Twice Tempted (8 page)

He hadn’t expected a goddess.

Fiona had said she had a twin, of course. But somehow Alex hadn’t expected an identical twin.
No
, he thought, almost shaking his head.
Not identical, exactly.
Fiona was compelling, with high, broad cheekbones, startling blue eyes, and hair the color of fire. She stood at almost five feet ten inches and moved with the grace of a natural horsewoman. Ever since he’d met her four years earlier, he had known she would mature into a rare beauty, and she had. Her sister had the same features, from square face to tumbling red-gold hair. She stood as tall and walked with the same fluid power. But she wasn’t the same. She was
more
.

Fiona was beautiful. Her sister was luminous. Otherworldly. Breathtaking. Her hair wasn’t just thick and curly. It was alive, dancing around her shoulders like one of the seven veils. Her eyes had enough of a violet tinge that they compelled comparison to flowers and evening skies. Her skin had the hue and texture of unearthly fine porcelain, and her hands, now in flight, were as graceful as soaring birds. Even her figure, only hinted at beneath a hideous mustard dress and rumpled apron with overfull pockets, was the stuff of fantasies.

There was no one thing Alex could put it down to, this stunning otherworldliness that set her so far apart. But it existed, and it made him question every assumption he’d made about the intelligence of anyone who’d met her.

And yet, amazingly, he had no reaction to her. No accelerated heart. No tightening in his groin or urge to possess. Those, he realized, he reserved for Fiona.

“Mairead,” Fiona said, standing so she filled her sister’s view. “You remember my talking about Ian’s friend Alex.”

The sister blinked as if being woken suddenly from sleep. “No.”

Capturing her sister’s hands midflight, Fiona turned toward Alex, continuing as if the answer had been affirmative. “Well, this is Alex Knight, Viscount Whitmore. You have never met him, but he is the gentleman who brought me home from school to Hawesworth Castle four years ago. The one who brought us the news about Ian.” Swinging around, she motioned just beyond Alex. “And this is, uh, Lord Wilde.”

“Chuffy,” Chuffy said, sounding curiously complacent. “Everybody says so.”

Lady Edna Mairead Ferguson Hawes blinked a couple more times at Chuffy. “You’re not sure?”

He shrugged. “Enough for the engraver.”

“And here, Mairead, is Lady Beatrice Gilbey,” Fiona finished, turning to include Lady Bea, who simply waggled her fingers at Lady Mairead, as if catching sight of her across a crowded ballroom.

“They have come about our good news, Mairead. You know, that Ian is alive.”

It was a small movement, but Alex caught it. Every muscle in the sister went taut. She was ready to bolt, but Fiona, smiling, kept tight hold on her. The sister took on a faint resemblance to a panicked horse. Her nostrils even flared, as if she smelled danger.

“Will you join us, Mairead?” her sister asked, her voice brisk.

Fiona’s twin spared one more panicked look at the intruders—funny, how Alex suddenly felt like an intruder—and then turned back to her sister, as if no one else inhabited the room. “Where is it, Fee?” Her voice sounded thinner, fretful. “Please. I think that woman has it.”

Fiona never looked away from her sister. “She is resting against it, dear. Don’t you want her to be comfortable?”

Obviously a harder question than it seemed. Mairead Ferguson began to rock, her hands clutching Fiona’s as if she were in danger of falling. “Please. These people, I can’t…I…” She was drawing in air now like a landed fish. Alex almost got to his feet, as if that could help. Fiona held her sister’s gaze.

“You will have it soon, sweetings. It is safe.”

“This?” Lady Bea asked, pulling a pillow from behind her back and holding it up. The size of a large book, the square was tattered and covered in needleworked thistles.

Before she could say more, or Fiona react, Mairead broke free and grabbed the pillow to her chest, closing her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, still gasping a bit. “Sorry. It isn’t your fault, ma’am. I should never have let it out of my sight.”

Lady Bea was still smiling as if she understood.
“Ego te absolvo.”

Mairead’s eyes sprang open and she laughed. “You look nothing like a priest.” Without a pause, she turned on her sister, the pillow still clutched close. “I
must
get time on the great refractor,” she insisted. “If my calculations are correct, the light from my Cepheid variable should be fluctuating again in the next few days, which would prove the orbit of the companion star. I need to catch the exact time so I can make precise calculations. Fiona, you must do something. You must talk to Mr. Pond. You must get me time. You told me that since we couldn’t live near Caroline and William, we would live here so I could have the chance at the observatory’s instruments. You even agreed to do his computing so he would give me time. But he isn’t. He won’t.
Make
him, Fiona.”

