The Viscount Made Me Do It

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The Viscount Made Me Do It Page 12

by Diana Quincy


  “In my day, we never had a choice.” Citi settled heavily into a seat in the waiting area. Her voice was wistful. “We had to marry, have children, cook and clean. We never could choose.”

  “What is happening?” Rafi muttered. “No projectiles? No cursing?”

  Citi stared out the bow window. “No one ever asked the binat, us girls, what we wanted.”

  “To be fair,” Elias murmured to Hanna, “no one asked you what you wanted. You just took it.”

  Citi’s strange mood, reflective rather than condemnatory, unsettled Hanna. This was a side of her grandmother she’d never seen. Feeling less fearful of having a shoe flung in her direction, she crossed over to sit next to her.

  “I never intended to lie or be disrespectful. I got caught up in it. I took to bonesetting from the very beginning. I was good at it. It made me proud to excel at a craft that helps people.”

  “A girl should get married. She is incomplete without a husband and children.”

  “This is my dream,” Hanna said. “Girls deserve to have dreams, too, don’t they? And to try to make them real. What were your dreams?” It had never occurred to Hanna to ask before.

  “Indari, Citi, I don’t know.” The old woman released a long breath. “I don’t remember. No one expected girls to have dreams back then, so we didn’t bother.”

  Love for her grandmother swelled in Hanna’s chest. “I just want to be a bonesetter.” Hanna put her hand over Citi’s vulnerable-looking, veiny hand. “I’m very good at it. Baba said so all of the time. You understand, don’t you?”

  “It doesn’t matter if I understand.” Citi’s gaze met hers. “Just wait until your mother finds out.”

  “My lord, you have a visitor.”

  Griff barely heard the butler. He was too immersed in the past, having spent two days going through his father’s things, rediscovering the person Griff hadn’t had the chance to know as a grown man. Wright had saved everything. More than a dozen cravats, several pairs of gloves, the dark evening clothes and wool day tailcoats. And Father’s fob.

  Father never left home without the distinct gold-and-silver timepiece attached to a deep burgundy ribbon. Countless times, he pulled the timepiece from his fob pocket at his waistband to stare at while waiting for Mother at the bottom of the stairs.

  “It is quarter past, Caroline,” he would call up to her. “We were meant to be there by now.” Mama tended to run late. She used to tease Father for always insisting they arrive unfashionably early.

  Wright cleared his throat. “My lord.”

  Griff tore his attention away from Father’s watch. “Yes?”

  “You have a visitor.”

  “I do? Who even knows I’m here?”

  “Everyone in Mayfair, my lord.”

  “What? How?”

  “News travels like a speeding carriage among the ton.”

  “You are saying that the entire city knows I’ve taken up residence at Haven House?”

  “I believe that would be an accurate assessment of the situation, my lord.”

  “Who is it? Who’s here?”

  “Lady Winters is calling.”

  “Who the devil is Lady Winters?”

  “My lord will perhaps remember her as Lady Selina.”

  Griff stiffened. “Selina is here?” His past was catching up with him all at once.

  “Would you like me to tell her that you are not at home to visitors?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary.” He came to his feet. “Where did you put her?”

  “She is in the front parlor at the moment, my lord.”

  Selina would laugh if he chose to greet her in such a formal room. “I’ll see her in the upstairs sitting room.” Just like before.

  “Very good, my lord. Shall I have tea brought in or”—he paused meaningfully—“an entire tea tray?”

  Griff tried to decode the butler’s intent. “Which do you advise?”

  “It depends upon how long you wish the visit to last. Tea alone with a single plate of biscuits is generally more expeditious. If you take my meaning.”

  “I do, indeed.” He hadn’t seen Selina in fourteen years. Maybe she’d become a termagant. Although he couldn’t imagine that. Still. “Perhaps we should err on the side of expedition. Just to be safe.”

  “Very good, my lord. Tea and biscuits it is.”

