Taming the Tempestuous Tudor
Page 25
His expression relaxed into a warm smile that was so at odds with what went before that she once again had a peculiar sense of disorientation. She felt herself smile in an almost involuntary response to this sudden glimpse of the Adam she remembered.
‘Very well,’ she answered. ‘And at almost six feet he is definitely no longer a little scamp. Father wanted him to go to Balliol at Oxford like Terry and he did, but I can completely understand why Charlie preferred to get away from us all, for a while at least.’
The warmth in Adam’s smile receded once again. It was as if he kept stepping in and out of the shadows.
‘Very understandable. I seem to remember your household raised chaos to an art form.’
Alyssa felt the sting of insult. She had done all she could to instil some order into the muddle she had been raised in and she was well aware she had failed most of the time.
‘You have no compunction about saying whatever you please, do you?’ she blurted out.
He smiled lazily.
‘I don’t know why you are so sensitive about some plain speaking. You used to speak your mind freely enough once. It is much easier that way. Principles are a damn nuisance, aren’t they?’
‘They may be, but not having any isn’t much better!’
‘How would you know?’ He laughed.
‘How would you know either?’ she shot back. ‘You may talk all you want about not having any, but it is obvious you do, or at least you did have. Otherwise you would not have helped Charlie.’
‘That is different. I liked the boy. I didn’t have to go against any inclinations to help him. And besides, that was a very, very long time ago.’
‘Well, that’s all principles are, in the end. Rules that make sure we don’t hurt people we care about. Not having any principles means you don’t care about anyone other than yourself.’
His smile twisted, turning cynical.
‘You do go for the jugular, don’t you? It won’t do to try to box me in. I have no intention of getting involved in Percy’s affairs. He is his own master. And frankly you would do better than to interfere in other people’s affairs. I doubt you are doing your brother any favours by keeping Mary pristine for him. The best thing for him would be to fall in and out of love at least a dozen times before he is fool enough to think of marrying someone.’
She felt something close to a snarl of frustration bubble up in her and clamped down on it. She should not have expected anything from him. She stood up.
‘Fine. I will do it myself.’
‘That sounds ominous. Do what?’ he enquired with mild interest as he stood up as well.
‘What do you care?’
‘I may not care, but I am curious. Percy is, as named, very persevering. It will take a great deal to detach him from his quarry if he feels he’s closing in on the scent. And if your father is guardian, I sincerely doubt he will present Percy with much opposition. So you have quite an uphill task ahead. Can I watch you try to rout him?’
She knew he was being purposely aggravating and that by standing there glaring at him she was just feeding his amusement, but she was too upset to care. She had not expected him to be willing, but to realise she could elicit from him nothing but rather sardonic amusement on a matter that was so important to her made her want to do some damage.
‘I don’t remember you being so petty before Rowena got her hooks into you. She really took the man out of you, didn’t she?’ she shot at him contemptuously.
The lazy cynicism disappeared in a flash of fury that was no less alarming for being quickly reined in and for one moment Alyssa felt a spark of fear. Then his lids lowered and he shook his head.
‘And I don’t remember you being vicious. Time leaves its mark on us all. Heraclites had the right of that, didn’t he?’ He nodded at the morose statue on the desk, his mocking smile reasserting itself. Alyssa’s own anger disappeared. She felt weary and depressed. She shook her head as well.
‘I’m sorry, that was vicious. And foolish. And it was foolish to come. I should never have bothered you with this. Goodbye, Lord Delacort.’
She didn’t wait for him to ring for someone to show her out, just walked out of the room almost absently, closing the door behind her.
Copyright © 2016 by Ilana Treston
ISBN-13: 9781488004360
Taming the Tempestuous Tudor
Copyright © 2016 by Juliet Landon
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