Pacing the suite, Addie just couldn’t decide. The only thing she was completely sure of was that Lord Denbigh was no longer under consideration for the role of her husband. He’d proven himself a disgraceful, untrustworthy rake and she wished she’d never have to see him again. But much to her chagrin, he would, in fact, be present this weekend, as would all her other prospects. It would be her priority to avoid the distasteful earl, but she knew it might not be completely feasible.
Adeline was nowhere close to feeling tired enough to go to bed, even though it was nearly one in the morning. Instead, she put on her wrapper and slippers and decided to go to the library to find a novel and maybe a small glass of sherry. Cautiously opening the door and looking up and down the hallway, Addie saw that no one was about at this late hour. Many of the guests wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, so she was relatively certain that she wouldn’t run into anyone on her little field trip out of her room. She found the library fairly easily and quietly closed the door behind her, not wanting to wake any of the servants by accident. There was just enough light from the half- moon that shone in through the large windows to allow Adeline to see well enough to navigate the room. She easily found the selection of the most current novels and, after picking one out and pouring herself a sherry, she made herself comfortable on one of the well-padded sofas.
It was too dark to read, but Adeline was enjoying the quiet regal atmosphere of the room while she sipped her drink. Slowly she felt herself relaxing as she leaned back into the inviting cushions of the couch. The sherry was having the desired effect, making Addie drowsy. She set the empty glass down and gazed out the window, allowing her mind to start to shut down. Without even realizing it was happening, Adeline’s eyelids started to droop heavily, closing for longer and longer moments until she fell fast asleep.
* * *
Jackson quietly opened the door to the library, not wanting to disturb the house. He was finally making progress on the account books and needed to check one of those old photograph collections in order to confirm his suspicions. He just couldn’t leave it until the next day, knowing the house would be full of guests. Jack hadn’t been sleeping much recently anyway, so it wasn’t as if he’d look any worse than usual in the morning.
He entered the spacious room and headed straight for the section in the library where the family’s personal books were kept. Along with the more recent photography section that his father had created, there were several volumes of books that had been written by Bradley ancestors. No diaries had ever been found in the house, even in the many hidden panels, at least the ones they knew about. As with most elite families in Europe, personal papers and letters were burned upon the death of the Lord in question in order to protect his political legacy. Instead, the books in the library were mostly scientific theses and philosophical texts written by Jackson’s ancestors.
But one of the Bradley brothers’ great, great-uncles had apparently considered himself a playwright and had penned a few theater productions that sadly had never been produced on a large scale. That, of course, never stopped the family from acting out the plays in the privacy of their own home. Jack remembered how, as boys, he and his brothers had put on productions for their parents during the long winters when there was little else to do besides play hide and seek in the many hidden passages and secret rooms in the old mansion.
A soft moan coming from one of the sofas made Jackson freeze in his footsteps. He sincerely hoped he had not come upon a lovers’ tryst. But instead of sounds of lovemaking, the noise sounded more like one of the ghosts he and his brothers had imagined haunted the old mansion when they were lads. Then he heard it again. Quietly approaching the divan from behind, Jack peered over the high back to see if the otherworldly noises were human or spiritual. At first, all he saw were the flowing white robes that were spread on the dark background of the sofa, and he allowed his tired mind to imagine he was seeing a spirit from the other side. But then his eyes traveled to where the woman’s head rested on a cushion, her golden curls escaping from the long braid that rested on her slowly rising bosom.
Adeline.
Jack walked around to the front of the couch quietly, taking in the picture Addie presented, lying there with a book held loosely at her side. Her lovely heart-shaped face was serene in slumber. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly as she made some more quiet noises. Jackson watched as her full, pink lips mumbled unintelligible words before she suddenly gasped and sat up awake.
Adeline looked up, obviously startled by someone standing over her and she opened her mouth looking as if she were going to scream. Jack acted purely on instinct, pressing his hand over Adeline’s mouth and pushing her back down onto the couch.
“Addie, it’s me, Jack.” Jackson saw the terror in her eyes start to retreat, so he slowly moved his hand away.
“Jackson Bradley, you scared me to death!” Adeline said, pushing his hand forcibly away. She was obviously angry at having been found sleeping in the library in the middle of the night.
Jack smiled at her, understanding that she was embarrassed. “Adeline, it’s good to see you again.”
“Is it really, Jack?” Addie asked, her blue eyes telling him she wasn’t altogether convinced he was telling the truth. After all, the last time they had met, he had shouted at her and told her he never wanted to see her again. He couldn’t really blame her for not believing him now.
“Yes, it’s been long enough that I can actually look back and not think crazy thoughts about that voyage. I am sorry, Addie. I behaved terribly.” Jack had lowered himself and was now kneeling on the carpet next to her.
Adeline visibly relaxed, letting out a long breath as if she’d been holding it. She reached out a hand and touched Jack’s rough cheek for the briefest of moments, but it was enough to convey the deep empathy this woman felt for him. Jackson caught his breath as he looked into those pools of blueness that spoke volumes without words. That natural instinct he’d felt on the ship to pull this woman into his arms was still strong. He closed eyes, fighting it, but he didn’t know how long his resolve would last with Addie so close, smelling so alluring and looking at him like that.
