The Reluctant Suitor

“I can’t be bothered with trivial tasks now,” Felicity snapped testily, “not when there’s a matter of far greater urgency requiring my attention. Now clean the spot off my gown and be quick about it. Do you understand? I need you to help me dress.”

  “But Mistress Jane wanted me ta hurry back wit’ the ointment. . . .”

  Felicity leaned toward the maid until the tips of their noses were nearly touching. At such close range, the maid’s eyes resembled large, round disks of palest gray. “You will help me get ready, Lucy, or I will beat you until you whimper, do you understand?”

  A frantic nod came in quick response. “Aye, miss.”

  The gown was just being lowered over Felicity’s head some moments later when Jane Fairchild pushed open the door. What was all too apparent made the older woman heave an exasperated sigh. “And just where do you think you’re going decked out in that finery, young lady?”

  Groaning inwardly, Felicity strove to find the opening of her bodice through the skirt’s enveloping shroud. She knew from long experience she had to be far more cordial in her mother’s presence than she had thus far been with the maid. If not, she’d be denied permission to leave the house, and then she’d spend the rest of the day doing chores. “Oh, Mama, truly, ‘tis a matter of gravest urgency.”

  Jane folded her arms across her midsection and scoffed in disbelief. “And what, pray, has become so pressing since I asked for your assistance?”

  Felicity heard the skepticism in her parent’s voice and was leery of telling her the truth. No doubt her mother would chide her again for chasing an empty dream.

  Dragging the gown down into place, she silently glared at Lucy who had stepped away to await the outcome of the discussion. Hurriedly the girl stumbled forward again and, with shaking fingers, began fastening the garment. Satisfied with Lucy’s frenzied efforts to please her, Felicity faced her parent and smiled tentatively.

  “You remember Lady Samantha and Lady Adriana, don’t you, Mama?” At the older woman’s chary nod, she hastened to explain. “Well, shortly after our ride last week, they introduced me to an individual I just noticed in town. I’ve been thinking it would be nice to make a gift for each of the ladies to show our appreciation for their kindness to Grandfather . . . and also, for inviting me on their ride. If you’d allow me to speak with this individual, I’m sure I’d have a better idea what the two ladies would enjoy in the way of handmade gifts.”

  A thin brow arched dubiously. “And does this acquaintance happen to be a man, by any chance?”

  “We’ll be in plain view of the house, Mama,” Felicity assured her nervously and decided that it would better serve her purpose to reveal the lordly status of the man. “ ‘Tis Lady Samantha’s brother, the Marquess of Randwulf, Mama. . . . He’d certainly be able to advise me, for he knows both women well. I also wanted to thank him for his hospitality since one of the houses we visited was his.”

  “Don’t let your dreams get entangled with him, child,” Jane warned with motherly concern. “He must marry a lady from among his peers.”

  Irritated with her mother’s predictable statement, Felicity dared to protest. “For heaven’s sakes, Mama, I only want to ask his advice about the gifts and thank him for his kindness.”

  Jane nodded slowly, taking in her daughter’s appearance. “And there you are, looking as radiant as a rainbow in the sky.” She waved a hand in a submissive gesture, having felt inclined herself to repay the ladies in some way for the costly herbs they had brought her father, as well as for their kindness to her daughter. “Very well, Felicity. I approve of your desire to show our gratitude toward the ladies, but, mind you, don’t be long. Your grandfather wants you to read to him for a while this afternoon.”

  Felicity groaned petulantly. “Not from the Bible again.”

  “For shame,” Jane scolded. “It gives him comfort while he’s ailing, and as far as I’m concerned, you need a good dose of its wisdom. You’re far more concerned with your appearance than you should be.”

  “ ‘Tis boring reading that stuff!”

  “Perhaps to you, but not to him,” her mother averred.

  Felicity sighed, as if relenting, but dared no other comment. It was a fact that Jane Fairchild loved and respected her father; it was more than Felicity could say for herself when it came to the elder.