“It is too late this afternoon, Mairead,” Fiona said, and Alex was impressed by her steady calm. “Of course I will speak to Mr. Pond in the morning. But for now, sit down for a few minutes and greet our guests.”

And before Alex knew it, Fiona had drawn her sister all the way to the settee, where she sat her next to Lady Bea, who patted the girl’s hand as if she were a child deserving sweets.

Lady Mairead blinked like a baby rabbit and rocked a bit in place, arms around the small pillow. “No, Fiona. No, now. Please. I won’t sleep. You know I won’t.”

“Of course you won’t, sweetings,” Fiona said, seating herself in a chair next to her sister without letting go of her hand. “You will be up with me watching the night sky. But now I’d like you to give your greetings to our guests.”

“I don’t want guests. I don’t want news. I want to see my
star
.”

“Pond, eh? Astronomer Royal?” Chuffy asked with a nod. “Good chap. Bit old-fashioned. Friend of the pater’s. Help, if you want.”

Lady Mairead scowled, giving Chuffy a once-over that reminded Alex of his aunt Euphrania dressing down a deb. The only thing the girl was missing was a lorgnette.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

Chuffy grinned. “Chuffy. Just Chuffy. Can go next week, if you want. Busy now.”

“You are interested in astronomy?” Fiona asked him.

“Don’t know a star from a seagull. Might like to learn.”

“Do you know mathematics?” Mairead demanded. “There is no point in pursuing an interest in astronomy unless you understand mathematics.”

Chuffy shrugged. “Some.”

Alex coughed, but kept his thoughts to himself.

“You really know Gauss?” Chuffy asked, giving his glasses another shove.

“Of course we know Gauss,” Lady Mairead snapped. “He has a fine mind. We’re discussing a new vision of geometry, aren’t we, Fee?”

That was when Alex noticed that Fiona had released her sister’s hand and sat back a bit. Mairead was stroking her pillow like a cat.

“Indeed we have, Mairead,” Fiona said. “We can talk about Mr. Gauss over tea.”

Lady Mairead’s head came up. “Tea?”

“I’m sure Mrs. Quick has it ready.”

She received another blink, a nod, and her sister calmly returned to her feet.

“Help,” Chuffy offered, popping up.

Fiona’s sister jumped back from him as if he’d pushed her, but she didn’t seem distressed. “We’re having gingerbread,” she said and, depositing the pillow in Fiona’s lap, walked out the door, Chuffy right on her heels.

Alex wished he could just close his eyes. He had had a surfeit of eccentrics lately. He had a feeling it was about to get much, much worse. And he wasn’t at all sure he had enough patience left for them. He needed to get back to his father. He needed to ferret out who had sent that blackmail letter. He needed a few minutes alone with Fiona to assure himself she was all right. That she was happy to see him.

“He really doesn’t notice how beautiful she is, does he?” Fiona asked.

Alex opened his eyes to see her staring out the door. “Chuffy? Oh, in a ‘what a pretty sunset’ kind of way.”

Fiona nodded and sank back into her chair, still looking bemused. Alex had a feeling she was even more overwhelmed than he. He caught himself just shy of going over to sit next to her. Taking her hand. Offering support.

“Mairead never just goes off with other people,” she mused.

Lady Bea chuckled. “Chuffy,” she said, as if that were answer enough.

For anyone who knew Chuffy, it was. “Chuffy is the most nonthreatening soul in the kingdom,” Alex assured Fiona. “Your sister truly enjoys astronomy?”

Fiona smiled. “I am not sure ‘enjoys’ is the proper term. ‘Obsesses over’ might be closer. Lives for. Breathes and sleeps. I still cannot believe how lucky we were to end up in a school at the south end of Greenwich Park. She walks to the observatory every day. I know she is impatient with Mr. Pond, but he has been very kind to her. Of course, we have been doing some of his calculations. He should be gracious.”

Again Alex had to rearrange his assumptions. “You both have?”

She shrugged. “Mr. Pond actually has several people helping him. And he would be foolish to pass up a mind like Mairead’s.”

A mind like
Mairead’s
. No mention of how singular her own brain must be to be doing mathematical calculations for the Astronomer Royal. Alex felt more and more disconcerted. Somehow he’d thought he knew everything about Fiona. Everything that mattered, anyway. Hadn’t he saved her once? Hadn’t he kissed her out in a pasture? But he was just beginning to realize how little he did know. And how much he wanted to change that.

