Читать книгу An Unconventional Countess - Jenni Fletcher - Страница 13

Samuel marched up and down a picturesque-looking pathway between rows of willow and ash trees, ardently wishing that he’d been out when his old friend had called to visit him that afternoon. As amusing as he’d found his encounter with the pretty and prickly Miss Fortini, his conscience was bothering him quite considerably. No matter how tedious he found life on shore, he should never have gone along with Ralph’s plan. It had felt dishonourable somehow, his behaviour that of a rake, or even worse, his father! This walk struck him as a monumentally bad idea, too, but he was involved now whether he liked it or not. To his own chagrin, it was too late to walk away.

‘I say!’ Ralph called out to him from the bench where he was lounging, arms thrown wide as if he hadn’t a care in the world. ‘Why are you in such a bad mood?’

‘Because I don’t appreciate being dragged into your romantic exploits, that’s why!’ Samuel practically exploded. ‘That whole scene felt underhand. You said it was just a little harmless flirtation, nothing about walks in the park.’

‘Well, I call that very ungrateful. Here I’ve arranged a promenade with two very attractive young ladies and all you can do is complain.’

‘An hour ago you described one of them as a termagant.’

‘Yes, she is, isn’t she?’ Ralph chuckled unrepentantly. ‘I thought she was going to spit actual feathers when I offered to walk Henrietta home.’

‘You don’t need me to be here, too. You and the termagant can squabble over the girl together.’

‘Don’t you believe it. If it’s just me then she’ll plant herself between the two of us and I won’t get a word, let alone anything else, in edgewise. You can just tell she’s the sort who wants to stop everyone else having fun because she’s an old maid.’

‘She’s hardly an old maid.’

Ralph made a snorting sound. ‘I doubt she’s ever had a day’s excitement in her whole life.’

‘Leave her alone.’

‘Why? Do you like her?’ His old friend draped one leg over the other and regarded him thoughtfully. ‘Well, she’s attractive enough, I suppose. If I wasn’t so smitten with my nymph, then I might have considered her for myself. After all, her name’s practically famous in Bath. She’d be quite a conquest.’

Samuel stopped pacing abruptly. Attractive enough wasn’t exactly the phrase he would have chosen to use. Exceedingly pretty was more like it, with porcelain skin, a stubborn chin and eyes dark and deep enough for a man to drown in, which given his nautical background was a dangerous metaphor indeed. They’d turned out to be an even darker brown than he’d expected, only a shade away from black, and sharper than Ralph had given her credit for. She’d known perfectly well what they’d been up to from the moment they’d entered the shop, her hackles well and truly raised from the start. He certainly hadn’t deceived or charmed her.

Truth be told, the experience had been somewhat galling. He’d never been much of a lady’s man, but he’d flattered himself that he still possessed a reasonable degree of charm, on the rare occasions he chose to display it, that was. He’d favoured Miss Fortini with his most dashing smile and she hadn’t been swayed for a second. Teasing hadn’t worked, either. She’d given as good as she’d got and more, rebuffing his advances with flashing eyes and a dry wit that had amused him considerably. Her protective attitude towards her assistant had impressed him, too. Her concern for the girl was both laudable and touching, making him feel even guiltier by contrast. She certainly deserved better than to have to spend her time guarding against men like Ralph. It was no wonder she behaved like a termagant. Which she wasn’t.

‘What do you mean, famous?’ he asked finally.

‘Mmm?’ Ralph paused in the inspection of his fingernails. ‘Oh, she’s Belle. The Belle. Annabelle Fortini.’

‘Annabelle.’ He felt inordinately pleased to discover her first name at last. ‘But aren’t the biscuits called Belles?’

‘Yes,’ Ralph yawned, ‘but they were named after her. The whole shop was, in fact. Her parents set up the place just after she was born, so Henrietta says, and they named both it and the merchandise after their baby daughter. It’s ironic really, such a sweet name for such a shrew.’

Samuel folded his arms, choosing to ignore the last comment. ‘What happened to her parents?’

