Richard shrugged. “I would not be unkind. I would protect her by not telling her the truth.” He took a long sip of his drink. “All I need is a duchess to play the part of loyal wife and doting mother to my heirs, nothing more.”
“Why marry if it is only for show?” Adrian countered.
He hoped to keep his friend talking as a means to distract his own mind from the woman upstairs. The woman he had not seen since she left his study barefoot and stockingless, flashing glimpses of her ankles as she had hastened from the room.
Richard feigned a yawn and pretended not to hear Adrian. “As you know, I prowled around London for a while before coming north to visit you,” he said. “I happened to encounter the most charming actress at Thornton’s Music Hall. Perhaps, as my gift to you upon this charitable season of giving, I might arrange for her to spend Christmas here with you? A little company through the dark and dreary nights?”
He wiggled his eyebrows, undeterred by Adrian’s less-than-impressed glare. Richard had sent women before, usuallywithout forewarning Adrian, and those singers, actresses, muses, and socialites had a tendency to be devious and light-fingered.
In truth, Adrian had assumed that Valerie was one such ‘gift’ at first, though he was beginning to think he was wrong about her intentions. Either that, or she was trying to bide her time before she stole something of great value.
There was nothing disturbed in my study, unless I can be counted.
Indeed, the behavior of Mrs. Mullens and Jarvis was different too. Jarvis, at the very least, had treated previous visitors of the female persuasion with an aloof distance. Yet, he truly seemed to care about Valerie having a pleasant time during her stay at Blackwall Castle. The man had even asked Adrian how Valerie’s appointment with the healer had gone, as if Adrian would know such a thing.
“I can see you are tempted; do not deny it,” Richard goaded, oblivious to the fact that Adrian was thinking about someone else entirely.
“I should hate that, thank you,” Adrian replied. “Abhor it, truly. So, no, I must politely reject your Christmas offering. This Christmas, I shall be perfectly, happily alone and undisturbed.”
At least, that is the plan.There was just one hurdle to overcome: getting Valerie away from his castle before Christmas Eve, andbefore she could inflict any further damage upon his ordinarily disciplined mind.
She was everything he hated most in people: all smiles and blushes, brimming with a feisty spirit and a sharp wit, with such an easy, affable manner to her that even sensible folks, like the butler and the housekeeper, were besotted. The sort of woman who was, no doubt, universally adored. A lady of undeniable charm, unflappable in the face ofhiscold demeanor.
Yes, Valerie Wightman was the sort of person he should have despised, yet all he could think about was kissing her again. Kissing her and more. Kissing her and carrying her to his chambers, to indulge in the sort of things that would make Richard’s tryst with a French singer pale in comparison.
“My good man,whatis the matter with you this evening?” Richard asked bluntly, squinting at Adrian with suspicion in his eyes. “I thought it was your usual recalcitrance, your usual ‘warming up’ to conversation, but you are elsewhere entirely. I can see it on your face.”
Adrian sniffed. “Nonsense. I am completely myself.”
“It is a woman,” Richard said with a delighted, almost boyish gasp. “I am right, am I not? You have rejected my offer because you already have a woman here, to spend the festive season with!Thatis why you have been so strange this evening. You are hiding a delicious little secret, somewhere in this castle!”
“No,” Adrian replied a note too quickly. “No, that is not true at all.”
But Richard was already on his feet, glass in hand, hurrying out of the smaller drawing room—situated within the opposite wing to where Jarvis had tried to hide Valerie—like a hound who had caught a scent.
Groaning under his breath, Adrian got up and followed.Let us hope she has obeyed my rules tonight.
According to Mrs. Mullens, Valerie had taken her luncheon and evening meal in her chambers, so it stood to reason that the beautiful young woman with the wild green eyes, tormenting silhouette, and willing mouth would be in her room. A place that even Richard would not dare to go, for though he did as he pleased in some regards, he did not enter private rooms without permission.
So, it came as something of an infuriating disappointment when Adrian heard a woman’s bright laughter echoing down the hallway.
“I knew it!” Richard cheered, in fierce pursuit of the sound.
The man’s determination took them all the way to the eastern wing, that laughter growing louder as the gentlemen passed across the entrance hall. Indeed, to Adrian’s grim dismay, it appeared they were heading straight for the same drawing room where Valeriewouldhave slept and left if he had not been so quick to anger.
If I had just permitted it, albeit reluctantly, she would be on her way to Scotland by now…
He neglected to remember that the storm, and the still falling snow, would still have prevented her. All he could think was how his behavior had been the catalyst for that morning’s disaster; the dangerous and all-consuming desire that he had only just managed to pull away from.
“This is ridiculous,” Adrian said, a few paces behind Richard. “There is no woman. We are wasting perfectly good port and warmth for nothing.”
Giddier laughter brought a grimace to his lips.
“If I were not so delighted, I would be furious with you for lying to me,” Richard tossed back over his shoulder, pressing on toward that drawing room.
Half a hallway from the door to that room, Adrian was struck by a sudden and violent thrum of anger. Fury that his friend was not listening to him. A bristling exasperation that Richard would stride into that room, introduce himself to Valerie, and charm her in an instant. He was another of those kinds of people: the kind with a demeanor that drew people to him; the kind who could win anyone’s favor upon first meeting; the kind of man who could have any woman that he desired.
Despite that, Richard was someone that Adrian had not hated, had never hated, until that moment. It was that feeling that made Adrian quicken his pace, until he had passed Richardcompletely, and put himself in front of the drawing room door. Blocking his friend.
