting her own character. He was a far better person than she. He’d shown that at the plant, helping the villagers rescue one of their own even though none of them would lift a finger to help him if he were in need. In fact, as soon as the crisis was resolved, they’d dispensed without so much as a thank you or a nod to Jasper for his bravery.

  It had been insulting and hurtful to Adeline, and she couldn’t imagine the pain it caused Jasper.

  “Tell me, Miss Adeline, I hope your brother was not overly vexed with you after my departure.” He pulled her a bit closer as he said the word vexed. “It might have been better for all if I’d dropped you in the drive and not complicated your arrival with my presence.”

  But then he would not still be in London and attending her celebration.

  “I fear my brother would be vexed if the sun dared to set a moment early. He’d also, more than likely, find a way to blame me for a summer storm. His contrary nature is something one gets used to.” Adeline hadn’t the need to explain her complicated relationship with Alistair before. Certainly, she loved her brother—and he her—yet, they were uniquely different people. “Alistair and I have been at war since birth. He’s the eldest sibling, and with our father sick more often than not before his death, my brother took his duties as patriarch of the family very seriously. Continues to do so. Heaven help us all if I were in command.”

  “I would never doubt his love for you, and all your siblings,” Jasper sighed. “And I know much about responsibilities and the burden of taking on so much at a young age.”

  The sorrow rolling off his shoulders much like the mists off the Scottish marshlands at dawn had Adeline regretting the choice of topics; however, she did not want Jasper to think less of Alistair. Despite their quickness to anger with one another, they were loyal to a fault.

  “Yes, you and Alistair have much in common,” Adeline agreed by way of steering the conversation to safer ground. “I think you do for your people what Alistair does for us. Though you are not always rewarded for your efforts.”

  Why did pointing out the similarities between Jasper’s and Alistair’s situations have Adeline questioning her exacting treatment of her brother? The family did not call Alistair a beast behind his back, nor did they make light of his hardships.

  Adeline must remember that Alistair was not Jasper.

  Though she had much to do with Alistair’s current burdens. Namely, her. She cringed, remembering the hateful words she’d spoke in the study the day before. She might as well have called Alistair a beast.

  Blessedly, their path led them to the main area of the park where people had started arriving for their daily constitution: men and woman on horseback, groups of ladies strolling with paraso
ls raised, and open-air carriages moving at a snail’s pace to allow their occupants the opportunity to socialize and be seen by those present. The hour was still early, but a growing number of Londoners were not averse to braving the chilly, late-morning air for a few hours outdoors.

  Lifting her arm, Adeline waved to Lady Cecilia and her mother, who rode by on horseback. Their townhouse bordered the park to the south, and they commonly stopped to watch Adeline and her friends at their morning practice.

  The women nodded in her direction but did not slow their mounts to visit.

  “I envy your social ease, Miss Adeline,” Jasper said at her side. “I have lived in solitude for so many years, I sometimes forget how to speak with even my servants.”

  “It is quite simple, really. You see, when I feel myself getting nervous around someone, I think what dreadful secrets they keep—some serious, many funny, but always enough to make certain my unease recedes.”

  “Interesting. Do elaborate.”

  Adeline glanced at two men walking, their heads lowered in deep conversation. “Take that pair for example,” she said, nodding in the men’s direction. “One could be a duke and the other a marquis with powerful French relations. But to me, I think, does the man on the left still employ his nursemaid from when he was a babe? And the man on the right, does he have an overwhelming fear of horses?”

  Jasper chuckled, and Adeline’s stomach fluttered. The sound was deep and masculine, but at the same time soothing. “And what of the woman stepping down from that carriage?”

  Adeline turned in the direction Jasper nodded to see a matronly woman alighting from a carriage in pursuit of two young boys, a stern frown on her face and a satchel slung over her shoulder. “Oh, I suspect the woman’s name is something like,”—Adeline paused, tapping her chin in thought—“Myrtle, because for some reason, her mother knew she would be as tall as a tree and lithe in frame. Those children she is chasing belong to her sister, who is traveling through Italy on the arm of a wealthy count. Your turn.”

  They renewed their walk, and Adeline feared he would not continue with their game, but finally, he nodded to an elderly man, making his way down a rutted path, careful to use his cane for stability.

  “That man there. He is hurrying to the house of his mother, who is wedding her fourth husband.”

  “His mother?” Adeline barked with laughter. “The man is dreadfully old himself, his mother would be ancient!”

  “Giving her ample time to outlive three husbands and take a fourth.”

  Adeline scanned the growing crowd for another lady or gentleman who might have an interesting story. Instead of spotting yet another stranger, her gaze settled on the Duchess of Balfour, Georgie’s stepmother. The woman, while awfully unkind to Georgie during her childhood, had never cast a stone in Adeline’s direction.

  She waved to the woman, escorted by a pair of ladies Adeline was not acquainted with, and she and Jasper moved in their direction.

  “That is Georgie’s evil stepmother,” Adeline whispered before they were close enough for the women to overhear. “She produced an heir last year and has been in most agreeable spirits since.”

  Jasper made no comment as they arrived to greet the trio of women, each dressed in their finest walking gowns with hats to match. Adeline did not favor grandiose headwear perched atop her head that could tumble to the ground with the slightest movement.

