A Promise of Pure Gardenias

by Jackie Williams

Algernon’s dark eyebrows formed a tight line.

  “How do you know Lucas has apartments in Hanover Square?” He demanded without preamble. “I thought he kept that sort of information for his friends only.”

  It was Sophia’s turn to frown. She lifted her head again and placed her hands on her hips as her dark eyes sparkled dangerously. Brendon took a quick step backwards, determined not to be caught up in the oncoming tempest but, perhaps due to his hangover, Algernon wasn’t fast enough. His delicate condition kept him rooted to the spot and he caught the storm full on as she leaned forwards.

  “Your arrogance astounds me, Algernon! I’ve known Lucas almost as long as you have! But that’s not the reason you are so affronted. You think that because I am female I am obviously not worthy enough to be included in his circle of friends?” Her eyes narrowed further as Algernon let out a lame ‘er’. “Fool! Who do you think was my friend for all the years you were away? Who stayed at home, kept himself safe from harm, and didn’t let his sister worry over him for years. Who do you think is my friend now that both you and Brendon appear to have abandoned me yet again? Who bothers to dance with me at balls? Who calls and enquires after me when mother has one of her spells and I haven’t seen the outside of the house for weeks? Who sends me hothouse flowers in the middle of winter? Who takes an interest in my health and wellbeing? Not you two, that’s for sure. You two are too busy with your own precious lives. Not that I blame you. A little sister doesn’t need much attention. She has managed to look after herself for years, why should anything change now?” She raised her chin and turned towards the door, but spoke over her shoulder once more before she left the room. “Besides, I’ve known he has had that place in Hanover Square for years. Felicity and I used to see him when we sneaked into Lord Delamere’s gun club. We’ve even breakfasted with him there on occasion, and I don’t see any reason to stop going, if he asks me!” She flounced out of the bedroom and slammed the door closed, leaving just a fragrant waft of perfume lingering in the air behind her.

  Silence filled Algernon’s bedroom. Brendon closed his hanging jaw.

  “Lucas sends her hot house flowers? Did you know that?” He glanced over at a shocked Algernon.

  Algernon closed his own mouth and shook his head.

  “I thought she had some kind of arrangement with some fancy florist. I didn’t like to mention the extravagance. As you know, she had a hard time with our uncle when we were away at war, and things still aren’t easy, but I didn’t want her to think I was checking on her housekeeping.” He ran his fingers through his hair, wincing when they brushed against his injury.

  Brendan began pacing again.

  “But Lucas clearly visits here when you are not at home, and he has been dancing with her too! And what’s this about Delamere’s gun club?” His tones were fraught with indignation and rising by the moment. “I only left there about an hour ago. I’ve been a member there longer than you and you never mentioned to me that Felicity and Sophia attended! I didn’t think Delamere allowed women to join. In fact, I know he doesn’t!” Algernon looked as though he was about to answer, but Brendon was just getting into his stride. “And she breakfasts with Lucas too? IN HIS APARTMENTS IN HANOVER SQUARE! WITH NO CHAPERONE!”

  His raised voice had Algernon covering his ears. He waited until Brendon’s puffing and blowing and snorting slowed to a reasonable rate before commenting.

  “I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about. She is my sister, not yours. I’ll be the one to worry over where she goes and who she visits for breakfast, not you, especially seeing as you are the one who has avoided her for months.” He pinched the bridge of his nose while calming his own temper before heaving out a huge sigh. “I do know that she’s been going to the gun club though. For years, apparently. Felicity told me about it soon after we were married.” He held up his finger when it looked as though Brendon was about to interrupt, and pointed his finger between himself and his friend as he carried on. “While we were off gallivanting about the continent doing what young men do, our sisters were at home, and Sophia was all but alone. Although Sophia didn’t confide everything to her, Felicity clearly knew enough of what went on to become concerned. She thought that my sister should be able to defend herself and our mother, as my uncle clearly wasn’t going to.” His eyebrows came together as he continued. “But I didn’t know about the other things she mentioned. And I didn’t know she felt like that about us leaving home. We’re both only sons and expected to take over, so I suppose she has a point.” He slumped onto his rumpled bed.

