The Fortune Hunter (20 page)

Inactivity was intolerable.

Tapping his fingers on the carved wood of his favorite chair in his book room, Hamilton took a sip of brandy and watched the fire on the hearth. Its pretty dance was fine for a background to conversation and cards, but to watch it endlessly was a torment.

He considered ringing for his valet, but Eyre had garnered the habit of being busy elsewhere since the doctor had insisted that Hamilton stay off his injured foot for at least a week. Not that he blamed his valet. In the past seven days, his temper had been short, so short that even Philip had deserted him.

A quick glance at the clock on the mantel told him that the usual hour when Nerissa called had passed.
Blast!
It was Wednesday. She was obliged to stay on Laura Place and hold her at home with Annis Ehrlich.

He propped his chin on his hand and glowered at the flames. Nerissa was the only one who did not treat him as if he was as infirmed as an old horse about to be shot. She would ask him how his ankle did upon her arrival, not every few moments as others did. Instead of puffing out the pillow at his back and asking if he would like some tea, she brought him a glass of brandy and sat with him while he drank. Her quick wit and observations of the activities among
Le Beau Monde
kept him from surrendering to
ennui
.

A rap on the door of his study brought Hamilton's head up. Could this be Nerissa, or was it only Philip, who continued to pop in and out with questions about which cravat to wear that evening and did Hamilton think that pantaloons were too
risqué
for an Assembly in conservative Bath? He hoped it was Nerissa. He wanted to see her saucy smile topped by her eyes that were the blue of a summer sky and her ebony curls surrounding her finely boned face. In his ears, her soft laugh, that was beguiling and bothersome at the same time, sounded.

“Damn,” he muttered. He did not need his life mixed up with Nerissa Dufresne's. She was not like the other women who had passed through his days and his nights since Elinor had shamed him, leaving him with only a fond memory of their names and their lips. If he had half a brain, he would put her from his life posthaste.

Philip was not smiling as he peered around the door. “I thought you might be here.”

“Where else would I have gone?”

He did not react to Hamilton's sarcasm. Coming into the room, he closed the door behind him. He swallowed roughly, then blurted, “
She
is here.”

The emphasis Philip put on the word startled him. He sat straighter in his chair. “
She?
Annis?”

“No.”

Hamilton could not halt his smile as he asked, “Then may I collect that Nerissa is calling?”

Philip glanced at the door which opened onto the upper hallway. Softly he said, “Not Nerissa, although I wish she was calling. It's
her.
”

The venomous distaste in his brother's voice warned Hamilton exactly who waited below. Philip used that tone only when he spoke of one woman.

Elinor Howe!

Hamilton fisted his hands on the arms of the chair. “Damn, what is Elinor doing here? Doesn't she realize the truth? Whatever scrap of affection there once might have been between us is gone.”

“On your side perhaps.”

“As there was little on her side to begin with, I can assure you she has not been weeping night after night for the loss of my company.” Hamilton set his glass on the table beside his chair. “Do you think she has run out of blunt and intends to kick me for some? Or has she broken the heart of every young fop in the
ton
and wishes to commiserate with me about her misfortune in love?”

Philip locked his fingers behind his dark coat and grumbled, “I never have comprehended why you involved yourself with her after Howe died.”

Hamilton did not have to answer as the door came open, as if on cue, to reveal an extraordinarily beautiful woman who was garbed stylishly from the brim of her fluted bonnet to the tips of her satin slippers. No fashion plate could be more elegantly dressed than the full curves of the blonde who held out her arms to him. He said nothing, but that did not lessen her satisfied smile.

“My dearest Hamilton,” she gushed as she enveloped him with her embrace and the lush scent of her thick perfume, “I vow I was nearly prostrate with horror when I heard of your accident. How do you do?”

“I would do better if I could breathe.”

She laughed, but stepped back. “There I was suffering from the worst tedium in London without you there to laugh with me about all the affectations, and here you are needing someone to entertain you. Darling, you must come back with me as soon as you are hale.” Without giving him a chance to reply, she threw her arms around him again. “You missed Priney, the Regent's, first
levée
as Regent last month. It was wondrous, Hamilton. Simply without par, for all the dishes were silver, even for the lowest guest.”

