Regina caressed his cheek, touched by his concern for her and her loved ones. She knew he meant well, but a long voyage would be a hardship for Aunt Beatrice. Sophia was on the verge of a betrothal, and Evangeline had plans to join Uncle Charles on his next expedition. Besides, they didn’t know how to reach their uncle to inform him of any travel plans, and there was no one to see to the running of Wedmore House or the family manor home.
“I don’t know if my aunt and sisters would agree to leave England, and I cannot desert them. Please don’t ask me to choose.”
“I fail to see that there is a choice to make. Your family has been threatened. I am offering my protection.”
Her stomach pitched. There truly was no choice when it came to her family’s safety, but at least she knew what dangers they faced here. “This is our home. We won’t be driven out by anyone, but I need your help to defend it. Will you stand beside me? Please.”
His sigh could almost be mistaken for a growl. “What choice do I have? If you stay, I stay.”
He released her wrist, and she turned for the door, circling her hand over the burgeoning warmth in her chest. After the intimacy they had shared, there was no going back. She would marry him. Her conscience insisted it was her duty now, but she couldn’t deny that he’d awakened longings she kept buried deep inside.
Suddenly, the life they could have together unfolded before her. Reading the morning newssheet to each other over breakfast. Playfully teasing one another and their children as they strolled through the meadow in the country. Everything her beloved parents had done to create a happy home for her and her sisters, she and Xavier could do, but more.
She would teach him Wing Chun, and they could spar together. Perhaps he’d show interest in Uncle Charles’s studies and engage him in academic discussions over brandy. He would dance with Aunt Beatrice at every assembly if she wished it. Xavier would be Regina’s companion, her love. And her newfound vulnerability scared her to death.
Twenty-one
“Wait,” Xavier called to Regina as she opened the study door to admit the exuberant black poodle. Cupid dashed around her skirts then leapt at him. He scooped the dog in his arms and followed her into the corridor. “Regina, I asked you to wait.”
She whirled toward him with a slight pucker to her forehead. “I really should hurry to my chambers before Aunt Beatrice asks for me.”
He scratched the dog’s chin to quiet his whining. “When you said you cannot leave your family, did you mean now while there is danger or never?”
She captured her bottom lip between her teeth, hesitating for several moments. “I was honest with you from the beginning. I vowed to never marry, because I intended to stay with Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Charles. Now I will have a husband—one that lives far away—but Aunt Beatrice’s needs haven’t changed. With Evangeline off on her expeditions and Sophia creating a home of her own, there will be no one left to watch over her. I thought you understood.”
A heaviness settled in his chest. He’d been so focused on escaping England he hadn’t thought about what was left for him in New Orleans. An empty old house and bad memories were the only things awaiting him. Everyone he loved had made a life in England. Even his ward was here, and he wouldn’t take his cousin Rafe from his sister.
He cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should just focus on finding the map for now.”
Cupid’s ears darted up and he cocked his head to the side. A faint whistle sounded from deeper in the house. The dog whimpered, twisting his body to break free of Xavier’s arms. He set Cupid on the stone floor before he took a tumble. His nails scraped the stone as he tried to gain traction, then he darted toward the foyer.
“It is Aunt Beatrice,” Regina said with a groan.
Before she could escape, he entangled his fingers with hers and drew her to his side. “Promise you will be careful until Farrin and his employer have been dealt with. No venturing out without a proper escort. Joy would be of no assistance if Farrin’s men accost you, and I want a manservant hired before the end of the week. I cannot be here all the time.”
She smiled and his heart tripped. “In this instance, I will do as you wish, but don’t grow accustomed to blind obedience. I might be challenging at times.”
“I wouldn’t have you any other way.” He placed a kiss at her temple then released her to make a quick stop by her bedchamber before they met with her aunt and Lord Margrave.
Sophia found him waiting in the foyer. “Would you like to join Auntie? Regina said she would be along shortly, and I’ve sent for Margrave.”