  Brendon slumped beside him.

  “I hardly call fighting for your country gallivanting, but yes, I never thought of it like that either. Though you do seem to be doing something about your family line now.” He referred to his expectant sister. “But my father is not an old man and he enjoys unusually good health. It’s not as though I expect to inherit for years.” He crossed his fingers as he thought of his father lying wounded in his bed. “And I certainly didn’t know that she would think we had abandoned her, especially since we came home. I certainly didn’t mean for her to feel like that. I was just avoiding her because you clearly didn’t like her reading those medical books I gave her. Not that it matters. She refused to marry me anyway, even after all your blustering and trying to force us together. Bit insulting really. I am generally considered quite a catch, which is why I avoid the balls and soirées if I can. Too many matchmaking mothers for my taste. But I thought I was doing the right thing by your sister. Sophia is not my type. She and I are not at all compatible. Nothing in common at all.” He refused to acknowledge the lingering scent of gardenias and diverted the subject slightly. “But it is hardly your fault that you haven’t seen much of her. You have a new wife to consider and had all that stuff at Sommersford to deal with last year. Apart from contending with mad uncles, an estate that size needs its owner in situ. She can hardly blame you for that.” He frowned as he suddenly wondered how his own father managed the Spencer’s six enormous estates.

  Algernon stared at the closed door.

  “No, and I don’t think she does, but with our uncle now out of the way, I simply assumed that she would be busy here in London. I forgot that she has been almost a recluse for many years, and mother isn’t much help. She has gone to visit a cousin in Bath for the season and I doubt Sophia has that many friends who would call or invite her out. I should have asked her down more often. Sommersford has more bedrooms than I can count, and while most are still undergoing renovations, it is not as if I couldn’t make room for my own sister.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “Damnation! I have been the worst of brothers.”

  Sophia’s gentle perfume still permeated the room but the cheap gin now hung heavy in the air. It crawled up Brendon’s throat and threatened to strangle him.

  “And I have been no help to her while you have been otherwise engaged. I should have swallowed my pride and looked out for her, not avoided her. Young Lucas has taken our place, and we have let him. Talking of whom, I had best get along to his apartments. Regardless of Sophia’s feelings, I need to discover who shot my father.” He placed his hands on his knees and stood up.

  Algernon rose with him and straightened his shirt.

  “Let me finish dressing and I’ll come with you.” He took a clean cravat from a drawer and spent the next few seconds tying it before pulling his jacket from the mirror fronted wardrobe. “I may not recall much of last night, but perhaps Lucas can jog my memory. We’ll get to the bottom of this, Bren. And then I’m going home to Felicity. I miss her. But this time I am taking Sophia with me.”

  Chapter Three

  A Surprising Change

  If he didn’t shut his mouth soon, if there had been any about, Brendon would be fearful of catching flies in it. He stood staring agape even after he told himself to close it. Nothing had prepared him for the surprise in store at Forty Two, Hanover Square.

  A burly butler dressed in a stiff, black uniform with
shiny golden buttons had taken both his and Algernon’s coats before seeing them into the drawing room and offering them tea while they waited for the master of the house.

  “When did Lucas suddenly begin employing butlers? Has he come into a fortune? It used to look more like your place, no offence intended. I know you are beginning to sort it all out now. But this...” Brendon managed quietly after several more seconds of staring about the gleaming room.

  Algernon gazed just as incredulously about the opulent apartment.

  “No offence taken,” he muttered, “but Christ! Just look at this place. I knew his parents were well off, could see that from last night’s bash, but he always complained of being short in the pockets. I can’t believe the difference. It has certainly changed since the last time I was here. I doubt I’ve ever seen finer decor.” He whispered to Brendon as his fingertips drifted over the satiny surface of a beautiful burr walnut side table.

