Читать книгу The Untamed Heiress - Julia Justiss - Страница 10

THOUGH THE GIRL WAS the least attractive example of femininity Adam had ever beheld, her curtsey was graceful. Moreover, the sardonic look in those snapping black eyes and the irony in her greeting told him she was shrewd enough to have guessed what he thought of her appearance.

Rather than being embarrassed, though, she seemed to derive a scornful amusement from his discomfiture as he stood, still staring, the frilly doll in one hand.

Before Adam could decide whether he was more offended or diverted by the girl’s antagonism, the door opened and a short, bespectacled gentleman hurried in. Seeing the two of them facing each other, he halted abruptly.

“Oh, dear! Lord Darnell, I had hoped to discourse with you privately before…well, I see ’tis too late for that. Arthur Pendenning, sir, at your service,” he said with a bow. “You’ve introduced yourselves, Miss Lambarth?”

“His lordship and I have indeed met,” the girl replied. “As you insisted. Now, if you and I could finish our consultations, I’ll be on my way.”

“There’s no need to hurry,” Mr. Pendenning said. “Knowing that you have just finished an exhausting journey, I’ve ordered some refreshment. Shall we not sit together and chat while we partake of it? Please, Miss Lambarth. Lord Darnell, you will remain with us, I trust?”

Rather against his will, Adam murmured a polite acceptance. Far from appearing a grief-stricken waif in need of her relatives’ support, the girl seemed almost hostile—and entirely undeferential, either to him or the lawyer. He struggled to resist the urge to let his initial shock at her appearance turn to dislike at her rudeness.

He shouldn’t judge her too harshly, he reminded himself. After all, she’d had no mother to guide her for years and, Lady Darnell had warned him, by the time of his death, her late father had become practically a hermit. She probably wasn’t to blame for what appeared to be a decided lack of proper maidenly deportment.

“Ah, here is the tray,” Mr. Pendenning said. “Lord Darnell, Miss Lambarth, if you would both sit?”

While the servant removed the cover before bowing himself out, Adam deposited himself on the sofa and Miss Lambarth walked with obvious reluctance to perch on the edge of an adjoining wing chair.

Did she think he would bite? Adam wondered with a touch of humor, watching as she covertly watched him from the corner of her eye. She seemed less wary with the lawyer, who seated himself near her and began pouring tea.

Adam was about to make some light remark to try to set her at ease when suddenly she turned toward the teapot, sniffing the air.

Mr. Pendenning extended a cup to her. Cautiously she accepted it, holding the delicate china at arm’s length and inspecting the contents, then bending to sniff the liquid.

The awful suspicion that perhaps the girl was not all right in the head had begun to form in Adam’s mind when, just as suddenly, she smiled. A passionate intensity lit her face, briefly imbuing her thin features with an attractiveness Adam felt almost like a shock.

Before the shaken Adam could begin to wonder at his unexpected reaction, she turned her expressive eyes on the lawyer. “Tea, is it not?” she asked Mr. Pendenning.

“Yes, my dear. Have you drunk it before?”

“Not since Mama left. But I remember it was good.”

“Taste it and see what you think.”

She took a sip. “Oh, yes! It is good!”

“Some people prefer it with a bit of cake or biscuit. Should you like some?”

She put down the cup and inspected the tray he offered her. “Cake. It is…sweeter than bread, isn’t it?”

“Have you not eaten that, either, since your mama went away?” Mr. Pendenning asked.

“No. Is bread and water not the normal fare for prisoners?” she asked, a bitter note in her voice. “Augmented occasionally, when I managed to slip out and visit Mad Sally, with wild berries from the woods.”

“I think you will find the cake even sweeter than berries. Do try some.” Though Mr. Pendenning’s tone remained light, as Miss Lambarth reached for the proffered slice, he glanced at Adam and shook his head, outrage in his eyes.

Beginning to comprehend now what the lawyer was attempting to demonstrate, Adam watched her intently, astounded by Miss Lambarth’s delighted exploration of food so ordinary most Londoners of her class would scarcely have given it a second glance.

His heart contracted with pity as she tasted the cake. Once again he felt an odd sizzle of contact when another brilliant smile lit her face. “’Tis wondrous good!”

“Eat as much as you wish, my dear. You must be famished after so long a journey.” Something about the lawyer’s tone led Adam to think the man was referring to more than Miss Lambarth’s recent trip to London.

After nibbling the cake, she tasted the biscuits. Then Mr. Pendenning uncovered another dish and gestured to it. “Have one of these, too, if you like.”