  Some moments later, Felicity hurriedly snuggled into the costly cape her father had purchased for her as she made her way rather briskly down the steep thoroughfare toward the place where she had last seen the marquess. Hopefully, Lord Colton would merely conclude she had come out for a bit of fresh air and exercise rather than for the purpose of chasing him down like a hound on the scent of an animal.

  Smiling as if she had nothing more important to do with her time than enjoy the pleasant weather, Felicity nodded graciously to passersby who responded in kind or politely tipped their hats in greeting. At last, out of the corner of her eye, she espied the one for whom she had been feverishly searching just stepping from a silversmith’s shop. He was using his walking stick with surprising proficiency as he descended to the boardwalk. Indeed, in a few weeks he’d likely be using it as a swagger stick.

  Felicity could only guess the cost of his new gentlemanly attire and was sure such an expenditure would stagger the wits of a dedicated dandy. She had never seen the like of such handsome lapels or smoothly folded collar. Every seam and stitch evidenced tailoring only noblemen could afford. With such expensive tastes, she could well imagine why his creditors had been so eager for him to assume the marquessate.

  Oblivious to his admirer, Colton Wyndham turned crisply on his good leg and progressed toward the far end of the thoroughfare. His destination, Felicity determined, was a fine black landau harnessed to a smartly matched four-in-hand that sported bobbed tails and stiff, brush plumes atop their heads parked alongside the lane in a narrow niche beyond the bridge, a place that posed no hindrance to other carriages and wagons moving to and fro along the narrow, cobblestone lane.

  Though such haste was hardly conducive to the impression Felicity wanted to convey, she soon realized if she didn’t hurry herself right along, she’d lose more than merely an opportunity to converse with the marquess. Her future aspirations might well depend on this very man. In spite of leg muscles that must have still been weak from his injury, the man moved with an agility that threatened to extend the distance between them in short order. As much as Felicity strove to breech the gap, with every step she lost more ground.

  It came to Felicity of a sudden that if she didn’t stoop to using some rather unladylike tactics, she’d likely see her hopes dashed by his lordship’s departure. To have cajoled her way out of the house alone had been a rare event indeed; she just couldn’t contemplate failure now when the prize she craved seemed to dangle like a delectable sweetmeat just beyond her grasp. In desperation, she laid a slender hand alongside her mouth and called out, “Oh, Lord Randwulf!”

  Her immediate success made her heart soar, for the man turned promptly about to scan the street behind him. Espying her rushing toward him, he smiled and reversed his direction. As they came together, he touched the brim of his silk hat politely in gentlemanly salutation as he offered her a dazzling grin.

  “Miss Felicity, we meet again.”

  “Yes,” she gasped, clasping a hand to her heaving bosom. She was so thoroughly winded she could manage no further statement.

  “Out for a stroll?”

  An imperceptible nod and a demure smile had to suffice as Felicity struggled to regain her composure. Even so, she doubted she had ever heard a more pleasing voice in all her life. The smoothly melodious tones sent little shivers racing through her whole being.

  Gallantly Colton rescued the lady from her breathless dilemma as he turned in the direction of her grandfather’s residence and began to progress up the street, closely adhering to the code of behavior that frowned upon two members of the opposite gender halting on a thoroughfare merely to converse with each other. Although
he considered it a silly rule himself, as a gentleman he could hardly dismiss the voracious eagerness of gossips to devour a lady’s reputation for minor offenses. “You have no idea, Miss Felicity, how relieved I am to be able to identify at least one face among the residents of Bradford. I fear its inhabitants have become strangers to me during my absence. The older ones seem familiar enough in spite of the ten and six years I’ve been away. Even so, it takes me a while before I can recall their names. As for the younger ones, I’m afraid I’m totally at a loss.” He glanced around at the quaint little shops lining the cobbled street. “Still, except for a grand new house or cottage here and there, the town is much as it was when I left.”