“Were you in attendance?” he asked as he drew her arms away and leaned in the other direction. “It was my understanding that no woman whose standing was less than the daughter of an earl was to be invited.”

“You know that exceptions are made to all such silly rules.” She untied her befeathered bonnet and tossed it to Philip, who regarded it with distaste before dropping it on a table. When she met Hamilton's unwavering gaze, she sighed. “All right, my love. You know I did not attend, but, if you had been decent enough to come to London, you could have taken me. Then you would not have been hurt in that dreadful accident. Whatever was in your mind to do something so muzzy?”

“Philip and I decided it would be fun.”

“Oh, Philip,” she said with a pout, dismissing the younger man without looking at him. “Everyone, truly everyone, is agog with the fact that you are loitering in this place, Hamilton. Don't you know that Bath is no longer the fashionable site it was when our parents were young?” She dabbed at her eyes with a lace handkerchief. “Oh, my dearest love, forgive me for my thoughtless words! What a muttonhead you must think me when I know that you are here on your quest. Have you found anything?”

Hamilton motioned for her to sit on the sofa. “Elinor, I would have guessed that you might be wise enough to send tidings of your arrival. What if Philip and I had been out of town?”

“Eyre would have received me with his usual gentility, I daresay.” She patted the satin cushion next to her. “Dear Hamilton, can you come and sit beside me? I have an ache in my neck from riding across the country. It hurts when I turn it, and you know how I enjoy looking at you.” Boldly, she ran her fingers along his thigh. “Have you missed me, my sweet?”

He drew his leg off the stool, leaving her fingers outstretched. “Ratafia, Elinor?”

“After riding in that dreadful Mail—can you believe that I would have to lower my standards to travel in that horrible drag?—I would prefer something a bit stronger. You do have more of that brandy?” She drew off her lacy gloves and dropped them on the mahogany arm of the settee. “Of course, the hardship of the journey is worth seeing you again. And you, Philip,” she added as an afterthought.

Hamilton heard his brother's stifled laugh, but did not look at him as Philip poured Elinor a glass of the sweet wine. He offered it to the blonde. When she regarded it with distaste, Hamilton chuckled.

“It is unlike you to refuse a glass, Elinor,” he said coolly.

“My portmanteau should be arriving within the hour. The disgusting creature at the inn probably will steal everything out of it.” Elinor laughed, the musical sound reaching to the farthest corner of the room, but neither man responded. “Oh, you do not care a rush that I have brought presents for both of you! I ordered you the most wonderful waistcoat, Philip, of a shade you will never see in this backwater village. A glorious green that is perfect for a ginger-hackled gent like you.” Her voice grew sultry as she added, “What I brought you, Hamilton, my dear, I shall show you later … in private.”

“Am I to assume that you intend to stay here?”

“Certainly.” Her eyes widened. “Unless you have done the unbelievable and buckled yourself to some calculating virgin.”

Looking at the window, where rain painted ever-changing patterns along the glass, he took a sip of his brandy. With a cold smile, he said, “I can assure you that my marital status remains the same.”

“He has missed me, hasn't he, Philip?” She flashed him a brilliant smile. “Do tell me the truth, my dear.”

Philip leaned one shoulder against the door frame and shook his head. “Elinor, you know that Hamilton missed you tremendously.”

“Aha!” she cried with a victorious smile.

“He missed you as a horse misses a stone in its hoof,” he added, laughing. “Once the irritation is gone, he forgets it ever existed.”

Elinor scowled, then her smile returned with startling speed. “You are ever the funner. What grand times we shall have together here in this fusty house!”

If she had expected Hamilton to retort heatedly to her insult to his magnificent home, he did not accommodate her. Instead, as he continued to sip his brandy, he scrutinized her with the smile of an indulgent father for a naughty child. Knowing how Elinor hated even a moment of silence, he allowed the quiet to build until he could sense her nerves were taut with irritation.

