Jacquie D'Alessandro - [Regency Historical 04]

by Never A Lady

  “That’s what you think.”

  “He finally stopped when I began pelting him with eggs,” Nathan said to Alexandra in a smug tone. He leaned forward and confided, “I have fiendishly accurate aim.”

  “Those eggs hurt,” Colin said, involuntarily rubbing the back of his head where’d he’d been hit more than once.

  “How much could an egg have hurt?” Alexandra asked, clearly amused as she handed him and Nathan their cups of chocolate.

  “You have no idea. And the mess. Especially after it hardened.” He made a face, and she laughed. Then he smiled. “But I had my revenge. I made up a batch of special eggs by carefully making a small hole in the shell and removing the insides. I then inserted money inside.”

  “My money,” Nathan chimed in. “That he’d stolen from me.”

  “If he’d hidden it in a cleverer spot, I wouldn’t have been able to find it,” he said, ignoring Nathan. “I made myself an easy target and he ended up throwing all his money at me. Last time he pelted me with eggs.”

  “Very clever,” she said.

  “I’m a very clever fellow.”

  Bloody hell, her lovely eyes smiling into his damn near lulled him into a trance. Pulling himself together, he handed her her plate, then Nathan his.

  “Why did I only receive one biscuit?” Nathan asked, eyeing Colin’s and Alexandra’s plates, both of which held four biscuits.

  “Because you saw fit to eat all my marzipan. Countries have gone to war for less provocation.”

  Nathan shot him a glare. “Just for that, I’m inclined not to give you the gift I brought.”

  “Good. Because knowing you and your penchant for accepting animals of all sorts into your home, your gift is likely of the barking, meowing, quacking, or mooing variety.”

  Nathan’s expression turned innocent—too innocent, instantly igniting Colin’s suspicions. Before he could question his brother further, however, Nathan turned his attention back to Alexandra. “Tell me, Madame, do you have any brothers?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Consider yourself fortunate. Any sisters?”

  “No, but I live with my dearest friend, Emma, who is the sister of my heart.”

  “And is Emma a fortune-teller as well?”

  “No. She’s an orange girl.” She lifted her chin a fraction, as if expecting a rebuff given her friend’s lowly occupation, but Colin held no fear on that account with Nathan.

  True to form, Nathan nodded in an approving manner, then said, “My wife is very fond of oranges. Could you arrange for your friend to come to the Wexhall town house so I may purchase some for her?”

  She hesitated, and although her expression gave nothing away, Colin sensed her surprise. “I’d be delighted.”

  “Excellent. Now, tell me, how do we go about conducting this card reading? I’m fascinated.”

  “First you must pay the fee up front,” Colin said, enjoying himself thoroughly, then taking a large, deliberate bite of biscuit. After swallowing, he said, “Then you ask Madame a question. Then she’ll deal the cards and tell you all sorts of interesting things about yourself. It’s quite the craze this Season.”

  “I’m ready to begin,” Nathan said, scowling at his empty plate. “As I only had one biscuit and all.”

  After he and Alexandra had finished their drinks and biscuits, Colin called for Ellis, who removed the silver platter. Alexandra slipped her silk-wrapped bundle from her pocket, then said to Nathan, “Given your kindness in arranging for my safety, Dr. Oliver, I cannot charge you for your reading.”

  “Of course you can,” Colin insisted. He doubled the figure she’d charged him, added a bit more, then tossed out the number to Nathan, reminding him, “Payable in advance.”

  His brother’s eyes widened at the ridiculous sum, but he dutifully retrieved the money from his waistcoat pocket without comment and passed the money to Alexandra, who, appearing embarrassed, slipped it into her pocket. Mollified—and smug—that someone had paid more than he, Colin leaned back in his chair and waited.

  Instead of shuffling, however, Alexandra looked at him and raised her brows. “Dr. Oliver paid for a private reading, my lord.”

  Nathan waved his hand. “I’ve no objection to his staying.” He grinned. “Especially as I have every intention of remaining for his.”

