The Reluctant Suitor (22 page)

“Yes, my lord,” the butler agreed, revealing no more than a trace of a smile in spite of his amusement.

With the possible exception of his lordship himself, everyone in the house was keenly cognizant of the topics that could ignite the man’s outrage. More than not, they had to do with matters concerning his youngest daughter and her many suitors. She certainly had a way about her that seemed to bring waves of admirers to their stoop, which, of course, did much to spark her father’s protective instincts.

The housekeeper entered the dining room and crossed it with a rapid patter of footfalls. Having been in the Suttons’ employ well before their first daughter was born, Henrietta Reeves did not show the slightest hesitation as she progressed toward the end of the table where his lordship sat. Halting beside his chair,

she presented a silver dish bearing a rumpled letter sealed with a rather large, incongruous blotch of red wax. “Mr. Elston stopped by earlier this morning, my lord,” she explained in muted tones. “He asked me to give you this as soon as Lady Adriana came downstairs. He said the missive was most urgent.”

“Thank you, Henrietta,” Gyles replied in a tone only slightly less gruff. He broke the seal as the servants withdrew and, unfolding the crumpled letter, began to read. After a moment, one dark brow arched sharply upward, deepening lines across his forehead that normally were barely noticeable.

The Earl of Standish hadn’t needed a thunderbolt to strike him before he had become suspicious of Roger Elston’s attempts to play upon his daughter’s sympathies. It had been his concern from the beginning that the apprentice was seeking some secure foothold in her life. He had deplored the man’s methods. Having been carefully instructed himself in the manners of a gentleman by his own sire, Gyles had long been of the belief that propriety demanded a fellow, no matter his circumstance in life, remain mum about his difficulties except to those who were required to know. Among the citizens of Bradford on Avon, Adriana was notoriously compassionate toward people in need. Thus, when Roger had disclosed to her many of the arduous travails he had suffered in his youth and the years thereafter, Gyles had taken umbrage at his effrontery. It hadn’t helped a father’s mounting qualms to realize she had perhaps shown a more kindly tolerance of the apprentice than she had ever exhibited toward aristocrats who, while seeking parental permission to woo her, had been more inclined to abide by lofty codes of behavior. If not for his agreement with his old friend, Gyles would have lent serious consideration to the requests he had received for her hand from several noblemen he had deemed above reproach, the most promising being Riordan Kendrick. Approving of such a courtship would have given him good reason to forbid Roger’s visits, which to his great annoyance had often come about unannounced and without prior knowledge of Adriana.

Perhaps he was merely reacting to something many would claim as nothing more than a father’s overprotective instincts, but Gyles just couldn’t shake the suspicion that Roger’s main purpose for attaching himself to Adriana was to marry into wealth, just as his unprincipled sire had done before him, or perhaps even to reap the benefits to be gained through the demise of a spouse, by which method, according to rumors, Edmund Elston had profited either by natural or deliberate means.

“What is it, dear?” Christina inquired, unable to ignore her husband’s deepening scowl.

Lowering the missive, Gyles lent his consideration to his handsome wife. “Perhaps, my dear, this dispatch has been delivered to our stoop this very morning because Roger has recently become mindful of Colton’

s return. In any case, he respectfully petitions us to reconsider with all possible speed his proposal of marriage to our daughter. . . .”

Adriana’s head snapped up, and she stared at her father as if he were the one who had taken leave of his senses instead of Roger Elston. “What will you tell him?”

“What would you have me tell him, my dear? The truth? That there’s little chance that you will accept such an offer?”

She blushed beneath her father’s probing stare and considered her tightly entwined fingers. “I thought the last time Roger asked that it would be sufficient impediment if he knew of my betrothal to Colton. I didn’t wish to wound him unduly, Father, neither did I want to encourage him, only to soften the blow to his pride. He’d have likely taken exception to any mention of the differences in our lineage. I’m afraid, however, that he has shown himself rather foolhardy now that Colton has returned. For his own good, he must be told that I cannot possibly accept his offer of marriage.”

