by Vella, Wendy
Nicholas told himself he was relieved she was to marry. That would put her completely from his reach.
“And yet still you have not grasped the concept,” her brother growled, sounding like distant thunder.
He was not as well acquainted with Wolf as he was with the others, but he did know that it took a great deal to ruffle his feathers. His sister seemed to have done just that.
Why had Alice Sinclair been in that street today?
“That will do, Wolf. Alice will promise not to go out in the future without informing you of her destination.”
Rose was Scottish, and her gruff little burr had not changed in the years she’d resided in London.
“Will she... really?” Wolf glared at his sister. “I’m considering hiring someone to watch her every move, because only then can I really be sure she won’t take any more risks.”
“You would not dare.” The words snapped from Alice’s lips in a furious volley. “I don’t remember you being this dramatic before leaving Briarwood. Perhaps if you return, your vile humors will be cleansed!” Her hands clenched on her hips as she glared at her brother.
“We are not in Briarwood!” Wolf thundered.
Nicholas had once asked Dev why his family did not wait for privacy to argue rather than air everything in public. The answer had been that there was no privacy in this family, and they only spoke openly with people they trusted. That comment had suggested he was considered family and trusted, which had made Nicholas feel ridiculously pleased.
“You,” Wolf jabbed a finger rudely in his sister’s face, “will do as you are told. It’s hardly surprising Mother said it was like taking off a tight and ill-fitting pair of shoes, arriving in London where I could help her care for you and your sister. The both of you are hoydens.”
“Are we?” And just like that, the scowl fell from Alice’s lips. “How wonderful. Did you hear that, Kate?”
Her smile transformed her face into a thing of beauty. Nicholas searched hard for a defect... there had to be one. A missing tooth or ill-placed mole? Perhaps she had shocking eating habits? Did she snort when she laughed... no, that wouldn’t bother him, his sister did that. There had to be something ugly about her. No one was flawless.
Lord, I hope so.
“I did, and it’s something I’ve always aspired to be,” Kate, the younger sister, said. She was fussing with the youngest member of the clan, baby number three for the Duke and Duchess of Raven.
“Do you know, I’ve only been called bookish and reliable, Wolf. It pleases me that in coming to London it seems I am changing.”
Alice’s smile made something inside Nicholas’s chest tighten. As he had yet to eat, he could not blame it on the food.
“I want your word that you will behave and not leave the house again without someone accompanying you,” Wolf demanded. “Or I will tell your beloved of your behavior.”
“I wish you would not call him that—”
“You and he have been declaring your love for each other since you were infants.” Wolf cut her off, further increasing her discomfort. “What other term should I use?”
“Did Alice tell you Barty is here in London?” The words came from Kate.
Nicholas looked around the room. No one seemed to be paying attention to the discussion between Wolf and his sisters except him. So used to multiple conversations occurring at once, they were milling around the table sorting out seats.
“Barty is here? Why has he not called to see you?” Wolf looked confused.
“He is busy.” Alice brushed the words aside, but Nicholas had a feeling there was more to the sainted Barty’s absence than she was letting on. And why he knew that, he had no idea. What’s more, he didn’t care, he reminded himself.
“Too busy to see the woman he professes to love madly?”
“We made that declaration as children, Wolf. Please move on.”
“Yes, but you are to wed, so one would hope it still stands.”
She was to wed. Nicholas should be extremely happy about that.
“Perhaps we are, but then perhaps not. But I have no wish to continue this discussion, as I am hungry.”
“Yes, you’re not very pleasant when you need to eat,” her brother said in that way siblings did just to be annoying.
“Be quiet, Wolf.”
“Very well, shall we continue to address the other matter at hand?”
“I don’t want to discuss that anymore either. Now please leave it, brother. I have done nothing wrong, nor have I been anywhere that would concern you.” Alice shot Nicholas another look.
He could cause a great deal of trouble right then for Miss Alice Sinclair. He had the power at his fingertips, and the look she shot him suggested she knew that. Those green depths were filled with panic, but she was trying hard not to show it.
“But you will not leave the house unattended again, Alice.” Rose nudged her sister-in-law in the side. “Will you?”
The siblings glared at each other, neither ready to yield.
“Will you just say the words, please, Alice. I’m hungry,” Kate said.
“Oh, all right,” she said with little grace. “Yes, I will tell you in future when I leave the house.”
“And you will take someone with you.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake, all right.”
“Uncross your fingers, and I may just believe you,” Wolf drawled.
She shot her brother another smile. It was wide and genuine, and Nicholas could imagine that if she flashed that about in society she would have a great many men falling at her feet.
She raised her hands to show her brother her fingers.
“Which does nothing to reassure me.”
The standoff was interesting to watch. She wasn’t intimidated by the scowl on Wolf’s face. Alice Sinclair simply stood inches away from him and folded her arms. He did the same.
Why was she in my vision? Why was she in that street today?
