There was something in his tone that brought the blood up into Annis’s cheeks. She knew that this was the moment she had to make certain things clear between them.
‘Then pray do not ask about me in future, sir.’ There was a note of entreaty in her voice. She freed herself and walked on. ‘I have a job of work to do, and it does not allow for an idle flirtation with the local lord of the manor.’
It was Adam’s turn to laugh. ‘How charmingly medieval you make that sound, as though I go around taking my pleasure with the local populace! I do assure you, ma’am, that is hardly my intention.’
‘No…’ Annis looked troubled ‘…but when we met two nights ago…’
‘Yes?’
‘I feel that I must tell you…Oh, how difficult this is!’ Annis raised her eyes to his face. ‘I fear that you must have received a certain impression of me which is quite false, my lord. I do not generally go around embracing strange gentlemen in the garden—’ She broke off in acute embarrassment.
Adam gave her a brief smile. ‘You need not tell me that, Lady Wycherley. I never imagined that you did.’
Annis gave him a glance that was half-ashamed, half-grateful. ‘Thank you, my lord. So we are agreed that it should never have happened.’
Adam straightened slightly. ‘I certainly did not say that. That is a different matter entirely.’
Annis shot him a pleading look. ‘But surely—’
‘I am not going to pretend that I did not enjoy it.’ Adam met her gaze very directly. ‘You would want the truth from me, I know, and the truth is that, given the opportunity, I would do exactly the same thing again.’
Annis’s face flamed. He was not making this easy for her. In a town the size of Harrogate it would be well nigh impossible to avoid him and her chaperon’s duties meant that she was obliged to enter into society. She could not escape Adam, but she had already resolved that the two of them should behave as though the moonlight encounter had never occurred. Now Adam was telling her he did not want to forget it.
‘Please understand that I have a living to earn, sir,’ she said urgently. ‘Whatever it is that you want, whatever game you are playing at my expense—’
Adam stopped abruptly and turned to her. His face was stern. ‘I play no games, Lady Wycherley. What I want is to know you better. There, it is said and now you cannot misunderstand me. Yet if you do not desire the same thing, tell me now and I shall not trouble you again.’
There was a silence whilst Annis struggled with her feelings. She could not deny that she found his company enjoyable, but the demands of her profession were strong and stronger still was her fear of losing her independence for a second time.
‘You left it too long,’ Adam said quietly.
Annis looked at him. There was a spark in his gaze that lit something within her, something that made her shiver.
She frowned. ‘You are very direct, my lord. You compel me to answer.’
‘I am renowned for my frankness,’ Adam said. He smiled. ‘What is your answer?’
Annis gave him a very straight look. ‘My circumstances do not allow for me to pursue your acquaintance, my lord. Regardless of my feelings, as a chaperon I cannot afford to give rise to gossip and conjecture through my behaviour. That is all there is to it. Please say that you understand.’
Adam sighed. ‘I understand your reasoning. I even admire your resolve. I simply do not agree with you.’
‘It does not need for you to agree, my lord,’ Annis said, a shade acerbically, ‘only accept.’
Adam shrugged. ‘Then I respect your position, ma’am.’ His expression eased a little. ‘However, I hope you will at least accept my escort across The Stray?’
‘Of course. Thank you.’ Annis tried to smile, but her heart felt leaden. This had been her choice and yet now she felt quite miserable to have given him his congé. She had seldom felt such a conflict between her feelings and her inclination and she did not care for it.
She became aware of Fanny’s inquisitive face peering at her. The girl was almost tripping over as she tried to see what Annis and Adam could be talking about together. Annis gave herself a little shake and rearranged her face into the blandest of expressions. She raised her voice slightly.
‘Do you find it strange to be no longer in the military, Lord Ashwick? I understand that you sold out a few years ago?’
Adam saw the direction of her gaze and took his cue from her. ‘In some ways I find it odd, Lady Wycherley. It gives a structure to life that can be lacking otherwise. But I have Eynhallow, and an unconscionable amount of work to do to get the estate back into shape.’
