She called in a maid to finish fastening her bodice and to affix bows in the curls above her ears, but she merely fixed the mass in back in a low Apollo knot fastened with a jeweled comb. She wasn’t at all certain how a modest country lady dressed for dinner or if she wished to know. So she dressed to suit herself.
Amazingly, she was nervous. Once the maid left, Aurelia closed her eyes and tried to pick out the various voices forming a low background hum in her head. The maids who had seen Will were tittering in excitement. The footmen weren’t very verbal unless they were flirting or complaining, which they didn’t have time to do this evening. Her father was speaking to his valet in a low voice. She didn’t know if he understood how much she could hear if she tried, but his tone was normally moderate.
What was so amazing was that the city noise wasn’t causing the pain and disorientation she usually suffered. With Will in the house, she didn’t notice the cries from outside, or any of the drama inside. She’d always felt miserably exposed, trapped by the four walls of a smaller house, surrounded by city streets on all four sides. Her chamber windows overlooked a quiet, tree-lined park, but it was usually filled with people. If she looked out now, she would see them hurrying to their destinations, shouting greetings or hawking their wares. But at the moment, the usual cacophony was bearable.
She didn’t think Will understood what a miracle this was. Might there be other men who could do the same?
The dinner bell rang before she could gather her thoughts. Her eagerness to see Will and see how he would present their story to her father told her a great deal, but she would examine those feelings after she’d seen how Will behaved in her father’s presence.
Unlike her usual suitors, Will wasn’t waiting anywhere, ready to pounce on her for the honor of escorting her to dinner. She was almost disappointed, then realized in amusement that she probably ought to find him and lead the way. But she had confidence in his problem-solving and tracking abilities. Maybe he’d let Ajax lead him.
Entering the drawing room, she found Will and her father already there. Will held a snifter of brandy and leaned against the mantel, obviously wearing one of his brother’s exquisitely tailored evening habits. The marquess had been wrong about their sizes. Will’s muscles strained at the seams of the silk. He had no valet and so had merely wrapped linen around his throat, letting it drape to cover his shirt, and knotted a black band around it to hold it all in place. With an alluring hank of goldish hair dangling over his bronzed brow, he looked uncomfortably elegant.
Lela tried not to glance down at the form-fitting trousers, but she was a country girl. She couldn’t resist. Mr. Ives-Madden was a supremely well-made man—wearing boots to dinner.
Will straightened, bowed stiffly, and did his level best to keep his gaze fixed on her face. She swung her skirt, and his gaze dropped to her ankles. She nearly chuckled at her newly-discovered feminine power.
Her father topped off his snifter and greeted her entrance with a nod. “There you are. I thought we’d have to dine without you. My man tells me you have installed a child in the nursery?”
That successfully opened the conversation. Lela took her father’s arm into dinner, since Will didn’t offer his. She did nearly all the talking. Will had said he did not like to explain himself, and he was true to form. He was a most—ungentlemanly—man, but she noticed he added quiet details that seemed important to her father when needed. And his imperturbable composure muted any drama in the servants’ hall as well as the cacophony out in the streets.
By the time she was finished relating their reasons for being here, her father was looking to Will for solutions. She ought to smack them both for that, but it wasn’t as if anyone had ever expected her to be useful before. They couldn’t be blamed for overlooking her now.
“It takes weeks to plan a ball,” her father said to Will. “Surely you’ll find this monster before then. I don’t see a good reason to use Lela as bait.”
Will lifted his wine glass and tilted it in her direction, giving her the floor. She beamed at him. He actually sipped the wine. She’d noticed he normally didn’t.
“We cannot wait helplessly hoping someone will recognize the cad or Bess’s situation,” she said in the tone she used to pull her unruly sisters into line. “Bess needs to be returned to her children, and they deserve to be brought up and recognized as their father’s namesake. You really must meet Rose. She is adorable, courageous, and clever. If I cannot help her, I am a wart upon the face of the earth.”