Gyles probed the dark, luminous eyes that lifted to his. The girl’s chagrin was all too apparent. “What has

happened to finally convince you of this need for honesty, my child?”

Adriana brushed at the tears welling forth, far more angry at herself than she had ever imagined she had been with her father for asking her to let him be completely candid with the apprentice. “I’m afraid Roger acted unseemly toward Colton yesterday while we were at Randwulf Manor.”

“Unseemly?” Gyles repeated, elevating a brow as he considered her tears. “How so?”

Adriana tried to swallow the lump in her throat and made a valiant attempt to present a calm demeanor. “

No matter how far-fetched it may seem now in retrospect, it became evident at the onset of their meeting that Roger bore a grudge against Colton. If not for the intervention of Leo and Aris, he would’ve likely set upon the marquess with fisticuffs right off . . . or, at least, so tried. When he finally launched an attack, it was quickly dealt with by Colton. Even hampered by a leg injury, Colton sent him flying across the room, leaving the stable hands the task of carting Roger home. Frankly, I don’t understand why Roger took such a chance. Colton has a physique very much like his father’s. At the very least, he’s half a head taller than Roger and not only heavier, but solidly made.” The colonel’s nakedness had proven that fact only too well. Never before had she imagined that the flesh over a man’s ribs could be so tautly rippled. “

Only a fool or a very brave man would’ve made such an attempt, and yet Roger sought three times to keep Colton away from me. The last one he was socked across the room.”

“He dared be so forward?” her mother whispered in horror. Receiving a disconcerted nod from her daughter, Christina turned to peruse her husband’s frowning countenance in spite of the fact that he had always been far better at reading her mind than she had his. “Gyles, dear, Adriana is right. Someone must tell the lad it’s useless for him to hope that we’ll consider his proposal of marriage. It just cannot be . . .

certainly not with the betrothal contract to be honored . . . nor without it even. I know Adriana has been unwilling to destroy the young man’s hopes because of the past travails he has suffered, first estranged from his father and then orphaned as he was by his mother’s death at so young an age. As much as we can sympathize with him for what he has had to endure, ‘twould certainly seem from what Adriana has said that he has taken too much upon himself by demonstrating some claim to her, especially when he knows she’s obligated to accept Colton’s courtship. What must his lordship be thinking now that he has been set upon by the apprentice?”

“You’re right, of course, my dear,” Gyles agreed. “The lad must be told. I shall make every effort to explain to him the necessity of our daughter marrying a man from the peerage. . . .”

Adriana shook her head passionately. “Nay, Father, I pray you not be so direct with Roger. I fear he’ll take offense.”

“He does seem to make much ado about his poor lot in life,” Gyles replied, trying not to scowl. Had Roger been less inclined to play upon his daughter’s sympathies, Gyles thought perhaps he may have been able to like the fellow better. It was a devious way for any man to claim attention from a lady, especially one sensitive to the hardships of others. “Nevertheless, Roger must be told that you have certain obligations and that you cannot possibly see him anymore.”

Adriana wrung her hands. This situation was of her own making; she should never have allowed Roger to visit her at her home. It was obvious now he had mistaken her compassion for something more. “Perhaps I should be the one to tell him. After all, it was my fault that he came here in the first place.”

“You were only being kind, dear,” her mother avouched. “You didn’t realize he’d become desirous of having you for himself.”

“
Humph!
‘Tis that stubborn whelp, Colton Wyndham, I’d like to horsewhip!” Gyles muttered sourly. “If not for his defiance, I wouldn’t have been forced to contend with all the ambitious, young cocks who

think they’re doing me an enormous favor by plying for my daughter’s hand . . . as if she were some aging spinster facing a life of solitude! No doubt, young Wyndham would be astounded at the number of eligible lords I’ve had to discourage in my attempt to honor our contract with his father. If not for Sedgwick’s uncompromising belief that you’d be of great benefit to his son and he’d be just as good for you, Adriana, I’d have begged him to abandon his plans for Colton long ago. Recently I had come to believe the matter was behind us and that the young whelp would never return. But now, it all begins anew.”

