“But has he said anything specific?” Anne Marie pressed for an answer.
Clara pulled in a deep, aggravated breath. Anne Marie chose to ignore it and wait for the answer she wanted.
“He thinks you are beautiful. Smart. All the things… he desires in a woman.”
Anne Marie was not expecting that. “Is that what he said?”
Clara looked defeated. “Yes. Those were almost his exact words.”
Excitement made Anne Marie’s heart pound. When she took a chance looking to where the men were, she saw that James was looking at her. He smiled, making her heart pound even more. She smiled back.
“May I ask you a question, my lady?” Clara asked, bringing Anne Marie’s attention back to the conversation. She looked at her companion.
“Of course, Clara, you can always ask me a question. Please do not hesitate. What is it?”
“We spent a lovely morning in the park with Nicholas. You came back from your walk on his arm. Is there any way you might be thinking of him as a possible suitor? His mother would be so delighted.”
Anne Marie was sure that Clara would also be delighted by the prospect and the fact that it would free up James for her.
“It is always a possibility. I have no way of knowing how a man thinks or what his intentions are until he tells me. Neither of these men has posed a question that would make me feel he was interested in courtship, at least not yet. But I wish to hear from my uncle before a decision is made on this matter.”
“But, my lady,” Clara was beginning to sound a bit frustrated. “What shall we do in the meantime? I do not want to let my feelings grow too deep if I will only have my heart broken. And you should not do that to Nicholas. What happens if Nicholas falls in love with you? You cannot spend the next week or ten days leading him down a path you are not willing to take in the end, are you?”
Anne Marie narrowed her eyes at Clara. “What are you saying?”
Clara pulled slightly away from the Lady and lowered her head. “I am sorry, my lady. I only want to make sure that no one gets hurt.”
“In these situations, there seems to always be someone who gets hurt. And in this particular situation, there is sure to be at least one person whose feelings are hurt.”
Clara looked up at Anne Marie with wide eyes. “Who is that, my lady?” She asked fearfully.
Anne Marie smirked at her, lifting one hand to hide it. “The Earl.”
Clara bit her lips together in a repressed smile. “Oh, my.” She said. “That is true, is it not? He is always looking at you as though he owns you.”
Anne Marie nodded. “But I am a slave to no man. I will not let him overpower or overwhelm me.”
“You have too many people who are willing to protect you for that to happen, my lady. We all want your happiness. That is why I will step away from James if it is what you wish. But I must say, Miss Anne, I do not want to. We have spent some time together and I have come to realize what a fascinating gentleman he is.”
“Yes, I have come to the same conclusion.”
“But Nicholas is also a wonderful man.”
“Both are suitable for marriage. It is going to be a difficult…”
Clara reached forward and grabbed her arm to silence her. Anne Marie turned her eyes to look at the men. James had conceded his game to Tyler and the eldest Cornwall was laughing loudly. James was coming over to where they were while Steven sat down to be his brother’s new opponent.
James stood in front of the ladies, looking down at them, his hands resting on his waist.
“Are you ladies having a good time?”
“Yes, my lord. Would you care to sit?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Without thinking, Anne Marie and Clara separated, leaving a gap between them so he could sit down.
“Imagine that,” James said, looking back and forth between the two of them after dropping himself down in the open spot. “My good friend, Lord Tyler Cornwall, beating me at chess on my own birthday.” He shook his head mournfully, making both women giggle. “There are two things I learned from that.”
“And what are they, my lord?” Anne Marie asked.
He looked at her. She fell into his eyes, feeling like she could gaze into them for the rest of her life. “First, his mother did not teach him manners and how to act on someone else’s birthday when they are his opponent in chess.”
“And the second thing?”
“My mother taught him to play chess too well.”
The three of them laughed.
“Did your mother really teach him to play chess?”
James shrugged casually. “I think she must have. She is the only person I have played that makes the kind of decisions he does. Perhaps their brains work in the same way, whereas mine is like knocking on stone.”
Again, the ladies had to laugh.
“Surely not, my lord. You are a very smart man, indeed.”
“Smart has little to do with chess, my dear,” James turned to look at Clara with amusement in his eyes. “It is a strategic game that requires the ability to think well ahead of your next move. This is not a trait I possess. It is a trait my mother possesses. You don’t think Tyler is actually my brother and we are all just being fooled, do you?”
“Oh, my lord,” Anne Marie laughed. “You are stretching for answers with that one. As amusing as it is, I don’t think that’s true.”
James shook his head. “You are right, my lady. I see no resemblance to my parents or me in him. Too bad. I would not have minded having a brother.”
“And he has plenty to spare.”
James laughed. “He does, doesn’t he, Lady Anne? He certainly does.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ANOTHER SITUATION TO DEAL WITH
ANOTHER SITUATION TO DEAL WITH
Instead of a formal dinner at the table, Judith prepared a spread of delicious looking food and let the guests fill plates and take them to sit wherever they were comfortable sitting. She was seated on the dark red settee in the drawing room with Nicholas beside her on one side and Clara on the other. She was balancing her plate on her lap. She hadn’t realized she was so hungry until she smelled the pork, potatoes, and vegetables cooking in the kitchen.
