A Warriner to Protect Her

by Virginia Heath

  ‘Then it’s settled,’ said Jacob decisively. ‘We shall all visit you in Mayfair for the Season.’

  The very last place Jack ever wanted to see Letty was in her natural habitat, with blasted Wentworth, surrounded by her own swarms of worthy flies he would enjoy personally swatting. With his fists.

  ‘And who would run the farm, Jacob?’

  Why had he sounded so churlish? His three brothers stared back at him with varying degrees of pity and despair as the atmosphere became strained. It was Letty who fixed things.

  ‘Why, Jack, you would, of course. I doubt he has any interest in the superficial conversations of the privileged. I dare say, you three will have to visit me without him.’ Hoisted by his own petard, he could do nothing but smile tightly and wish he was outside vigorously chopping wood. ‘Shall we retire to the other room and swap presents?’

  Letty sailed past him regally, apparently completely unperturbed by his curmudgeonly outburst, barely gracing him with a glance. Keen to regain the celebratory mood, his brothers tumbled out of the dining room behind her. Jamie punched him hard in the arm as he limped towards the door.

  ‘Cretin.’

  Jack supposed he deserved that, too. Letty was doing her best to behave as if nothing had happened, as Jack himself had implored, so why couldn’t he? It had just been a harmless, meaningless conversation, with no firm plans set in stone. Why had he needed to throw his oar into the water and sour the mood?

  Because he wanted her to believe he didn’t care about her fancy Duke and was pretending nothing had happened, when everything had happened. Everything about the situation confused him, leaving Jack for once all at sea with no rudder to guide him. He set his shoulders and trudged into the great hall like a man on the way to his own execution.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nine days and approximately six hours until it’s over...

  Letty took her seat around the roaring fire and tried not to focus on Jack’s blatant refusal to even consider maintaining their acquaintance once she was gone. At the very least, he could have pretended to care, although she already knew pretending was not something the man was capable of. If something was amiss or not to his liking, he was one for telling it like it was. Unfortunately, every time he told her what was what, Letty was always left feeling hurt by his brutal honesty. It was probably for the best. Her stupid, misguided heart would heal all the quicker knowing his was blissfully indifferent.

  Joe walked towards her smiling, holding out a small gift wrapped in one of Jacob’s newspapers. She decided there and then not to let Jack spoil her only family Christmas in almost four years. She grabbed it eagerly and undid the string which bound it. Two perfectly square cakes of perfumed soap sat within the wrinkled paper.

  ‘I made them myself. I found a recipe for medicinal soap in one of my books and substituted the lye for lavender oil.’

  Letty grabbed his lapels and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I love them! Thank you. Before I go to bed I shall lounge in the bath for at least an hour.’

  ‘You can have my present next.’ Jamie reached behind his chair.

  His present was bigger and also wrapped in newspaper. She unwrapped it and gasped at the beautiful watercolour in her hands. The detail was exquisite. ‘Markham Manor...’ Without thinking, Letty ran her fingertip lovingly along the painted edges of the quaint Tudor manor house and felt a surge of emotion. She was going to miss this place. It had become home in such a short period of time. But not as much as she would miss her temporary family. Jack’s brothers had become her brothers. Losing them would be like a death and she would mourn the loss of them. ‘I thought you might like something to remember us by.’

  Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and Jamie stared back at her, alarmed. ‘No waterworks, if you please, madam! I don’t do emotional outbursts.’ That was an understatement. Yet Letty knew his disinterested demeanour hid a deep well of emotions.

  ‘You are a lovely man, James Warriner.’

  He pretended to find her hug of gratitude distasteful. ‘That’s quite enough, thank you.’

  ‘You’re already wearing my present.’ The youngest Warriner grinned. ‘I already know you love it.’

  ‘Yes, indeed. You certainly know what a lady likes.’ All of the other brothers, including Jack, regarded them quizzically. Jack, she noted, also looked quite peeved. ‘Jacob got me some hairpins.’ Letty patted her coiffure for emphasis. ‘Hence, I no longer look like a poodle.’

