A Gentleman's Kiss

by Kimberley Comeaux

  Helen drew a brush through Claudia’s hair. “But what if this highlander is the one for you? The vicar this past Sunday said that God does work in mysterious ways.”

  Claudia turned back around with her dark hair falling about her shoulders. “They would have to be mysterious, indeed, to make me forget. . .” Her voice trailed off when she realized she was about to mention Cameron again.

  Helen gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her hand. “I know.”

  ❧

  Cameron had only one week before he would no longer be a single man. One week before all hope for him and Claudia would be gone and he’d be left with a life not of his choosing.

  One week before he would no longer come to the shelter on a daily basis.

  He’d honestly thought he could do it. He thought he and Claudia could work as friends because they were spreading the love of God to the unfortunate, work that was good and noble. But being with Claudia only made him aware of what he couldn’t have.

  And Claudia probably thought she was handling things by avoiding him and treating him like a stranger. But they were apparently only kidding themselves.

  So he waited by the door, and when she walked in with the Northingshires he stepped up to greet her.

  “Hello, Claudia. Do you mind meeting with me a moment in my office?” he said right away, though she wouldn’t bring her gaze up to meet his.

  “I’m sorry, Cameron, but I have so many things to do—”

  “Please. It will take only a moment, and it’s important,” he insisted.

  Something in his voice must have alerted her he was serious, for she looked up at him with wary, questioning eyes. “All right.”

  He led her quickly into his office and motioned for her to take a seat.

  “No, Cameron. Just say what you need to say.”

  Cameron looked at her rigid posture—the way she had trouble meeting his gaze—and his heart broke all over again.

  “You’ve been avoiding me,” he began, not sure why he’d spoken it aloud. It wasn’t what he meant to say at all.

  She glanced at him then down at the floor. “You know why. I thought you understood why I—”

  “I know,” he said softly and let out a breath of frustration. “This is why I’ve made the decision to let George and North handle the running of the shelter.”

  This time she looked right at him, her eyes filled with dismay. “What? But you can’t! This is your dream, your vision, Cameron.” She took a step closer. “Don’t let her do this! Don’t let Aurora keep you from fulfilling God’s purpose in your life.”

  “Aurora is not the reason,” he insisted firmly, holding up his hand. “She doesn’t like for me to work here, but it isn’t why I can’t be here anymore.”

  She shook her head. “Then why? What is so important to make you quit your work?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment. He looked into her eyes, hoping she would understand how hard it was even being in the same room with her. “You are,” he told her bluntly.

  Her eyes filled with tears, and she pressed her mouth with her hand. She tried to speak, but the tears seemed to clog her throat.

  Cameron had to swallow to clear the lump in his own throat and struggled to stay strong. “It’s tearing us apart, Claudia, to be here day after day with each other. You think by avoiding me you can pretend I’m not here. Let us be honest—you are as aware of me as I am you.”

  She took a deep breath and wiped her cheeks. “Then I will be the one to leave, Cameron,” she insisted, her voice broken. “I will not be able to live with myself if I let you give this up for me.”

  “Claudia, I—”

  “No,” she said firmly, holding out her hand. “This is your shelter, the vision God gave you. I was only sharing it. I will find another charity to help.”

  “Absolutely not, Claudia,” he returned as firmly. “You and your grandfather can work together and—”

  “Grandpapa and I will be fine, Cameron. We’ve grown very close, and this will change nothing.”

  “Please, Claudia. Stay.”

  But he could see her mind was made up. “No, Cameron,” she said softly and backed toward the door.

  “But—,” he began, but she was already walking out of the room.

  ❧

  Claudia had closed Cameron’s door and turned when she noticed someone was standing in her path. She couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d seen the prince regent himself standing there.

  It was Aurora.

  “What are you doing here?” Aurora hissed, anger seething from her expression and voice.

  Claudia swallowed, unsure of what to do or say. “I. . .uh. . .”

  “Have you been seeing Cameron behind my back? We are not even wed, and he is already playing me for a fool?” she asked, louder this time.

  Claudia glanced about the hall and was thankful to find no one about. “Your assumptions are wrong, Aurora. I work here with the children,” she told her quickly.

  Aurora narrowed her eyes at her. “I don’t believe that for one moment. You are here for Cameron. You can’t deny that.”

  Claudia knew Aurora was on her way to causing another scene. “I can and will, Aurora. Now please lower your voice. There are many people about.” She took her arm and pulled her further down the hallway, but Aurora shook off her hand after a few steps.

  Brushing away her arm as if Claudia’s touch offended her, she said, “Say whatever you will. It won’t matter anyway once Cameron and I are wed. I shall demand that he give up this—this place. It is not fitting for a man of his position to be doing charity work. It is beneath him.”

