Revenge Wears Rubies (27 page)

Haley’s eyes widened, and her cheeks reddened, but she bravely held her place next to him. “You’re bluffing, Mr. Hawke. Now, behave!”

He shrugged and smiled. “It was worth a try. I suspect you wouldn’t respect me if I didn’t even attempt to ward you off with a reference to how delicious I find your juices.”

“Galen!” She gasped in shock, then realized the game and composed herself quickly. “Enough of that, Mr. Hawke.” She tilted her head as if assessing him anew. “All this evasiveness might give a woman pause to wonder what you’re hiding.”

“I’m not hiding.”

She smiled. “You always say that, and I always have the feeling that it isn’t true.”

“Very well, you have me at your mercy, Miss Moreland. Ask what you will. But I warn you, I think Lady MacLean is starting to eye me so that she can come over and show us sketches of her proposed herb garden.” He crossed his arms and gave her a look of pure challenge. “Unless you’ve lost your nerve?”

She hesitated and fingered the silk of her skirt for a moment. “I don’t know where to begin.” She looked back up at him, and he caught himself on the verge of sighing at the stunning color of her blue green eyes. Galen straightened in his seat, attempting to regain his own composure as she bit the plump flesh of her lower lip.

“Something easy then,” she said. “A favorite poem? Or some anecdote from your youth? Or even better, a sweet story about your first kiss . . .”

Galen’s brow furrowed as he tried to decide if anything was easy when it came to conversing with Haley. There was so much he’d kept to himself and now, as he looked at her, it was harder to remember why. “Lately, Shakespeare’s twenty-seventh sonnet comes more often to mind, as it’s about insomnia and I . . . have trouble sleeping more often than not.”

“Do you?” She looked at him with an honest sympathy. “Does the sonnet help?”

He shook his head. “No, but it lets me consider my plight in lofty pentameter, and that can make me feel more noble about suffering at three in the morning.”

“I’ll have to look it up!” She laughed softly, and Galen’s shoulder relaxed at the melodious sound of it.

“If you wish, for I’m not going to recite it here!” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “Don’t they warn young women about the dangers of poetry?”

She nodded. “They do. But I still don’t see the harm. For you are . . .” She hesitated and then lowered her voice even more. “As impossible to resist as you are, I don’t see how you reading poetry to me could be any more potent!”

The urge to kiss her was almost too strong to set aside, but Galen forced himself to just smile. “An experiment for another day, Miss Moreland.”

Mrs. Shaw came up quickly enough to catch them both off guard, and Galen straightened the instant Haley’s gasp alerted him to the intrusion. “Did you not wish a glass of port, Mr. Hawke? Some of the other gentlemen are yet enjoying a taste or two in the library.”

“I never drink, Mrs. Shaw.”

“Oh, yes! You said something like that before, and I’ve naturally credited your reluctance to the company at hand,” she said as she cheerfully took a seat across from the couple. “I don’t think a bar mouse would have taken a glass of champagne with Rand Bascombe after he was so odd.”

“Aunt Alice!” Haley rolled her eyes. “Must you?”

“What?” Aunt Alice ignored her niece and turned her full attention back to Galen. “I wasn’t misbehaving, was I, Mr. Hawke?”

“Not in the slightest, Mrs. Shaw.” Galen settled into the cushions as if he had nowhere else in the world he’d rather be, deliberately hoping that the tables would turn to show Haley that he might not be the only one cornered into conversation.
I’ll ask Mrs. Shaw about Haley and see if—

“What was India like? Were you there during the Troubles?”

“I don’t want to speak of it. India is . . . India.” He shook his head, grimly accepting that. “Others seem to bask in the exotic and flourish, but I was never one of them. I always felt like I was trespassing. So”—he took a deep breath—“I shall leave it at that, and adventure no further than Bristol or Bath, if pressed.”

“Why do you think everyone is so curious about your time there?” Alice asked.

“Are they?”

Haley looked away, an awkward pause telling him that she’d heard more than she was saying.

“Mr. Rand Bascombe was extremely persistent, and I can’t help but wonder why he would bother—why concern himself so much?”

“Perhaps the answer is a simple one, more befitting the nature of the man who’s asking,” he offered as directly as he could. “I think Bascombe has no adventures of his own to bandy about and seeks to live vicariously through the mishaps of others and fortify his dinner conversations.”

She laughed. “He could certainly benefit from a new anecdote or two!”

“And there you have it!” Galen leaned forward, rewarding Haley’s aunt with a wicked grin that was sure to give her a thrill. “But you strike me as the kind of woman who has no need to live vicariously at all! I suspect you have a tale or two of your own that could top any fiction, Mrs. Shaw.”

“One or two! Of course, there is one in particular that . . .” Her aunt went on, but Haley’s thoughts drifted. She could feel her levity bleeding away almost instantly, despite the skilled turn of the conversation and Aunt Alice’s lively stories. She wondered why she instinctively knew that there was so much more to him—so much he wasn’t saying. He was like a wounded animal, protecting his weak side in case she should suddenly strike out against him. And the idea brought tears to her eyes.