“They’ve done this often,” Kate Sinclair said, drawing his eyes. She was a replica of her sister and had taken the seat to Nicholas’s right. “They can stand there like that for hours. Both are as stubborn as the other. Once, I was able to eat all my plum pudding and Alice’s and she didn’t move, no matter how much I taunted her. I then ate Wolf’s.”
“You do not challenge your brother, Miss—”
“Kate,” she said before he could finish her name. “Oh, I do, just in other ways.”
“And I am Nicholas, Lilliana’s brother.”
“Oh, I know who you are, Nicholas.” She had a sweet smile, not quite like her sister’s, but pretty nonetheless. “We have heard all about you.”
Nicholas wasn’t entirely comfortable with hearing that, as his past and present exploits were not fit for a young lady’s ears. He hoped whoever had told her had kept his less than stellar traits out of the conversation.
“I should imagine you and Lilly have had your challenging encounters, Nicholas, as all siblings do.”
He shot his sister a look. As if sensing him, she turned and smiled. He felt the sharp tug inside his chest he always felt remembering how badly he’d treated her for so many years. He wondered if the shame would ever ease.
“We had our moments” was all he said after acknowledging Lilly.
“Oh, all right,” Alice Sinclair said, drawing his gaze once more.
“The words, Alice,” Wolf said, unmoving.
“I will also not leave the house without an escort of the human kind.”
“Excellent.” Wolf grabbed his sister in a hug. She in turn laughed and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him back.
“She’s actually the serious one of the three of us.”
“Pardon?” Nicholas turned to Kate again.
“Alice. She’s usually very serious-minded.”
“Surely she is not more serious-minded than your brother?”
“Hard to believe, I know, but it’s actually true. She loves books and spends hours scribbling away i
n her diary and notebooks. The problem usually arises when she wants to do something that Wolf disapproves of.”
Nicholas tensed as Alice took the seat across from him, the only free one, which did not please her... or him.
“Which happens a great deal?”
“She likes to learn, so the lending library is a lure for her.”
“Surely between all the Raven and Sinclair houses in this street, there is an extensive library?”
“There is, however, she also likes to attend lectures.”
“That will do, thank you, Kate, as I am sitting right here and can hear every word you speak. Plus, I’m sure Lord Braithwaite has no wish to hear any more.”
Nicholas looked at Alice. “Good evening, Miss Sinclair.”
“Call her Alice,” Kate said. “And this is Nicholas, Alice.”
“Good evening,” she said with a tight smile on her face.
“And now that matter has been gnawed to death, we shall have the first course,” Devonshire Sinclair said.
“Apologies,” Wolf told his cousin.
Dev waved a hand down the table. “Think nothing of it. I have four sisters, Wolf; you have my sympathies.”
This produced howls of outrage from the Sinclair sisters.
Sinclairs and Ravens didn’t do things quietly, it just wasn’t in their natures.
“That’s a fierce scowl, Nicholas. Care to share your worries?”
“No, thank you, Cambridge, I was just thinking on a matter.”
“Clearly it was taxing you.”
He was sharp-witted and equally sharp-tongued. Cambridge liked to verbally spar with people constantly.
“I could outthink you in my sleep.”
“Come now, we all know that I’m the intelligent Sinclair.”
This was followed with more howls of protest.
“Only because they do not want to hurt your feelings,” Nicholas drawled.
“Oh, that was a great comeback, Nicholas,” Warwick said.
He raised his glass.
“You’ll keep, Braithwaite.” Cambridge smiled. The man was not easily insulted.
The meal progressed in that vein. Alice didn’t contribute much but focused on her food with a great deal of concentration. She had elegant table manners and didn’t talk with food in her mouth.
“Are you enjoying your first season, Alice?” He made himself address her. Perhaps with familiarity, they could move past that kiss. Move past that moment today when he’d felt like everything but this woman had ceased to exist.
Damn.
The green eyes were cool as they looked his way.
“I am, thank you.”
“No, you are not,” Kate said. Nicholas thought he quite liked her at that moment, especially as her sister shot forks of fire at her. “You told me last night it was boring.”
“I’m sure Lord Braithwaite has no wish to hear your opinion, or mine for that matter.”
“Nicholas, please. And of course I wish to hear them. I asked the question, after all.”
“But it was just a polite query,” she said, glaring at him.
He wasn’t sure why he was the recipient of such a look; after all, he was keeping his silence for her.
“Social conversation,” she added.
“We are all family, Alice. Social conversation does not matter here,” Kate persisted.
“Exactly.” Nicholas smiled at Alice, which he was sure would annoy her further. “We are all family here.”
Her eyes narrowed.
His smile widened. “I would like to know why you are finding this season boring, Alice.”
She exhaled through her teeth.
“I am suffering through the season as it is my brother’s and mother’s wish that I do so. Is that enough honesty for you, Nicholas?” She spoke his name deliberately in three syllables.
They were both unsettled and were dealing with that by antagonizing each other.
“You have a great many more events to suffer through,” Nicholas pointed out. “As the season has yet to start in earnest.”
“I know.” That thought did not make her happy.
“But perhaps things will get better as you meet more people?”