“I am afraid,” he finally said, “that whatever plans you have for this evening must be postponed. Neither Philip nor I shall be at home.”

“You are going out when you can barely walk?”

He reached behind his chair and pulled out a walking stick. “This peddler's pony will assist me wherever I wish to go.”

“Where are we going, Hamilton?” She clapped her hands. “How sweet of you to have some plans for the very first night of my stay!”

“
I
am going with Philip to Sir Delwyn Seely's house. He is having his weekly rout.”

She smiled. “What fun that shall be! I do adore Sir Delwyn. He is such a droll, little man.”

“Philip and I are going,
not you.
”

“You would leave me alone when I have come all the way from London to be with you?” She leaned forward to put her hand on his knee. With her eyes wide in an appealing expression, she whispered, “My love, you may not have missed me, but I long to be with you … tonight. Surely you recall the first night I spent with you here. It was grand beyond belief.”

Hamilton's glance at his brother offered Philip the chance to excuse himself from the increasingly uncomfortable conversation. Philip gave him a smile to wish him good luck in dealing with his former mistress before closing the door.

Hamilton put his glass by Elinor's bonnet on the table, and his gaze was held by the bright ribbons. They were nothing like the ones on the bonnet he had purchased for Nerissa, as Nerissa herself was nothing like Elinor Howe. Admittedly, both women were pleasing to the eye, for Nerissa's dark beauty was as alluring as Elinor's spun gold hair. However, the subtle words plied with the skill of a swordsman enticed him into sharing Nerissa's company again. That subtlety would not be successful with Elinor, for she went after what she wanted openly and ignored those who were more tactful. He must toss delicacy aside.

“Elinor, I thought you understood that there would be nothing between us after you decided that you preferred other company to mine,” he said without preamble.

Tears glistened in her dark eyes. “I cannot believe that you are as heartless as you are trying to sound.”

“Why are you making me hurt you?”

“Mayhap because I know how much I hurt you.”

Once he might have believed the entreaty in her eyes, but no longer. Her skills were as well-practiced as a cyprian's. “Why have you come back? It's been almost seven months since you last bothered me.” Folding his arms over his unbuttoned waistcoat which revealed the fall of ruffles at his high collar, he cursed. “Months with nothing to show for it but worthless attempts to uncover the truth! Haven't you learned in all this time that there is no place for any woman in my life while I do what I must to avenge my father's death?”

She rose, putting her arms around his shoulders and placing her cheek against his. “Dearest Hamilton, you know that I am willing to do all you wish to help you find that horrible man. Who else would have waited for you until you returned from your business?”

“You did not wait alone,” he said.

She laughed. “Johnny was no more than a friend.”

“A very dear one.” Again he plucked her hands off him. Shoving them away not ungently, he asked, “Why don't you return to Hurst's bed?”

“He married the Duke of Keyneshire's daughter.”

“A new wife does tend to curtail a rake-shame's time with his particular.”

“You are being so cruel, Hamilton! Don't you remember who mourned with you when your sainted father died?”

With a laugh, he said, “I recall that you missed the funeral by two hours because you spent the night at a party in Town and could not pull yourself away from Hurst's bed.”

“But I wanted to be with you.”

“You want many things, Elinor, but having a place in
my
bed is one you will be denied.”

“Oh, Hamilton, stop being such a hoaxer. I vow you could make a dog laugh with your jests. You know you want me as much as I want you.”

As she pressed her lips to his and her lush body against him, her arms drew him to her. He admired the artistry of her kiss, for Elinor was well-skilled, but he shoved her away.

With a curse, she whirled away from him. “Who is she?” Elinor demanded, sounding more furious than injured.

“She?” He took a drink of his brandy to wash the flavor of her mouth from his. “You must be more specific.”

“The woman you would as lief have in your arms. I can sense someone has come between us.”

Hamilton laughed as he put his goblet on the table again. “My dear, you are mistaken. There is no other woman. For, as you should know, my life is filled with matters more important than a tumble in the sheets.”