‘Oh, the father died a few years ago, but the mother’s still around. She doesn’t work any more, something to do with ill health apparently, but she’s even more famous than the daughter. Notorious, actually.’

‘I don’t listen to gossip, Ralph.’

‘It’s not gossip, it’s fact. Do you remember the old Duke of Messi—?’

He was prevented from saying any more by the appearance of the ladies themselves, walking with varying degrees of enthusiasm along the footpath towards them. They were still dressed in their shop clothes, in matching yellow empire-line dresses, though now they both wore bonnets and shawls, too. The nymph’s headwear was pink, bringing out the slight strawberry tint of her hair, while Miss Fortini’s was light brown, contrasting with her dark curls to give her a coffee-and-cream appearance. Damn it if he didn’t crave a cup at that moment...

The younger woman walked straight up to Ralph with a small skip in her step, taking his arm with an enthusiastic smile. Too enthusiastic, Samuel thought privately, and certainly too trusting. Her yellow dress and hair gave her the appearance of a daffodil, her golden beauty blending in perfectly with the spring foliage around them. It gave him a twinge of unease. Such innocence could so easily be stamped on by the wrong kind of person. In natural daylight, moreover, she looked even younger and more vulnerable than she had in the shop, making him wish that he’d challenged Ralph on his intentions more thoroughly.

‘Shall we?’ He offered an arm to Miss Fortini, but she ignored it, sparing him only a cursory glance before starting along the path on her own.

‘So your name is Belle?’ he tried asking again, lengthening his stride to catch up with her quick pace.

‘Annabelle.’ She gave him a sharp look. ‘Although, as I believe I mentioned earlier, my customers call me Miss Fortini.’

‘Forgive me, I didn’t intend to be over-familiar, but I only just discovered that you’re the original Bath Belle.’

If he wasn’t mistaken, she gave a soft sigh. ‘For what it’s worth, yes, I am, or at least my parents presented us both to the world around the same time. It’s actually short for Annabelle Claudia Teresa Fortini, but I prefer Anna.’ She glanced sideways at him, the evening sunlight bathing her face in a reddish-gold glow. ‘So now you know all of my names, which is a great deal more than I can say about you and yours. Do you make a habit of being mysterious, sir, or am I simply not important enough to warrant an introduction?’

‘Ah, forgive me again.’ He drew his brows together in consternation, belatedly realising that she was right. Despite asking for her name, he hadn’t mentioned his own at all. ‘Captain Samuel Delaney at your service.’

‘Captain Delaney?’ Her footsteps faltered and then stopped, her prickly manner disappearing at once. ‘You’re a captain? In the army or navy?’

‘Navy.’

‘But you’re not in uniform.’

‘No.’ He flinched at the reminder. ‘I’m trying to accustom myself to not wearing it.’

‘Are you on shore leave?’

‘Something like that.’ He shrugged as she continued to regard him inquisitively. ‘I sustained an injury during a recent skirmish and the Admiralty has no more need of me at present. I don’t know when, or whether, I’ll be able to return to active service.’

‘It must have been serious.’ Her dark eyes swept over him as if she were searching for evidence of a wound.

‘Shrapnel.’ He touched a hand to his collarbone, his lips twitching with amusement. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been inspected so thoroughly, especially by a woman. ‘But it’s mostly healed.’

‘I’m glad.’ She dug her top teeth into her bottom lip, a small frown puckering her brow as if she were considering telling him something. ‘My brother, Sebastian, is in the navy,’ she said finally.

‘Indeed?’ He felt strangely honoured by the confidence. ‘What vessel?’

‘The Menelaus. He’s a lieutenant.’

‘That’s a good ship. I know Captain Marlow well.’

‘You do?’ Her brown eyes widened with enthusiasm, riveting on his face so intently that she didn’t even notice when Ralph touched a hand to her assistant’s cheek up ahead. ‘Is he a good man?’

‘Very. We served together on the Asia six years ago when we were both lieutenants. He can make buttons out of cheese and he doesn’t like fish.’

‘Fish?’ She blinked. ‘You mean to eat?’