He smiled at her. ‘And what do you do with your time, ma’am? I find myself intrigued to know of the entertainments available to young ladies—and their chaperon!’
Annis smiled self-deprecatingly. ‘I am sure that you do not, my lord. I can think of little that would interest you less.’
Adam quirked a brow. ‘I assure you that I am very interested to know how you spend the day, ma’am. You are always so busy.’
‘Well…’ Annis made a slight gesture ‘…there are plenty of activities for the young ladies to indulge in. We might visit Wilson’s Circulating Library, or the shops, or go for a small walk, as you see.’
‘And in the evenings I suppose there are always the dances at the Granby or the Crown or the Dragon.’
‘Every evening is accounted for by some social outing,’ Annis agreed. ‘The Theatre Royal has a show on alternate nights to the balls, and then there are the private parties, of course. Sometimes we even venture out of Harrogate to visit the surrounding countryside.’ She laughed. ‘Fountains Abbey was a great hit with the Misses Crossley, you know, and Knaresborough even more so. The castle ruins could have been taken straight from one of Mrs Radcliffe’s books, complete with clanking chains and resident ghost!’
Adam smiled at her. ‘Did they like the Dropping Well?’
‘Miss Lucy did. Miss Crossley found it a little slow and said she was afraid she would be turned to stone herself with the boredom of it all!’
They laughed together. And stopped together. And looked at each other in a silence fraught with possibilities. Then Adam sighed.
‘You are not making this easy, Lady Wycherley. You are delightful company, you know, and I would not deliberately deny myself that pleasure.’
Annis looked away. ‘Thank you for the compliment, my lord.’
‘I find it astonishing that you have not married again, particularly as you must meet plenty of gentlemen in your line of work. Can there be a rational explanation?’
Annis laughed unwillingly. ‘There is a simple one. I always try to divert the attention of the gentlemen towards my charges. They are the ones requiring to make an advantageous match, not myself.’
‘My dear Lady Wycherley…’ Adam drew her slightly closer ‘…you could not divert my attention to them if you tried!’
Annis bit back an answering smile. It was the devil’s own job to resist that charm. The warmth, the dangerous intimacy, was still there between them despite her refusal to acknowledge it and her determination to avoid him.
‘I am happy to say that the Misses Crossley are both already spoken for, my lord, so you would be too late, anyway,’ she said primly.
‘And yourself?’
Annis allowed a tinge of coldness to creep into her tone. ‘As you are aware, sir, I have already been married and have no inclination to repeat the exercise.’ She tilted the brim of her bonnet slightly to block his view of her face.
‘You must have married very young.’ Adam’s tone had softened.
‘I did. I was seventeen.’ There was a lump in Annis’s throat and she had no notion where it had come from. She turned to look at him and the sun dazzled her momentarily. With relief she realised that they had reached the far side of The Stray and were almost at the Granby.
‘Thank you for your company, my lord,’ she said formally. ‘I believe our ways part here.’
‘And you are certain that I am not to see you again? I cannot convince you to change your mind?’ He was dangerously persuasive. Annis steeled herself against that charm.
‘In a town the size of Harrogate I imagine it will be inevitable.’
‘That was not precisely what I meant.’
‘I did not think that it was.’ Their gazes locked. Annis took a deep breath. ‘The answer to your question, my lord, is no. I explained why earlier.’
Adam gave a sharp sigh. Annis could see the annoyance in his eyes. ‘I cannot agree—’ He broke off, running a hand through his hair. ‘Confound it! This is not what I had wanted. I cannot believe that I have agreed to your strictures.’
Annis gave him an appealing look. ‘Please, my lord! We did agree…’
Adam sighed again. ‘I know. I am regretting my promise deeply.’
Fanny and Lucy were busy disentangling themselves from their escorts with much chatter and giggling. Annis gave Adam her hand.
‘Thank you, Lord Ashwick.’ She was not speaking of his escort and they both knew it. ‘I am indebted to you.’
Adam gave her a faint, rueful smile and bowed. ‘Good day, Lady Wycherley.’