Will spluttered his wine. Her father grunted.
“This session is likely to drag into eternity. I suppose giving people an event to look forward to will keep everyone from falling asleep,” her father said, grimacing. “You’ve certainly not cost me much in bringing you out over the years. If you’re prepared to deal with the consequences. . .” He glanced up with more interest. “Is this what you meant by suffocating voices? You are no longer bothered by your headaches?”
“When Mr. Madden is about,” she said demurely.
Her father raised his eyebrows to regard Will, who finished off his wine rather hastily.
“Interesting,” the duke grumbled. “You should send for your sisters. They will be up to more mischief otherwise, although I shouldn’t reward them for their abominable behavior in inviting those curs behind my back.”
“All respects, your grace,” Will objected, “but I’d rather not have to guard three ladies running about the shops at once.”
“Is that what you’re doing here?” her father asked. “Guarding my daughter?”
“Training Ajax to do so,” Lela corrected helpfully. “Mr. Madden will eventually have to leave for his next position.”
“Exactly. As long as that is understood. Give me a list of the reprobates invited to the house party. I’ll have my man look into them.” The duke gestured for the servants to clear the table.
Knowing she was being dismissed, Aurelia rose, curtsied her departure, and withdrew to the next chamber. She picked up a book she’d left lying about and sat down to listen to her father interrogate Will. She wasn’t at all certain her father understood how well she could hear his conversations.
“I hired you because I thought my daughters would be safe around you,” her father said.
Will’s reply was impossible to hear, drat the man.
“Well, see that it stays that way. I’ve let Lela come out of her shell at her own pace, but now that she seems to be doing so, she needs time to gain some town polish.”
Again, a murmur, probably of agreement, double drat the man.
Her father changed topics in a manner that indicated he was satisfied with Will’s answer. “Did your brother say anything of his plans for bringing more of the backward asses to comprehend that we’ll have a revolution if they don’t give up their damned rotten boroughs?”
Triple drat the man. He’d probably reminded her father that she could hear every word he said if she put her mind to it.
How was she to pursue her interests if her father kept reminding Will to stay away?
How did she go about encouraging the insufferably stubborn man to act on his interest in her that he tried to conceal?
And should she? That fear left her nibbling her lip in indecision.
Aurelia discovered it was easier to hold Will’s interest if dogs were involved. The day after her arrival, after consulting with Lady McDowell, Emilia’s mother, about creating a ball in a short time, she had the afternoon to herself. She wouldn’t establish calling hours until the invitations had been sent. That left her to suggest that she walk the dogs with Will around the homes of her various suitors.
“Just give me their direction, and I’ll do that,” he said gruffly over luncheon. “I don’t want anyone recognizing you.”
She could always count on him arriving for meals if invited. She thought he might have gone to his uncle’s this morning—the noise levels had been particularly difficult while she spoke with the McDowells. He had re
turned wearing a coat that wasn’t tweed, and a neckcloth that almost looked starched.
“Other than the men we met at inn, I doubt any of the gentlemen who were at the house party would recognize you,” she told him. “So if I conceal my face and we wear servants’ garb, no one will realize we’re anyone at all. It will be exciting to finally see the city without feeling as if my ears will explode!”
“You’ve never seen the city? Been to the shops or parks?” he asked warily.
“I’ve tried,” she said with a shrug. “I can only manage a few minutes at a time, though, before I go catatonic or stark, raving mad. I like concerts, though,” she said, when he started frowning. “The music blends all the discord into a more harmonious hum.”
He couldn’t deny her after that, she realized with triumph. The poor man rescued everyone. Even from themselves. Her admiration for him knew no bounds.
Addy had arrived with the baggage, so after luncheon she had her maid create a costume suitable for walking the street in disguise. The crude wool skirt, coarse petticoats, and bulky bodice covered in an apron from the kitchen sufficed to hide her figure. An enormous bonnet with a long bill hid her face. And in exchange for a pair of Lela’s old slippers, a maid gleefully offered up her old heeled work boots, thus creating an illusion of additional height.