  She inclined her head. “Very well.” While she shuffled, she said, “I will tell you something of your past, present, and future. What do you wish to know?”

  Nathan pondered for several seconds, then asked, “How many children will my wife and I have?”

  She nodded, then after the cutting and dealing of the cards, she studied them for a full minute, her expression serious. “The cards representing your past show that you followed the path you’d chosen for many years, but then several years ago a life-changing event occurred. Something that brought harm to people you loved and caused you to…lose your way. Forced you to start over. I see estrangement from those you cared about. It was a very lonely time for you. But you finally found your way home again.”

  An odd feeling gripped Colin’s gut at her accurate words, and Nathan’s gaze flicked over to him. It was clear in that quick look that his brother erroneously believed he’d told her about his past.

  “Go on,” Nathan with a smile.

  “In your recent past, I see both great happiness and great pain. The happiness is clearly due to love, giving and receiving. The pain is due to loss. The loss of a child.” She looked up at Nathan. “Your child.”

  The tension gripping Colin dissipated, and he barely held back a snort at her ridiculous statement. Nathan didn’t have children. Relief rushed through him. For a moment there, he’d actually believed some of this nonsense. Although he inwardly cringed at the sudden somber turn of the reading. Bloody hell, this was supposed to be an entertainment. Couldn’t she make up things that were less…morbid?

  He glanced at Nathan and stilled. His brother’s face had gone visibly pale, and he was staring at Alexandra intently, his hands gripped together so tightly his knuckles showed bone white beneath the skin.

  “Go on,” Nathan said, his voice rough, almost harsh.

  “Your present is consumed with your marriage and is filled with love. Happiness. And the prospect of fatherhood. You are extremely concerned for your wife’s current delicate condition”—she indicated the last grouping of cards—“but your future indicates all will be well. You’ve nothing to fear.” She smiled at him. “Would you like to hear my prediction as to whether the child will be a boy or girl?”

  Nathan swallowed, then nodded.

  “A girl. Followed by three more children. Therefore, to answer your question, you are destined to have four children.” She picked up the cards from the table, then turned to Colin, and asked, “Are you ready, my lord?”

  But Colin’s gaze was riveted across the table on Nathan, who tunneled his fingers through his hair, then dragged his hands down his colorless face. He met Colin’s gaze, and the look in Nathan’s eyes stilled him. Before Colin could question him, Nathan nodded slowly.

  “It’s true,” he said, his voice soft, gravelly. “Victoria miscarried four months ago. We just confirmed last week that she’s expecting again.”

  Colin simply stared. “I…had no idea. I’m very sorry for the loss you both suffered.”

  “Thank you. As we hadn’t yet told anyone we were expecting, we decided there was no point in mentioning the miscarriage. We planned to tell everyone about this pregnancy once she was further along.” He looked at Alexandra through very serious eyes. “Your skills are…formidable, Madame.”

  “Thank you, but I merely interpreted what the cards indicated.”

  Nathan smiled. “Skilled and modest. A formidable combination.”

  An unsettling realization crawled through Colin. If she’d been so unerringly correct in Nathan’s reading, then all the dire things she’d predicted for him might be accurate as well. They certainly mirrored the dark feeling of f
oreboding that had consumed him over the past weeks.

  Forcing his thoughts back to the conversation, he turned to Nathan and extended his hand. “Please accept my congratulations to both you and Victoria on your impending parenthood.”

  Nathan clasped his hand tightly between both of his. And in the space of a single heartbeat, Colin read in Nathan’s eyes both joy and fear. “Thank you. I’d prefer if you keep the news to yourself for now…Uncle Colin.”

  A lump of emotion formed in his throat, and he coughed to clear it away. God willing the heavy weight of gloom he felt surrounding his own future would lift and he’d see Nathan’s child born. And perhaps one of his own.

  As if reading his thoughts, Nathan said, “I’d be delighted if you’d return the favor and make me an uncle.”

  “That’s why I’m here. To find a bride and make that happen.” Before it’s too late.

  “Perhaps Madame can tell you who your bride will be.”

  “I’ve asked her that very question during my two previous readings, but all she’s so far discerned is that apparently the lady has dark hair.”