He walked away. Fanny and Lucy stared after him, mouths inelegantly agape.
‘He is very handsome,’ Lucy ventured.
‘No, he is not!’ Fanny snapped. ‘He is too plainly dressed. And his manners lack polish.’
Annis’s lips twitched. Fanny had evidently taken offence that Adam Ashwick had not shown more of an interest in her.
‘Come along, girls! Let us take a little luncheon here and rest in the shade before we take a carriage back home. We need to have plenty of time to prepare for the ball tonight.’
Lucy brightened but Fanny was still staring after Adam’s departing figure, her lower lip stuck out.
‘Did you know that Lord Ashwick ran off with the vicar’s daughter, Lady Wycherley? How frightfully vulgar is that?’
‘I should have thought it was of all things romantic,’ Lucy said bravely.
Fanny gave her sister a scornful glance. ‘He has a shocking reputation,’ she said. ‘Why, they say that after his wife died, he became the greatest libertine in London! He is not at all suitable company for a chaperon and I am surprised that you allowed him to approach us at all!’
‘Thank you, Fanny,’ Annis said tranquilly, mentally counting the number of days until Sir Robert Crossley came to take his nieces away. ‘It is thoughtful of you to warn me. I do not believe that any of us were in imminent danger and, anyway, I never listen to spiteful gossip.’
She turned and shepherded her charges into the inn, and the door swung closed behind them, hiding Adam Ashwick’s tall figure and taking away the temptation for her to watch him into the distance. She had sent him away, and stopped something before it had really started. It had been the only thing to do, yet she could not help wondering what would have happened if she had given in to her instincts and agreed to meet him again. Now she would never know.
Chapter Six
‘Had you thought about dosing yourself up with the spa waters, Ash?’ Edward Ashwick enquired over dinner one evening a week later. ‘They say that it is sovereign for ill humours and you have been like a bear with a sore head this week past.’ He shot his brother a grin. ‘I do not scruple to mention it because the whole family is aware of your bad temper.’
‘The whole house is aware…’ Adam’s sister Della murmured.
‘Probably the whole town,’ the Dowager Lady Ashwick finished.
Adam allowed his gaze to move around the table from one to the next. Both his siblings and his mother were watching him with identical expressions of sympathy in their grey eyes. The Dowager Lady Ashwick, a diminutive brunette who had been married from the schoolroom and was still extremely well preserved, even though she was on the very shady side of forty, gave him a fond maternal smile.
‘We thought that it might be difficult for you returning to Harrogate after so long, darling,’ she murmured. ‘We do so sympathise…’
‘Of course,’ Della echoed compassionately. ‘Pray be as unpleasant to us as you wish, Adam. We shall not take offence.’
A reluctant smile pierced Adam’s gloom. ‘I beg your pardon. I had no idea that I was being so ill humoured.’
‘Surly,’ Edward confirmed.
‘Testy,’ Della agreed.
‘Grumpy,’ the Dowager said sadly. ‘I suppose it is all to do with Lady Wycherley.’
Adam put down his knife and fork and gave his brother a hard stare. ‘What have you been saying, Ned?’
‘I? Nothing, I swear.’ Edward looked the epitome of virtue. ‘Della happened to comment to me that she had seen you walking on The Stray with Lady Wycherley last week—’
‘The devil she did!’
‘And I observed that you had spent some time in that lady’s company and that you seemed to admire her.’
‘Which we already knew, Adam,’ The Dowager said. ‘Ned was breaking no confidences, I assure you. We all saw you at the theatre that night. You looked positively épris! We were so happy for you, darling.’ A tiny frown marred her brow. ‘Except that you do not seem so cheerful now. Whatever can have gone wrong?’
Adam frowned ferociously. He could scarcely be indelicate enough to tell his mother that he ached for a woman he could not have, but that was the nature of the problem. He had not seen Annis Wycherley for seven days now and she haunted his thoughts and his dreams. He had even found himself walking past the house in Church Row hoping to catch sight of her. It was juvenile and sentimental, but he did not seem able to help himself. He had fallen hard and no one was more surprised than he.