She met Will in the kitchen garden, where he waited with Ajax and his own leashed pup. The young deerhound leapt all over her in excitement, and Aurelia sent Will a look of amusement. “Did you tell him to do that?”
She thought she almost detected a smile.
“We like the disguise,” was all he replied. “You need a box of flowers to sell.”
He’d returned to his tweed and buckskins with a crude cap pulled down to his eyes. With the enormous Ajax straining at her leash, Will looked the part of a rich man’s groom out taking a dog for a walk—except he was much, much too large for a groom. He couldn’t disguise who he was much better than she could.
“I had my father’s secretary write out a list of addresses of the men at the house party.” She handed it to him, but he didn’t take it.
“I don’t spend much time in London,” he said, opening the garden gate. “I’ve enlisted one of your father’s footmen to accompany us.” He nodded at a tall young man in livery at the end of the mews. “Give the list to him, and he’ll lead the way. We’ll saunter along behind as if we’ve nothing better to do. I told him to take us through Hyde Park, though, so you can have a little less street noise.”
So much for adventuring on her own. She may as well have brought Rose.
With deliberate provocation, Lela caught his arm and leaned intimately against him. “We’ll be a newlywed gentleman farmer and his lady come to town, shall we? Show me the sights, dearest.”
She could almost feel the shock rippling through him, and her spirits soared. She could do this. She could be a normal female flirting with her gentleman caller. She simply had to make the gentleman realize his part in her play.
Chapter 16
Walking with a duke’s daughter through the streets of Mayfair to Hyde Park as if he belonged in the neighborhoods of the wealthy and powerful made Will’s hide itch. Or it could just be Lady Lela digging under his skin. She was wearing the scent of roses again today, a more sensuous aroma than her innocent one of cakes baking. He tried to call up Miranda’s face to replace the one at his side, but for the life of him, he couldn’t even recall the color of her eyes.
The lady stood taller than usual in her ugly boots. The top of her head was at his shoulder, and he was irrationally aware that he need only bend a bit to kiss her. Indeed, if they were truly playing the part of newlyweds, he could do so now and she would have no right to protest.
He suspected she wouldn’t protest. Will feared she was using her feminine wiles to entice him for reasons only she could understand. He wasn’t an arrogant man, but he could think of no other explanation for her current behavior. He had to make it clear that despite the pleasure of working together, he could never be available as anything other than an escort for her safety.
Once they left the crowded thoroughfares to enter the park gate, Will pried her hand off his arm. “Yesterday’s test of my usefulness showed that I could ride behind a few carriage lengths. We should see how you fare in the city. Walk ahead with your footman and the pup. Use your handkerchief signal if the clamor starts hurting.”
Not that there was a great deal of noise in the park at this hour on a drizzly day, but carriages rolled, people talked, dogs barked, children played.
She regarded him with a miffed expression, but raising her adorably proud chin, she trudged ahead, walking his pup. The footman had been told to head straight for the nearest address and stay slightly ahead of them. Will wasn’t too worried about the lady’s suitors popping out of the shrubbery to molest her. But a woman alone was prey to more scabrous rascals. That’s why Will had the dogs with them.
She stayed on the paths. He wandered further afield, always keeping her in sight but increasing the distance between them. He topped a grassy knoll a few hundred yards away without any signal. She was approaching a hedge near the Serpentine, when he noticed her hesitate, as if debating whether to pull out her handkerchief. He jogged down the side of the hill and realized the reason for her pause.
A large ruffian in rags had come between the lady and the footman, blocking her path.
Will slipped the knot on Ajax’s collar and sent mental messages to both dogs. The deerhound on Lela’s leash began yipping, causing the footman to turn. And the mastiff practically took flight across the field, howling in a far more menacing manner.