“I’m so glad, Jack. I do want to be friends.” Adeline withdrew her hand and placed it on the book she had pulled from the shelves. “After all, we will be expected to interact this weekend and Father wouldn’t understand if we didn’t.”
Friends. Jack almost laughed. Yes, well that would be the extent of it, since Miss James was here to pick out her husband. Just as long as his brother was not in the running he would have to come to terms with that. But he couldn’t help but wonder if he held the title in his family would Adeline consider him for the role of her noble-blooded husband? Jack didn’t know why his thoughts were wandering in this direction, since he had no intention of ever marrying again anyway. How could he even think of such a thing after everything he’d been through? But for some reason, Adeline James brought out this side of him. Thankfully, Jackson did not meet the young lady’s criteria for a marriageable man, so he didn’t have worry that she would pursue him. But he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to really kiss those full, pink lips and mean it this time.
Jack wasn’t sure what happened next. He had been staring at Adeline’s mouth, remembering how her lips tasted and how good she had felt in his arms. She was watching him and something in his look must have communicated his thoughts because her tongue instinctively licked her lips. He knew she was unaware of what she was doing or the effect it was having on him and, as if in a dream, he slowly lowered his head, inch by excruciating inch until he was as close to Adeline as he had been on that night when they had been alone on deck.
“Jack?” She breathed his name, and the moist heat of her breath caressed his mouth as she spoke his name was his final undoing.
“Adeline,” Jackson said her name, knowing she was waiting for him to confirm that he was indeed thinking clearly and not imagining his dead wife in his arms as he pulled her close
and softly pressed his lips hers; just a feather-light kiss, to test her response, which was quite willing and surprisingly eager.
Addie sighed and moved her hands up to hold his shoulders as he continued his gentle assault, nibbling and lightly stroking until her lips naturally opened to allow his tongue to taste her sweetness. Jack’s body shuddered with desire as he deepened the kiss, going back over and over, drinking from her mouth as if she offered a fine wine that he couldn’t get enough of. It had been a very long time since he’d intentionally been this close to a woman; at least a year, maybe longer. He really couldn’t remember and right now couldn’t have formed a coherent thought if he’d wanted to.
Somehow, without even realizing it, he’d joined Adeline on the sofa, laying his hard body against her softness. Her hands had moved to wrap around his neck and her fingers were tangled in his hair. Jack knew he was beyond reason, as starved as he was for a woman’s touch. So it would be up to Addie to stop him, because right now there was only one thing on his mind. Either she intuitively sensed what he was thinking or the shock of his hand cupping her soft bosom brought the reality of their situation home, because Addie suddenly pulled away from him, pushing at him were before she had been pulling him closer.
“Jack, we must stop.” She was breathing hard and, although she said the words, he sensed she wasn’t entirely convinced they should stop.
Resting his forehead against hers while he attempted to regain control, Jackson slowly moved away from the heat of Adeline’s sumptuous body. It was like tearing a bandage off a fresh wound. He had waited so long to feel this passion again, that cutting it off before he’d been able to see it through to completion was excruciatingly agonizing. But it had to be. Adeline wasn’t meant for him, no matter how much either of them wanted it. Adeline was meant for finer things. A duke was her destiny or perhaps a marquis, but certainly not the youngest brother of an earl, who could never inherit a title, and a common businessman besides.
Standing, Jack stepped back from the sofa and turned his back on Addie, getting his thoughts and desires back under control. He still ached for her, but the darkness hid the proof of that from her virginal eyes. Finally he faced her again. She stood there, clutching the book to her breasts and looking anywhere but in his eyes. Neither said anything for several seconds, and then they both tried to talk at once.
“I’m sorry, Adeline, it won’t happen again.”
“Jack, that was nice, but you mustn’t...”
“It was nice?”
“It won’t?”
They looked at each other, speechless again, but then Jack finally had to end this before he swept her up in arms and dragged her back to his bed. “No, Adeline, it can’t and it won’t. You must save your kisses for your husband.” And before Addie could muster another word, Jackson turned and left the room, leaving her standing there with her soft, beautiful mouth hanging open in surprise and her lovely blue eyes wide with shock.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cassiopeia felt the tingles ripple through her body, waking her from a deep sleep. It was Clara’s soul pulling her into consciousness.
“No,” Cassie tried to fight the spirit. “I have to get up early to catch the train. I’m expected at your husband’s party tonight.”
But Mrs. Bradley was quite insistent and would not be swayed. Exasperated, Cassie finally sat up and lit a candle, allowing the woman’s voice to invade her head. Apparently Jack and Adeline had finally given into temptation. Well, that was a relief, the medium thought, considering her options now. Maybe she wouldn’t have to press the issue when she appeared as Madame Lou tonight. But then Clara revealed that they both were still determined to go their separate ways and the problem was Mr. and Mrs. James now. Adeline would never disappoint them, regardless of her other acts of independence. Cassie sighed, she had been trying to reach Mrs. James for her help recently but the older woman’s spirit had not responded. Maybe when they were actually in the presence of her daughter she would reply this time. The one and only time she had met with Adeline, Cassie had felt Mrs. James eavesdropping, but she hadn’t pressed to speak to her daughter. The spiritualist was beginning to wonder if Margaret James was going to approve of the match after all. Because if she didn’t, it was entirely possible that it might never actually materialize.