  A few minutes later, Griff joined Selina in the family sitting room. She immediately approached, a huge smile wreathing her face. With her golden hair and noble features, his childhood partner in crime had grown into a handsome woman.

  “Tommy,” she said.

  “Selina.” He took both of her hands in his and kissed her soft cheek. She smelled of expensive perfumes and hair rinses. Like a grown woman rather than the scruffy tomboy he remembered. “How good it is to see you.” And he meant it. Rather than dredging up the worst memories, as he’d feared, Selina’s presence recalled happier times.

  “It has been entirely too long.” She held his hands apart as she assessed him. “Look at you. Mama always said you’d grow up to be handsome.”

  “Did she?” Their mothers had been the best of friends. “And what did you say?”

  She released his hands. “I was a bit more skeptical.”

  He snorted. “I see you haven’t changed. How is your mother?”

  “As industrious as ever. She’s the one who told me you’d finally opened Haven House.”

  A footman came in with the tea and set it out under Wright’s watchful gaze. As soon as they were alone again, Selina burst out laughing.

  “Just tea and biscuits? Planning to be rid of me quickly, are you?”

  His cheeks warmed. “Is that a common practice in the ton that I am unaware of?”

  “No, it was Lady Caroline’s way. She and Mama used to giggle about it.”

  “Really? My mother used to offer lesser refreshments to callers she wanted to be quickly rid of? I had no idea.”

  “You were a boy. Boys don’t notice such things.” She paused. Her expression growing more serious. “How are you? Truly?”

  “I am well.” It was the truth. His shoulder wasn’t the only thing that was healing. “I regret not coming home sooner.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I thought the house would be full of ghosts. Instead I find it’s full of pleasant memories.”

  “I was hesitant to visit. I feared you might blame me.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You did nothing wrong.”

  One of her eyebrows shot up. “We both know that is not true. But I don’t regret it.”

  “Neither do I.” Looking at her, he felt a rush of fondness. Selina had been in his life for as long as he could remember. “You honored me.”

  “You paid the price.”

  “One of us had to.”

  “I’m sorry it had to be you. I should have been braver.”

  “Nonsense. That would have been disastrous.” He took her hand and led her to the sofa. “Let’s not dwell on the past.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “Parts of it were quite memorable.”

  “I remember.” He felt himself blushing. “I was there.”

  She laughed, and he squeezed her hand. All of the years they’d spent apart vanished, leaving the comfortable familiarity. Selina was still her old self. And by some miracle, Griff was beginning to feel like himself again, too.

  “Let’s have our limited ration of tea and biscuits while you catch me up on everything.”

  She settled next to him on the sofa. “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. How have you been? Is your husband good to you?”

  “He was.”

  “Was?”

  “Yes, I am quite unattached at the moment. I am a widow.”

  Hanna stared up at the vision coming down the grand staircase on Griff’s arm.

  She was blonde, fair-skinned and very finely dressed. Obviously a lady. Griff’s face shone as he chatted intimately with the woman, their he
ads tilted together. His hand covered the lady’s where it rested on his arm. They were so wrapped up in each other they didn’t take immediate notice of Hanna and Rafi standing in the front hall.

  The scene before her hit Hanna like a punch to the belly. This regal woman explained why Griff had been absent for several days. What a fool Hanna was to worry about him. He’d obviously been otherwise occupied.

  She regretted cajoling her brother into accompanying her to Cavendish Square under the guise of returning the necklace. Griff lived in the finest section of London’s finest neighborhood. He was as elite as one could be without being actual royalty. It was a reminder she and Griff lived in two different worlds that might collide but could never blend.

  The grandness of the house was intimidating enough. Not to mention the impossibly distinguished butler who’d stared down his nose at them when they’d asked to see Griff.

  I shall see if his lordship is receiving. From his imperious tone, it was obvious the stuffy man expected the answer to be a resounding no. And now, seeing this lady on Griff’s arm—

  “Zay il umar,” Rafi murmured as he stared up at the woman. “She’s beautiful like the moon.”