“And it’s only because your family want what is best for you, dear,” Eden said from the end of the table.
“But as she has already set her heart on a man, she believes there is no need for all this.”
Kate’s words made the food he’d just swallowed settle uncomfortably in his stomach.
This has to stop.
Chapter Five
How was it possible that the man who had held her as if she was made of spun glass was Nicholas Braithwaite, Lilly’s brother? For those few brief moments today she’d experienced what some women spoke of. The feeling of belonging to another. The rightness of being in that small space with this man had shocked her.
She’d never experienced that with Barty.
Of all the luck, it had to be him that she’d saved tonight, a bloody Raven by blood. The curse struck again... not that she was telling anyone about it. They would make entirely too much of the incident, considering the history between their families.
“Is something the matter with your soup, Alice?”
“It is excellent, thank you, Lilly.”
“You wrinkled your nose.”
“Sorry, just thinking.”
“Yes, I can see how that would be taxing on you,” Wolf added.
No one could annoy her quite like a sibling. But she had one thing over them that made them gnash their teeth, as they could not better her at this particular skill. Alice used it whenever she needed to prove a point. Now was an excellent time to regain her footing and perhaps show the man across from her she was not disturbed by his presence at the dinner table.
“Calculate 9,658 + 4,596 - 254, Wolf.” She waited two seconds, then said, “14,000,” at the exact time Nicholas Braithwaite gave the same answer.
Shock had her gripping the spoon in her hand. She felt off-balance, as if the floor had tilted slightly without her knowledge. Looking into those dark eyes, she knew he felt the same.
They’d shared a connection today, no matter how much both of them wanted to deny it... and now this. She grappled to regain her composure.
“Oh, the day just improved drastically,” Kate declared. “At last someone who can do computations as swiftly as you, sister!”
Wolf laughed, and Alice quickly spooned soup into her mouth to stop from commenting.
“I did not realize your mind worked in such a way, Nicholas,” Wolf said.
“Yes, he was extremely vexing to be around whilst we were growing up,” Lilly added. “Constantly trotting out numbers that I could not calculate as fast as him.”
“Alice does that,” Kate said. “It’s always annoyed me.”
Of course she’d heard snippets about the Marquis of Braithwaite. Overheard Lilliana telling Eden that she was pleased her brother had come into the light after so long in darkness. She’d added that it wouldn’t harm him to adjust some of his other rakish ways, but those she could cope with, considering his past. What she hadn’t realized at the time was that he would be the man to turn her life on its head.
They’d shared a kiss. And he could calculate numbers in his head like she could!
And lord, what a kiss. In that moment when panic held her in its grip as they’d squeezed into that small space, he had stripped her fear with his touch.
She’d never experienced an emotion like that before. Her body seemed to melt into his as their lips met, and all else was forgotten.
He’d looked at her as if he really saw her, saw deep inside to the yearning and longing she experienced but kept hidden.
When Barty kissed her, which he had done a total of three times, she’d liked it, but there had been none of the emotion she’d experienced today. It had not been uncomfortable, magnificent, and all the other words Alice attached to the kiss she’d shared with Nicholas Braithwaite on
her journey home. A journey where she’d been gripped with sadness that she would never see this man again.
As it happened, she’d been wrong. How was she to act like today had not happened?
Looking at his handsome face, composed once again, she wondered if today meant something to him as it had to her? It certainly seemed so at the time, but then she was naive, and he a man of the world. A powerful marquis with a long lineage seeping from his pores.
It was there in the tilt of his head and the large emerald sparkling on his finger. The gold band was old and wide, and the gem set deep. It twinkled as the candlelight caught it.
“I can spell better than Alice,” she heard Kate say.
“Spelling is such a handy ability,” Cam added.
Alice had been hurrying down that lane to the carriage when she felt the tension inside her climb. She’d seen him then and the hole he was close to stepping in. Alice had to come to his aid, as he would have been seriously injured had she not.
The tension inside her had not eased, but instead gained momentum after she’d saved him; minutes later she’d known why as those men’s voices had reached her.
And then he kissed the thoughts from my usually sensible head.
When finally she’d reached Wolf’s home, her brother had been waiting. They’d still been arguing when they arrived at Dev’s house.
She hadn’t told him the truth as to why she’d gone out today, or the previous days, as she’d promised, but she’d wanted to and had still not ruled it out if her search continued to be fruitless.
“Shall we test them to see who is best at calculations?” Eden asked.
“I think not, as it will make us feel woefully inadequate,” Cam said, winking at her.
“When did you realize you could calculate large numbers inside your head, Alice?”
His voice was deep and smooth like aged whisky, and as he’d spoken to her she must answer.
“I have been able to do so for as long as I can remember. And you, my lord?”
“Nicholas, and like you, for as long as I can remember.”
His hair was a dark chestnut brown, thick with a slight curl that she was sure could be hard to tame. The lines of his face were perfectly formed. Chiseled cheekbones, arrogant nose. But around his eyes were laughter lines that softened the severity of the angles and planes.