The Fortune Hunter (7 page)

“Do
you
know the viscount?” Nerissa asked, offering Annis a smile when her friend handed her the other cup. She was glad Annis had seen how difficult it would be for her to pick up the cup.

“I have seen him at various gatherings,” Janelle said with a superior tilt of her pert nose. “He is a peculiar man, strikingly handsome, I will own, but interested only in those woman whose reputations have become questionable. Mayhap he wishes not to risk another disastrous liaison like the one with Elinor Howe.”

Annis laughed shortly. “Do not act so top-lofty, Janelle. You aren't telling us anything that hasn't been poker-talk since last year.” With a wink to her friend, she added in a stern tone, “I am sure Nerissa has no interest in hearing the viscount disparaged when he was kind enough to treat her graciously.”

Playing with the ribbons that accented the full curves beneath her wrapper, Janelle cooed, “Are you sure of that? Nerissa, you are positively agog with this, aren't you? Did he knock all sense from your skull?”

“I know very little about the viscount, other than reading in the newspaper that he was in attendance at some of the
soirées
about Bath,” she had to own, although she hated giving Janelle the upper hand.

With another tilt of her round chin, Janelle laughed. “Oh, Nerissa, you are ever a goose! You are too much like Annis. You think some glorious knight on his white charger will come seeking your heart. You should as lief concentrate on finding a
beau
who will offer you a comfortable life and a family.”

“Like your Mr. Oakley?” Annis returned. “What did I hear Mama call him yesterday? Comfortably dull and well-fixed.”

“Mr. Oakley is a charming
beau.
” Rising, she set the cup back on the table. “Annis, you are so jealous of his attentions to me that you have become intolerable of late.”

As her sister flounced out of the room, every inch the wounded soul, Annis chuckled behind her hand. “She is welcome to her Mr. Oakley. He is not comfortably dull. He is
just
dull!” Taking a frosted cake from the plate, she sighed. “Of course, when Mama has succeeded in finding a husband for Janelle, she will turn her matchmaking eye upon me. I have heard her making plans to spend next Season in London. She despairs, I believe, of ever finding me a husband in Bath.” A dimple appeared in each cheek. “Mayhap because I have told her there is not one among the lot that I would consider.”

Nerissa lowered the teacup. The steam clawed her aching face. Balancing it on her lap, she asked, “Was what Janelle said true? Lord Windham seemed very much the gentleman both times I spoke with him.”

“Both times?” Annis's eyes widened. “He has called on you?”

“Only to ascertain the state of my recovery.”

“Will he be calling again?”

Nerissa noted a shadow near the door of the parlor. No doubt, Janelle was eavesdropping, hoping to learn something she could repeat while sipping scandal broth with her friends. She would not give Annis's sister that pleasure. Putting her cup on the table, she rose awkwardly.

Annis's face grew long with dismay. “Nerissa, have I said something to disturb you? Or—and you must think me a beast to forget your injuries—are you in pain?”

“I am fine,” she lied, not wanting to reveal the truth. If it reached Frye's ears, her abigail would insist that she remain in bed. “And, of course, you have said nothing to set up my bristles. I have a few errands to run. Would you like to join me?” She glanced toward the door again. “We can enjoy some private prittle-prattle while I shop.”

With a smile, Annis nodded. “Private, it shall be.”

A potpourri of pungent odors welcomed Nerissa as she and Annis entered a shop near the corner of Great Pulteney and William Streets. Her nose was tickled by bits of the various varieties of snuff that filled Mrs. Peach's shop. As she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she stared at the clay pots lining the shelves behind the counter.

Annis was surprisingly silent, as she had been since Nerissa had told her that Lord Windham was escorting her to a small party that evening at Mr. Rowland's house. Annis had been scandalized by the invitation and shocked that Nerissa had accepted.

“He is rakehell, Nerissa,” she had gasped. “You will ruin your reputation being seen with him.”

“He has been nothing but a gentleman to me, and I could see nothing wrong with agreeing to go with him and his brother this evening.”

“Frye must be—”

“Frye is putting herself into a stew about everything at the moment.” Laughing, she patted her friend's hand. “It is but one evening, and I know he wishes to atone for his thoughtlessness that caused the accident. Could I be so uncivil as to deny him that chance?”