Haley had to clench her fingers together in her lap to keep from reaching out to gently pull her fingers across his forehead and down to caress the handsome lines of his face, wishing that by a tender touch or word alone she could reach him, even heal him.

Haley sighed, leaning back against the cool stone of the alcove, letting the ancient masonry draw some of the fever from her blood—and studied the profile of the man she knew almost nothing of but who now held her entire future in his hands.

Chapter
16

Alice pressed her ear against the smooth, thick wood of the library door, determined to discover what Mr. Trumble and her brother were discussing in such uneven tones. She could pick out her brother’s voice more easily, as he practically shouted on the other side of the door.

“Like hell, she has! I’ve not heard a word of it!”

And then there was something sternly mumbled by Trumble, and Alice winced as she heard the reply, “Oh, my God, no!”

The rest was all spoken too softly for her to make out, but the intensity of the exchange never wavered. She could hear her brother moaning at one point, and then it was as if Mr. Trumble was doing his best to comfort him.

Alice was straining to try to catch the gist of their words when Trumble opened the door without warning. Alice gave out a startled yelp and nearly fell into the threshold before catching herself to stand aside to allow Herbert to make a hurried and unhappy exit from the house.

“Oh, my! I was just . . . in the hallway when I thought I heard you in pain, Alfred. Are you all right?” Alice came in, approaching her brother, who was still seated in a chair by the window. “Did you . . . have a lovely visit with Mr. Trumble?”

Alfred glared at her, clearly in no mood for her attempt at innocence. “You were listening at the door!”

“Unsuccessfully!” Alice sat down across from him, abandoning theatrics in an eager attempt to get at the truth. “I could tell you were yelling, but then you were both very inconsiderate to speak so softly, and I thought I’d have the vapors before he finally opened the door!”

“You are an impossible woman,” he noted, distracted for just a moment from the matter at hand. “How is it that no one has strangled you before now?”

“I can be very charming, Alfred. Now, as for Trumble?” she prompted.

“He said that Haley broke the engagement! She told him three days ago, and he waited to give her time to reconsider, but—”

“She said nothing!” Alice said in astonishment.

“He said he was waiting for a note from her, but he’s heard not a word and so wanted to tell me that the engagement is, in fact, off!” His voice echoed with disbelief. “How could she? All my hopes and plans, dashed in a single act! Is it vengeance? Because I’ve been such a terrible father? Because I—”

“Oh, pish!” Alice’s optimistic nature wasn’t going to allow him his speech. “You’ve lost your senses if you think that dear child has a single malicious bone in her body!”

“I’d have said not a deceptive bone, either, but Trumble said it was days ago!” He put his face in his hands. “Where are the tears? Don’t women cry when they lose a chance at a good marriage?” He dropped his hands, lifting eyes narrowed with suspicion as a new possibility struck him. “Alice? Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

Alice took a deep breath. “Perhaps.”

“Alice, as your brother and sole support in this wicked world, I’m going to tell you that I’m in no mood to have to pull this out of you piece by piece, so let’s have it.”

“I can assure you that I believe there may be a better man waiting in the wings,” Alice said, doing her best to match his serious tone despite the tickle of happy mischief inside her. “A man you’re sure to approve of, and who has money enough to at least stem the tides of disaster and keep us all afloat.”

“Really?”

“I’m more certain of it with each passing moment. After all, this is Haley we’re discussing! Not some crazed loon prone to chasing after ghosts.”

Alfred managed a weak smile. “You’re deliberately trying to make light of this!”

“Not at all! I am the soul of discretion, and I am looking forward to seeing this new suitor make his calls.”

“Well, I hope he emerges soon! Trumble has generously agreed not to evict us from the house or dismiss the servants since he’d paid for all in advance. But the man expects to be repaid! Oh”—he closed his eyes at a new thought—“and all those loans! Oh, I think I’m going to be ill!”

“There, now. Would you like a brandy?”

“No.” He shook his head adamantly. “None for me.”

“Oh!” Alice exclaimed in quiet surprise. “All the better, Alfred. Now, no worries! Haley is too levelheaded a girl not to have good instincts, and I want you to trust her.”

“Trust? In what? Is there any chance you know the name of this better prospect that would lead her to make such an insane gamble?” he asked.

“I might, but I’m not about to blurt out a wrong guess and send you off on a wild-goose chase. Let’s just wait and see how things unfold, and when she is ready to tell us, why then, you just do your best to look entirely surprised!”

“I will be surprised!”

“All the better!” Alice clapped her hands, as if the matter were now completely settled. “Now see that you don’t go marching into her rooms to start bellowing! It’s hardly conducive to the first tender stages of romance to have the father throwing tantrums.”

He sighed. “I’m going to just accept it as a bad sign that everyone continues to speak to me as if I were five years old.”

“You’re young at heart, dear Alfred.” Alice leaned over to pat his hand and then stood to go. “It’s one of your best qualities. Now, I’m going to see to my niece and make sure she’s dressed for the evening!”

“Is it true? You broke your engagement to Mr. Trumble?” Alice asked without any preamble, sweeping into Haley’s room.

Haley jumped at the sudden question but kept her place and tried to hold onto her needle while draping a side panel onto her dress form. “Yes, I did. It seemed like the right thing to do.”