Now Lady Bea patted Fiona’s hand, which made Alex smile. “Bryan,” the old woman said. “Of course.”

Only a few days ago, Alex wouldn’t have understood the reference. But he’d studied up on Fiona’s odd collection of correspondents, and found that the Margaret Bryan she had inherited the school from wasn’t merely a school principal. She was a brilliant mathematician and natural philosopher in her own right, having published several seminal works. The Ferguson twins were looking more interesting by the minute.

On the other hand, how well would a pair of mathematician/astronomers fare in the shallow pool of the
ton
? It was a question he had never thought to ask.

“Does this mean we have to find you a telescope for when you move?” he asked with a smile.

Fiona’s head snapped up. “Move? What move?”

“Chuffy and I didn’t come merely to tell you about Ian,” he said. “We’ve come to bring you back.”

She stiffened. “Back? I told you. We are not going back. And I cannot believe the marquess would be any happier than I if we did.”

“I agree. He’s not worth wasting time over. But you are both granddaughters of a marquess. The daughters and sisters of viscounts. You should have had a season two years ago. We’re here to see you returned to your rightful place in society.”

Fiona Ferguson had the strangest smile on her face, as if Alex were the sweetest, most ingenuous boy she’d ever met. “No, Lord Whitmore. You won’t.”

He felt like growling. “First of all, I already told you. It’s Alex. Second, why the deuce—er, why not?”

She was back on her feet and striding over to the window, the pillow clutched to her chest. “It isn’t that I don’t appreciate your concern,” she said. “And I do thank you for telling me about Ian.” She turned and frowned. “He really is alive.”

Alex could understand the need for reassurance. “He really is.”

She nodded, looked out onto the yellow fog that blanketed Southvale Road. “It will be good to see him. Please give him our direction when he is free to travel.”

Alex was on his feet, too, suddenly impatient. “Lady Fiona, you know I cannot do that. If I left you here alone, your brother would have every right to take my head. And I wouldn’t blame him.” Standing, he approached. “When we came yesterday,” he said, “we failed to give you a viable path for returning to your lives. But Lady Bea has offered that path. She would be pleased to invite you to live with her and be sponsored by her and her sister-by-marriage, Lady Kate Lidge. Lady Bea wanted to come herself to make certain you knew how delighted she is to welcome you both.”

Lady Bea nodded with a beatific smile. “Diamonds.”

“You have no responsibility toward us, ma’am,” Fiona said to Lady Bea, who was still smiling. “I would not wish to put you out.”

Alex heard an abrupt bark from the doorway and looked up to see Chuffy, who pointed behind him as he walked in. “Women shoved me out of the kitchen. Lady Bea. You inconvenienced?”

“Golden cage,” the old woman said, now frowning. “Need out. Need…quest.”

Chuffy grinned. “Lady Bea has been companion to Lady Kate, who’s a real pip. Up to every rig and row and never happier than when she’s setting the
ton
on its ear. Lady Kate’s on her honeymoon, though. Imagine Lady Bea’s bored out of her stays.”

Lady Bea giggled and smacked him on the arm. He grinned back at her.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Fiona said. “But how can you know you would enjoy having us? You have only just met us. I know you cannot have mistaken my sister’s personality as a sweet and biddable one. She cannot tolerate crowds, bores, or bad music, and she will say so out loud. And we will no longer be parted. For any reason.”

“Anathema!” Lady Bea proclaimed.

Alex grinned. “She means your being separated.”

“I got that,” Fiona answered. “But what of our work?”

Alex could wait no longer. He took her hand, cradling it in his own as if a woman with hands this strong and elegant needed protection. “You wouldn’t have to work ever again,” he said. “I promise.”

For a long moment she just looked at him, and Alex felt the creeping decay of his certainty. He couldn’t remember a time when any woman had told him no for any reason. He couldn’t imagine this woman he had kissed four years ago disdaining his help. Suddenly he was fighting the urge to pull her close to him, to insist. To collect her like an heirloom to protect.

She pulled her hand away as if it burned and backed up a step, never looking away from him, the picture of dignity and strength. “Ah, but you see, Lord Whitmore, you’ve made the wrong promise. We have no wish to be relieved of our work. We have students, and Mairead has her chance on the refractor, and we both have our computations to keep us busy and well fed. I think this is the place for us now.”