The Fortune Hunter

by Jo Ann Ferguson

  She watched his lips form each word and had to struggle to think of anything but their warmth against her mouth. “Mrs. Ehrlich will never agree to Annis traveling under those circumstances.”

  “Then we shall invite all of the ‘Polite World’ to the Park to join us.”

  “How will that prevent the gossip?”

  His arm swept around her waist, and he tugged her to him. “If my suspicions are correct, Philip has set his cap on your bosom bow and will ask her to marry up with him any day.”

  “He has given up his plans to buy that commission?”

  “I can’t be certain of that, for soldiers are allowed a wife.” As his hand stroked her back, sending new flurries of fierce need along her, he said against her ear, “A visit to the country with his beloved might persuade Philip to rethink his plans. Then the élite can enjoy talking about him and Annis while I convince you to use your tasty lips for other purposes.”

  As his mouth slanted across hers, she knew she was ready to agree to anything he wanted, as long as they could share this glorious enchantment. She knew, as well, how dangerous it would be to lose more than her heart to him, and she wondered if she risked more by staying in Bath or going to Windham Park.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Beyond the dressing-room window, the gardens of Windham Park spread outward in every direction. Sunlight sparkled brightly on a pool which had a fountain in its heart. Water sprayed skyward more than fifteen feet before falling back into itself. Surrounded on every side by flowering bushes and topiary, the garden was sure to offer more delights to anyone who wandered through it.

  The curved roof of a Grecian-style temple could be seen on the far side of a stand of tall trees. When they had driven up to the magnificent house, Nerissa had noticed that it was set in a rose garden. The vines were past flowering, but she could imagine their glorious colors in the spring.

  Windham Park was even more incredible than Nerissa had guessed from passing it on the road leading south from Bath. The front façade was a castellated fantasy with a square Norman tower amid the more gently rounded towers at every corner. Bay windows jutted out from the house at every angle and rose from the ground to the battlement-furnished parapets at the top. The country home announced the wealth and prestige of Hamilton’s title that went back, unscathed by dishonor, into the dim reaches of history.

  But she was not thinking of the grand staircase hall or the smooth lawns as she stared out of the window in the bedchamber she had been given to use. She stared past the temple and the orchards and the brook meandering at its edge to the distant hills that were faded to a purplish-blue. Among them, Hill’s End was situated. She would trade all this elegance for her home, which would not be hers much longer.

  “Everything is unpacked,” Frye said as she closed the door to the cupboard.

  Nerissa turned from the window, letting the yellow drapes fall back into place. Frye was a dull spot among the exuberant colors of the main bedchamber, on the other side of the door, for the Chinese silk wallpaper was a dazzling tapestry. A matching fabric swathed the bed, which seemed dwarfed by the rest of the chamber. A hearth, with a carved, black marble mantel, was topped by the small statues which were set on the tables and chests along the walls. Even the collection of furniture could not hide the Oriental rug.

  “Would you like some tea to take the dust of the road from your throat?” Frye continued, fluttering around the dressing room like an oversized songbird.

  “I think that would be a good idea now that I have bathed.” She smiled. “I didn’t want to appear in that august hall tonight for dinner looking like a dirty urchin.”

  A knock on the door to the hallway rang against the high ceiling like distant thunder. Frye motioned for her to stay where she was. “I shall answer it. You need to rest, Miss Dufresne.”

  Nerissa nodded. Frye had been even more solicitous of her than usual since her abigail discovered the lump on Nerissa’s head this morning while brushing her hair. Not satisfied until she heard every detail of the distressing evening, Frye had been surprisingly pleased with Hamilton’s invitation to the country.

  “I doubted the wisdom of two young women living alone like this,” Frye had said with her favorite frown. “’Tis a wonder you have not come to trouble before this. I shall arrange for any messages from Mr. Pilcher to be forwarded to Windham Park, so you may know when it is prudent to return to Bath.”