  Claudia could only stare at Aurora after she had spoken those selfish words. She shook her head slowly. “If you truly knew him, you would never demand such a thing. He does this not for his own benefit but because he believes God has purposed him to do it. Do you know where these women would be if not for Cameron? Begging in the streets or possibly dead now. Instead they are learning skills and finding employment in homes and shops to support their children.” She paused to take a deep breath and saw that Aurora had stopped scowling and was listening to her. “Preventing him from running this shelter would be to tell him that neither he nor God matters at all. Only you do.”

  Aurora looked away and folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t understand his need to be so religious,” she murmured, and Claudia could tell she still did not grasp it.

  “It is not religion, Aurora. He loves God and wants to do His will. It is the reason the Duke and Duchess of Northingshire work here also.”

  Aurora seemed surprised at hearing this. “Oh? I did not realize they were involved also. Cameron has never mentioned you nor them to me.”

  “We all have to be careful of our reputations. You cannot imagine that I would be here without a friend or chaperone.”

  Aurora unfolded her arms and rubbed her hand across her brow. “I’ve imagined many things; yet nothing has turned out as I believed it would,” she answered faintly. She must have realized how her words sounded, for she thrust her chin back up and refolded her arms. “I mean I never imagined Cameron had such ideas as this shelter.”

  Claudia knew that if she were changing anything about Aurora’s way of thinking, the woman would be loath to admit it. “Aurora, we have not been friends, and I know you resent my friendship with Cameron, but please be assured of this—he is an upright and honorable man. If he were not, he would have left the ball that night and let you bear the humiliation alone.” She stopped for a minute and prayed she would not cry while speaking her next words. “If you are to have any sort of happy. . . marriage, you cannot fight with him on this issue of the shelter. I pray you will read the scriptures or perhaps talk to your vicar and understand for yourself what it means to desire to do the work of
the Lord—to follow His will. It will go a long way in helping. . .your marriage be a successful one.”

  Knowing she could say no more without breaking down, she said, “I must go,” and bobbed a curtsy before stepping around her.

  Aurora stopped her. “Why are you telling me this? I know you wanted to marry him. All of London knows this.” She shook her head. “Yet here you are advising me on how to make him happy. Why would you do this?”

  Tears finally filled her eyes as Claudia looked at the woman who was to marry the man she loved. “Because, though he can never be mine, I do want him to be happy and contented in life.” She felt a tear splatter on her cheek, but she did nothing to wipe it away. “And you need not worry about me again. I will no longer be working here after today.”

  She turned, ran down the hall before Aurora could say anymore, and didn’t stop until she reached the supply room. Finding a quiet corner she sat down on a wooden crate.

  And cried one last time.

  ❧

  As Claudia rode with her friends back to her home that afternoon, she contemplated her options. There seemed to be only one solution—one that would help mend her heart. “Helen, I think I want to go home,” she said out of the blue, looking at her friend with resolve.

  Helen smiled at her and patted her hand. “That is where we’re going, Claudia. I knew you didn’t want to go to my house.”

  Claudia shook her head. “No, I mean I want to go home—to Louisiana.”

  “Oh!” Helen exclaimed. “If you need to get away, we have a home in Scotland where you are more than welcome to stay and—”

  She put her hand over Helen’s, stopping her speech. “I want to go home for a while and see my family. It’s not forever—only until I know I can face Cameron without breaking down and crying.”

  Helen nodded, and after discussing the matter further both she and North agreed to go with her and approach her grandfather about it.

  It wasn’t easy convincing the marquis she would return to fulfill her duties as his heir. In the end, however, he did agree to pay for her voyage.

  Lord Moreland was able to find her passage on a ship leaving in three days. Since the captain’s wife was on board and agreed to act as her companion, she did not need to find someone to travel with her as a chaperone.

  Helen suggested, since North was leaving for a few days on business, that she come and stay with her until she sailed. Claudia agreed, but only if they could stay in and not attend any gatherings.

  She did not want to risk seeing Cameron one more time.

  Seventeen

  On the last day before his wedding Cameron found he could not concentrate on his work. Nor did it help matters when George had told him that morning about Claudia leaving for America. After trying to add the same column of numbers four times and getting four different answers, he finally pushed his book of accounts away and walked out to the pier in the back of the shelter.

  He leaned against the rough wood of the railing and took a moment to pray. He first thanked God for not only helping him better accept the future that was now laid out before him but for the amazing change in Aurora. He didn’t understand what had come over her, but she suddenly stopped arguing with him about the shelter and started acting genuinely interested in what he was doing. She told him also that she had begun weekly lessons from the vicar on understanding the Bible better.

  It was a relief to know she was trying to understand him and his work.

  Cameron then prayed for Claudia, that she would be safe on her voyage to America and that God would allow her to find a man to love and one who would adore her. “Help Claudia find happiness and peace, Lord. Help us all to find it,” he prayed aloud, his voice soft as he looked up at the clear, cloudless sky.

  “That is all any of us can ask, is it not?”

  Hearing Aurora’s voice startled Cameron from his prayer. Whirling around he saw her standing there watching him with troubled eyes.