Giving him a quizzical glance, she picked up one of the round objects and rolled it between her fingers. “So smooth,” she said, and lifted it to her nose. “Smells sweet, like berries. Does one eat the whole?”

“No, one peels it first.” Mr. Pendenning demonstrated how to section out the fruit. “It’s called an orange.”

Her totally unexpected, musical peal of laughter startled Adam. “Of course! Like the color. I’ve read about them, but the book had no illustration, so I didn’t know what the fruit looked like.”

“Take a bite, my dear. ’Tis somewhat sweet, like a berry, but different.”

Her dark eyes alight with curiosity now, she took the piece of fruit the lawyer sectioned off for her and bit into it, laughing again as juice spurted onto her chin and she brought up her other hand to catch the drip.

The hand that, until this moment, she’d kept within the folds of her shabby skirt. As she wiped her chin, Adam stared in horrified fascination at the jagged scar that ran from the base of her thumb to her wrist.

The lawyer, Adam noted, was staring, as well. In the sudden silence Miss Lambarth darted a glance at Adam, then Pendenning. Her smile faded and her face flushed as she quickly shoved the damaged hand back into her lap.

Adam heard Pendenning’s soft hiss of an explicative. “Please, do have some more, my dear,” the lawyer entreated.

“Thank you, I’ve had enough. I’ll finish the tea.”

“You’ve had barely half a slice of cake and only a bite of the biscuit. I thought you said you hadn’t eaten since arriving in London this morning,” the lawyer said.

“I’ve had nothing since yesterday, but this was quite sufficient. I’m used to eating…lightly,” she said, irony once again coloring her tone.

Lord in Heaven, Adam thought, glad that Mr. Pendenning seemed able to carry on the conversation without him, for the almost unbelievable conclusions flooding his mind rendered him speechless. Suddenly he was fiercely glad that Lady Darnell had been called upon to receive her cousin’s child. After what he’d just seen and heard, even if the girl had possessed two heads and a tail, Adam would have felt compelled to take her in.

Miss Lambarth finished her tea and set down the cup. “Thank you, Mr. Pendenning. That was wonderful.” She gave him a wry look. “As I’m sure was rather evident, ’twas more variety of sustenance than I’ve had in a decade.”

“That, my dear, is something we shall shortly correct,” the lawyer said, fervency in his tone. “As I hope you will agree, Lord Darnell?”

“Absolutely.” Adam spoke up at last. “Although your cousin had a rather imperfect recollection of your age, Miss Lambarth,” he said, indicating with a grin the doll he’d placed on the side table, “it is her most ardent wish, which my sister and I share, that you will do us the honor of agreeing to join our household.”

Interest sparked in her eyes. “You have a sister?”

“Yes. Charis is eighteen—about your age?”

“I’m turned twenty,” Miss Lambarth replied. “A sister…” she repeated, her gaze drifting off. “Oh, that would be wonderful,” she murmured, almost to herself.

“Since Charis is as sweet as she is lovely, I believe you would find it so. Won’t you make us all happy, then, and come live with us?”

Miss Lambarth looked up, staring straight into his eyes. “Are you sure you want me?” she asked bluntly. “You’ve seen what I look like and garnered some idea of how I’ve lived. I…I’m not sure I would fit into an elegant London household. As tempting as it is to contemplate living with my cousin, perhaps even having a sister, I think ’twill be better if I live on my own.”

Mr. Pendenning’s protest echoed Adam’s. “No, my dear, that would not do at all! In our Society, unmarried young ladies do not live alone.”

Miss Lambarth lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. “I am quite able to take care of myself, I assure you.”

“I expect you are. That isn’t the point. For a single female to live alone just isn’t done.”

Miss Lambarth stiffened. “You told me I could set up a household in every town in England, if I wished.”

“’Twas only a figure of speech. Having the means to set up a household and doing so on your own are two very different matters.”

“Mr. Pendenning, I have lived as a prisoner in another man’s house for the last ten years. I intend never to be restrained by anyone again. And I care not a jot whether society approves my mode of living.”

After what he’d seen and heard, Adam couldn’t help but understand her reluctance. But all his protective instincts aroused, he searched his mind for some other argument to persuade Miss Lambarth to reconsider.

Before he hit upon anything, the lawyer said, “I’m sorry, I have not explained the situation very well. Naturally, one could not expect you to care about the opinion of persons you have never met. But as you are closely related to Lady Darnell, Society will expect her to offer you shelter and protection—whether or not you need them. If you do not reside with her, she will be considered shockingly remiss in her duty to you. So you see, if you choose to live alone, you will subject your cousin to severe criticism.”