  Quarreling with Frye was the last thing Nerissa had wanted to do, so she had listened quietly and looked properly chagrined. She would do the same now, because Frye’s advice was wise. Her head still ached, and she could not keep her hands from trembling when she thought of her abduction.

  The rapping continued, growing more persistent. “Do go quickly and answer the door, Frye, before our caller wears the skin right off his or her knuckles.”

  Frye hurried through the bedchamber to the door to the hallway, and opened it only enough to peer around it. When she saw Miss Ehrlich on the far side, she ushered the young woman in with a smile. Miss Ehrlich was attired in a pink gown and a blue silk bonnet with a pert feather on one side.

  Frye started to explain that Miss Dufresne was preparing to rest when the door to the dressing room came ajar to reveal Miss Dufresne pulling on her wrapper. Just as she was about to chide her lady for coming out into the bedchamber when she had no idea who might be calling, Frye heard Miss Ehrlich gulp back a sob.

  “I must speak with you, Nerissa,” choked Miss Ehrlich and looked at Frye beseechingly.

  “Excuse us, Frye,” Nerissa said.

  The abigail did not hesitate. The mottled color of Miss Ehrlich’s face warned that she was about to cascade into tears. With a sigh, the maid went out of the room. Miss Dufresne had handled crises more appalling in the past few days than a young wet-goose.

  Thinking much the same thing, Nerissa urged Annis to sit on the window seat. With her silk wrapper rustling beneath her as she also sat, Nerissa said, “Pluck up, Annis, and tell me what is amiss.”

  “’Tis Philip.”

  “Philip?” Such an answer was one she had least expected, especially when Annis was wearing the hat that Philip had given her. She patted her friend’s hand. “Annis, you know that breezes are part—”

  “We have not had an argument. ’Tis … ’tis …” She collapsed into more sobs.

  Putting her arm around Annis’s quivering shoulders, she murmured, “If Philip said something to you that distresses you, you should know—after watching your sisters being wooed—that such misunderstandings are usually quick in passing. Philip is a fine man. He would not do anything to hurt you intentionally.”

  “He is a wonderful man.” Tears oozed from her dark eyes as she whispered, “I believe I love him.”

  “That is no surprise.” Nerissa smiled gently. “Not to me or to anyone who has seen you two together, but that does not make it any less wonderful, for it is increasingly obvious that he has a tendre for you.”

  Annis raised her eyes, and Nerissa saw the grief in them. “Then how could he do this to me?”

  “Do what?”

  “This awful thing.”

  “Awful?” she choked as horror filled her. Had she been too lenient in her attention to Annis and her gallant admirer? Her promise to Mrs. Ehrlich to keep close watch on her youngest daughter careered through her head like a taunting refrain that refused to be forgotten. Certainly she should have been able to trust Philip with Annis, for he had been unable to hide his admiration for her.

  With a quiver of dismay, she rose. She rubbed her suddenly icy hands together as she listened to Annis’s weeping. Charmed by Philip’s gentle smile, had she let herself be betwattled into forgetting that he shared Hamilton’s sire? The strong emotions that coursed through the viscount must boil within the younger man’s blood, too. If he had compromised Annis and now was determined to—

  “Enough!” she snapped to herself. In the same sharp voice, she demanded, “Annis, tell me what Philip has done to
turn you into a watering pot!”

  Annis looked up, startled in mid-sob by Nerissa’s adder’s tongue. Blinking rapidly, each motion freeing yet another tear, she choked, “He is planning to buy a commission and go off to the War.”

  “I know.”

  “You knew,” she gasped, her eyes wide with recriminations, “and you did not tell me?”

  Nerissa said quietly, “It was not my place to speak of such a matter, for I could not know the current course of Philip’s thoughts. I was sure that, if he had intentions to continue with such a plan, he would speak to you of it posthaste. It appears he has done that.” She leaned her head against the embroidered wool on the tester bed. “Hamilton so hoped he would set aside this opaque ambition.”