Annis had scowled before replying, “I suppose not.” Those were the last words she had uttered.

Nerissa tried not to think of her friend's dismay. Her thoughts should be on what she would purchase. It was useless, for she longed to beg Annis's forgiveness. Her friend only worried that she was doing something jobbernowl.

The shopkeeper's familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. She smiled as she greeted Mrs. Peach.

“Good day, Miss Ehrlich, Miss Dufresne,” said Mrs. Peach in her scratchy voice. She stared at Nerissa and choked, “Miss Dufresne!”

“It is nothing,” Nerissa answered as she had so many times.

“'Tis a shame,” grumbled the old woman, whose hands were stained from the snuff she sold.

“Soon it will be nothing but a memory and an amusing anecdote.”

The shopkeeper seemed unconvinced, but turned to speak to Annis. As she listened to her friend reply to the shopkeeper's questions, Nerissa calculated how much she needed to buy and, more importantly, how much she could afford. She frowned as she tried to figure the total in her head.

“So down pinned?” asked a friendly voice behind her.

She smiled when Mr. Windham tipped his topper to her. His clothes were as usual
à la modality
. His coat was of the warmest russet shade and his nankeen pantaloons properly secured under his shoes. As he set his hat back on his head, the gold buttons on his coat flashed in the faint light from the lamp behind the counter.

“What a pleasant surprise!” she exclaimed.

“How kind of you to say that! May I return the kindness and say that it is grand to see you looking so hale?”

“I am glad you think so. Everyone else today has been too solicitous of my health.”

He chuckled. “You do not take coddling well, I collect.”

“She
should
be coddled after what she suffered!” Annis burst into the conversation and continued before Nerissa could warn her to watch her words. “When that profligate Lord Windham failed to watch where he was going, Nerissa was the one to suffer.”

“Annis …” Nerissa cautioned.

“You need not defend that ramshackle fellow, Nerissa,” her friend returned with fire. “I know he brought you back to Laura Place, but …” She turned to include Mr. Windham in her fury. “… he thinks to repair the damage with nothing more than an invitation to a rout. Nerissa could have been killed, although she is too generous to speak of it.”

Watching Mr. Windham's face, which was for once as blank as his brother's could be, Nerissa wished she could silence her friend. She knew how futile any attempt to quell Annis's righteous rage would be.

“I am certain Lord Windham intended no harm to Miss Dufresne,” he said quietly.

“It matters little what he
intended
. Look at her!”

“I have been,” he said, his smile returning, “and I am pleased to see her looking so well. Miss Dufresne, would you be so kind as to introduce me to your friend?”

Nerissa took a deep breath to steady her voice, then said, “Miss Annis Ehrlich, this is Mr. Philip Windham, Lord Windham's brother.”

Annis's intense color became ghostly as she pressed her fingertips to her lips. “Mr. Windham, I had no idea … I mean, I meant nothing …”

“Of course you meant something.” His smile softened his words, as he added, “You have every right to come to the defense of your bosom bow, and I must tell you that your fervor is admirable. My brother and I have been haunted by the horror of the injuries Miss Dufresne has suffered.” Taking Annis's hand, he shook it gravely. “It is
my
pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Ehrlich.”

Annis looked at Nerissa for assistance. Nerissa tried to think of something to fill the troublesome silence. She knew her words sounded strained when she said, “We are doing errands, Mr. Windham. What has brought you out on this dreary day?”

“The hope of finding something more pleasant than my own company.” His smile broadened, and Nerissa realized this Windham brother had been given a share of the charm his brother possessed. “I believe I have.”

Mrs. Peach called, “Miss Dufresne?”

Nerissa hesitated, then realized that Annis was laughing at something Mr. Windham was saying. The tension had vanished with his candor. Leaving them to talk, she gave her order to the shopkeeper. Nerissa watched Mrs. Peach measure out the snuff from the clay jar behind her counter. The sharp smell tickled her nose, but she struggled not to sneeze as the older woman prattled on about what a fine young man Nerissa's brother was to recognize the qualities of Martinique snuff.

“And a packet of Spanish Sabilla, too,” Nerissa said when Mrs. Peach had wrapped the package for Cole.

