Julia Justiss - Rogue's Lady

The writing growing steadily more illegible, he concluded, “With your courage, intelligence and spirit, all will be well in the end. Adios! Your adoring Papa.”

At this moment as never before, Allegra felt truly alone in the world. A rush of panic and despair escaped her attempt to supress it. Would everything ever be well again?

A knock sounded at the door, interrupting her thoughts, and Lizzie popped in. “The Captain be wanting to see you in the library.” Belatedly adding a curtsey, Lizzie continued, “At your convenience, he said.” She sighed. “Oh, Miss Allegra, ain’t he just the handsomest man you ever saw? And as gentlemanly as handsome!”

Calling Rob’s face to mind steadied Allegra. With her old friend returned, she wasn’t completely alone. “Handsome and gentlemanly indeed,” she agreed. Resolute and gallant as a knight of yore, she added to herself, picturing him again in his regimentals. If only her childhood hero might ride to her rescue.

A sudden flare of hope made her straighten. Even as a boy, Rob had followed his father’s lead in supporting her and her family. He’d chastised his friends when they teased her and once knocked down another boy who called her a “dark-faced foreigner.” Might he offer some more attractive alternatives for her future?

She mustn’t depend on anyone but herself now, she reminded. But though she told herself she should count only on delivering Uncle Robert’s messages to Rob before going her own way, Allegra could not forestall a swell of excitement.

Not sure whether he would include Sapphira in their discussion, Allegra was relieved when she entered the library to find only Rob within. But seeing him seated behind the desk where she had so often found Uncle Robert, she had to take a deep breath.

“Allegra, come in!” he called. “Some wine?”

After pouring them each a glass, Rob ushered her to the sofa and took a seat beside her. “First, accept both my condolences and my apologies. You must have thought me an unfeeling beast! I didn’t learn until I talked with Bessie this afternoon that you lost your parents last fall. Please believe that I would have written at once, had I known. I can only be glad that after that awful event, you had the good sense to come here to Papa.”

Determined to banish the threatening tears, she took a sip of her wine and composed herself. “It was…a dreadful time. I think we helped each other, Uncle Robert and I.”

“You certainly helped him! Bessie told me he was already ill when you arrived. That you put aside your own grief and devoted all your time to entertaining and tending him…and at the last, to keeping vigil. Chores his new wife did not feel up to performing, I understand.”

Allegra shrugged. “He was almost as much a father to me as my own. It was a pleasure to spend time with him.” Amazing herself, she felt compelled to add, “Sapphira is rather young, and has neither the sensibility nor the skill to be of much assistance in a sickroom. I believe she has been all her life much cosseted and indulged.”

Rob grimaced. “So I gathered upon entering my front hallway. I thought at first I’d stumbled into the wrong house! I stopped to see Hobbs this afternoon and learned I have him to thank for sparing this room from invasion by crocodiles and lacquered paint. I’ve reinstated him, by the way.”

“I’m so glad! But—what about Stirling?”

“Sapphira can provide him with references—assuming she is up to that task. You are also young, but you seem to have managed the duties of the sickroom quite well.”

She smiled. “Oh, but consider my unconventional upbringing! From plucking chickens to make a healing broth to brewing tisanes to soothe the throat of an ailing soprano, there are few nursing chores I’ve not done. But enough of me. Let me tell you about Uncle Robert.”

For the next half hour, Allegra sketched for Rob all the events of the last few months of his father’s life, touching on his humor, his faith, his courage and the great love he bore his son. “Toward the last, he dictated several letters for you. As he requested, I left them there, in the desk drawer.”

Rob nodded. “I found them after returning from the solicitor’s office. But what of you, Allegra? What do you intend to do now?”

She faced him squarely. “You needn’t worry that I mean to be a charge upon you. I’ve inquired about a post as a governess.”

“My fiery little cousin a governess?” He grinned and shook his head. “The girl who dressed down a duke in the park for having the temerity to ride by too closely to her mount? Who would have come to blows with that numbclutch Eton mate of mine for calling her a silly, lisping foreigner, had I not intervened? Heaven help the unlucky family that hired you!”

Allegra felt her face heat. “I admit, I was a trifle…boisterous as a child. But I’ve long since mastered my temper.”

“Have you?” he drawled, his amused tone suggesting he didn’t believe it for an instant. “I hope you’re not set on the notion of becoming a governess, for after consulting Papa’s solicitors, I have other plans.”

Did he mean to assist her after all? Trying to restrain her soaring hopes, she replied, “Other plans?”

“Though you may not know it, for Papa lived simply and such worldly considerations were obviously never of any importance to your parents, the Lyntons are quite wealthy. Which doubtless explains my father’s appeal to a chit of Sapphira’s age,” he added acidly. “Despite bestowing a sumptuous jointure upon his widow, Papa left a sizeable estate. It was his wish that you have the means to reclaim the place in society that should have been yours as Lady Grace’s daughter.”

For a moment Allegra stared at Rob, uncomprehending. “You mean…he left me a bequest?” she said at last.

“A bequest? Ah, well, yes, I suppose you could call it that. You shall have a handsome sum to serve as your dowry, along with the funds to purchase gowns and all the other necessary fripperies so that you may attend the afternoon calls, rout parties, balls and such that will lead to becoming betrothed to a worthy young man who will cherish and protect you for the rest of your life.”

“And then I live happily ever after?” Allegra gave a bitter laugh. “The idea of entering that world is just as much a fairy tale. Even girls Mama came out with, ones she considered good friends, gave her the cut direct after she married Papa. Aside from Uncle Robert, not even her own family recognized her. What makes you think they would accept her daughter?” What makes you think I want them to? she added silently.

“Ah, but you are wrong. Lady Grace’s papa would have welcomed her home at any time, but she refused to take up her ‘proper’ position among her own class if it meant being separated from your father. True, the highest sticklers may not receive you and Almacks might be beyond your touch, but a sizeable part of the polite world will be quite willing to accept the ward of Lord Lynton and granddaughter of Viscount Conwyn.”

She held her hands out at her sides. “Accept this ‘dark-skinned foreigner’?” she asked skeptically, Sapphira’s oft-repeated disparagement of her ebony hair and olive skin echoing in her head.

Smiling slightly, Rob studied her, the intensity of his gaze sending a little shock through her. “Not all men like a blond-and-pink princess,” he said softly after a moment. “Some prefer a more…earthy, exotic lady.”

The appreciation in his eyes deepened to something hotter. Allegra felt her cheeks flush, her mind suddenly buffeted by so many contradictory ideas and emotions she could not frame a reply.

One practical observation in that flurry of thoughts steadied her. “But what of a sponsor? You must know Sapphira would never…” Her voice trailed off and she grimaced as she imagined the probable response, were Rob to have the temerity to ask his stepmother to introduce her.