Although Adam didn’t see why that should matter to the girl, either, her silence and the frown creasing her forehead indicated that, for whatever reason, this argument affected her. “I should not want to harm the reputation of Mama’s cousin,” she said after a moment.

Turning to Adam, she continued, “If I do consent to live with you, you must understand that if the…experience is not successful, I shall feel free to leave whenever I wish. Hopefully, we can rub together long enough for me to determine what I wish to do and where I want to live. I think I should like to travel, so perhaps if I leave you to set off to Europe, Cousin Lillian will be spared the censure of her peers.”

“We shall just have to make sure you find residing with us more enjoyable than the prospect of taking your own house,” Adam said, determined to show this waif who had been so badly treated what a blessing living with one’s family could be.

She regarded him gravely. “Do you have a large library?”

Surprised once again by her abrupt change of topic, Adam said, “As it happens, my father was a bibliophile, so I believe you will find it quite extensive.”

“I intend to have my books sent up from Lambarth. Will I have rooms to use at my discretion?”

“A bedchamber and private sitting room will be placed at your disposal. The library, drawing rooms and dining parlors you would share with the rest of the family.”

She nodded. “If I come, you must also agree that I will pay all my own expenses. No!” she interrupted when Adam started to protest. “I absolutely insist upon that. There are certain comforts I must have and I do not intend to be beholden to you for providing them.”

Thinking he’d never had so odd and blunt a conversation in his life, Adam couldn’t help asking, “What sort of comforts, if I might inquire?”

“I wish to keep a fire burning in my rooms night and day. I’ve been cold half my life and don’t intend to be so ever again.”

He had a sudden vision of a small thin girl locked in a frigid room. “You may keep your fires stoked as hot as you wish,” he promised, the urge to heal and protect once more tightening his chest.

A little smile played about her lips. “I want a bed with a feather mattress so soft, when I lie down I will feel like I’m floating on air. A turkey carpet on the floor so thick, my feet will sink up to the ankles, as if in a pair of fuzzy slippers. Oh, and speaking of slippers—” she turned to Mr. Pendenning “—if those instruments of torture that Jerry Sunderland provided me in the guise of footwear are representative of what I can expect in shoes, I shall remain as I am, barefoot.”

The lawyer chuckled. “Not knowing your size, poor Jerry grabbed the only pair the cobbler had ready. I promise you, my dear, that the bootmakers of London can put on your feet slippers so soft and supple you would swear you were still barefoot.”

“Very good,” Miss Lambarth said. “I shall feed those shoes into the first fire I kindle in my room. And this gown, as soon as a replacement can be found.”

“I’ve already summoned a dressmaker to wait upon you here,” Mr. Pendenning said. “She is bringing several gowns that can be quickly altered to fit. For the rest, I’m sure Lady Darnell will take you to her own mantua-maker and assist you in purchasing as many gowns as you like.”

Adam had to laugh. “I can assure you she will! My stepmother positively delights in shopping. I expect my sister will also petition to join such an expedition.”

“I want pretty colors,” Miss Lambarth stated. “No black. And soft fabrics, like the material of this sofa.”

“I’m sure Lady Darnell will be able to find you something that pleases you. So,” Mr. Pendenning said, “you will go with Lord Darnell, as your mother wished?”

Miss Lambarth looked back at Adam. “A big library?”

“Quite large.”

“A thick feather mattress?”

“Soft as a cloud.”

“Warm rooms?”

“You can make the wallpaper curl.”

At that moment a knock sounded and one of the lawyer’s assistants stepped in. “Mr. Pendenning, you wished me to let you know when the seamstress arrived.”

The lawyer looked over to Miss Lambarth. “Are you ready for that new gown?”

That smile transformed her face again. “Absolutely!”

“And you will accompany Lord Darnell to meet your cousin when it is done?”

After a pause she nodded. “I will go with him.”

“Excellent.” He beamed at the girl. “Show Miss Lambarth and the seamstress to the back office and see that they are not disturbed,” he instructed his assistant.

“I’ll wait here for you, Miss Lambarth,” Adam told her as she walked to the door.

She paused on the threshold to look back at him. “I hope neither of us regrets this.”

Something about her fierce independence sent a rush of awareness through Adam. ’Twas just compassion for her plight and anger at the unspeakable treatment she’d suffered, he told himself as he assured her, “I’m certain your stay in my home will be a pleasure for us both.”