“Your brother is trying some of that brand again? When you did not order it upon your last visit, I thought he had decided it was not to his taste.”

Nerissa smiled rather than answered. She guessed Mrs. Peach, who was an avid user of the snuffs she sold, would be outraged if she learned that Nerissa used the finely ground, reddish powder to clean her teeth. Taking her package, she turned and gasped.

Neither Annis nor Mr. Windham was in the shop. Was Annis all about in her head to wander away with a man she had only just met? After the dressing down she had given Nerissa, it seemed impossible.

Rushing out onto the street, Nerissa grimaced when water splashed from a puddle over her half-boots. Her frown became astonishment when she saw her friend standing next to Lord Windham's brother and pointing to something in the shop window next to Mrs. Peach's store. With their heads tipped toward each other, they were chatting as if they enjoyed a deep
amitié
.

Nerissa released the breath she had been holding. Walking to them, she said regretfully, “We told your mother we would return immediately, Annis, so we must bid Mr. Windham
adieu.
”

“I trust I shall see you again,” Mr. Windham hurried to say as he shook Annis's hand lingeringly. “Mayhap at Rowland's gathering this evening?”

Before she could answer, a laugh sounded behind Nerissa. It sent a trill of pleasure cascading through her. Looking over her shoulder, she hoped her reaction was hidden. It would be cockle-brained of her to allow Lord Windham to discover that she was finding it difficult to ignore how the warmth of his voice and his devilishly charming smile affected her.

“Is this to become a habit, Philip? I am constantly finding you in the company of Bath's loveliest ladies.” Lord Windham smiled.

“Hamilton, I don't believe you know Miss Ehrlich,” Mr. Windham said. “Miss Ehrlich, my brother.”

The viscount greeted Annis, and they shared the proper nothing-sayings for such a meeting. Only then did he turn to Nerissa. “I did not realize that purple was becoming the shade of choice for a lady's cheeks, but it is most becoming, Miss Dufresne.”

“Hamilton!” gasped his shocked brother.

“Do not let him disturb you with his tactlessness, Mr. Windham,” Nerissa said as she met the viscount's smile with a steady stare. “He thinks only of trying to send me up to the boughs with his backhanded compliments, but I can assure you that he has failed. I have found that I enjoy being purple-faced to being a red-faced rider who cannot see past the tip of his mount's nose.”

Mr. Windham chuckled, ignoring his brother's glower in his direction. Annis laughed lightly, again putting her fingers to her lips, but she was unable to try to halt the merry sound.

“I deserve that trimming, Miss Dufresne,” Lord Windham said as he watched his brother stroll with Annis toward the next shop window. “Even after our brief acquaintance, I should know better than to cross words with you. Now I suppose I should ask Miss Ehrlich's pardon. She has certainly caught Philip's eye. I hope that she has not taken snuff at my crude words.”

Nerissa could not help laughing when he glanced at the tobacco shop as he apologized. “Fortunately Miss Ehrlich does not take insult easily, my lord, but you would be wise to delay your amends until later. I think Annis is quite as taken by your brother as he is with her. Little we say or do will penetrate the song created by two innocent hearts.”

“How astute you are! However, Miss Dufresne, if I may be so bold as to speak of your health again, you should be off your feet. Purple is the sole hue on your face. I have seen dead men with more color in their cheeks.” He offered his arm.

She gratefully put her hand on it. Although she had not wished anyone to guess, her head ached as if a dozen gnomes pounded hammers against her skull. His shoulder was tantalizingly close, but she did not dare to rest her cheek against it when they stood on the busy street. She wondered if it would be as soft as she recalled it being when they sat side by side beneath the tree beyond the hedgerow, or if it would be as hard as the muscles in his arm.

If Lord Windham noted how she leaned on him as they walked, he was kind enough to say nothing of it. She was glad, for she had little energy left to engage in another dagger-drawing with him.

When they passed Mr. Windham and Annis, the viscount tapped his brother on the shoulder. Upon getting Philip's attention which had been focused on Annis's charming tale of her sister's latest
fête
, he motioned for them to follow. “It is quick, is it not?” he mused as they continued toward where her carriage waited by the curb.