  “If you recall, my lord,” she said, “my saying that your bride was dark-haired was at your request and merely for Lady Newtrebble’s benefit. I’ve seen nothing in your cards about your future wife.”

  “Well, perhaps today’s reading will reveal all. I’m ready whenever you are, Madame.”

  Instead of picking up her cards, she regarded him steadily. “Given the nature of my previous predictions, perhaps it might be best if we rescheduled our appointment.”

  Colin shook his head. “I appreciate your discretion, but I’d prefer Nathan be here.”

  “Was there some problem with your previous readings?” Nathan asked, his gaze turning sharp.

  “I’m afraid they weren’t filled with sunny predictions for my future. We’re hoping for better results this time.” He turned to Alexandra. “Let us begin.”

  “As you wish, my lord.” Reaching into her other pocket, she withdrew a different, smaller deck of cards. After completing the shuffling and cutting, she slowly dealt them, laying them out in a different pattern than she’d used before.

  After studying the cards at length, she looked at him through troubled eyes. “I’m afraid I see the same things as I did in your previous two readings, with death and betrayal showing an even stronger presence than before—both in your past and in your future. It appears that the betrayal in your past is somehow related to that in your future.”

  She glanced back at the cards, and her frown deepened. “The inner turmoil I saw earlier is now more profound. You’re experiencing great confusion and conflict, yet there is also a growing sense of urgency, a fear of things you will not be able to do. Of responsibilities left undone.”

  The accuracy of her words tensed his every muscle, cramping his insides. The intensity in her voice, in her eyes held him spellbound. “What of the dark-haired woman you previously saw?” he asked.

  She hesitated, then pointed to the cards. “She is still there. Closer to you than before. Indeed, it is her location that concerns me the most.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She looked up, and her gaze met his. Again she hesitated, looking distinctly troubled. Finally, she said, “Her card remains at the center of the danger and deceit and is the only thing standing between your card and the death card. Which means she will either save you or—”

  “Be the death of me?” he suggested, keeping his tone light.

  But her expression remained utterly serious. “Yes.”

  “What of my future wife?”

  “As in the previous readings, I’m afraid I see no mention of her here, my lord.”

  His gaze roamed over her face, taking in her serious eyes and lush lips, then coming to rest on the long, shiny tendrils spiraling down toward her collarbone. Long, shiny tendrils of dark hair. And a feeling of unshakable surety slapped him. There was no doubt in his mind.

  She was the dark-haired woman.

  Twelve

  Alex looked at Colin from across the space of his luxurious carriage and, for the dozenth time since they’d departed his town house, wondered what he was thinking. He’d been preoccupied ever since she’d completed his reading, silent during the ride to her rooms.

  Was he thinking, as she was, about their kiss? About where it might have led had they not been interrupted? She desperately wanted to believe she would have regained her senses, would have emerged from the sensual world in which she’d been lost even without the knocking on the door, but there was no point in entertaining such a patent falsehood.

  The shockingly delicious sensation of his hand beneath her skirt, the heat of his palm cupping her bottom…never had she imagined anything so arousing. Just thinking about it set up that insistent throb between her legs.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when they arrived at her building, where Colin and his footman accompanied her upstairs. While she gathered her meager belongings into a worn leather portmanteau, Emma arrived. After quick introductions, she explained the plan to her friend, whose blue eyes alternately darted looks of distrust at Lord Sutton, and glances of pure admiration at his tall, handsome young footman.

  “I hate to leave you,” she said to Emma, twisting her fingers together, “but if I brought danger here—to you, to the children—I’d never forgive myself.”

  Emma grasped her hands and gently squeezed them to stop their fidgeting. “Don’t ye worry about anythin’, Alex. I’ll take care o’ the wee ones and the bakin’. Most important thing is you bein’ safe.” She scowled at Colin. “From everything.”

  Colin inclined his head. “Keeping her safe is my intention, Miss Bagwell.”

  “I’m sure it is.” Emma’s chin jutted out. “I’m just wonderin’ if it’s yer only intention.”

