Читать книгу The Earl's Secret - Kathryn Jensen - Страница 8

Jennifer decided to take her breakfast alone the next morning. Room service was a small luxury she felt justified allowing herself. She needed time, a telephone and no interruptions to complete her plans for the remaining days of the trip. Just as the tray with her breakfast arrived, the telephone rang. She tipped the waiter and dashed across the room to answer.

“Good morning! I was hoping I’d catch you before you left for the day.”

“Christopher?” Her heart raced at the rich timbre of his voice. Her fingers threaded through the coils of the telephone cord, twisting them tighter. She’d lain awake all night wondering if she’d done the right thing by brushing him off.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Absolutely,” she lied energetically. “Was the drive back to Donan very bad in the rain?” It had started to pour at ten o’clock, just after he had left her.

“I ended up staying in the city at a friend’s place.”

She couldn’t help wondering about the gender of that friend, but immediately told herself it was none of her business. A man like the earl undoubtedly had social connections in most every city in Europe. Some were bound to be with attractive and wealthy women—a good match for him.

“My business is going to keep me in Edinburgh longer than I’d expected,” he continued. “But I won’t be able to accomplish much of anything until the afternoon. I wondered if you’d mind my tagging along this morning. I’d make myself useful, help out with the driving if you like, give a running narration as we move around the city.”

“That would be nice,” she admitted as calmly as possible, while her heart hammered out a wild tattoo in her chest.

“That isn’t to say you didn’t do a beautiful job at Donan.” His voice slid lower, became subtly intimate. “You are a remarkably insightful woman, for one so young.”

She looked down at her fingers, which were hopelessly snarled in the cord, and decided she must be imagining the change in tone. “You can only get so much out of books,” she said quietly. “A person has to live in a country to really understand it. You have that advantage over me.”

For a moment neither of them spoke. Then he seemed to rouse himself at the other end of the line.

“What time shall we meet?” he asked.

“Nine o’clock in front of the hotel. If you like, you can arrange for the valet to bring the van around.”

“That I’ll do, lass,” he said, in a fine imitation of a Scottish brogue that set her grinning.

Jennifer hung up the phone. Her hand was trembling, and the nape of her neck felt damp with perspiration. Why did he affect her so strongly?

She had met plenty of interesting men, but she wasn’t prone to being swept away by the mere touch of a hand or flash of blue eyes. Was she afraid of that dark inner core of him? No, she answered herself. Christopher seemed to be a man with principles. If he’d been truly dangerous, the gossip columns would have had even more ruthless comments on his flamboyant lifestyle.

So, yes, he was flirtatious, but she was certain he would never attempt to force her to do anything against her will. Was he the sort of man who got his kicks seducing female tourists? She’d run into that type before—identified, cataloged and dismissed them without hesitation.

No, she decided, Christopher Smythe was different. But what made him different and what he wanted from her—those were the real questions.

Despite her preoccupation with the earl, by nine o’clock Jennifer had finished drafting her plans for the day, selected the appropriate maps and guide notes she’d written up before leaving Maryland and called each of her clients’ rooms to make sure they were ready to set out. True to his word, Christopher was waiting beside the rental van when she stepped outside, followed by most of her group.

“Oh, it’s that handsome young groundskeeper from the castle!” one of the women twittered.

“Dashing, dear. Here in Britain, all the young men are dashing,” another woman corrected her. “You know he looks an awful lot like that young lord we saw in that newspaper in the hotel lobby.”

“I wonder what he’s doing trailing after us to Edinburgh,” Mr. Pegorski commented, waggling his eyebrows in Jennifer’s direction.

She pretended not to see or hear any of them. “Everyone, this is Christopher Smythe from the castle yesterday. You remember him, of course. He’s agreed to give us a local’s view of the city.”

Jennifer could feel the estrogen level rise in her group as the females ogled Christopher. The rest of their party arrived then, so they all piled happily into the van and started out for an overview of the city.

While Christopher drove, she sat beside him in the passenger seat and studied his profile—elegant, but purely masculine, she decided. His features were powerfully drawn; his blue eyes made the more vivid by the dark lashes outlining them. A very faint scar ran close to the hairline along one temple, and she wondered if it had been caused by a polo injury. The article she’d seen mentioned his aggressiveness on the polo field. From the little she knew of the game, it was a rough sport requiring strength and daring. His hair was a dark, glistening brown that verged on black when out of direct sunlight.