  When Griff finally spotted them, delight sparkled in his eyes. “Han—Miss Zaydan. This is certainly an afternoon for unexpected pleasures.”

  Hanna didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she didn’t like the way it sounded. One didn’t need to be a genius to surmise what the two of them might have been up to. The butler, who’d started up the stairs, halted.

  “My apologies, Lord Griffin. This young woman insisted upon seeing you.” The words dripped with disdain. “I was just coming to inquire.”

  “Do not concern yourself, Wright. Miss Zaydan is most welcome here.”

  “Very good, my lord,” the butler said dubiously before discreetly fading into a nearby corner.

  Griff’s eyes crinkled at the corners. Her stomach fluttered. Griff was not a naturally warm man, but his smile ignited a furnace inside her. Griff’s gaze cooled when it settled on Rafi. “I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure.”

  “This is my brother. Rafi.”

  “Ah.” Griff perked up. “How do you do?”

  “Well enough,” Rafi answered.

  Griff and the lady joined Hanna and Rafi in the front hall. “Allow me to present Lady Winters.”

  “My pleasure,” Rafi said, his eyes wide. Hanna resisted the urge to elbow him hard in the side. The woman wasn’t that stunning. Except that she rather was. She wore a cheerful chintz gown topped by a stylish pelisse and hat. In her drab muslin dress, Hanna felt like a dowdy washerwoman next to Lady Winters.

  “How do you do?” the woman said with a friendly tilt of her chin.

  “This is Miss Zaydan,” Griff told her. “She fixed a shoulder injury that plagued me for two years.”

  “Is that so?” Lady Winters regarded Hanna with interest. “Are you a healer of some sort?”

  Hanna put her shoulders back. “I am a bonesetter.”

  “A bonesetter?” Lady Winters’s delicate amber brows lifted. “How intriguing.”

  “The finest one in all of London,” Griff added.

  “I confess to not knowing a great deal about bonesetters,” Lady Winters remarked. “How were you able to help his lordship?”

  “It was a simple procedure,” Hanna said. “The joints in Lord Griffin’s shoulder and arm were out. I put them back in.”

  “Miss Zaydan is being modest,” Griff said. “I saw several doctors, and not one of them managed to accomplish what Miss Zaydan did in just a few short weeks.”

  “I see that we are disturbing the two of you,” Hanna said, eager to end the awkward encounter. They’d obviously interrupted a private moment. “We shall go.”

  Griff took a step toward her. “Don’t leave let.”

  Rafi spoke at the same time. “Aren’t you going to give him the necklace? Isn’t that why we’re here?”

  “The necklace?” Griff repeated.

  “You all must excuse me.” Lady Winters turned to Griff. “I am due at Mama’s. She’ll have my head and yours, too, if I don’t turn up.”

  “Is your carriage waiting?”

  “No, you’ll recall the house is just four doors down,” Lady Winters said. “I shall walk.”

  Griff frowned. “Alone?”

  “I would be happy to escort Lady Winters home,” Rafi blurted out so eagerly that Hanna wanted to kick him in the knee.

  “There’s no need,” Griff said. “I shall accompany the lady.”

  “You stay and settle your business with Miss Zaydan.” Lady Winters’s firm tone did not invite contradiction. “I am happy to accept Mr. Zaydan’s offer of escort. It is a two-minute walk at most.”

  Rafi seemed dumbstruck by his sudden good fortune. “It would be my honor.” Hanna had never seen her brother all agog over a woman before. It was beyond aggravating. Usually the girls clamored for Rafi’s attention, rather than the other way around.

  Her brother offered Lady Winters his arm. “Shall we?”

  “Absolutely.”

  They said their farewells, and Lady Winters floated out the door on Rafi’s arm like a princess in a fairy tale.

  Mirth danced in Griff’s eyes. “Your brother seems awfully pleased.”

  “Deliriously so,” she said sourly. “He completely forgot that he is supposed to be my chaperone.”

  Griff laughed out loud. He seemed so carefree. “Selina can have that effect on people.”