“No longer a young whelp, my dear,” Christina corrected her husband gently. “He’s a man now, more than thirty.”

Gyles leaned back in his chair, his jaw slowly sagging in surprise. “Thirty, you say?”

“To be precise, Father, thirty and two,” Adriana stated.

“I was married and had a daughter on the way by the time I was his age,” Gyles declared, as if aghast at the idea that a man could ignore his duties as prime heir for so long a period of time. “By now, Wyndham should be ready to settle down and start a family.”

Adriana clasped her arms about her knees and once again knitted her shaking fingers together. Her voice quavered almost as much. “Obviously he had been told about the contract sometime yesterday afternoon, because he was cognizant of it last night. He just mentioned the period of courtship, not the betrothal that might follow. Perhaps he wasn’t willing to consider anything more than that in light of his reluctance to return home. In any case, he asked me to give you his regards and to inform you that he’ll be sending a missive over to inquire into a suitable time for his visit.”

Christina noticed that a brighter pink had swept into her daughter’s pale cheeks, a sure sign the girl was upset. Curiously she asked, “Has he changed much, dear?”

Adriana tried desperately not to think of how handsome her would-be fiancé had become during his absence from home or the beauty of his long, muscular torso, which she couldn’t help but admire in retrospect. Except for places where there had been a moderate furring of dark hair across his chest, and the thin line that traced down his taut belly to the darker mass, his naked body had gleamed with the luster of warm bronze in the flickering glow of the lantern light. “More than you can imagine, Mother.”

Christina’s hand began to tremble, so much so that she was forced to lay aside her fork. Making every effort to hide her mounting apprehension, she clenched her hands in her lap. “Has he been noticeably scarred by the war?”

“Noticeably scarred?” Adriana repeated distantly. Though she gazed out the diamond-paned windows toward the rolling hills beyond the manse, she saw nothing but an image of the man to whom she had been promised. Lost in a tangle of thoughts, she barely moved her shoulders in a responsive shrug. “At Waterloo, he was severely wounded and, because of that reason, was prevented from making a timely return.”

“Oh, dear, I hope the wound wasn

’t too dreadful,” her mother replied worriedly, imagining the worst. “Can you bear to look upon him?”

“I must admit it wasn’t easy to remain composed.” Even now, Adriana had difficulty maintaining her aplomb when she recalled the jolt of excitement that had shot through her when she had been caught up against his steely form. Gooseflesh and weak knees were definitely a rare experience for her; she hadn’t known such exquisite sensations could be evoked merely by the pressure of a man’s body against her own . . . or the
memory
of
that
moment . . .
or
the one in the bathing chamber, which in recall seemed far more thrilling. She certainly had to reform her opinion on the subject of stimuli if being in a man’s embrace and seeing him naked could affect her in such diversely tempestuous degrees. After hearing Colton’s heated rejection of her so many years ago, she had remained distantly detached from would-be suitors to protect herself against the possibility of ever being wounded again, but the shock of her recent encounter with Colton had awakened sensations far different from anything she had ever experienced before.

Fighting against visions of a hideously scarred man, Christina pressed a napkin against lips, which now trembled with her ever-mounting concerns. “As difficult a task as that?”

“Hmmm—,”
Adriana answered with a slow nod, trying not to think back upon that moment in the gallery when Colton had grinned down at her as he held her clasped against his long body. Had she been able to read his thoughts, she probably would have had cause to slap his face. The prurient glow in his eyes had seemed to warrant such a reaction from her. In the bathing chamber, the pleasure he had obviously derived from ogling her naked form had been confirmed in a most embarrassing way, yet he had seemed totally unabashed by that fact or that she had all but gawked at him. It was rather humiliating to realize in retrospect that the very one who had once rejected her years ago was also the one who had awakened her womanly desires.