She admired his speaking style, which combined a touch of dry humor with crisp intelligence, all wrapped up in an English accent she found irresistible. But over all of this was a veneer of a darker emotion—like mahogany laid over paler oak—disappointment or sadness, or something fragile she couldn’t yet define.

“Do you have family around here?” she asked between stops along their route.

He seemed startled by her question, then glanced sideways at her, still keeping an eye to the road as they sped along. “My father still lives in Sussex. I have two brothers.” His voice was clipped, to the point.

I’ll wager they’re both as devilishly handsome as you, she thought. Were they as terse and secretive, too?

“Then your brothers live in Sussex as well?” she asked.

“In Sussex? With my father?” He choked on an involuntary laugh. The taut muscles in his face relaxed enough to allow a thin smile. “My father isn’t the kind of man who encourages his family to remain close to home. As soon as we were old enough to be away from our nanny, he shipped us off to boarding school. None of us have gone back for more than the occasional holiday.”

“How old were you then…when you first went away to school?”

“Six.”

“Six years old!” She knew that the upper-class English put great stock in educating their youth away from home, but a six-year-old seemed hardly more than a baby to her. “Didn’t your mother object?”

The corners of Christopher’s lips pinched grimly inward, and she knew she’d said something terribly wrong. But before she could apologize, he was speaking in that incredibly dry, unemotional way she was beginning to suspect might be his form of self-protection. “Apparently, her sons’ welfare wasn’t at the top of her list of priorities. She left my father and the three of us before I turned a year old.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, shocked at the very idea of a woman abandoning three sons and a husband.

“It’s all right. I remember nothing of her.” The chill in his words was a thing she could almost touch. His pain showed in the fine lines around his eyes and mouth, despite his unemotional denial. She didn’t know what to say to comfort him, but she sensed she had to keep him talking or risk losing the one chance she might have of understanding him. For some reason, that seemed important to her.

“Are you and your brothers close?” she asked hastily.

It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts and answer this time. “Not in any way you might expect. My oldest brother, Thomas, is an advisor to the King of Elbia. He lives with the royal family, travels with them, rarely returns to England. He recently married an American woman and inherited a gaggle of youngsters in the bargain.” He chuckled affectionately. “Thomas has his hands full now, but seems happy as a clam in an ocean of mud. Our middle brother is Matthew. I think he took our mother’s desertion the hardest. He was three years old when she left, and swears he remembers her vividly. As soon as he turned twenty-one and collected his inheritance, he lit out for America. He’s been there ever since, running an import business.”

She waited for Christopher to go on. Something in the halting way he had spoken told her that he wasn’t accustomed to talking about his family. When he didn’t continue on his own, she prodded gently. “Do you often travel to visit your brothers?”

“I have obligations here,” he said, casting her a sharp, sidelong glance.

That was it then. He was ending the conversation.

“I see,” she murmured. But she didn’t, not really. What was more important than family?

Elbia, she mused, as her clients chatted happily among themselves in the seats behind her. She tried to envision a simple map of Europe. Wasn’t that the tiny alpine country about the size of Monaco? How difficult could it be for a man with Christopher’s means to jet across the continent for a quick visit with his brother? Traveling to the States was a little more difficult but surely the business that kept him tied down in Scotland would allow for a few weeks off now and again to see his own family.

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Christopher asked after a long silence.

“Edinburgh Castle, of course, then Queen Mary’s Bathhouse and the Royal Mile for shopping and house tours.”

He glanced up at the sky. “The rain should hold off long enough.”

She nodded, then let a grin slip out.

“What is it?” he asked, glancing at her curiously as he pulled over a lane to let a lorry pass.

“Queen Mary of Scots. Legend has it, she bathed in white wine and goat’s milk. I wonder if that mixture really is good for the complexion.” She held her arm out to inspect it as the truck sped past them.

“I’ll bring the wine and milk, you try it out and—” he lifted a dark brow aimed toward the dip in her neckline “—I shall be the judge.”

She laughed, thinking she wouldn’t put it past him. Stand ready for inspection, miss! He’d insist on seeing every inch of her. Fat chance she’d let him!

Christopher accompanied Jennifer’s group to the castle and sixteenth-century cottage known as the queen’s bathhouse, which, more likely, had been a simple summerhouse or dovecote. He then asked her to drop him off at his car and arranged to meet them after lunch.