  She hid her face in her hands as she sobbed anew. “I do not want him to do such an insane thing. Talk to him, Nerissa. He admires you. He will listen to you.”

  “If he refuses to listen to you and Hamilton, why would he heed anything I say?” she asked as she sat again.

  With her hands damp with her tears, Annis grasped Nerissa’s fingers. She begged, “Please speak to Philip. He admires your common sense greatly, Nerissa.” A hint of a smile teased the corners of her quivering lips. “Philip spoke to me, only minutes before he revealed his horrendous intent to buy that commission, of his delight with your taming of his brother.”

  “I have done no such thing. Hamilton has been a gentleman from the onset.”

  “To you mayhap, but you know what is said about—”

  “I know!” She set herself on her feet and raised her chin. “I know what has been said, and I vow I wish to hear no more of it.”

  Annis clapped her hands in amusement, although her cheeks still shone with tears. “Oh, you do love him, don’t you? You love him as much as I love Philip.” Her smile crumpled. “Oh, Nerissa, you must convince Philip to rethink this idiocy.”

  “I shall try.”

  “Today. Now!”

  Nerissa smiled as she put her hand to the deep décolletage of her dressing gown. “Dear Annis, I am hardly dressed appropriately to speak with Philip now, but I shall endeavor to speak to him today.”

  “Before dinner?” she asked with childish stubbornness.

  “I will try.”

  In spite of her promise, Nerissa had no time to seek out Philip before dinner. She had planned to rest for only a few minutes, but the lack of sleep the night before and the hectic preparations for their journey had worn her out. She might have slept the whole evening away if Frye had not come to rouse her with a gentle shake.

  Hurriedly dressing in her favorite blue Indian muslin gown, she was impatient while Frye twisted her hair high on her head, leaving only a few wisps to curl about her face. A bandeau of blue silk, which was decorated with pearls and lace, encircled her face.

  The passage seemed empty when Nerissa emerged from her bedchamber. Shadows hung over the tables along the walls and obscured the paintings within the gilt frames. No sound came from the lower floor, giving her the feeling that she was alone in the massive house. When a hand settled on her arm, a shriek burst from her throat.

  She whirled to see Hamilton standing behind her. From his stylishly tied cravat and the ruffles dropping onto his silk waistcoat of nearly the same blue as her gown to his pristine, white breeches, he was dressed à la modality. Only his somber expression marred the flawlessness.

  “Hamilton, you frightened me,” she whispered.

  “Forgive me. I should not be sneaking up on you, knowing what you have endured.”

  “Speak no more of it.” She slipped her arms beneath his black coat and rested her cheek against his chest. As his arms surrounded her, she whispered, “I was already unsettled, for Philip told Annis of his plans to join the army on the Peninsula.”

  “Damn him for a cabbage-head!” he snapped. Putting his thumbs under her chin, he tilted her head back gently. “We must find a way to convince him to see the sense of changing his mind.”

  “That may no longer be possible.”

  “Anything is possible until one hops off the perch and is buried.” A slow smile drifted from his lips to his eyes. “By tonight, the rest of our party will have arrived from Bath. I think I shall suggest that we celebrate our first day in the country with a hunt.”

  “A hunt? What good will chasing a fox about the Park do?”

  “You can leave that to me. What I need you to do is to convince Annis to ride to the hounds tomorrow.”

  Nerissa shook her head. “I don’t think that is a good idea. Annis is not a competent rider.”

  “I was hoping you would say that.”

  “What do you have planned?” she asked, unable to halt her smile as she saw the mischievous angle of his.

  “You shall see on the morrow, my sweet.” In the moment before his mouth covered hers, he whispered, “With luck, we shall hear no more of these absurd plans to battle the frogs.”

  Nerissa emerged from the double doors of the ancient manor house to see all the hunters gathered in the courtyard in anticipation of the excitement to come. Grey light filtered through the clouds clinging to the eastern horizon, and a cool hint of autumn brushed the loose tendrils of her hair back from her face.