“Yes, thank you.” Xavier expected he was in for a lecture, and he would prefer to get it over with before Regina came below stairs. She had suffered enough embarrassment because of his actions.
Aunt Beatrice greeted him with a wide smile. “Why Mr. Vistoire, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you to Wedmore House this morning?”
Xavier blinked and looked to Sophia for direction. She smiled pleasantly at her aunt. “Mr. Vistoire came to see Regina. They are betrothed. Isn’t that wonderful news? Lord Margrave is assisting with obtaining a special license.” She whispered behind her hand to Xavier. “The laudanum is causing her to be a little forgetful this morning.”
Aunt Beatrice’s mouth pinched. “I am not forgetful. I recall last night’s situation. I simply chose to greet my future nephew with a civil tongue and give him a chance to ask permission for Regina’s hand, as he should have done in the beginning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sophia said. “I’m sorry.”
Aunt Beatrice lifted her spoon and wagged it toward the chair across the table before dipping into her porridge. “Have a seat, young man. There are words I wish to have with you. Leave us, Sophia.”
“Yes, Auntie.” She ducked her head and hurried from the breakfast room without glancing back.
Regina’s aunt raised her brows, staring him down as if she were royalty. “I said sit, Mr. Vistoire.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As soon as Xavier’s backside touched the seat cushion, Aunt Beatrice launched into a diatribe on unbecoming behavior and the dangerous allures of lust. And because he was very recently guilty of every charge she heaped on him, he did his best to sit up straight while also appearing contrite.
“And further more, sir...”
After awhile, his spine lost some of its rigidness. Even his father’s lectures hadn’t gone on this long.
Eventually, Aunt Beatrice ended her set down with a loud sigh. “There. I have dispatched with my duties.” She paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Would you care for some porridge?”
“No, thank you. Please, don’t allow my presence to interfere with your breakfast. I could wait in the drawing room until Lord Margrave arrives.”
“Your company is most welcome, Mr. Vistoire. Tell me, what are your plans after the wedding?”
“I believe Miss Darlington would prefer to stay close to home, at least for a time. With your permission, we would like to stay at Wedmore House.”
Aunt Beatrice directed her gaze toward the ceiling and shook her head. “Poor Regina worries too much about her sisters and me. I suppose it is best for a while, but I do hope you and she will plan a honeymoon trip. It would benefit her to venture from Wedmore House and discover the world is not as frightening as she believes.”
“Oh?”
Regina hardly seemed the sort to hide from the world. Only half an hour earlier, she’d been ready to take on Farrin and his men.
“She was an impressionable age when her parents were killed while traveling abroad,” Regina’s aunt said. “The circumstances were tragic but uncommon. A riot. It was a stroke of bad luck, really.”
“Miss Darlington mentioned her parents’ deaths, but she didn’t say how it happened. Now I better understand why she feared the men would come for her and her sisters. It sounded as if she outgrew such worries.”
Aunt Beatrice’s smile was grim. “Does anyone truly heal from childhood wounds
, sir? Perhaps we forget about them with the passage of time, but our view of life has been altered and influences our decisions.”
Xavier sank against the seatback and considered her words. Hadn’t his own decisions been driven by hurt? His father had rejected him from a young age. He’d called Xavier worthless and predicted he would become a gadabout. And Xavier had. He’d become the best libertine in all of New Orleans—a reprobate gambler, a drunk, and a rake—because proving his father right about his character was less degrading than begging for approval he would never receive.
“There is wisdom in what you say.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh as he mulled over his own life more. “I see how my childhood led me toward a certain path, but I made the choice to follow it. Ultimately, I am responsible for my mistakes.”
Her broad smile lit the breakfast room. “Yes, and your choices have brought you to Regina. I expect you are wiser now and will take more care with your decisions in the future, because they no longer affect only you. We will pretend last night never happened.” She winked and spooned a bit of porridge into her mouth.