‘To do anything with, I imagine. Other than that, he’s a fair man with an uncanny ability to sense bad weather. Your brother couldn’t ask for a better captain.’

‘Thank you. I appreciate your saying so.’ For the first time since they’d met her smile didn’t contain the faintest hint of sarcasm. ‘You must be good, too, Captain Delaney. To reach such a high rank by the age of...’ she looked him up and down again ‘...thirty?’

This time he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. ‘You’re very direct, Miss Fortini.’

‘Yes, I know.’ She seemed unperturbed by the comment. ‘It’s a failing of mine, I suppose, but the problem is that I can never understand why. If I could, then maybe I could do something about it, but as it is...’ she shrugged ‘... I like to get to the point. It was only an observation, however. I didn’t mean to offend you.’

‘I’m not remotely offended, although I’m afraid your observation is slightly out. I’m a weather-beaten twenty-six, but you’re correct about my rank. In peace time, it would have taken a great deal longer to gain such a promotion, but things work differently in war.’

‘I suppose so.’ She nodded sombrely as they started to walk again. ‘Do you enjoy it? Being a sailor, I mean?’

‘I do. I’ve always loved the water. Swimming, sailing, fishing, even looking at it, so the navy suits me. I like the routine on board ship, too. It can be tedious, but it gives me a sense of purpose and it’s calming.’

‘Do you often need calming?’ She gave him a quizzical look.

‘On a daily basis at the moment. I’ve been on shore for four months and it feels like an eternity. I’m afraid of losing my sea legs.’

‘Sebastian loves the navy, too, but I wish he might come home for a while. The last we heard his ship was somewhere off the coast of South America, but I’m afraid of another big sea battle.’

‘It’s extremely unlikely. Napoleon doesn’t have enough ships left to risk another naval assault and it’s doubtful he’d want to anyway. Trafalgar was the longest day of my life, but at least the victory was decisive.’

‘You were there?’ Her head spun towards him so quickly he almost jumped. ‘Is that where you were injured?’

‘Yes.’

‘You called it a skirmish!’

‘A big skirmish.’

‘A big...’ She stared at him with an expression of bewilderment mixed with curiosity. ‘I read that you were outnumbered. Thirty-three French and Spanish ships to twenty-seven British.’

‘That’s right. More than forty thousand men, all told.’

‘What was the name of your ship?’

‘The Colossus.’

‘But I’ve heard of that!’ Bewilderment turned to outright amazement. ‘It was in the middle of the action.’

‘Yes, unfortunately. Our yardarm locked with that of the Argonaute. We were trapped together for ten minutes before the sea swell drove us apart.’

‘And then the Swiftsure surrendered to you?’

‘Eventually, after we gave her a full broadside.’

‘And the Bahama. You destroyed her mainmast.’

He lifted an eyebrow. ‘You know your sea battles, Miss Fortini.’

‘I don’t see why a woman shouldn’t read about such things as well as a man.’

‘Neither do I, especially when that woman has a brother in the navy. Ask me anything you like.’

‘All right.’ She paused as if to gather her thoughts. ‘What was the battle really like? The reports all make it sound so well ordered, but how do you stay in formation?’

‘With many hours of practice, although what Nelson did at Trafalgar hasn’t been done often before. Instead of the fleets facing each other, he divided ours into two columns. We cut through the enemy line instead of confronting them head on. It took them by surprise and gained us the advantage.’

‘Did you know you were winning?’

He shook his head. ‘At close quarters, it’s hard to see anything that’s happening beyond your own ship. There are shards of timber and metal flying all around and you can’t hear because the boom of so many cannons drowns out everything except the ringing inside your own head. You’re aware of men shouting and screaming, but you can’t make out the words. Meanwhile, the smoke burns your lungs so that you can’t answer back, either. Most of the time, you’re just fighting to stay alive.’ He stopped, afraid that he might have said too much, but she seemed to be hanging on every word.

‘It must have been terrifying.’

