After dinner they returned to the salon, where Flannaghan served Dreyson a glass of port. Alesandra sat on the settee across from her guest and listened to several amusing stories about the subscribers who haunted the floors of the Royal Exchange. She would have loved to see for herself the gleaming hardwood floors cluttered with wooden stalls they called boxes where the underwriters conducted their business. Dreyson told her about a quaint custom that had begun way back in 1710, referred to as the Caller in the Room. A waiter, he explained, known as the Kidney, would step up into what looked very like a pulpit and read the newspapers in a loud, clear voice while the audience of gentlemen sat at their tables and sipped their drinks. Alesandra had to be content to picture the events in her mind, however, as women were not allowed in the Royal Exchange.
Colin came home just as Dreyson was finishing his drink. He tossed his cloak in Flannaghan’s direction, then strode into the salon. He came to a quick stop when he spotted the visitor.
Both Alesandra and Dreyson stood up. She introduced the agent to her host. Colin already knew who Dreyson was. He was impressed, too, for Dreyson’s reputation was well known in the shipping community. The broker was considered by many to be a financial genius. Colin admired the man. In the cutthroat business of the market, Dreyson was one of the very few who put his clients’ affairs above his own profits. He was actually honorable, and Colin considered that a remarkable quality in an agent.
“Have I interrupted an important meeting?” he asked.
“We were finished with our business,” Dreyson replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” the broker continued. “I’ve been following the progress of your company and I must compliment you. From ownership of three ships to over twenty in just five years’ time is quite impressive, sir.”
Colin nodded. “My partner and I try to stay competitive,” he said.
“Have you considered offering shares to outsiders, sir? Why, I myself would be interested in investing in such a sound venture.”
Colin’s leg was throbbing painfully. He shifted positions, winced, and then shook his head. He wanted to sit down, prop his injured leg up, and drink until the ache went away. He wasn’t about to pamper himself, however, and shifted positions again until he was leaning against the side of the settee, then forced himself to think about the conversation he was engaged in with the agent.
“No,” he announced. “The shares in the Emerald Shipping Company are fifty-fifty between Nathan and me. We aren’t interested in outsiders gaining possession.”
“If you ever change your mind . . .”
“I won’t.”
Dreyson nodded. “Princess Alesandra has explained you are acting as her temporary guardian during the family illness.”
“That is correct.”
“You’ve been given quite an honor,” Dreyson said. He paused to smile at Alesandra. “Protect her well, sir. She’s a rare treasure.”
Alesandra was embarrassed by Dreyson’s praise. Her attention was turned, however, when the broker asked Colin how his father was doing.
“I’ve just seen him,” Colin replied. “He’s really been quite ill, but he’s on the mend now.”
Alesandra couldn’t hide her surprise. She turned to Colin. “You didn’t . . .” She stopped herself just in time. She was about to blurt out the obvious fact that Colin hadn’t believed her and had in fact tried to catch his father in a lie. She found his behavior shameful. Private affairs, however, should never be discussed in front of business associates. She wasn’t about to break that sacred rule, no matter how pricked she was.
“I didn’t what?” Colin asked. His grin suggested he knew what she was about to say.
She kept her expression serene, but the look in her eyes had turned frigid.
“You didn’t get too close to your father or your mother, did you?” she asked. “I believe the illness might be the catching kind,” she explained to Dreyson.
“Might be?” Colin was choking on his laughter.
Alesandra ignored him. She kept her gaze directed on the agent. “Colin’s older brother visited his father for just an hour or two several days ago, and now he and his dear wife are both ill. I would have warned the man, of course, but I had gone out riding, and by the time I returned, Caine had come and gone.”
Dreyson expressed his sympathy over the family’s plight. Both Alesandra and Colin walked with the agent to the entrance. “I’ll return in three days, if that fits your schedule, Princess Alesandra, with the papers ready for your signature initials.”
The broker left a moment later. Colin closed the door after him. He turned around and found Alesandra just a foot away, glaring up at him. Her hands were settled on her hips.
“You owe me an apology,” she announced.
“Yes, I do.”
“When I think how you . . . you do?”
The bluster went out of her anger. Colin smiled. “Yes, I do,” he said again. “I didn’t believe you when you said my brother and my father were both too ill to watch out for you.”
“You had to find out for yourself, didn’t you?”
He ignored the anger in her voice. “I admit I believed it was all a scheme,” he told her. “And I really thought I’d be bringing my father back with me.”
“For what purpose?”
He decided to be completely honest. “To take you off my hands, Alesandra.”
She tried to hide her hurt feelings from him. “I’m sorry my staying here is such an inconvenience for you.”
He let out a sigh. “You shouldn’t take this personally. It’s just that I’m swamped with business matters now and I don’t have time to play guardian.”
Colin turned to his butler before she could tell him she most certainly did take his remarks personally.
“Flannaghan, get me a drink. Something hot. It was damned cold riding today.”
“Serves you right,” Alesandra interjected. “Your suspicious nature is going to get you into trouble someday.”