  ‘Hairpins!’ Jamie turned to his brother, outraged. ‘Please tell me you didn’t put Letty’s safety at risk by buying them in the village.’

  ‘Of course I didn’t. What do you take me for? They came by way of that farmer’s daughter I have been courting. Once I took them all out, I pretended to have lost the majority of them in the haystack we happened to be lying in. I would like it noted, I sacrificed myself for Letty’s hairstyle.’

  ‘And it was a very noble sacrifice, I’m sure. How you must have suffered...’ Letty practically skipped over to the sideboard where she had hidden her gifts. ‘I have made some things for you all, too.’

  ‘Wait,’ said Jamie pointedly, ‘We haven’t seen what Jack has got you yet.’

  Much as she did not want to look directly at him, with so many eager onlookers, to do otherwise was rude. Jack met her gaze and appeared mortified. He stared down to his lap awkwardly. It was obvious he had not got her anything.

  ‘You didn’t forget, did you?’ Joe asked slowly.

  ‘Of course I didn’t forget!’ Jack unfolded his big body from the chair and edged towards Letty, looking likely to break into a run at any minute if given half the chance. Once he was in front of her, he frowned, appearing all stiff and, to her complete consternation, totally adorable. ‘I wanted to give you something special. Seeing as you have worked so hard on behalf of myself and my brothers.’ He still didn’t look her in the eye. ‘And...well...’

  ‘Oh, spit it out, man!’ Jamie rolled his eyes. ‘I’ve never seen you so inarticulate.’

  He shot his brother an evil glare, but he rummaged in his pocket and then unexpectedly took hold of her right hand. Letty watched transfixed as he slid a ring on to her finger. The band was gold; the square stone was a beautiful flat emerald.

  ‘It’s very old. Tudor, I believe. From Sir Hugo’s day... Well anyway, I thought the emerald would complement your eyes...’

  Her heartbeat suddenly speeded up as she stared at the lovely piece of jewellery, trying not to think about her body’s immediate reaction to his touch or the fact she desperately wanted to tell him he had put the ring on the wrong hand.

  ‘It’s lovely. Thank you.’

  He had noticed her eyes? What did that mean? And was he blushing? She was sure he was.

  Letty had kissed the cheek of every man in the room except the one she most wanted to. All eyes, she realised, were now watching the pair of them closely. Too closely. Her breath became ragged and her lips tingled. To not kiss him would be poor form. But kissing him, after what had happened the last time, terrified her. Even a chaste kiss would serve as an uncomfortable reminder that he knew her passions were fired by him. Just thinking about doing it again made her limbs feel heavy and her head feel light.

  She had also dithered a beat too long and Jack had taken a stilted step backwards. For some reason, even though she knew his true feelings, he appeared wounded by her hesitation. If ever there was a time for Violet’s charming bravado, it was now.

  ‘I shall treasure this, Jack.’

  In one swift, decisive motion, Letty took a large stride forward and stood on her tiptoes, intending to bestow a light peck on his cheek, but his head turned towards hers and their lips brushed instead. The kiss was quick—but no less incendiary for it. Letty felt the power of it throughout her body as her nerve-endings positively exploded as if a fuse had b
een lit within her. Those first breaths afterwards were erratic. Jack stared back at her, stunned, and for one, brief moment, she considered kissing him again before she remembered she was currently supposed to be Violet. Charming. Detached. Superficial. As unaffected by him as he was by her. Except she might have begun the kiss as Violet, but it had been Letty’s lips his had touched. Letty’s heart which had soared. In a panic, she put some well-needed distance between them and her words tumbled out in a rush.

