The Temptation of a Gentleman (11 page)

“
Miss Marion, perhaps you’ll take a turn around the terrace with me before we go down to the lawn for our picnic?” Tabitha tilted her head with a smile. “I’d be happy to introduce you to some of our other guests.”

Marion nodded though she stole a quick glance toward Noah. She wanted to be alone with him and tell him everything she’d learned in her discussion with Lucas. But there was no way to refuse Lady Woodbury’s kind offer. Especially when the woman in question seemed to
need
to introduce her. She’d caught a glimmer of fear in the older lady’s eye and sympathized. For a woman like the Dowager Marchioness, life without her husband had to be an adjustment on many levels.

“
Of course, my lady,” she said. “I’d be pleased to meet your guests.”

Noah smiled as Marion took his mother’s arm and the two strolled away. The look she tossed him over her shoulder told him she’d rather be with him, but his mother would never guess that. And perhaps having a stranger to dote on would relieve Tabitha’s own worries. Already she seemed more at ease, smoothly introducing Marion to a boring Earl and his ugly Countess.

“
Lord Woodbury,” Lucas said beside him, his tone as soft as a snake’s.

Noah immediately turned his attention back to the men beside him with a smile. It was time to turn on the spy in him. “My apologies, gentlemen, for not being more attentive.”

Lucas returned his smile, but the expression was thin and tight. “I’m sure you must be worried about your mother. After all, people have begun to talk since she’s not been out in Society much in the months since your father’s death.”

The blood drained from Noah’s face as he clenched his fists. How he hated the idea that his mother was the topic of any kind of gossip. Her mourning had been deep, but her love for his father was great. She only needed more time before she’d be back to her old self. No one, especially not a blackguard like Josiah Lucas, had the right to question her actions.

“
If people talk then they obviously lack the intelligence to find a more interesting topic,” Noah hissed, barely reining in his anger. The last thing he needed was to destroy his own investigation and perhaps put Marion’s life in danger by losing control.

“
Of course,
I
don’t believe the rumors.” Lucas placed a hand on his breast as he took a drink from one of the servers. “But it’s difficult not to hear the whispers.”

Walter Hawthorne looked from one man to the other nervously. If Noah hadn’t been so angry, he would have found Hawthorne’s predicament amusing. After all, he was indebted to Lucas, but obviously strove to impress Noah. Now that the two men were at odds, Hawthorne couldn’t decide where his allegiance should lie.

Noah refused to stoop to Lucas’s level by asking him what the rumors about Tabitha were. He already knew. Friends had told him some of the crueler members of the
ton
said his mother had lost her mind.

The echo of Tabitha’s laughter floated over the crowd and he spun around to face her. He hadn’t heard that sound for months, yet there she stood, laughing as Marion grinned and nodded her head. A surge of pleasure shot through him at the sight. Marion’s presence was a good influence on his lonely mother.

“
Lords and Ladies, you may proceed to the South lawn for sustenance when it pleases you,” Basil said from the terrace as he motioned to the stairway with a short nod.

One by one, the guests trailed past Noah and meandered their way toward the South lawn for their picnic luncheon. Finally Marion and Tabitha reached the men.

“
Mama.” Noah took her hands and kissed both her cheeks. “Seeing you laugh is a gift.”

Tabitha smiled. “Marion was telling me the most amusing story of how her pencils were eaten by the horse of a perfectly
dreadful
man.”

Noah glanced at Marion. Her brown eyes danced as their gazes met and she winked at him brazenly. The tiny gesture sent heat rushing to his loins and he shifted uncomfortably to cover the reaction.

Tabitha turned to Lucas and Hawthorne with a wide smile. “Will you gentlemen be so kind as to escort me?”
Lucas opened his mouth as if to protest as he shot a look toward Marion, but Tabitha had already taken his arm and was leading the two men down the stairway before his complaint was out of his mouth. For a brief moment Noah and Marion were alone.

“
Your mother is an angel,” Marion said as she watched the little group disappear around the terrace stair. “She adores you and your sisters.”

Noah smiled as he offered her his arm. “Yes, sometimes to excess.”

She laughed as they began to descend the staircase. “How is that possible?”

“
She and my sister Audrey didn’t always get along,” Noah explained. “And my sister Ginny made a very bad match at my mother’s urging. Mama blames herself for it.”

Marion dipped her head. “I suppose I’d never considered there might be disadvantages to a mother who was so involved in a person’s life.”

Noah let out a curse under his breath. Here he was acting as if his mother’s intrusions were inconvenient when Marion had never had the benefit. He’d been insensitive to her feelings about her mother’s untimely death.

Marion blinked back unbidden tears. Why did spending time with Noah’s mother make her think of her own so much? She should have become accustomed to the sting she felt, not allow it to wipe away any control she had over her emotions.

With a tiny shake of her head, she forced a smile to her lips. “I wonder if we might have a moment alone together later to talk about that matter we discussed?”

With a tilt of her head, she indicated Josiah Lucas and her father.

“
Yes.” He nodded. “That was already in my plans.”

She smiled broadly. Wouldn’t he be surprised when she told him she already had information from Lucas’s own mouth?

“
When?”

Noah smiled. “In half an hour the rest of the guests will be so involved in eating and gossiping they’ll hardly notice if you slip away. I’ll meet you in the library where I gave you the pencils. Do you remember where that is?”