  Brendon finally stopped gawping and nodded dumbly for a moment as he considered how Sophia might see their current surroundings in contrast to her own home. There was no comparison and it was no wonder that she defended her right to go there, even if it was only for the occasional breakfast. While things had begun to look a lot better at Algernon’s London residence, there was still much to improve. In contrast, Lucas’ apartments looked like a palace.

  He glanced up at the huge, gilt framed portrait hanging over the mantle. Lucas, looking resplendent on a dark horse, appeared to stare back at him. Brendon swallowed his astonishment. While he liked a little luxury in his own apartments at home, even he had never thought to commission a portrait of himself, especially one so flattering. The man looked like a goliath! When had Lucas become so vain?

  “Bit of a surprise, isn’t it. Perhaps his father loosened the purse strings. Lucas must be twenty-five by now.” He did some quick mental calculations as he stared about the majestic room. “He doesn’t go on about his wealth at all, or he never used to, rather the opposite in fact. He tapped me for ten pounds once and I never saw it again, but then I’ve only seen the squirt once since before you and Felicity married. At a ball, dancing with your sister.” He tamped down his indignation. “The time before that was at your house. You probably recall the day as well as I do. We were in your rather overgrown garden. You and Felicity had an entanglement with a rose bush. I recall being rather annoyed about it.” A flush of embarrassment crossed Brendon’s cheeks.

  Algernon let out a derisory snort.

  “Annoyed? You must have gone blind with rage. That was Pierce not Lucas, you idiot, and I recall rather more about Felicity’s extravagant underwear than either the roses or your knee hitting my chin, but you are right. It has been a long time since I saw him before last night too.”

  He looked at Algernon questioningly while thinking about the rose bush incident. His memory cleared.

  “Ah yes! Pierce it was. Grinning like a fattened cat while you manhandled my sister.” He lifted an affectionate eyebrow. “But whatever, you said that you were going to forget that little transgression on my part. And all the rest I have made over the years.”

  “I have. Well, nearly. Still have to watch my teeth when eating rock cakes, but we digress. I think you will find Lucas as changed as these rooms. That painting is not as flattering as you might think. It is a pretty good likeness.”

  Brendon shuffled uncomfortably and his eyebrows dipped into a solid line.

  “It is? Mother mentioned a transformation, but I assumed she simply meant that he had grown up a little.” He looked up at the picture again, hoping that both his mother and his friend exaggerated. Algernon’s expression didn’t change, and Brendon decided to wait until he saw the real thing before worrying about how impressive the man had become. “But that has nothing to do with this.” He gestured with an open hand about the spectacular chamber. “Perhaps something has changed that we don’t know about. Did his father die and we missed the announcement somehow?” Brendon whispered from behind his hand.

  Algernon laughed.

  “Hardly! Unless it happened after I went home last night and Lucas had some top quality decorators immediately to hand.” He glanced up at the multi-armed, crystal chandelier sparkling near the ceiling and tried not to think of the dull, aging candleholders in his own town house. He shook his head. “No, Lord Caruthers was in fine fettle. He danced with his wife several times during the evening. That’s something I do remember. It was actually remarked upon. One of the dowagers thought he was being rather over attentive, though how one can be over attentive to one’s own wife is something that I haven’t yet worked out.”

  Brendon stepped forward suddenly.

  “You don’t think my father commented too and Lord Caruthers took offence...” he stopped his train of thought before it took hold. It was ridiculous. His father and Lord Caruthers were old friends. They dined together regularly, besides there was no way these apartments had been done up over night. This level of luxury took months to organize and required a fortune spent on it.

  The sudden sound of muffled footsteps had them turning back towards the door.

  Lucas strode in wearing red leather slippers and a long, silk dressing gown, but it wasn’t the Lucas of old that Brendon recognized. He was shocked to discover that neither the artist, his mother nor Algernon had lied. The man in front of him bore similar features to the old Lucas, his hair as dark, his features as handsome, but his physique was entirely different. A couple of years younger than Brendon and Algernon, Lucas had always appeared slight, but he had broadened and grown from a gangly youth into a tall, strapping man who stood squinting into the brightness of the drawing room.