He leaned down until his face was just inches away from hers. “My suspicious nature has kept me alive, Princess.”
She didn’t know what he meant by that remark. She didn’t like the way he was frowning at her either, and decided to leave him alone. She turned to go up the stairs. Colin followed her. He could hear her muttering something under her breath, but he couldn’t catch any clear words. His concentration was too scattered to pay much attention to her remarks anyway. He was thoroughly occupied trying not to notice the gentle sway of her hips or acknowledge how enticing he found her sexy little backside.
She heard a loud sigh behind her and knew he was following her up the stairs. She didn’t turn around when she asked, “Did you look in on Caine, too, or did you accept your father’s word that your brother was also ill?”
“I looked in on him.”
She whirled around to frown at him. She almost bumped into him. Since she was on the step above, they were now eye to eye.
She noticed how tanned his face was, how hard his mouth looked, how his eyes sparkled green with his incredible smile.
He noticed the sexy freckles on the bridge of her nose.
Alesandra didn’t like the path her thoughts were taking. “You’re covered with dust, Colin, and probably smell like your horse. You need a bath.”
He didn’t like her tone of voice. “You need to quit glaring at me,” he ordered, his voice every bit as curt as hers had been. “A ward shouldn’t treat her guardian with such disrespect.”
She didn’t have a ready comeback for that statement of fact. Colin was her guardian for the time being, and she probably should be respectful. She didn’t want to agree with him, however, and all because he had made it perfectly clear he didn’t want her there.
“Is your brother feeling better?”
“He’s half dead,” he told her quite cheerfully.
“You don’t like Caine?”
He laughed. “Of course I like my brother.”
“Then why d
id you sound so happy when you said he was half dead?”
“Because he really is sick and isn’t in league with my father and his schemes.”
She shook her head at him, turned around again, and ran up the rest of the steps. “Is his wife feeling any better?” she called over her shoulder.
“She isn’t as green as Caine is,” Colin answered. “Thankfully their little girl wasn’t exposed. She and Sterns stayed on in the country.”
“Who is Sterns?”
“Their butler-turned-nanny,” he explained. “Caine and Jade will remain in London until they’re recovered. My mother’s feeling better, but my sisters still can’t keep anything in their stomachs. Isn’t it odd, Alesandra, that you didn’t get sick?”
She wouldn’t look at him. She knew she was responsible and hated having to admit it. “Actually, now that I think about it, I was a little bit ill on the journey to England,” she remarked casually.
He laughed. “Caine’s calling you The Plague.”
She turned around to look at him again. “I didn’t deliberately make everyone sick. Does he really blame me?”
“Yes.” He deliberately lied just to tease her.
Her shoulders slumped. “I had hoped to move in with your brother and his wife tomorrow.”
“You can’t.”
“Now you think you’re going to be stuck with me, don’t you?”
She waited for his denial. A gentleman, after all, would have said something gallant, even if it was a lie, just to be polite.
“Alesandra, I am stuck with you.”
She glared at him for being so honest. “You might as well accept the situation and try to be pleasant.”
She hurried down the hallway and went into his study. He leaned against the door frame and watched her collect her papers from the table by the hearth.
“You aren’t really upset because I didn’t believe my family was ill, are you?”
She didn’t answer him. “Did your father talk to you about my circumstances?”
The fear in her eyes surprised him. “He wasn’t up to a long talk.”
She visibly relaxed.
“But you’re going to tell me about your circumstances, aren’t you?”
He kept his voice low, soothing. She still reacted as though he’d just shouted at her. “I would prefer your father explain.”
“He can’t. You will.”
“Yes,” she finally agreed. “I will have to be the one to tell you. You’re blocking Flannaghan’s way,” she added, her relief obvious over the interruption.
“Princess Alesandra, you have a visitor. Neil Perry, the Earl of Hargrave, is waiting in the salon to speak to you.”
“What does he want?” Colin asked.
“Neil is Victoria’s older brother,” she explained. “I sent a note this morning requesting him to call.”
Colin walked over to his desk and leaned against it. “Does he know you want to question him about his sister?”
Alesandra handed Flannaghan her papers, asked him to please put them in her room, and then turned back to Colin. “I didn’t exactly explain the purpose of the meeting.”
She hurried out of the room so Colin wouldn’t have time to berate her for using trickery. She ignored his summons to come back inside and went down the hallway to her room. She had made a list of questions to ask Neil and she didn’t want to forget any of them. The sheet of paper was on her nightstand. She folded it, smiled at Flannaghan, who was straightening her bed covers, and hurried downstairs.
Flannaghan wanted to announce her. She wouldn’t let him. Neil was standing just inside the salon. He turned when Alesandra reached the foyer and bowed low in greeting.
“I do appreciate you coming so soon,” she began as soon as she had finished with her curtsy.
“You mentioned the matter you wished to discuss was quite important, Princess. Have we met before? I feel sure that if we had met, I certainly would have remembered.”