  ‘I want you all to open my gifts at the same time, because, rather unoriginally, you all have the same thing.’ Quickly, she distributed her packages and clapped her hands to signal the unwrapping could begin, all the while trying to ignore the shaky feeling in her legs and the steady, sure sound of her heart knocking against her ribs. Jack was too focused on untying the ribbons she had secured the tiny gifts with, so Letty assumed he was not similarly affected by the brief, intimate contact. He had probably done it on purpose to put her in her place for all of those petty jibes she had thrown at him over dinner. A reminder that he knew she was bluffing when she pretended he didn’t matter. A way to regain the upper hand.

  * * *

  His fingers refused to work properly as Jack did his level best to undo the endearingly feminine bow and conceded he was having a bit of a moment. The emerald ring might as well have been a declaration of love! Good grief—what had he been thinking? And then he had had to touch her velvety skin and slip the ring on to her finger, and that felt like a declaration, too. A man only gave a woman one sort of ring... Oh, why had he done it in front of his brothers? The three of them now kept glancing at him knowingly and he would probably never live it down. There had been a ruby pendant in the box of old jewellery he’d unearthed. He should have given her that.

  Not a ring.

  But the ring, with its emerald the exact shade of her beguiling eyes, had called to him and, like a fool, Jack had listened. Then, because politeness, and only politeness, had dictated it, she had kissed him and instinctively he had turned to kiss her back, almost as if there was some sort of magnet pulling his mouth to hers. To all intents and purposes it should have felt like the platonic kiss she had meant it to be, except, the instant those soft lips had touched his, his skin had caught fire and his heart had literally swelled in his chest. Unfortunately, it was not the only swelling he was dealing with.

  By accident, rather than design, the ribbon came apart at almost the same moment his brothers’ did.

  ‘Would you look at that?’ Jamie actually grinned as he held up his gift. ‘You’re a fellow artist, Letty! The detail in this is astounding and the pattern is so personal to me.’

  ‘Mine, too!’ Joe displayed the medical motif. ‘When I finally qualify I shall carry this with me on all of my house calls.’

  Jacob began to laugh at his. ‘Letty, you are priceless.’ He passed the square of fabric to Joe, who scrutinised the intricate stitching and began to laugh as well. ‘Newspapers filled with gossip around every edge and a farmer’s daughter in one corner! What did she make for you, Jack?’

  In truth, he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. The handkerchief was more elaborately embroidered than those of his brothers, but the golden lions around the edges in various poses all looked towards the magnificent male in the centre of the linen, who sat proudly staring out at him. He turned and searched Letty’s face for clues and became more baffled when she refused to look at him. Was she blushing?

  ‘I thought a lion would symbolise...um...the fact you are the undisputed leader of—’

  Joe intervened. ‘Our pride?’

  ‘More like he’s got too much stupid pride,’ Jamie hissed in a poor attempt at a stage whisper.

  ‘Lions are proud, noble and brave and so is Jack.’ Letty’s voice sounded a little squeaky, although she was smiling at everyone serenely. Jack didn’t know whether to read anything more into her gift, or not.

  Jacob leaned over to examine the handkerchief. ‘Do lions usually have turquoise eyes?’ Then he made a point of examining Jack’s face and smiling slowly. The smile was apparently contagious, because it crept on to Joe’s face next, then Jamie’s, until the three of them were grinning like fools. ‘Why, yours must have taken so many more hours to complete than ours!’ It did beggar the question. If she had taken more care over his gift, did that mean she cared more for him? ‘But I suppose Jack gave you an emerald when I only gave you soap, so I suppose his superior gift is fitting.’

  Poor Letty appeared about to combust with embarrassment, she was so crimson, and, like Jack, she was clearly mortified by their reactions. They were reading meanings into Letty’s gift which probably were not meant to be there, even though he now desperately hoped they were. In such situations, attack was always the best form of defence, although he could not think of anything to say which would not make the sudden disquiet worse. Instead, Jack glared at his brothers menacingly, letting them know purely by the ferocity of his glare that he would flay the skin from any man who dared to say what they were blatantly thinking. The boisterous male grins slipped off their faces smartly and the three of them stared at their boots like naughty children. The ensuing silence was so brittle it made Jack cringe. So he filled it, for her sake.