Jennifer watched him drive off in a bottle-green Jaguar, weaving expertly through the noonday traffic. She promised herself that when he returned she would find out one more thing about him. Just one more thing before she let herself like him any more than she already did.

So far, she had been careful. She had done nothing wrong. It was all just talk and a little flirting, the way strangers do—particularly when one is from out of town. Talk, harmless glances, a few touches. That was all.

But she felt in her bones that he wanted more. And, in truth, so did she. She wanted him to run his thumb in those little circles on the back of her hand. She wanted him to call her “luv,” in that playful, un-aristocratic, bad-boy way. She wanted him to touch her where his eyes had suggestively rested as they discussed Queen Mary’s baths.

All this, even though she knew in her heart that they had no more than a few days to share. But first she had to know if there was another woman in his life.

As Christopher drove out of the city in the Jag, his thoughts turned from one female to another. Lisa was the most precious thing in his life. Yet she had never really belonged to him. Ever since he had learned he was to be a father, eight years ago, he had set aside all else for the child. Whatever was best for her came first.

When a woman he had had a brief affair with told him that she was going to have his baby, Christopher initially had been shocked and troubled. He immediately offered to marry her, only to discover she wasn’t interested in marrying him. His masculine pride took a hard hit, but another part of him was relieved. He knew he didn’t love her, and she was quite honest about her lack of feelings for him.

“Our marrying,” he remembered her saying coldly, “would be stupid. I’ve already told Sir Isaac, my fiancé, about the problem. He’s fine with it. Really. As long as we publicly let on that the baby is his, for the time being.”

At first this had seemed fine to Christopher. He’d been let off the hook. But when Lisa was born, he couldn’t stay away from the hospital. And at the instant his gaze settled over her tiny pink face and crystal-blue eyes, he lost his heart. From that day on he had done all he could, without going back on his promise, to see his little daughter and support her in any way he could.

He became an official friend of the family. As soon as she could speak, Lisa took to calling him Uncle Chris. If he was lucky, the nurse would bring the little girl down to greet houseguests, which often numbered in the dozens. Lisa grew from fragile infant to delightfully rambunctious toddler, to a charmingly intelligent child who favored wearing her riding jodhpurs and helmet over white eyelet and pink ribbons. He never tired of talking to her or reading her stories. And she always seemed just as happy to see him.

When she was old enough to go to school, he offered to pay her tuition. All her mother had to do was choose the school. Much to his dismay, instead of selecting one of the better London institutions, Sandra Ellington chose her own alma mater in southern Scotland. So very far from London, where he lived.

Determined not to lose contact with Lisa, he had secured a position for himself on the board of regents at St. James School for Girls. He had been present at nearly all school functions in the past year that she had attended, particularly when Lisa’s mother couldn’t be, and he dropped in on the campus whenever possible. He aggressively solicited funds for the new addition to the school from his many social contacts while sharing Lisa’s triumphs with pride.

Time passed so very quickly. Christopher prayed for the day when Sandra would do as she had promised him years before and tell her daughter about her real father. “I’m just waiting until she’s old enough to comprehend all of this. It’s a delicate issue for a young girl,” she reminded him whenever he asked.

Now he was beginning to wonder if she ever would reveal his identity to Lisa. Fear alternated with helpless anger. His hands were tied, his silence expected, and emptiness gnawed at his soul.

He knew it wouldn’t be right to act without permission from the child’s mother. After all, she must understand her daughter better than anyone. What if he risked revealing all to Lisa, and the girl refused to believe him? Their warm relationship would be destroyed. Worse yet, she might feel betrayed because he had lied to her all of these years, pretending to be an honorary uncle when he really was her father. She might hate him. He couldn’t bear that.

And so he continued to wait and hope for a time when he could embrace his daughter and tell her how much he loved her…had always loved her.

As it turned out, Lisa’s class was on a field trip that day and he couldn’t see her at all. Disappointed, he picked up his copy of the builder’s contracts for the addition from the administration office, then drove back into the city. He would need to review them before the board meetings. The urge was stronger than ever to cherish and protect the little girl who might never know his secret burden.

“The Royal Mile was wonderful!” Jennifer cried when she saw Christopher waiting for her outside the Caledonia. “I bought a ton of great stuff, and I almost never shop while leading a tour!”