  “Selina?”

  “Lady Winters.”

  “I see.” Her toes curled. They certainly were on familiar terms.

  Seeing how happy and unburdened Griff looked, no doubt thanks to Selina, made Hanna feel like a complete habla for worrying about him. “I came to see you because I was concerned about you,” she blurted out. “It’s been three days.”

  He grinned. “Did you miss me?”

  “Certainly not.” She kept her head high, resisting the urge to hide behind the nearest potted plant. “You seemed so eager to go through Papa’s records that I could not help but wonder what became of you.”

  “Are you certain you didn’t miss me just a bit?”

  How dare he flirt with her when the lady he was obviously courting had just walked out the door? She spun toward the exit. “I’ll wait for my brother outside.”

  “No, no.” He rushed to her and put a gentle hand on her arm. His touch burned through her sleeve. “My apologies. Stay. Please. I would like to talk with you.”

  “About what?”

  “I apologize for my absence. I’ve been settling in. Learning about the viscountcy, my properties. There is a great deal I have neglected.”

  Including Lady Winters? “You are under no obligation to explain yourself to me.”

  “Nonetheless, I want you to know why I’ve been absent. I didn’t mean to vanish on you.”

  “I suppose it is the natural way of things.” She saw with her own eyes what, or who, kept Griff occupied at Haven House. “You’ve returned to the world into which you were born.” One that might as well be a thousand miles from Red Lion Square.

  “Your brother said you came to deliver the necklace.” He studied her face. “Why?”

  “It is yours.” She withdrew the necklace from her reticule and felt a pang of regret at its loss. Especially knowing it would soon adorn Lady Winters’s long and graceful neck. “Now that you know the necklace belongs to you, you won’t have to purchase one for Lady Winters. You can give her this one.”

  He accepted the sapphire. “Why would I give my mother’s necklace to Selina?”

  “She is obviously the lady you are courting. Now you can gift the necklace to her. There’s no need for you to purchase another like it.”

  The door swung open and Rafi rushed in. The wild-eyed expression on his face suggested he finally realized he’d left his sister unchaperoned in the home of a bachelor. “Hanna, there you are.” He exhaled, obviously relieved. “Are y
ou well?”

  “Now you ask?” Hanna retorted, supremely irritated with both men and their fawning infatuation with Lady Winters. “I am ready to go.”

  “Wait,” Griff said. “Don’t leave so soon.”

  “Our business is concluded. Good afternoon.” Eager to escape, Hanna ushered her brother out the door without a backward look.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Now touch your toes,” Hanna instructed.

  Peeking in through the half-open dispensary door, Griff took a moment to watch the scene unfolding inside the clinic before announcing his presence.

  Annie Peele folded at the waist, her fingers stretching toward the floor. “Like this?”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” Mrs. Peele asked Hanna.

  “Yes, excellent. Now straighten up and bend slightly backward.” Hanna wore a lilac dress that might appear frumpy on another woman. But not on her. Nothing could diminish her proud stance and strong form. Or the easy command with which she wielded her knowledge to help others.

  Annie complied with Hanna’s directions, stretching her hands high in the air as she performed a slight backbend.

  Hanna took notes as she watched the girl, her brow adorably furrowed. They appeared to be alone at the dispensary.

  “What next?” Annie asked excitedly. “How do I keep the pain away?”

  “Exercise and stretches will help. You will come and see me a few times a year for a massage to keep everything in place.”

  Griff pushed the door farther open, choosing that moment to make his presence known. The bell over the door sounded. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite ladies all in one place.”

  Hanna looked in his direction, and his heart somersaulted. Her dark gaze dropped to the massive bouquet of flowers in his arms. “Hello, Lord Griffin.”

  “Congratulations.” The formal address told him all he needed to know about her mood. “I understand you opened your doors to patients this morning.”

  “It’s a relief to treat patients without my family traipsing in and out of my office. Or patients having to run the gauntlet of Citi’s inspection every time they visit.”

 

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