Instead of acting, the footman merely stared in horror at the two dogs and the ruffian. Lela wisely released the pup’s leash and backed off. Running, Will couldn’t hear if words were exchanged, but the pup went for the rogue’s ankle—and the huge mastiff leaped on his back, tumbling him to the wet grass.
When the rogue produced a knife, Will almost had a heart attack. Both pup and Ajax were within striking distance of the weapon. Hurting one of his dogs would kill Will almost as surely as if the knife had been driven into his own hide.
To his utter shock and admiration, the lady kicked the knife-wielding hand with her heavy boot, sending the weapon flying.
Will crowed in triumph. He wanted to hug Aurelia for her courage and dance her around in relief. But his responsibility was to the animals first. He mentally ordered them to dig their teeth into the man’s bulky coat sleeves. He didn’t want to teach them to bite humans unless necessary, but this one needed to fear for his wretched life. By the time Will reached the little party, the footman had gained enough courage to approach and put his boot in the middle of the thief’s chest while the dogs growled ominously.
With the scoundrel conquered and knowing no other way of expressing himself, Will scooped Lela up and hugged her. She flung her arms around his neck and clung, trembling. Damn. The incident had frightened her more than he’d thought, given the courageousness of her action. And it was all his blamed fault.
“You were marvelous,” he murmured, encouraging her as he would the dogs when they’d acted as they ought. “You did exactly what you should have.”
“I wanted to stomp his face,” she whispered ferociously from beneath her hat’s veil.
He chuckled. Her response was much better than a dog’s. And she definitely felt better in his arms. He didn’t want to set her down, but they were drawing a crowd. He kissed her cheek—as his assigned role allowed him to do. “No stomping in front of all these people. Give me a minute to leash the dogs.”
Those blindingly blue eyes gazed up at him in awe for just a moment, making him feel like a giant, and then she released him and stepped away.
Will whistled at the dogs. They growled a little more but reluctantly released their victim. He ordered them back to Lela. Then, as the thief tried to gain his feet, Will nodded at the footman. “He needs to be taught a lesson. Grab his other arm.” Will
leaned over, caught one chewed coat sleeve, and hauled the wretch to his feet.
Ignoring the nearly incoherent curses from the drunken rogue, Will and the footman dragged him to the river and flung him into the reeds. The small crowd that had gathered cheered.
“Pretend I’m tipping you for your help and go on ahead. We’ll meet you at the gate,” Will told the footman, handing him a coin. The footman winked, lifted his cap, and strutted away.
Several gentleman were engaging Lela in conversation about the dogs. With his only goal to drag Lela out of here, Will tied Ajax’s leash again. Even in disguise, she attracted attention.
“Sirs, my lady is shaken, that she is,” he said in a rough country voice, keeping his cap low to conceal his face. “Let me take her back to our rooms. Thank you for all your help,” he said, without adding the irony to his tone that the useless idiots deserved.
Catching Lela’s waist, Will tugged her after the footman. “We can take the near gate and go down the street back to the house,” he murmured as they left the crowd behind. “I should never have brought you out without an army around you.”
“I don’t want to go back to the house,” she said in alarm. “I’m not hurt. The noise seemed to grow louder if you were at a distance, but not so much that my head aches. Let us go on! The dogs were marvelous. Did you do that?”
He almost stopped to glare at her but instinct said to keep moving. The thief’s cries were growing dimmer. If the sot could manage to drown in three feet of water, the world would be a better place.
“You were just assaulted in the park,” he argued. “You’re still shaking. Are you mad?”
She punched his arm with the hand not wrapped around his elbow. Astounded, Will shook his head to clear it. The gentle lady had punched him!
“I have been sheltered from real life for too long,” she said, almost angrily. “I had no idea thieves existed in Hyde Park! Call it part of my education. I didn’t faint, did I? I wasn’t harmed. I’m allowed to be a bit shaken. And I kicked a thief! I want to learn to be the protector instead of the protectee!”
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