Diana Palmer - Noelle

“Andrew was afraid that you wouldn’t want me here. He told me that you would probably make me leave. I suppose I was anticipating it when you arrived. It made me hostile toward you.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “My stepbrother knows very little about me,” he pointed out. “He was a boy when I left home, and my visits have been infrequent.”

“Andrew was good to me, although I realize that he brought me here without your permission. When he learned about my circumstances, he insisted,” she said, and her green eyes softened. “He’s quite dashing and very brave, and he impressed my uncle greatly.” She looked nervously at him. “He said that I could be a great help to your grandmother as a companion, to earn my keep. I have done my best to ease her path, and I’ve been helping Andrew with his correspondence and paperwork in the evenings. I can use a typewriter and a Dictaphone. Andrew taught me how.”

He was getting an interesting picture of his stepbrother’s benevolence. It wasn’t flattering to Andrew. Apparently Noelle was working for him as an unpaid secretary, in addition to running his grandmother’s errands. No doubt she was earning her keep, but it was Jared, not Andrew, who was paying the bills.

He frowned as the dampness on the porch began to make his leg ache. His hand was gripping the cane hard, and he grimaced as he used it to prop his sore leg.

“I’m sorry for the remarks I made about your handicap,” she added unexpectedly, nodding toward his injured appendage.

He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not touchy about it,” he said.

“How did it happen?” she asked, without thinking.

“Would you believe that a horse threw me?” he drawled. It wasn’t the truth, but he wasn’t ready to impart that to anyone in the household just yet.

“Yes, of course,” she said. “The cane makes you look distinguished,” she added helpfully.

“Distinguished, or ancient?” he taunted.

“Mummies are ancient, not people,” she argued.

His lips turned up briefly. “Comforting, Miss Brown. Very comforting.”

An awkward silence fell over them while the rain increased its rhythmic pounding on the tin roof. “I must go and see if Mrs. Dunn needs anything. Thank you again,” she said sincerely.

“I had no intention of throwing you out on one day’s acquaintance,” he said before she left. “Andrew misjudged me. I’d do almost anything for my grandmother’s comfort. Any service you do her will please me.”

She smiled. “Thank you, then.” She continued on her way, ruff led but a little more at ease with him.

Later, when she told Mrs. Dunn about the unexpected compassion from Jared Dunn, the older woman was visibly surprised.

“Jared is a hard man,” Mrs. Dunn said. “He hasn’t had an easy life, and there’s a shell around him that no one in recent years has been able to breach. He cares for me, in his fashion, but he doesn’t like most people. He can be dangerous, and he makes a formidable adversary, especially in a court of law.”

“I hope that he never becomes mine,” Noelle said, with feeling.

Mrs. Dunn smiled at the very thought. “That’s hardly likely, my dear.”

Andrew arrived back at the house that evening, in a hired carriage with a driver to bring in his two bags and trunk. Noelle’s face lit up like a Christmas candle when she saw him, and she almost jumped out of her chair when he walked into the living room. But it was Mrs. Dunn, not Noelle, that he went to first. Noelle’s face fell. Jared, watching, found her adoration of his stepbrother oddly irritating.

“Grandmother, how wonderful to see you!” Andrew enthused as he embraced her. “I’ve been to Galveston and Victoria and even to Houston. I brought you a Paris hat—green velvet and feathers and fur. You’ll love it! And Noelle, I found a pretty little pearl pin for you—” He stopped as Jared moved into the lamplight. “Jared! Why…how nice to see you.”

“And you, Andrew,” Jared said, with a cool smile. “You look well.”

Indeed he did, in his fashionable suit and tie and hand-tooled lace-up shoes and bowler hat. Andrew was as tall as Jared, but a little less streamlined. He had a curling blond mustache that matched his shock of blond hair, with even features and dark eyes that twinkled. He was the epitome of a dashing ex-soldier, and women loved him. Noelle was no exception. Her face was flushed and eyes were bright with excitement as she greeted him.

“It’s lovely to have you back again, Andrew,” Noelle said breathlessly.

“It’s nice to be back.” He chuckled, reaching down to grasp her small hand and kiss it lazily. Her flush delighted him.

Jared could only imagine how he measured up against the younger man, with his gimpy leg and his lined face. But he wasn’t jealous of Andrew, who had the nature of a friendly puppy coupled with the shrewd craftiness of a coyote. He did know never to turn his back on the younger man, or trust him very far. Those were lessons that Noelle very obviously hadn’t learned yet. She looked like a ripe little peach hanging over a hungry boy’s head, and that continental bit of hand-kissing had flustered her visibly.

“How long are you staying, Jared?” Andrew asked, moving away from Noelle.

“For a long time. I’m moving my law practice down here from New York,” Jared replied, smiling at the shocked response. “This is my house, Andrew,” he added pointedly—in a tone that brooked no protests.

“Yes, of course it is. And you’re always welcome here,” Andrew said quickly. He laughed. The sound was nervous and too high. “I shall have to look to my laurels with such a famous trial lawyer around, drawing the attention of the ladies!”

Jared leaned heavily on the cane. “I have no interest in such attention, I assure you,” he said coldly, and his eyes flashed. “My prime interest is the practice of law.”

“I say, Jared, what happened to your leg?” he asked suddenly when his stepbrother moved forward and sank down into a wing chair by the empty fireplace.

“An accident,” Jared said firmly.

“I’m sorry. Will it heal?”

“Andrew, what a thoughtless question,” Mrs. Dunn chided. “Do sit down, dear boy, and tell us about your trip.”

“Oh, yes, do!” Noelle enthused.

He dropped elegantly to the sofa beside Mrs. Dunn and patted her hand affectionately. “I had a successful tour,” he said. “I met with some representatives of our sister company in Houston and I sold tons of bricks to businesses in Victoria. Perhaps soon there will be a market in Galveston. Progress on the seawall is moving along quite rapidly. Once finished, it certainly should forestall any further invasions of the sea. Forgive me, Noelle,” he added quickly.

She nodded and smiled. “It’s all right, Andrew,” she said in a husky, soft tone. And surprisingly, it was. Talking her grief out to Jared had made it bearable.

Andrew smiled his relief and plunged into the subject of the new construction, with the two women giving him their full attention. Jared just sat and listened. Andrew was smug and far too arrogant, but that didn’t seem to bother Noelle, who hung on his every word as if he were dispensing holy law. It made him irritable, and after a short time, he excused himself and went to bed.

“How long has he been here?” Andrew asked Mrs. Dunn when Jared was safely upstairs.

“For two days,” she replied. “He was tired of life in the big city and wanted to come home. He’s feeling his age, I think.”

“The poor old thing,” Noelle said, with genuine sympathy. “It must have been very difficult for him to get around in a big city like New York with such a handicap. Perhaps he will find a quieter life here.”

“I hope that he doesn’t interfere too much with our own lives,” Andrew muttered.