Adeline dreamt of kisses and tangled limbs when she finally fell asleep. She woke to the sun streaming into her room from an open window. Emily had obviously been in to check on her earlier, as the curtains had been drawn closed last night. Grateful she had a few moments to herself to organize her jumbled thoughts, Addie lay there and contemplated what had transpired between her and Jack last night. It had been both wonderful and terrible at the same time. Adeline had never in her nearly twenty years experienced feelings like that before. She finally understood what the girls in her Boston school had been crying about when they claimed they were mad for a boy but knew they could never have him because one or the other was already betrothed to someone else. She had never understood what being heartbroken meant until now. It was suddenly quite glaringly clear that her feelings for Jackson Bradley were those exact sorts of undeniable overwhelming emotions that could cripple her very soul. If only he hadn’t kissed her she never would have known this feeling of pure agony that she would never be able have him as her own.
Addie had promised both her mother and her father that she would do this one thing for them. They had never asked anything else of her and had given in to every desire she’d ever imagined; even her many causes, which she was beginning to suspect her father was aware of and didn’t interfere with because he knew how much they meant to her. And now, when it mattered most, she wanted to break both her parents’ hearts so she could be with the one man who had finally been able to make her heart sing.
A knock at the door preceded Emily’s entrance. She carried a tray with hot chocolate, as well as coffee and some toast. “I’m afraid you’ve missed breakfast, but I was able to convince Cook to let me make you some toast.”
“Thank you, Stone.” Adeline closed her eyes as she sipped the hot coffee with cream and sugar. It gave her the strength to face the day ahead. “Did Father notice I wasn’t present?”
“I’m afraid so, Miss.” Emily began pulling a day gown from the wardrobe and all the other various items that her mistress would need for the picnic luncheon that was planned. “But once I assured him you were quite well, he wandered off to go look at the earl’s stable with the other gentlemen.”
Addie noticed that Emily had given her a sly look when she’d said the last. “What? Why are you giving me that look? What do you know?”
Emily shrugged her shoulders as she helped Adeline step into underclothes and her dress. It was one of the newer Paris fashions that didn’t require a corset to bend her figure into unnatural positions. It was a muslin-eyelet creation in the fashionable day white that was so popular for summer wear. “I just haven’t ever seen you acting so wistful-like. It’s almost as if you’ve got yourself an infatuation with a gentleman. I’m hoping it’s that handsome baron who seems to be sweet on you. He would make a right pleasing husband.”
Addie didn’t comment as her maid brushed and curled her locks, creating a hairstyle that would hold up the large white velvet hat with its wide brim crowned with big white and pink silk roses, bows, and netting. “Lovely, Miss.” Emily stepped back to admire her work once Adeline was fully dressed. “You will be the loveliest lady at the picnic. I just know that Baron Craven will be pleased.”
“Thank you, Stone.” Adeline said feeling herself blush even though the man she was thinking of was not the baron. She found herself wondering if Jack would approve. But of course, he was not the one she needed to impress this weekend and she must try to put him and that kiss out her mind or she would make a fool of herself today.
The ladies all gathered in the front hall, waiting for their hostess, Mrs. Beatrice Bradley— Jackson’s other brother’s wife—to precede them out to the waiting bu
ggies and open carriages which would transport them all to where the servants had set up tables and chairs and a sumptuous afternoon repast.
“The men will join us later, after they’ve finished shooting the fowl.” The very pregnant Mrs. Bradley told the ladies. “So we should get started with some champagne and lemonade, don’t you agree?”
“There you are, darling Adeline.” Henrietta linked her arm with Addie. “I had all but given up on you, but here you are.”
“Lady Huntingdon, I’m so glad to see you again. How was Africa?”
“Very old, very hot, but very interesting. I’ll tell you all about it on the ride to the picnic.”
The women split into little groups and chatted while drinking lemonade, iced tea, or champagne and nibbling on the delicacies laid out and served by footmen. From simple tea sandwiches to lobster salad and exotic hothouse fruit, there was no end to the choices.
The hostess approached Addie and pulled her aside.
“We missed you at the rather intimate supper last night, Miss James.” Mrs. Marcus Bradley was glowing with prenatal happiness. “My brother-in-law, the earl, was quite concerned, especially when you failed to appear for breakfast this morning and he asked me to ensure your well-being. But, I must say, you look particularly charming today and possibly have a slight radiance to your countenance. I dare say the extra rest served you quite well indeed.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bradley.” Adeline said, thinking she needed to get her emotions under control quickly or everyone would know how she felt about Jackson when she next saw him.
“Please, call me Beatrice,” her hostess insisted. “For some reason I feel that we will be great friends, Miss James.”
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