  “Good day, Duchess,” Adeline greeted with a curtsey. “Lovely to see you. I fear you only missed Georgie by a few minutes.”

  The woman sniffed, her chin rising several inches until she stared down her nose at Adeline. “I see Felton still allows Georgina to run about London like a hoyden. Pity.”

  The pair of ladies flanking the duchess nodded in agreement, their heads bobbing up and down like a couple of chickens scratching for their next meal.

  The duchess glanced in Jasper’s direction, her glare returning to Adeline quickly as if the sight of the earl at Adeline’s side had burned her eyes. “We must be off. Good day, Miss Adeline.”

  “Before you go, allow me to intro—“

  The women pivoted in unison and hurried off in the direction they’d come, cutting Adeline’s introduction short.

  “You would think a duchess would be in possession of better manners,” Adeline huffed.

  Jasper did not respond, only placed her gloved hand in the crook of his elbow and started off once more, following the trio of women at a far more sedate pace.

  “Wait until Georgie hears how impolite her stepmother was.” Certainly, the woman had never been overly cordial with Adeline but never had she given her the cut direct.

  Glancing sideways, Adeline tried to determine if Jasper noticed, but his gaze was trained straight ahead, his usual smile in place. If his back were a bit rigid or his steps stiffer than normal, Adeline suspected it was due to this being his first time encountering the lords and ladies of the ton in their natural habitat—London.

  “Miss Adeline! Miss Adeline!” a young woman called, rushing toward Adeline and Jasper, leaving her chaperone hurrying in her wake. “What a wonderful surprise. I received an invitation—“

  The woman stopped short, her sable stole falling over her shoulder.

  Adeline searched her memory, but could only vaguely remember the girl she’d met on one other occasion.

  “My apologies, I must be going…” The woman turned and fled.

  “Good heavens, I have no notion what has gotten into everyone today.” Adeline turned to Jasper as he pulled his collar higher, attempting to cover his scars. “I have never met so many—“

  “Do not allow them to bring you to anger.”

  “I am not angry…” However, that was a lie, evident from the flush of her skin and the speed of her heart as it raced. “It is only that I do not understand.”

  “I have had over a decade of such encounters—the jeers, the stares, and the obvious avoidance by people I once saw as friends.” He cleared his throat when his voice cracked on the last word. “It is not you they wish to avoid, but me. I can assure you, I am quite used to this.”

  “Well, I most certainly am not,” she retorted. “I will speak with Georgie and her father about the duchess’s impolite behavior, and I will make certain the dark-haired woman is not allowed through our door this evening.”

  Jasper chuckled, raising the hairs on the back of Adeline’s neck. “No matter what you do, you cannot change their actions, only how you respond to them.”

  “It is not fair—“

  “Life is never fair, Miss Adeline,” he said, pulling her close once more. Certainly too close for their walk in the park. “Besides, it rarely matters what you do or say, people will view you through their own distorted eyes.”

  Adeline settled into their slow pace once more, careful to keep her gaze focused straight ahead and not making eye contact with anyone.

  “You are wise, Lord Ailesbury.”

  “There were many life lessons learned before I was taught to disregard the unpleasantness of others.”

  “Who taught you?”

  “My aunt and uncle.” He sighed. “After my parents passed, they came to Faversham to care for me, as I said. And their task was made no easier by the villagers.”

  It was exactly what she’d been waiting for him to say, something to give her some insight into his past. She remained quiet, silently begging him to continue. She longed to know what had transpired between him and the villagers, and how he’d kept from falling into a pattern of cruel behavior.

  “My aunt sheltered me from the hurt, the judgment, and the prying eyes of everyone who sought to harm the parentless boy who survived the Faversham fire. She hired tutors to see to my education at Faversham, my uncle instructed me on the proper running of an estate, and most of all, the pair gave me the love I desperately needed to recover from the devastation of losing my family.” He paused. When she glanced over at him, he swiped at his eyes with his free hand. “They created a safe haven for m
e at Faversham Abbey, though the cruel world lay only a short walk away in the village.”

  “I heard them call you the Beast of Faversham.” She hadn’t meant to speak the words, hadn’t wanted to so much as think them, yet they pushed past her lips on a breathless sigh. “Even after you saved Grovedale.”

  “Yes, well, there were others lost in the fire, servants who came from the village,” he said. “Eight people died that night, including my parents. Eight people I was too weak to save. And a handful of families lost someone they loved.”

  “And they still take their anger out on you.” It wasn’t a question for Adeline had witnessed the villagers’ disdain for Jasper firsthand.

  “Yes, and they have every right to.”

  “But you were just a boy.”

  “That does not matter,” he retorted, his tone deepening to one of harshness. “They were my family’s people. Their families had served my family for generations. And they lost people they loved, just as I did.”

  “That should have brought you all closer in your grief.”

  “No, they needed someone to blame, someone to cast in the shadows to help them through their grief.”

  “And that was you.” Another statement without a hint of a question.

  “It was easier to cast aspersion on a marred, damaged boy than live a lifetime never understanding the hows and whys of the situation. If my accepting the fault gave them a measure of comfort and the ability to move forward, it has all been worth it.”

  “But you continue to allow them to blame you.” How had their conversation taken such a dark turn? “Clearly, no one has moved forward.”

  “That is not true,” he countered, pulling to a stop to face her. “My close servants have forgiven me.”