Now, with a full plate in front of her, she tried to be dignified as she ate, though all she wanted to do was shove the food in her mouth. She had her fork halfway up to her mouth when the door to the drawing room burst open and one of the men from the flower shop she’d seen earlier, entered quickly. He went straight to James, who was seated near them on a comfortable chair and bent forward, whispering frantically in the young man’s ear. James listened intently before setting his plate on a table near him and standing up.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he announced in a loud voice. “There has been another case of vandalism. Come with me if you want to. We have more clean-up work to do.”
Worry traced Anne Marie’s face. She looked around the room as everyone set their plates to the side and murmured to each other about the state of the world today. Nicholas was up and walking out with the man who had come with the news before Anne Marie had even set her plate to the side.
She looked at Clara with confusion on her face.
“Oh, Clara,” she said in a sorrowful voice. “Whatever could be happening? In all the time I lived in London with my Uncle, I never saw anything like this.”
“Never?” Clara was now standing next to her as they prepared to follow the crowd out of the room and onto the street.
“No,” Anne Marie shook her head. “This is terribly frightening.”
“You have nothing to fear, my lady.” Clara shook her head. “No one will hurt you. You have too many friends here.”
“I am not worried about myself,” Anne Marie said as they walked down the street toward the commotion in the distance. “I worry about the people of this town. It seems likely that we will be staying here, as I am interested in the men who reside here. And I care about these people an
d the life they have been living. I would hate to see such a good thing destroyed because of one person who has clearly lost his or her mind.”
“Do you think it could be a woman, Miss Anne?”
Anne Marie thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “I really have to agree with James about this. He said that the vandal in the first case looked to be a man because of several clues that were left. I have a feeling this one will be the same.”
“I don’t know how this person is getting away with it, though, my lady,” Clara shook her head. “This had to have been done in the last hour or so, while we were at the party. But what about all the people here, who have been working on the streets? How can a second incident occur like this without anyone noticing, hearing, seeing? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I suppose we will see when we get there, Clara.”
Without another word, the two of them walked quickly behind the rest to get to the hat shop, which was next to Eliza’s flower shop. When Lady Saville saw that it was her shop that had been vandalized, she began to wail dramatically, throwing her arms around the neck of the nearest man to her, who reacted with great surprise. It was one of the workers and he was dusty after coming out from the hat shop, which looked like someone had taken a heavy instrument and purposefully destroyed every display. Hats were on the floor, trampled, their decorations and accoutrements flattened and dirty.
Judith pried Melanie’s arms from around the neck of the worker, much to his relief, and took the woman back to the hotel to comfort her and calm her down.
Without hesitation, Anne Marie stepped over the broken glass and pieces of wood that were scattered all around the ground outside the small shop. She sensed someone was watching her and turned to see that several of the men had focused on her. She caught the eyes of Nicholas as he walked around the items on the floor, trying not to make the situation any worse than it already was. He approached her.
“This is not a good event, my lady, would you agree?”
Anne Marie frowned. “I don’t understand this at all. First the flower shop and now the hat shop. What will be next? The dress shop? The market? The hotel? Who could be doing this? It simply doesn’t make sense.”
Nicholas nodded. “I agree with you, my lady. It does not make any sense. Perhaps there is a vagrant passing through town.”
“But if it had been a vagrant, surely they would have taken something. And what could possibly make anyone want to break in and destroy flowers? I fear someone has lost their mind.”
Nicholas nodded. He was about to say something when they both heard rising voices and turned to see James and Earl Kipling had gotten in a heated discussion. Anne Marie wondered when the Earl had gotten there. He’d excused himself to his room nearly an hour ago. She hadn’t seen him in the group that had walked to the hat shop from the hotel. He must have just gotten there. She and Nicholas focused in on what they were saying and after a few minutes, Nicholas began to walk in their direction.
Anne Marie stayed back. Clara stepped up next to her, bending to pick up a flattened hat.
“This is lunacy.” Clara said. Anne Marie nodded, looking at her. “And now James and Earl Kipling are sparring.” Clara shook her head. “This little village is losing its mind.”
“I would not blame them. I know this is not something that is expected here. What are they arguing about?”
Clara leaned down and picked up another hat. “Look at these. What a shame.”
“Do you know what the argument is about?” Anne Marie took her cue from Clara and bent over to pick up several hats she had previously stepped over.
Clara looked at her and said in a low voice, “I think they are arguing about you, my lady.”
Anne Marie frowned. “Me? Why are they arguing about me?”
“The Earl is insisting that you be taken back to the hotel and kept safe. James is telling him that you are a lady of your own mind and will do what you feel like doing.”
Her irritation with the Earl was mounting. “Who does he think he is to tell anyone what I should and should not be doing?”