  Felicity peered about her, finding it difficult to rally the same degree of enthusiasm he was exhibiting. She couldn’t imagine living for the whole of one’s life confined in such an unimpressive town. “My grandfather must be the oldest living resident hereabouts.” She flicked a smiling glance aside at his lordship, well aware that her dark lashes emphasized the blue of her eyes from that particular angle. “He says he remembers the events that took place when you were born. According to him, your father was so proud over the birth of his son that he invited not only his relatives and a whole host of acquaintances from London, but everyone from the surrounding area to your christening. Grandpa said it was quite a mixture of aristocrats and common folk, yet they were all on their very best behavior out of respect for your father. As for myself, I know only a few people hereabouts. If not for the kindness of your sister and Lady Adriana, I wouldn’t know anyone at all. To be sure, both ladies proved far more gracious than anyone I ever met in London.”

  “A great metropolis, London. You must miss it immensely after living there all your life.”

  “I admit that at times I find myself recalling the sights, the sounds . . .”

  “The smells?” he finished with a teasing grin.

  She blushed, understanding only too well to what he was referring. At times, the odors wafting from the streets were strong enough to stifle a person. “London does have a few disadvantages.”

  “A few,” he agreed amiably, “but not enough to discourage people from living there. I can understand that you may be lonely for it. If you’ve never acquired a taste for country life, London would definitely seem far more exciting.”

  “Lady Samantha said your family has a house there.”

  “Aye, we do, but as a rule, my parents have always preferred the country, especially during the off-season. My father was particularly fond of hunting, as are many of his old acquaintances and friends. I’m sure he and Lord Sutton contributed largely to Adriana’s enjoyment of the sport.”

  “You mean Lady Adriana enjoys shooting animals? After being so dedicated to nursing them back to good health when she was young?” Felicity shook her head, making much of her bemusement. “I don’t understand how she could have become so insensitive about taking the lives of helpless creatures. I would never be able to do such a thing myself. My goodness, I couldn’t even kill a pesky mouse.”

  Colton was amazed to feel his hackles rising at Felicity’s trivial disparagement of the woman he’d soon be courting. Obviously she was trying to portray herself as far more compassionate, yet when he recalled the brunette’s gentle empathy with the three Jennings children, he felt strongly motivated to defend her against the blonde’s wily subterfuge. “My sister has informed me that there’s a stipulation to which Adriana closely adheres when she hunts. Any game she kills is either served at her family’s table or given to others in need. So far this year, she has donated stores of food and game to help provide sustenance for several needy families through the coming winter, including a couple who has taken into their humble home over a dozen orphans. It seems far more mature and exceedingly more honorable of her ladyship to feed people who are starving or in want rather than ignore their plight while she nurses back to health injured strays that could very well be gobbled down by other animals soon after their release.”

  Felicity realized her error as she detected a note of ire in the man’s voice and hurried to dismiss the notion that she was faulting the other woman. “Oh, please be assured, my lord, I never meant to suggest that Lady Adriana is heartless. . . .”

  “A more benevolent young woman I have yet to meet,” Colton rejoined with a terse smile. “Of that, I am confident.” Recognizing his own growing irritation and impatience to be about his affairs, he lifted a hand to the brim of his top hat, intending to bid the fair-haired beauty an adieu, but in casting a brief glance behind him toward his waiting carriage, he espied two well-garbed ladies emerging from a dressmaker’s shop.

  The taller of the two was unmistakable; she had been dwelling on his mind almost constantly since he had found her soaking in his bath. Now, persistently in the night-borne shadows of his bedchamber, that singular memory haunted him like some willful, recurring apparition licensed to torment his sleep. From that moment in the bathing room, he had been wont to suspect that his mind had been seared forevermore with an image of her delectable form. As much as he yearned to free himself from the hauntingly persuasive song that lured his thoughts relentlessly toward the dark-eyed temptress, he feared nothing short of taking her into his bed and introducing her to the delights to be found between a man and a woman would assuage his long-starved passions. Still, after realizing that Riordan Kendrick wanted her so badly, he seriously doubted his desires would come to fruition without wedding vows being spoken between them. Whether he desired his freedom more than the lady was a decision he’d have to make very, very soon, or else see his infatuation with the beauty brought to a frustrating end by Lord Gyles’s acceptance of Riordan’s petition of marriage.