“For what it is worth, I’m ashamed of my behavior. I never meant to disrespect your niece, you, or her uncle.”
She discarded her spoon and stretched across the table, extending her hand. He placed his in hers and she squeezed. “All I ask is that you love her, if not fully now, some day soon. She deserves to be cherished.”
A small lump formed in his throat. “You have my word, Aunt Beatrice. I already cherish her.”
Twenty-two
Regina barley held her temper in check when Crispin, Lord Margrave, looked up from the marriage contract once again to peer at Xavier sitting in the chair opposite him at Uncle Charles’s desk. Her uncle’s godson leaned his elbows on the scratched wood surface and narrowed his intense hazel gaze on Xavier. Crispin’s blank expression and the inordinate amount of time he stared without blinking was quite unnerving, but she’d become accustomed to his tricks over the years.
She rose from the settee where Sophia was scratching Cupid’s belly and approached the desk. The four of them and the poodle had been ensconced in Uncle Charles’s study for nearly an hour. It was high time the contract was signed, so she and Xavier could make their way to the Doctor’s Commons to apply for a marriage license.
Regina knocked on the desk to gain Crispin’s attention, but he didn’t break eye contact with Xavier. “This is no time for a staring challenge,” she said, “and we are no longer children. You’ve read the contract Evangeline drafted several times. Is it sufficient for our needs?”
Crispin didn’t so much as twitch in response.
“Ludwig! You are infuriating.”
“Hear, hear,” Sophia interjected. “You should see how he tries to intimidate my suitors at the assemblies.”
Regina drew back. “You are attending balls regularly now? The man who has sworn never to become leg-shackled? Surely you haven’t had a change of heart.”
“Absolutely not,” Sophia said. “He has no heart to change. Besides, wife-hunting would interfere with his plot to ruin my life.”
Crispin’s unwavering focus shattered, and he turned to glare at Regina’s sister. “I couldn’t care less about your aims to snare a husband, and I have better ways to spend my time than scheming against you. You are not the sun every gentleman gravitates to, Sophia Darlington.”
Sophia shrugged one shoulder. “And yet you seem unable to resist stalking me around the ballroom floor. He thinks he is being discrete,” she said to Regina as if Crispin had suddenly lost his hearing, “but I see him staring daggers at my partners. More than one gentleman has made a quick escape at the end of the promenade, thanks to Lord Margrave’s dark glowers.”
Oh, dear. Sophia was truly put out with him if she’d reverted to his formal address.
Regina glanced at Crispin for confirmation that he had been following Sophia. Ruddy patches appeared on his face, and he snatched up the contract to scrutinize it more. “With Charles away someone needs to keep watch over you. All of you.”
Xavier’s eyebrow arched. “I am capable of caring for my betrothed and her family.”
Crispin lowered the sheet of foolscap. “Who are you, exactly? You seemed to have appeared from nowhere to whisk the Darlingtons to Hyde Park for a picnic, and suddenly you and Regina are to be married.”
Sophia bounded from the settee, eliciting a startled bark from Cupid. She hugged the dog and kissed his furry head to soothe him before nailing Crispin with a scathing glare. “It appears you not only follow me around the ballroom, but you’ve taken to spying on me at the park. How else would you know about our picnic?”
“I was riding, as I do every day. I happened to notice the lot of you as I was leaving.”
The little dog whimpered and wiggled to break free of Sophia’s arms to reach Crispin. He ignored the dog and returned to questioning Xavier. “How do you know Mr. and Mrs. Tucker?”
Regina grumbled under her breath, but Xavier simply lounged on the chair with an insolent slant to one side of his mouth. “Serafine Tucker is my sister. Are you well acquainted with my kin? Do speak with them if you require a personal recommendation, although it seems clear Miss Darlington is not seeking your blessing.”
The muscles in Crispin’s jaw bulged. “No, she isn’t. She wishes to use my connections to secure a special license, but she cares nothing about my thoughts on her marriage.”