  ‘Thank you for your lovely gifts, Letty. They were very thoughtful.’

  She grinned again, making everyone, except him, feel better about what had just happened. She did it with such aplomb, she had almost convinced Jack she was oblivious to his brothers’ blatant innuendo. Almost. But not quite. He was coming to believe Letty often hid her real thoughts behind an innocent, smiling façade which never quite touched her eyes. ‘I thought we were going to play some games?’

  In his head, he had just invented a new one, and it was called How Quickly Can I Strangle My Brothers. But he smiled and played along for her sake, and his. As the hours flew past pleasantly, Jack’s fingers kept touching the square of linen in his pocket and hoping that proud lion was exactly how she saw him rather than the fortune-hunting cad everyone else would assume he was if he ever dared lay another hand on her.

  * * *

  When, inevitably, the time came to go to bed, his three brothers disappeared with alarming haste, although Jack was glad that they did. He was so confused he simply had to talk to her. Letty was almost through the door in their wake when he called her back.

  ‘Letty—can we talk?’

  She stopped and slowly turned around, but not before he witnessed her posture become rigid. Something about it did not bode well.

  ‘Of course.’ She clasped her hands tightly in front of her, almost defensively.

  Like an idiot, he had started the conversation without a clear idea of what it was he was going to say. He wanted to ask about the turquoise lion eyes and if she liked her present. He wanted to know if her feelings for him were the same as his were for her. He wanted—desperately wanted—to know if there could still be more between them than the physical attraction he had stupidly dismissed it all as, even though he knew nothing good could ever come of it. ‘I wanted to...’ Her expression was unreadable, but her green eyes were stormy. ‘The thing is...’

  ‘Yes?’

  Did she look hopeful? Eager? Letty stared back down at her hands, playing with the silly ring he had given her in a moment of mad weakness. In desperation Jack took her hand and she stared at it wide-eyed. She was definitely embarrassed by this unwanted conversation, too. Her cheeks were pink and he saw her swallow awkwardly at his clumsy attempt at...whatever it was he was clumsily attempting. It was probably better to let sleeping dogs lie. She was leaving in less than a week. Which was for the best. For her at least. Any declaration now was as ludicrous as it was futile.

  What exactly did he expect her to do? Stay here when she had every luxury in Mayfair? Be content to live with a farmer? Kiss goodbye to her high position in society and be shunned by everyone she knew? Marry
him when she had a duke waiting for her at home? There was wishful thinking and then there was fantasy.

  ‘The thing is, I wanted to thank you for all of the effort you have put into today.’ And inevitably, common sense returned.

  ‘I see.’ She stared at him levelly. ‘Was there anything else you wanted to say?’

  I think you are wonderful and I’m a fool. A stupid, penniless, unworthy fool. I wish I could turn back time and do it all again differently. This isn’t just lust... I truly care about you.

  Who was he kidding? He loved her.

  ‘No. Nothing else...just thank you.’

  Hell’s teeth! He loved her. The room began to spin.

  ‘Then I shall say goodnight.’

  Please don’t go. Not just now, but ever. Stay here with me.

  ‘Goodnight, Letty.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  Five days left...

  Tomorrow she would leave Markham Manor, yet even thinking about it hurt. Letty supposed she should be frightened about the potential for danger on the long journey or apprehensive about all the nastiness which would inevitably follow her return home, yet strangely both of those things paled into insignificance when compared to saying goodbye to this house and the men within it. She tried not to specifically link these feelings to Jack because she had already accepted the end of whatever it was they had. As each day passed and the time of her departure drew nearer, they conversed less and less. Yesterday, they had barely exchanged more than three sentences and two of those had consisted of ‘Good morning’ and ‘Goodnight’. This, apparently, was something they were both responsible for. Today, Jack had left to begin his work long before Letty had come downstairs. If his most recent behaviour was anything to go by, she doubted she would see him until dinner. Their last dinner together.