‘Lady Wycherley and I are mere acquaintances,’ he said shortly. ‘She has indicated that she does not wish to take our association any further.’
‘Ah,’ Edward said significantly. ‘That explains everything, of course.’
‘Has she misunderstood about Miss Mardyn’s position?’ Della enquired innocently. ‘That might account for a reluctance to pursue the acquaintance. If so, perhaps I could explain to her—’
Adam scowled. ‘Pray do not even think of doing so, Della.’
The Dowager was looking puzzled. ‘I do not entirely understand, Adam. Lady Wycherley indicated that she did not wish to see you and you…agreed?’
Adam’s scowl deepened. ‘I did, Mama. One cannot force one’s attentions on an unwilling lady.’
Della smiled. ‘Very noble of you, Adam. Yet Lady Wycherley seemed to be enjoying your company when I saw the two of you together. Whatever can you have done to give her a dislike of you?’
Adam threw down his napkin and got up from the table. He was sorely tempted to tell his interfering family to mind their own business, but he knew that they had his best interests at heart. Besides, he owed them an apology for his bad moods. He found himself providing a reluctant explanation.
‘It cannot have escaped your notice that Lady Wycherley is a chaperon.’
‘A very proper one.’ The Dowager nodded.
‘Indeed. Thank you, Mama. That is exactly it.’ Adam swallowed his glass of wine and walked over to the window with an impatient step. ‘A proper chaperon cannot entertain gentleman callers without losing her reputation. Lady Wycherley drew this fact to my attention and I was forced to agree with her. It is as simple as that.’
‘I can understand her point of view,’ Della agreed. ‘People can be so gossipy and cattish. Yet if your intentions are honourable, Adam…At least, I take it that you do have honourable intentions?’
Catching Edward’s amused eye, Adam reflected on the difficulties of even attempting to engage in a courtship under his family’s eye.
‘I would have if I was given the chance!’
‘Then we may help you,’ Della said.
‘Yes, indeed,’ Lady Ashwick said. ‘If you have honourable intentions, Adam, I pledge my support as well. I should like it above all things to see you wed again.’
A
dam felt slightly bemused. His family seemed to be working even faster than he was. ‘Thank you. Would you vouchsafe to me exactly what you intend to do?’
The Dowager waved an airy hand. ‘There is no great difficulty. Della and I shall contrive for Lady Wycherley to speak with you again.’ She gave her firstborn a fond smile. ‘After that, it is entirely up to you, Adam, and if you do not take your opportunity you will not deserve her anyway!’
‘And if you would take the spa water in the meantime, Ash, it will be the better for all of us,’ Edward added.
The sound of the bell broke into their laughter. The butler’s footsteps approached.
‘Mr Ingram has called, my lord,’ Tranter said expressionlessly. ‘I have put him in the study. He asks for a moment of your time.’
Some of the warmth and laughter seemed to drain from the room. Della had turned pale and now she rose to her feet, steadying herself against the edge of the table.
‘Mama, I believe that I shall retire. No, pray do not concern yourself. I am quite well. I simply do not wish to meet Mr Ingram.’
The Dowager nodded. She took her daughter’s arm. ‘Neither do I. Come, let us go upstairs and decide on our gowns for the next ball. Adam, Edward…you will excuse us? I trust that that man will not take up too much of your time.’
‘Do you wish me to leave you to see Ingram alone, Ash?’ Edward asked, as he and Adam went out into the hall. ‘Whatever your preference.’
Adam shook his head. ‘I would rather that you were with me, Ned. The man is a slippery customer and I would rather have a witness—and some moral support.’
Edward nodded and they went into the study together. Ingram was standing before the fireplace, examining the invitations that adorned the mantel. He turned to look at them. Neither Adam nor Edward spoke.
‘Good evening to you, gentlemen both. Ashwick…Reverend…I apologise for calling in the evening but when a man is busy at work during the day…’ Ingram’s greeting was breezy but his eyes were shrewd as they moved from one brother to the other.
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