  Alex gasped, stunned at her friend’s unmistakable implications and fierce tone. Before she could find her voice, Colin said, “No harm will come to her, Miss Bagwell.”

  “See to it that it don’t,” Emma said sharply. “From anyone. Yerself included.”

  “Emma—” Alex began.

  “I will protect her with my life,” he said quietly, his gaze steady on Emma’s. “And I thank you for your words. I admire plain speaking. Alexandra is fortunate to have such a loyal and steadfast friend.”

  “I’m the fortunate one, havin’ her,” Emma said, her eyes narrowed. “There’s no one finer, and I don’t want her hurt. By nobody. In any way.”

  “Then we are in complete accord.”

  A heavy silence filled the air. Alex looked at him—a handsome, wealthy, educated aristocrat of impeccable bearing and breeding, dressed in the finest clothing, standing in her humble rooms, on the rough wooden floor covered by the simple handmade cloth rug she’d fashioned from scraps of material. A humorless, bitter laugh rose in her throat at the incongruous picture, a sharp, piercing reminder of who and what she was. And who and what he was. And how those two things would never, could never, intersect in any way.

  She cleared her throat, then said to him, “I’m all packed, but I’d like a few minutes alone with Emma, please.”

  He nodded. “I’ll await you in the carriage.” The footman lifted the portmanteau and followed him from the room.

  The instant the door closed behind them, Emma let out a long breath and fanned herself with her hand. “Bloody hell, I think I’ve got me the vapors. Weren’t that just the most beautiful man ye’ve ever seen in yer life?”

  Before she could stop herself, Alex let out a sigh that matched Emma’s and barely refrained from the hand fanning. “Yes,” she agreed, fervently wishing she didn’t. “He is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.”

  “Just lookin’ at ’im made me forget how to breathe. Stunned me speechless, he did.”

  “Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Although you seemed your normal outspoken self to me.”

  “Oh, sure, to that fancy bloke but not to him.” She breathed the last word wi
th a reverence Alex had never heard from her before. “And speakin’ of that fancy bloke—” Emma’s word cut off, and her eyes widened. “Why, it’s him ye’ve been speakin’ about right along.”

  Alex blinked, nonplussed. Clearly she and Emma had been talking at cross-purposes. As there was no point in denying Emma’s assertion, she nodded. “But his footman is indeed handsome,” she added, although, God help her, she’d barely noticed him.

  A slight movement of the curtain room divider caught Alex’s attention, and she turned. And caught a glimpse of a dirty face before it disappeared behind the curtain. “Come in here, Robbie,” she said.

  Several seconds past, then the child shuffled forward. After he stopped in front of Alex, he said in a rush, “That were the bloke I told ye about. The one wot were here before.”

  “Yes, I know. I spoke to him about it. He’ll not come uninvited again. I take it you heard everything?”

  He nodded, looking up at her with eyes that reflected both suspicion and unmistakable hurt. “Ye should have told me ye were in danger, Miss Alex. I’d’ve protected ye.”

  Alex’s heart contracted, and she crouched down, setting her hands on the boy’s narrow shoulders. “I know. And a fine job you’d do. But I can’t risk that someone might hurt you or Emma or any of the others. I need you to look out for each other, and for Emma, too. Can you do that for me?”

  He frowned, then jerked his head in a nod. “Ye were gonna leave without sayin’ good-bye,” he said in an accusatory tone.

  “Robbie, I’m not leaving, I’m simply going to stay in another part of London for a short time.”

  “The place where that rich bloke lives,” he said, his voice filled with a bitterness at odds with the trembling of his chin. “Ye’ll take a fancy to the good life and for-git all ’bout us.”

  Dear God, this child cleaved right through her heart. Cupping his small, dirty face between her hands, she said, “I could never forget you. Or Emma. Or the others. I think about all of you all the time. You’re always here”—she laid one hand across her heart—“inside me. Part of me. I’ll only be gone a short time. When I come back, we’ll share an entire plate of biscuits—just you, me, and Emma—and I’ll tell you everything that happened.”