Victoria’s brother was trying to be charming, Alesandra supposed, but the smile he gave her looked more like a sneer. The Earl of Hargrave was only an inch or two taller than she was and he held himself so rigid it appeared his clothing had been starched stiff. Alesandra couldn’t see any resemblance in his thin face to Victoria other than the color of his eyes. They were the same shade of brown. Victoria had gotten the pleasing features in the family, however. Her nose was short, straight. Neil’s was long, very like a hawk’s, and extremely narrow. Alesandra thought he was a thoroughly unattractive man and she found his nasal voice to be grating.
Appearances, she reminded herself, meant nothing. She prayed Neil had a sweet disposition like his sister. He looked persnickety. She hoped he wasn’t.
“Please come inside and sit down. I wanted to talk to you about a matter that concerns me and beg your indulgence with a few questions.”
Neil nodded agreement before turning to walk across the room. He waited until she had taken her place on the settee and then sat down in the adjacent chair. He folded one leg over the other, stacked his hands on top of one knee. His nails, she noticed, were quite long for a man and immaculately manicured.
“I’ve never been inside this town house,” Neil remarked. He looked around the room. There was scorn in his voice when he added, “The location is marvelous, of course, but I understand it’s just a rental.”
“Yes, it is,” she agreed.
“It’s terribly small, isn’t it? I would think a princess would require more suitable quarters.”
Neil was a snob. Alesandra was trying not to dislike the man, but his remarks were making it difficult. He was Victoria’s brother, however, and Alesandra needed his assistance in locating her friend.
“I’m very happy here,” she remarked, forcing a pleasant tone of voice. “Now then, sir, I wanted to talk to you about your sister.”
He didn’t like hearing that announcement. His smile faded immediately. “My sister is not a topic for discussion, Princess Alesandra.”
“I hope to change your mind,” she countered. “I met Victoria last year,” she added with a nod. “She stayed at the Holy Cross convent with me when she became ill on her journey. Did she by chance mention me?”
Neil shook his head. “My sister and I rarely spoke to one another.”
“Really?” Alesandra couldn’t hide her surprise.
Neil let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. “Victoria lived with our mother. I have my own estate,” he added, a hint of a boast in his voice. “Of course, now that she’s gone to God knows where, mother has moved in with me.”
He started tapping his fingers on his knee, his impatience apparent.
“I apologize if this is difficult for you to talk about, but I’m concerned about Victoria. I don’t believe she would ever run off and get married.”
“Don’t be concerned,” he countered. “She isn’t worth anyone’s concern. She made her bed . . .”
“I don’t understand your callous attitude. Victoria could be in trouble.”
“And I don’t understand your attitude, Princess,” Neil retaliated. “You haven’t been in England long and you therefore don’t understand what a scandal can do to one’s social standing. My mother was almost destroyed by Victoria’s thoughtless actions. Why, for the first time in fifteen years, she wasn’t invited to Ashford’s bash. The humiliation sent her to bed for a month. My sister threw it all away. She is and always has been a fool. She could have married anyone she wanted. I know of at least three titled gentlemen she turned down. Victoria only thought about herself, of course. While our mother was worrying and fretting over a good match, she was sneaking out the back door to meet her lover.”
Alesandra struggled to hold on to her temper. “You can’t know that for certain,” she argued. “As for the scandal . . .”
She never got to finish her argument. “You obviously don’t care about a scandal either,” Neil muttered. “No wonder you and my sister got along so well.”
“Exactly what are yo
u implying?” she asked.
“You’re living in the same house with an unattached man,” he said. “There’re whispers going around already.”
Alesandra took a deep breath in an attempt to control her temper. “Exactly what are these whispers?”
“Some are saying Sir Colin Hallbrook is your cousin. Others believe he’s your lover.”
She dropped her list in her lap, then stood up. “Your sister rarely mentioned you to me and now I understand why. You’re a despicable man, Neil Perry. If I weren’t so concerned about Victoria’s welfare, I would throw you out this minute.”
“I’ll take care of that chore for you.”
Colin made the announcement from the entrance. He was leaning against the door frame, his arms folded casually across his chest. He looked relaxed, but his eyes . . . oh, Lord, his eyes showed his fury. Alesandra had never seen Colin so angry. She shivered in reaction.
Neil looked startled by the interruption. He quickly recovered, awkwardly unfolded his legs, and stood up.
“Had I known the true reason you wished to see me, I never would have come here. Good day, Princess Alesandra.”
She couldn’t take her gaze off Colin long enough to speak to Neil. She had the oddest notion Colin was getting ready to pounce.
The notion proved true. Flannaghan held the door open for their guest. Colin moved to stand next to his butler. His expression was masked, and for that reason Neil had no idea that he really meant to throw him outside.
If she’d blinked, she would have missed it. Neil only had time to let out a squeal of indignation that sounded very like a pig’s howl of distress. Colin grabbed him by the back of his neck and the back of the waistband to his trousers, lifted him up, and threw him outside. Neil landed in the gutter.