Catherine Archer - Lady Thorn

She watched him, her gaze never leaving his as they measured each other. The moment stretched on, and she felt a strange stirring inside her as she looked into those clear green eyes, with not even a hint of fear. Feeling an unexplainable breathlessness that she could only put down to her anxiety that he might refuse, Victoria answered him softly. “No, I am not concerned. That was many years ago, and I do not know what happened between you and this woman. But you have come to do right by your child as soon as you learned of his existence. That is not the action of a dishonorable man. In fact, everything that has occurred this evening has made me sure that you would discharge the duty of protecting me with great diligence. I will not judge you by something that must have happened between you and this woman when you were a boy.”

“I was seventeen, and what happened between us was she did not want me,” he supplied dispassionately.

Heavens, she thought, but he had been little more than a child himself! “More fool she,” was all she said in answer.

He seemed more than slightly taken aback and, dared she think it, pleased by her reply. She soon wondered if she had imagined the look of pleasure, for he shrugged noncommittally. “And how long do you believe this business association would last?”

She said, “I have no idea of the exact timing, but I can assure you that I should be able to find myself a husband from among the eligible bachelors who will be attending the season without a great deal of delay. I am not without assets.” Her wealth and position were well-known, and were the very things that had made her a target of Reginald’s greed.

“I would not deny that,” he said, causing her to look at him again. She flushed when she saw the assessing glance he cast over her. Although she realized the man had misunderstood her comment, she did not feel that she could clarify the matter. Not with him studying her like that, those cool green eyes of his making her feel warm in a way she did not understand.

Victoria decided to simply go on with the rest of what she wanted to tell him. “For your part, I would be willing to give you my backing until your parties are found. You will, of necessity, go with me wherever I go. Thus, you may make your inquiries at will.” She paused, then went on, “We shall say that you are my cousin, come from America.”

He quirked a brow, the side of his mouth turning up at the same time, and her heart tripped a double beat. “Your cousin?”

She squared her shoulders, doing her best to concentrate on the conversation, not on his mouth, or the way it made her stomach flutter. “My grandfather’s brother went off to search for adventure there. We have not heard from him or any descendants he might have, but you see, there is no other way to explain your presence in my home. I simply could not entertain any man who was not a relation to me. It would be completely unacceptable.”

“Of course, your kind would expect you to adhere to all the conventions.” She sensed a hint of disdain in his tone, and wondered at it. An unpleasant flash of disquiet darted through her.

When he went on, she momentarily forgot that faint unease. “I accept your offer. I will watch over you and make certain that no harm is done to you while you find a husband. In return, you will introduce me to the people who can help me find my child.”

She nodded. “It is agreed.”

Yet now that they had settled on it, Victoria could not dismiss the tickling feeling of apprehension that lingered as she looked at him. He was watching her, as well, and she had to force herself not to look away from the intensity of his gaze. It was as though he were searching, trying to see if there was something about her that did not please him.

The mere idea of such a thing rankled, but Victoria did not remark on her suspicions, as she had no reason for them. When she went over his actual words in her mind, there was nothing in them to cause her worry.

The sea captain had been nothing but gallant in his rescue of her, a perfect stranger. But the notion that something was wrong could not be totally dismissed, no matter how she told herself that she was being absurd.

Determinedly Victoria pushed her anxiety down, far into the recesses of her mind. She had found a solution to her problems in meeting Jedidiah McBride and was now reacting to him in this way because it put off her real cause for concern—that of finding a husband who would care for her and her father’s estates as they should be.

Victoria had no illusions about love. That was not something she expected or even hoped to find. The oftlauded excitement and fulfillment of that emotion were not for her.

Duty and responsibility must stand in their stead. Then she realized that even as she told herself this, her gaze had strayed quite unaccountably to the handsome stranger who now sat silent on the other side of the carriage.

Jedidiah opened his eyes and surveyed the elaborately corniced ceiling with a strange sense of displacement. He reared straight up in the huge four-poster bed. As he took in the blue-paneled walls, the heavy oak furniture and the long brocade curtains at the tall windows, the events of the previous night all came back to him in a rush of memory.

He was at Briarwood. The name of the sprawling mansion had been supplied to him by the liveried manservant who had seen him to his room. Even in the soft glow of the moonlight, Jed had been able to recognize that Victoria’s three-story sandstone manor house was remarkable in size and structure. The main section was decorated by heavy cornice and sculpted window frames. It was flanked by two equally impressive wings that jutted backward over luxurious lawns. He realized that Victoria’s house must certainly rival any of those owned by the queen herself.

Lady Victoria’s manor house, he reminded himself as he threw back the covers, then strode across the room to take up his pants from the beige-striped satin chair where he had left them. He would be wise to keep things on a formal footing between himself and the beguiling mistress of Briarwood manor. When he agreed to protect the woman until she found herself a husband, he’d had no idea what he was getting himself into.

She’d said her father had been a duke, and Jed knew that having a title meant something significant here in England. But, being American, he had not been completely cognizant of the implications of the term.

Seeing the house, the liveried servants, the sheer grandeur of the manor’s interior, which had been obvious even in the dim glow of the candles that lit the way last night, Jed understood that he had stepped into deep water. He had the feeling Victoria Thorn was someone at the very height of her social class. This realization did not please him in any way. Because of what he had agreed to do, he would be forced to mingle with the most arrogant and useless members of English society. In his experience, the more important the wealthy and highly placed felt, the more thoughtless and ignorant they were.

He wanted to find Victoria Thorn and tell her that he’d changed his mind, that she hadn’t made the situation clear. But he knew he wouldn’t do that. He’d given his word, and that was that.

What he could do was get on with the business of getting her married as quickly as possible. Once he helped Lady Victoria find herself a suitable husband, then located Nina, he would be on his way with his son. With that thought firmly fixed in his mind, Jed held out his pants in preparation for stepping into them.

At that same moment, there was a soft scratching at the bedroom door. He looked toward it, then down at his own bare length, with a frown of discomfiture. He called out, “Wait one-”