  As she walked toward where the men were discussing past hunts and commenting on the skills of the foxhounds in the pack, she carried the bulk of her long skirt over her arm to reveal her high-lows which were tightly laced about her ankles. She tucked her riding crop under her arm and pulled at her high cravat, which echoed the ones the men wore daily, and wondered why they allowed themselves to be coerced by style into donning something so uncomfortable … and why she had.

  Nerissa looked past the baying hounds and the men, who were placing eager wagers about which of them would kill the prey, to see Philip checking the gab-string on the horse Nerissa knew was for Annis. Sure that the bridle was firmly in place, he turned as she walked toward him. Tipping his hat toward her, he smiled.

  “An excellent hunt it shall be,” gushed Philip as he drew on his riding gloves. “And to think that you have convinced Annis to ride with us, Nerissa! I own that I knew you were a woman of rare charm from the first moment that I saw you.”

  “I was quite senseless at the time, as you should recall.”

  Color rose along his face, and Nerissa instantly regretted her unthinking retort. When she hurried to apologize, he waved aside her words.

  “’Tis I who spoke as if I was cockle-brained. Only a ramshackle cove would remind you of that accident. Forgive me, Nerissa.”

  “I cannot forgive you when there is no need for an apology from you.” Dampening her lips, she lowered her voice. “Philip, may I speak to you alone for a moment?”

  “Of what?”

  “Of Annis.”

  He brightened as if a candle had been lighted within him. “Such a treasure! How can I thank you enough for introducing us, Nerissa? Surely fate must have urged me to enter that snuff shop. What else could explain the fortune that brought her into my life?”

  Hamilton’s laugh intruded. “An eager mother seeking a match for her daughter? Surely you have been afflicted with too many of those types of meetings.” He wore his pinks with style, for the riding jacket might have been designed with his lithe form in mind. Dropping nearly to the tops of his boots, which were rolled down to reveal their canvas interiors, the coat opened to expose his gold waistcoat and buckskin breeches. He carried a long flintlock rifle. When Nerissa regarded it with curiosity, he smiled. “A memento from my journey to America. Weapons, not much different from this one, served to outfox our army. I daresay I can turn the tables by outfoxing a brace of foxes with this.”

  “You sound as if you admire America.”

  “It is an interesting place. Had I been the younger son, I must admit that I might have considered staying there for a while.” As he paused in front of a mottled grey horse, he said, “I am glad, however, that I returned. I did not guess what challenges there would be before me.”

/>   “Don’t speak of your quest today.”

  “You clearly are thinking more of it today than I am, for I was speaking of the challenge of dealing with a lovely woman named Nerissa Dufresne.”

  “Hamilton, you will put her to the blush,” Philip chided with a laugh. “I have.… Annis!” His smile widened as he rushed forward to take her hands. “You look lovely this morning.”

  “Indeed you do,” Nerissa added as she admired the fashionable cut of her friend’s gold habit. The color added fire to her hair, but nothing glowed more than her happy eyes while she let Philip throw her up in the saddle.

  Nerissa sighed. Not once last evening had she had a chance to speak with Philip alone. When Hamilton had spoken of his guests, she had not guessed he had invited everyone who had attended Sir Delwyn Seely’s weekly gatherings. Each of the guests was eager to discover the truth behind the rumors of what had happened the night before they left Bath, so she was kept busy deflecting their questions with Hamilton’s help.

  “Don’t worry,” Hamilton murmured as he came to stand next to her.

  “How can I help it? Look at how wondrously happy Annis looks. If he goes, she will be shattered.”

  “He won’t go.”

  “There are some things even you can’t halt, Hamilton.”

  He laughed. “Clearly there are some things you still have yet to learn, and it behooves me to teach you today.”

  Although she was certain—or, at least, she thought she was certain—he spoke only of Annis and Philip, the glint in his eyes warned that his words might possess a double meaning. A warm silkiness wrapped around her heart and oozed throughout her. Her hand rose toward him before she could halt it.