‘It was. A few other words come to mind, but in essence they mean the same thing. Being responsible for so many lives is frightening enough, but I believe that every man is terrified going into battle. There’s always the chance that you won’t make it out again, but there’s no use in showing it or giving in to the fear, either. And being with your crew and part of the fleet gives you courage.’

‘Sebastian said something similar in one of his letters. He said it was like having a second family.’

‘That’s true. At sea, we all depend on each other for survival. You have to rely on your men to do what they’ve been trained for.’

‘Did the fighting really last three hours?’

‘It did, then the weather that night nearly finished us off. We were in a poor enough state after the battle, but the storm was even worse. Many of us spent the night on deck, waiting to see if we’d be scuppered on the rocks. A number of ships didn’t make it to morning.’

‘And you’d lost your commander.’

‘Yes.’ He clenched his jaw at the memory. ‘During the battle, Nelson refused to go below deck for safety. He wanted to fight alongside us and he said the men needed to see him. Unfortunately a French sharpshooter in the rigging of the Redoubtable saw him, too. The musket ball entered his left shoulder.’

‘It was a great loss.’

‘It was. I remember when we got word of what had happened. The whole fleet fell silent. We’d won, but it felt like defeat.’

‘Maybe all battles feel like that in the end.’ She sounded pensive as they emerged out of the trees and on to a wide pathway leading up to a stone pavilion. ‘It all seems like such a terrible waste.’

‘It was. Thousands of men died that day. The waves were red with...’ He stopped mid-sentence. ‘My apologies. I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘Why not? Because I’m a woman?’ She gave him a pointed look. ‘There’s no need to apologise, Captain Delaney. I like to be told the truth, not be sheltered from it. I appreciate your honesty and...’ she hesitated and then stopped walking again, folding her hands tightly in front of her ‘...if you were to hear any news of my brother’s ship, good or bad, I would appreciate hearing about that, too.’

‘Very well. If I hear anything, I’ll be sure to inform you.’

‘Thank you.’ She cleared her throat, turning her head to watch a squirrel as it ran about on the lawn beside them. ‘I believe I owe you an apology, Captain.’

‘I don’t think—’

‘But I do,’ she interrupted him firmly. ‘I behaved rudely towards you earlier. I made certain assumptions about your character, but I was mistaken. I had no idea what kind of a man you really were.’

What kind of a man...? Samuel froze, struck with a fresh pang of guilt. ‘I’m not sure I understand you, Miss Fortini.’

She made an apologetic face. ‘When you came into my shop earlier I assumed that you were just another bored, indolent member of the aristocracy with too much time on his hands. I didn’t believe that you were really there to buy biscuits for your grandmother. I thought that you had an ulterior motive. Now I know I misjudged you. You’re a gentleman who also works for his living, a man of purpose and honour and bravery.’

‘Ah.’ Samuel rubbed a hand around the back of his neck. Under other circumstances he might have been pleased by such a heroic portrait, but it was hard to swallow when she’d been right the first time. His earlier behaviour had been decidedly unheroic.

‘You don’t like the aristocracy, Miss Fortini?’ He decided to focus on a different part of her speech.

Black lashes fanned over her cheeks as she dipped her gaze evasively. ‘I’m sure there are some perfectly fine examples of gentlemen among the upper classes, but in my experience not many. Take your friend.’ Her lip curled with distaste as she glanced towards Ralph. ‘His sole purpose in life at the moment seems to be the pursuit of my friend.’

‘I thought she was your employee?’

‘Can’t she be both?’ Her gaze shot back to his. ‘Sir, you accused me of being direct earlier so I won’t mince words. I believe that we both know what he wants from her, and that when—if—he gets it, he’ll abandon her as he already has countless others, I’m sure. I’ve lived in Bath my whole life and I’ve seen it happen more times than I can remember. Gentlemen may visit for the Pump Rooms, but they find other ways to pass their time and they see women like us as fair game. That’s the reason your friend feels entitled to call into my shop whenever he feels like it without buying anything, why he thinks it acceptable to ask Henrietta to walk without a chaperon, too. He would never behave in such a way with a lady.