  “Good Lord! It’s a bit early for a social call.” Lucas yawned. “Must have only climbed into bed a couple of hours ago. What in blazes brings you two here at what feels like the crack of dawn? Are you hoping for breakfast? Did you bring Sophia with you?” He peered around Algernon’s shoulder as if searching for her. When it became obvious that Sophia wasn’t with their party, he carried on. “No, clearly not. We often break our fast together, but not usually after such a heavy night out.” He asked his barrage of questions as he walked over to the curtains and pulled them together slightly to dim the room. He blinked again, apparently satisfied with the new light level and turned towards his friends.

  Brendon drew in a breath as he noticed that Lucas’s dressing gown had slipped open at the throat, revealing a dark mat of hair spreading down his wide chest.

  “Good God! I hope you don’t present yourself in this manner to Sophia!” he growled ferociously.

  Lucas yawned again, presumably unimpressed by the sight of Brendon’s narrowed eyes. He pulled his dressing gown closed.

  “Of course not! Dimwit. I’m not about to get myself leg shackled, even if she is the prettiest woman in the whole of London. Give me a couple of years though, and I might fancy my chances. What do you say, Algernon?” He nudged Algernon in the ribs, but didn’t wait for a response. “She’s a fabulous sport, you know. Since Felicity left town, she asked me escort her to the gun club. Didn’t even know Delemere let women in, but I saw Sophia there on her own one day. Tried to sneak past me, but I recognized her instantly. All that dark hair escaping from her shawl and tumbling over her shoulders. Simply stunning!” He smiled beatifically at his own thoughts while Brendon tried to force the sudden vision of the same hair, spread across his very own pure white pillows, from his mind.

  He couldn’t. The image gathered depth and clarity, flooding his brain with wild thoughts such as he had never had before.

  Sophia’s hair was an incredible, inky mass of curls that she mostly kept pinned in a bun. She followed her brother’s colouring, but on the odd occasion when Brendon had been lucky enough to see her long, gleaming tresses, they outshone Algernon’s own raven hair. And unbound locks such as hers were only meant for intimate friends, or her husband. When she eventually found one.

  Her husband? Another man seeing that unbound hair? Lucas Caruthers?
Ice like tentacles of horror spread through Brendon. Never! Those curls were for him. And him only!

  He caught his breath as the vision of her dark ringlets spread across his pillows morphed into something more. Not only were pillows involved, but tangled sheets around her naked body, pale skin flushed with passion, her scent all about the room, and her beautiful voice calling out his own name as she came apart in his arms.

  He heard Lucas say something about her shooting skills, something about the way she held her body, and he stopped breathing altogether. Lucas not only thought about Sophia’s hair, but her body too!

  Outrage rose up from his gut and began to unfurl in his chest. All the air left his lungs in a great whoosh before he gasped in another breath as his fist rose of its own accord. Blinding white light ripped through him and the next second his knuckles connected with something hard. There was a yelp of pain, a crash, someone shouting, and then iron like arms were about him, pulling him backwards, and dragging him to the other side of the room.

  “Wha’ in Go’s name wa’ tha’ for?” Lucas spluttered as he massaged his jaw back into place.

  Brendon still couldn’t speak. An animalistic sound erupted from his throat as Algernon appeared in front of him and grinned like some kind of delighted monkey.

  “Ha! Not your type, my arse!” Algernon raised an eyebrow as Brendon’s face began to grow red. “Calm down, man. You can berate young Lucas for thinking about my sister later. But it’s not like you can blame him. He’s a man and she is rather lovely, and you have made it quite clear that you are not interested, besides we have more pressing matters to discuss, remember?”

  Brendon’s vision came back into focus, but his brain didn’t seem to want to function.

  “Pressing matters? What pressing matters?” Nothing was more pressing than beating those lurid thoughts from Lucas’ brain. He wanted to wipe that bloody satisfied smile from Lucas’ face, even if the man’s chin was as hard as granite. Pain suddenly registered in his hand and he looked down as he shook it. He clicked several knuckles back into place and sucked the blood from his torn skin before he frowned across at Algernon in confusion.