  “Aurora,” he gasped, so stunned was he that she’d even ventured down to this rough area of town. Then he remembered what he’d been saying in his prayer. Had she heard? “I was just—”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself, Cameron,” she interrupted him quietly. “I did not mean to eavesdrop on your prayer. I’ve only come to tell you something.”

  She was acting quite out of character from her usual self. Normally she was smiling and animated when she saw him and kept up a constant stream of chatter about the wedding arrangements.

  Something was definitely troubling her today. “Shall we sit down?” he asked, motioning toward a bench, but she shook her head.

  “No. If I don’t tell you this now, I may lose my nerve.” She looked away and let out a long breath. “I lied about Lord Carmichael. Though Papa did urge me to find a husband, he never threatened to marry me to the old lord.”

  “I know,” Cameron said.

  Her eyes widened as she turned back to him. “You knew?”

  Cameron shrugged. “I found out when I ran into Lord Carmichael in town two weeks ago. He had returned from the Continent after four months, where he’d met and married a lady from Spain.”

  Aurora’s cheeks turned pink as she glanced away once more. “Why didn’t you say anything to me about it?”

  “It would only make you feel bad. We both have enough on our minds.”

  Aurora looked back at him. “After all I have done, you still consider my feelings?”

  Cameron sighed and reached out to take her hands into his own. “Aurora, whether you meant for this engagement to happen or not, it is a reality. Neither of us can change that, so now we must do everything we can to make the most of it.”

  Aurora seemed to search his eyes a moment before stepping back and removing her hands from his. “I can change it,” she whispered so softly Cameron was not sure he had heard her right.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I said I can change it,” she said louder and more confidently. “I can end this engagement.”

  Cameron could scarcely breathe, so stunned was he by her words. “And how would you accomplish this?”

  “I have accepted another man’s proposal of marriage. We are to elope at Gretna Green tonight,” she stated matter-of-factly. Gretna Green was a village just over the Scottish border where couples from every class would often go to elope since banns were not required to be posted.

  Cameron struggled to comprehend what she was saying. “But it will be social suicide for you and whomever you marry. You must know this!”

  Aurora did not seem affected by his words. “It will not matter. I am marrying a gentleman farmer from my village, a Mr. John Miller. He has offered many times for my hand, but I refused since I was hoping that—well—you know what I wanted,” she explained, only faltering on those last words. “I wrote him two days ago and asked if he was still interested. He came to see me this morning and said he was. My only stipulation was that we elope, and he agreed to it.”

  Cameron studied the determined look on Aurora’s face and still could not believe she was serious. Not after all she’d done to assure the engagement would happen. “Why, Aurora? Why are you doing this?”

  She lowered her gaze. “Because I have recently become aware of my selfishness, and I am deeply ashamed of it.” She brought her eyes back to his again. “All my life I have thought only of myself and what I could do or have. I wanted you, and so I set out to get you. I ridiculed your religious ways and scoffed at your wanting to help the poor. I wanted you to focus on me and nothing else.”

  “Aurora, we are all selfish at one time or an—”

  “Yes, but I am that way all the time,” she interrupted. “And that is why I have to do this. I came by the shelter a few days ago to see why you spent so much time here and to convince you to give it up. As my driver and I near
ed the shelter, I have to tell you I was appalled at how poor this area is. All I could think of was what the ton would say if they knew you came down here every day and mingled with the riffraff of the city.” She paused and walked over to look down at the river.

  Cameron watched her and found he felt let down by her remarks. Of course he knew every other young lady in London would have the same feelings, but a part of him had hoped she would try to understand.

  Aurora continued after a pause. “I walked in and saw all those ragged-looking women and children and shuddered when one of the little ones brushed up against my skirt. I immediately judged them all unworthy even to be in my presence and set off down the hall to look for your office.”

  Cameron had walked over to stand by her while she spoke. He wanted to defend his work and the people he helped every day but felt God telling him to wait. He knew he must hear the rest. “Was I not there?” he prompted when she hesitated again.

  She looked up at him and nodded. “Yes, but I ran into someone before I could find you, and I have to tell you I was even more appalled at her presence than I was about anything else I’d seen that morning.”

  Cameron knew right away who she was talking about. “You saw Claudia.”

  She gave him a small smile. “Don’t look so worried, Cameron. Yes, I saw her, and I accused her of trying to steal you away from me, which she promptly denied.”

  Cameron hadn’t seen Claudia since the day she quit the shelter, and he could only imagine how speaking to Aurora affected her. “Aurora, you know I would not play you false no matter what the circumstances of our engagement.”

  She held out her hand as if to stop his defense. “I know, Cameron. I was just surprised at seeing her there. But now I’m glad I did.” She turned once more to the water. “When I told her I wanted you to give up the shelter, she accused me of not really knowing you. She told me about your love for God and how you only desired to do His will. It was like someone had opened a curtain, and suddenly I saw things I never had before.”