Regina’s frustration began to ebb. Uncle Charles, Aunt Beatrice, Regina, and her sisters were all Crispin had in his life. His desire to protect them while Uncle Charles was away was rather sweet. She placed a hand on his shoulder to express her thanks and friendship, but she held his steady gaze to let him know she wouldn’t be swayed.
“Your blessing means a great deal to me. You must know I care, but I have always been of an independent mind. I have made my decision. Mr. Vistoire will be a good husband.”
A whisper of doubt caused her heart to flutter, but she maintained her confident demeanor. How was one to know with certainty if a man would be a good husband until it was too late?
“I’ve made my decision.” She smacked her palm against the desk to punctuate the finality of her choice.
Crispin’s brow wrinkled “I heard you the first time.” He dropped the contract on the desk. “It is a generous agreement. Your interests will be protected, if he signs the contract as it is.”
Xavier rose from the chair, towering over Crispin and reached for the contract before snatching the quill and ink from the corner of the desk. The curling of his top lip communicated his disdain for Crispin and his insinuation. “I will sign the agreement if it meets with your approval, Miss Darlington. I ask for nothing in return.”
He bent over the paper with the quill poised to sign his name, looking to her for consent. She gave a quick nod. He scribbled his name on the contract, then slid it toward her and held out the quill. Her hand shook slightly when she signed her name.
“Sophia.” She passed the paper to her sister to bear witness and held her breath as Crispin followed suit after a lengthy hesitation.
“I will call on James Hillary next,” Crispin said as he replaced the quill and stood. “I am aware of at least one occasion when he was able to expedite the approval of a special license. That was for his son, however. I cannot promise Mr. Hillary will grant my request.”
Regina nodded. “We are grateful for whatever you are able to do.”
“You are welcome.” The viscount brushed past Sophia en route to the study door, pointedly avoiding eye contact with her. At the threshold, he spun on his heel to aim one more unnerving scowl at Xavier before jerking open the door and stalking away. The front door slammed a few moments later.
Regina gaped at her sister. “What in the world has Crispin in such a foul-temper?”
Sophia frowned. “I don’t know what has gotten into him lately. He’s as grumpy as an old toad.”
“I had no idea toads were so emotive,” Reg
ina teased.
“I said they are grumpy—not performing Shakespearean plays. Have you ever seen a toad without a frown?”
She laughed and tweaked her sister’s cheek. “Try not to be too harsh with Crispin. He misses Uncle Charles when he is away.”
“We all do, but you won’t find me lurking in corners plotting the dismemberment and death of others.”
“You shouldn’t say such things about Crispin, even in jest.”
Sophia sniffed as if to say she was not joking.
Regina abandoned the topic. “Retrieve your gloves and bonnet. If you are still accompanying us to the Commons, we should hurry along. We have quite a task facing us this afternoon after we apply for the license.”
She had updated her sisters on the recent development of the map while Aunt Beatrice had a private word with Xavier. Both conversations went much better than she’d anticipated. Aunt Beatrice hadn’t asked for her pistol, and her sisters seemed more intrigued by the mystery of the map and who wanted it than indignant over Xavier deceiving them. There had been time to rummage through Uncle Charles’s study before Crispin arrived, but many hiding places still needed to be explored.
Sophia pulled on her gloves in the foyer. “The library itself could take a few days to search. How long do we have?”
“Four days,” Xavier said.
Regina turned toward him. “Now that we are betrothed, do you think the risk of Farrin sending in another man will be eliminated?”
“Perhaps once word reaches him.”
“Can’t you speak with him? Do you know where to find him?”
If Xavier had a meeting place, perhaps it would provide a useful clue to lead them to Farrin’s employer.
“Farrin finds me when he wishes to speak. He says the streets have eyes and ears.”
Secrets to a Gentleman's Heart (Uncle Charlie's Angels Book 1) Page 17