“He thinks he is being concerned and that it will help him win your heart.” Clara said in a wise voice. “He does not understand that you have never been the type to let anyone tell you where to go or what to do.”
“No, he does not understand. He does not know me. I have been here all of ten days and he acts as though we are courting.”
“Did you see the way he looked when you walked up with your hand around Lord Cornwall’s arm earlier today?”
Anne Marie nodded. “Yes, I did.”
“He was simply devastated. I have never seen anyone as jealous as he was at that moment. I thought he was simply going to turn green and then perhaps red.” Clara couldn’t help giggling, which made Anne Marie smile.
The two women continued around the room, picking up decorations and smashed hats. “I will let the men take care of that situation. If they want me to leave, I will leave. That is, if James wants me to leave, I will go. I have a good mind Nicholas will not tell me to leave.”
“No, and I would doubt James would either.”
Anne Marie glanced at the men. Nicholas had taken James and the Earl outside, where they were having a heated discussion. She wished she could hear what they were saying. Slowly, she made her way around the room to the front so that she could catch what ended up being the tail of the conversation between the men.
“I don’t think you understand the woman,” Nicholas was saying. “She does not answer to anyone. You cannot force her to do anything.”
“How do you know that, my lord?” The Earl asked in an obviously irritated voice.
Anne Marie glanced through the broken window to see Nicholas and the Earl had their back to her. James was facing them, blocked from her vision.
“Because I have spent some time with her, as you have, James. What is your opinion?”
“Lady Wiltshire is a strong woman with a mind of her own.” James replied. “She has been traveling around England, Scotland and Ireland with Clara for over a year. If she needed a man to tell her what to do, her chaperone would have been a man.”
“It was a man who decided to send her on the journey.” The Earl argued.
“That is not the point.” Nicholas said. “It was her uncle who sent her on this journey. Not a random man she met ten days ago.”
Anne Marie couldn’t help smiling.
“I think it is inappropriate to expose the lady to this criminal activity.”
“You are not one to decide what is best for the lady. We will let her decide on her own. If you would like, you can help us figure out what happened here. This is different from the first time. Perhaps you have some input on this?”
Without answering, the Earl turned away from the two men and stomped down the street toward the hotel. James and Nicholas looked after him with confused looks on their faces. Anne Marie could see James now. She hurried away from the broken window so that she would not be seen eavesdropping. Clara, however, had seen her. She was smirking as Anne Marie approached.
“What were they fighting about, Miss? Was it still about you?”
“Yes. I don’t understand the Earl. What would make him think he should make decisions for me?”
“Perhaps he is trying to look out for you. He is concerned about you.”
Anne Marie snorted in an unladylike fashion. “I believe he needs to be more concerned about himself. I am not his property.”
“Yes, I think everyone knows that except him.”
The women chuckled softly, bending to pick up more trash from the floor.
“Ladies, you do not need to do that.” James was behind them moments later. He lifted one hand and flicked his fingers to several young boys who had come to see what happened. “Let these boys do the picking up. I’d like for you to see what Nicholas, Tyler and I have seen and tell us what your thoughts are.”
Anne Marie smiled. “I would love to.”
The women followed him outside to where he’d been standing with Nicholas and the Earl only moments before.
He swept his hand over the mess outside the window and the front door. “Do you see this broken glass and the wooden pieces from the side of the window and door?”
The women nodded. He was looking at Anne Marie when he asked, “What do you think of this? Does it tell you anything?”
Anne Marie looked at the glass, scanning the broken pieces of the window. She moved back to the front door and looked just inside at the floor beneath the window. Then she looked on the ground outside the building. “It looks like the glass was broken from the inside.”
James nodded, a look of satisfaction and pride on his face. “That, my lady, is what we thought, too. Does that give you any other thoughts about this?”
Anne Marie looked at him, then at Nicholas and back to him. “Are you thinking that perhaps Lady Saville did this to her own shop? If that’s what you are thinking, I would have to disagree.”
James raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
“What makes you say that?” Nicholas asked. “It seems to me she could have been doing something to draw attention to herself. No one saw this happening. If it was done from the inside, which the broken glass indicates, she could easily have done it herself and no one would have known.”
Anne Marie shook her head. “But she was with us at the party in the hotel, James. And when we went out walking earlier, there was no sign that anything was wrong. We passed right by this shop and there was no damage. Remember, my lord?”
Nicholas nodded. “You are correct, my lady.”
“I don’t think it was Lady Saville. She may seek a great deal of attention but I cannot see her destroying these items that are so precious to her and her livelihood.”
The men seemed to be pondering what she had said.
“That leaves us back at the beginning.” Nicholas said. “A man most likely perpetrated the crime but how did he get in the hat shop without being seen? And how did he manage to do so much damage without anyone noticing?”
The Trouble With These Gentlemen (The BainBridge - Love & Challenges) (The Regency Romance Story) Page 15