  He could only presume the diminutive slip of femininity who hurried along beside Adriana was her sister, Melora. He hadn’t gotten that close a look at the petite blonde when he had delivered Adriana back to her father’s stoop. In truth, he had been too intent upon watching the irate brunette to pay close attention to anyone else. At present, the two were absorbed in their own vivacious chatter and seemed totally unaware that he was even within the area as they came up the cobbled street.

  Excusing himself momentarily from Felicity, he approached the pair until he was nigh upon them, whereupon he stepped into their path. The two came to a startled halt, their mouths flying open in astonishment. Melora emitted something that sounded like a fearful whine as her gaze swept quickly upward. After passing the broad shoulders, she was forced to crane her neck far back to see beyond that point. About that time was when she decided she had seen enough to convince her that they were confronting a living, breathing Goliath. With a muffled groan, she whirled promptly about and launched herself in the opposite direction, leaving her younger sister the task of dealing with this huge monster.

  Immediately, Adriana reached out to catch Melora’s arm and valiantly dragged her fainthearted sibling back to her side as she squelched that one’s mewling alarm with a muted, but firm, “Shush!”

  Forcing a smile even as she struggled to subdue a blush stirred forth by memories of the man’s intrusion into her bath and his more recent nerve to invite her into his bed, Adriana lifted her gaze to meet the translucent eyes now gleaming back at her. She certainly hoped it wouldn’t take forever for her to forget his slow, exacting perusal in the bathing chamber, his shocking, manly display there, or his bold solicitation in his carriage, but the way things were going, she could foresee herself being plagued by recurring reenactments of those moments until she was nigh eighty . . . if she lived that long.

  She feigned a cheeriness she didn’t necessarily feel, for as yet the man had not responded to her parents’ note suggesting several possible times for his visit to Wakefield Manor, which seemed to indicate his disinterest in complying with the terms of the contract. “Why, Lord Randwulf, we meet again.”

  “Good morning, ladies,” Colton greeted, sweeping off his top hat with flamboyant gallantry.

  Adriana almost expected his
teeth to sparkle with the same devilish twinkle she now saw shining in those gray eyes. Though unspoken, the message conveyed by those shining orbs awakened within her a strange excitement that could be felt all the way down to her nipples. It gave her little ease to realize the man probably knew better than her own mother what she looked like entirely naked.

  Clandestinely admiring everything her eyes touched, she briefly scanned his long, muscular frame. From his frock coat to the narrow, pin-striped trousers, his garments were so meticulously tailored she had serious cause to wonder if she had ever seen the Prince Regent as well garbed. But then, when a man had been gifted with a tall, broad-shouldered, lean-waisted, narrow-hipped form the like of Colton Wyndham’s, clothes were merely an adjunct to his exceptional appearance. It was probably just as well for the ladies at court that His Highness’s face and physique fell far short of such manly magnificence.

  Felicity hurriedly joined them, not wishing to lose her tenuous grasp on the marquess, for she hadn’t forgotten the attention he had liberally bestowed on the brunette during their visit to Randwulf Manor. “Why, Lady Adriana, how pleasant it is to see you again. His lordship and I were just strolling along, enjoying this fine day, when we happened to notice you.”

  Whatever elation had briefly surged within Adriana’s heart when she had recognized Colton mattered not a wit to her after realizing he had been escorting Felicity about town. Indeed, such momentary delight might as well have been dust from a thousand years past.

  “Good day, Miss Felicity,” Adriana greeted, hoping her words didn’t seem as stiff as her smile. Sweeping an elegantly gloved hand about to indicate her sibling, she strove hard to convey a suitable graciousness. “I don’t believe you’ve yet been given an opportunity to meet my sister. Please allow me the pleasure of introducing you.”

  Felicity cheerily complied, delighted to include another name in her repertoire of aristocrats. Even so, she found it difficult to ignore the stark difference between the pair. “My goodness, I’d never have known the two of you were even related, much less sisters. You’re as different as night and day.”