‘Well, she is not fair game, Captain. She’s eighteen years old and far too sweet-natured to understand what he really wants and, if you’re truly a man of honour as I believe you to be, I beg you to dissuade him from pursuing her.’ She took a step forward and placed a hand on his arm, her tone entreating as her fingers curled gently around his wrist. ‘No good can come of it.’

Samuel listened in silence. By the end of her speech she was flushed and breathless and he was feeling somewhat mortified, not by her bluntness, but by the truth behind it. Every word she’d just spoken filled him with shame, the touch of her hand on his arm like a burning hot iron. Every word was true, too, except for the part when she’d called him a man of honour. An honourable man would never have entered the shop and helped Ralph in the first place. An honourable man would have turned around and walked away. Which meant that all he could do now was try to put things right and behave like the man she thought him to be. Her impassioned speech and those soulful dark eyes made him want to be heroic again. Nearly as much as they made him want to kiss her, too. Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, right there in the middle of the park, in a way that definitely wouldn’t improve her opinion of gentlemen...

‘You look tired, Miss Fortini.’ He pulled his arm away before he could do something he might regret. Now that they were standing so close he could see her face clearly and in truth she looked a stage beyond tired. She looked exhausted, her brown eyes ringed with dark shadows that made them appear even bigger. ‘You ought to go home and rest.’

‘Didn’t you hear me, Captain?’ She sounded dismayed.

‘I did.’ A new suspicion occurred to him. ‘I wondered if you were speaking from personal experience?’

She took a step backwards as if he’d just threatened her, her face blanching visibly. ‘What difference would it make if I was?’

He clamped his brows together. She was right. Her past experiences, whatever they were, made no difference at all to their current situation. As much as he wanted to know the answer, it was none of his business.

‘Tell me, then...’ he said, swallowing a different question ‘...does your friend usually walk home on her own at this time of evening?’

‘Yes.’ Her expression was guarded now. ‘Although one of her brothers usually meets her on Pulteney Bridge.’

‘Good. In that case, give me five minutes and I’ll remember an urgent reason for myself and Mr Hoxley to be elsewhere. You have my word as a naval officer and...’ he paused, resisting the urge to grimace ‘...a gentleman. If you’ll trust me, that is, Miss Fortini?’

She didn’t answer at first, holding on to his gaze for a few intense moments, her expression turning gradually from indecision to conviction to something that made his pulse start to accelerate.

‘Thank you, Captain Delaney,’ she said, nodding finally. ‘I believe that I do trust you. Five minutes, then.’ She dipped into a curtsy. ‘And the next time your grandmother would like some biscuits, I’d be more than happy to deliver a tin myself.’

‘I’ll be sure to tell her.’ He made a formal bow, but she was already turning away, waving a farewell to her friend before walking briskly towards one of the park gates.

Samuel felt an unexpectedly warm glow in his chest, followed by a pang of regret as he watched the subtle sway of her hips across the lawn. It was a pity that his future was so unsettled, otherwise she was exactly the kind of woman he would have been interested in: intelligent, capable and strong-willed. He’d almost fallen back into old ways that afternoon, the ones he thought he’d left behind when he’d joined the navy, but somehow Miss Fortini had stopped him. He’d been perilously close to steering off tack and she’d set him back on course. He actually felt grateful to her.

He heaved a sigh as she turned out of the gate and disappeared from view. It was really a pity...but it was also pointless to dwell upon what-might-have-been. Apart from anything else, she’d made her opinion of the aristocracy abundantly clear and, if she found out who he was besides a naval officer, who he might be anyway, then no doubt she’d walk away from him again even faster.

On the other hand, if events unfolded the way he wanted them to and he remained plain Captain Delaney, perhaps he might permit himself to visit her shop again one day. Not with Ralph obviously, especially since they were about to have the kind of full and frank discussion that would undoubtedly ruin their friendship for ever, but on his own and with honourable intentions this time. In another couple of months, perhaps, when the matter of his possible inheritance was settled...

In the meantime, it was probably best to keep away. He was developing an unfortunate appetite for biscuits as it was.