Marion held back a laugh. She’d memorized all the rooms and passageways of Linton Green, at least all the ones she’d been in. The library had been particularly interesting to her. She closed her eyes and pictured it perfectly. Into the foyer, down the short hall to the left of the stairs, turn right…

“
Marion?”

Her eyes flew open to find Noah staring at her with an amused smile on his face. His blue eyes sparkled.

With a blush she said, “I remember. And you’ll meet me there?”

“
That’s my intention,” he said as he released her arm to motion to the chair the footman held out.

As she sat, she looked around her in relief. The rest of the guests had already been served their first course and were eating and chatting around her. Marion was pleased her father and Lucas had been seated two chairs away from her, while Noah was directly across from her and his mother to her right.

Now that she knew he would meet her, Marion gave a happy sigh and quickly fell into conversation with Tabitha Jordan. Later she could surprise Noah with all she knew, later she could have a moment alone with him. Perhaps a moment when he would look at her in that way that made her knees go weak.

No one could begrudge her just that bit of stolen time.

Marion ran her finger across the spines of a line of books, inhaling the scent of their aged pages and devouring the beauty of their lettering. There was nothing she loved more than a library. After her mother died, her father had destroyed or given away all the books she owned. He’d turned her mother’s library into a stuffy parlor where no one even bothered to have tea anymore. It had been a first of many crushing blows to Marion, losing the things her mother had loved.

She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for melancholy remembrances of the past, but preparations for the future. If only she could do what Noah asked of her she would be free of her father forever, free to travel to her aunts and live a life too wonderful to even fathom.

“
Why does that feel so empty?” she whispered as she pressed her forehead against the books.

She should have felt joyful at the thought of escaping to the life she’d planned for so long. Instead, the idea of going to her aunts wasn’t as thrilling as helping Noah or being near him.

The sound of a man clearing his throat jerked her from her scandalous thoughts. Marion spun around and found Noah leaning against the doorjamb, a crooked grin on his handsome face and his bright eyes sparkling.

“
I knew you were enamored with my library before, but I never thought I’d find you embracing my books.” He entered the room with wink. “I may be a touch jealous.”

Marion blushed as she backed away from the bookshelf. “My apologies, I was lost in thought.”

“
Apparently.” Noah shut the door behind him and motioned to two chairs beside the fireplace. “Would you care to share with me what took you so far away from Linton Green?”

Marion shook her head. What was she to say, that she was dreaming of Noah’s touch? She highly doubted the Marquis would appreciate that.

“
A secretive lady is always so interesting,” he said as she sat down. “But I won’t intrude on your thoughts right now. We have very little time to talk and need to discuss our plans for Josiah Lucas.”

Marion nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes, I have so much to tell you!”

He wrinkled his brow. “
You
have so much to tell
me
? I haven’t even talked to you about the specifics of what to do yet.”

“
I know that, but I was getting so frustrated waiting the last few days. I want to find out whatever Lucas did to Georgina and move on with my life.”

Noah leaned forward, his eyes flashing and his tone sharp with disapproval. “What did you do, Marion?”

She jumped. He seemed angry, not pleased that she’d begun prying into Lucas’s life.

“
I went into his study to look around for incriminating items,” she began. Her excitement returned with the memory. “By the way, you should try to be more specific with a beginner. ‘Incriminating items’ is about as vague as you can get. At any rate, Lucas came in-”

Noah sprang to his feet. “What?”

He’d never been so furious in his life, not even with Audrey who loved to put herself in dangerous positions.

Marion looked up at him with bright, brown eyes. “I said Lucas came in while I was looking around.”

“
He found you in his private quarters?” Noah snapped, trying to rein in his anger and worry.

She nodded as if the fact that she’d foolishly put her life in danger rather than wait for his instructions and protection was normal.

“
I thought that was what you wanted.” She stood up and her head barely reached his chin. “You told me to look for incriminating items, so I did.”

“
I didn’t mean for you to burst into Josiah Lucas’s office and put yourself in danger!” He ran a hand through his hair. “My God, Marion what were you thinking?”

He stared at her a moment, wondering if he was wise to allow her to participate in his investigation. The last thing he wanted was to put her in further danger. But it was too late. She already knew about his case and had waded knee-deep into it.

“
What did he say? What did you say?”

She shrugged. “I told him I was reading a poem about-”

He threw his hands up in the air. “You talked to him about
poetry
?”

She pursed her lips as irritation lit up in her eyes. “If you’ll allow me to finish, I’ll explain exactly what I did. Then you can scream and bellow like a barbarian.” With a frown, she crossed her arms and continued, “I simply told him I was reading a work about life taken too soon and it reminded me of his late wife. I explained that as I walked downstairs, I caught a glimpse of her portrait in the office and came in to look.”

Noah stepped back. For a novice, Marion had come up with a fairly reasonable explanation. If he hadn’t been so furious with her impulsive nature, he would have been impressed by her ingenuity. “And he accepted that?”

She shrugged. “He seemed to. He even talked to me about Georgina.” Marion paused. “Why are you so angry? I thought you
wanted
my assistance in this matter. That was our bargain, was it not?”

“
It was.” With a sigh, he turned toward the picture window that looked down on the party below. “But I never wanted you to put yourself in danger.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “Every moment I’m in that house I’m in danger.” He turned in time to see a shiver wrack her body. “The only way I can protect myself is by helping you.”