He had been under such an oppressive cloud since he left St. James that he’d feared his spirits would not be lifted even by seeing her again. But just the sight of her sunny face and sparkling eyes did wonders for him. She gave him something other than his troubles to think about.

“I’m glad,” he said, at the moment more interested in the lovely glow of her cheeks than her shopping victories. An intriguing thought shot unbidden through his mind. Just how far down her body did that glow extend? The length of her long, sweet throat was rosy with excitement, but her collar stood obstinately in the way. Would her breasts be flushed as well?

He felt himself react to the image, then immediately warned himself to get a grip. He liked her; she excited him. That, after all, must be the end of it. When he was younger, he had effortlessly picked up girls and, if they were willing, made careless love. American coeds had been attracted to his English accent like moths to the proverbial flame. And when he let slip his title in casual conversation…instant melt-down. A quick hop into bed.

But after Lisa came into the world, he took sex far more seriously. His liaisons became infrequent, cautiously and safely executed. He had learned he wasn’t the sort of man who could spread his progeny with abandon. He considered himself responsible for little Lisa.

There was also a change in the way he allowed himself to feel about women. If they were so easily able to enjoy one man’s pleasures then go off with another for reasons of prestige or money or pure flightiness, he would never again let himself feel anything enduring for one of them. It was a matter of self-preservation.

But Jennifer was incredibly desirable. She would tempt any man to throw off caution as quickly as a topcoat at the first bloom of spring. He must be careful…very careful, he reminded himself.

Having completed the afternoon’s tours, the group had returned to the hotel for a hearty meal. Early-evening excursions had been arranged by those wanting to pack more into their day, while others discussed going to the theater or a quiet game of cards in the lounge.

“Looks like you’ll have some time to fill before turning in,” Christopher said after Jennifer bade her crew a good evening.

“Yes,” she said. “But I need to check in with my mother and pack for London.”

“I see.” So tomorrow she would indeed be gone. He sighed inwardly. In the little time he’d spent with her, she’d been good for him. When he was with her, his thoughts seemed lighter, the day somehow brighter, more tolerable. He dwelled less on his mistakes. Or maybe that was all romantic hogwash, and he just wanted to sleep with her. A good dose of lust definitely took a man’s mind off his troubles.

“Thank you for all you’ve done,” she murmured, laying her hand on his arm, making him even more aware of the sweet scent wafting up from her skin. She stood close to him. So close he could easily slip his arm around her waist and pull her against him. Right here in the lobby. Why not? “Everyone has said,” she continued breezily, “what a wonderful treat it has been, your taking us around today.”

He forced out the correct, civil words and even gave her a polite smile. “No trouble at all. I enjoyed myself.”

She beamed up at him in appreciation, and he thought he had never liked green eyes as much as he did now. “Yesterday…I was serious about my invitation. If you ever do come to America, and you’re near Baltimore—”

“It’s unlikely,” he said, interrupting. “You can do me another favor, though.” He hadn’t thought through his words. They simply arrived on his lips, and he had no power to stop them.

“Anything,” she said. “What is it?”

“You wouldn’t have dinner with me last night. What about tonight?”

She blinked thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I should.”

“Why not? You’re free for the night. You need to eat, don’t you? I know all the best places in Edinburgh.”

“But—”

“You’re leaving tomorrow. I’m not asking for a lifetime commitment.” Lust was a charmer, he was. The muscles in his shoulders and back tensed as he waited for her answer. Don’t say no…don’t say no! a voice chanted from inside of him. “I’m harmless,” he added, flashing her a deliberately wolfish grin.

She laughed out loud. “I’m not sure of that part.” Still, she hesitated. “Listen, I don’t know any tactful way of asking this, but… Are you attached in any way?”

He chuckled. “You mean married? Good Lord, no.”

“I meant…seeing anyone.”

“No. Although I do keep the phone numbers of a few ladies who graciously accompany me on social occasions. Would you like references from them?”

Jennifer rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, it’s just, you never said and—” she shrugged, looking prettily flustered. “Yes, I’ll have dinner with you. You pick a good place to eat.”

“I know the perfect one,” he said.

Two hours later Jennifer was certain she’d made a mistake when Christopher pulled his car off the A7 and onto an unpaved road that looked suspiciously like the one leading to Donan. “I thought we were going to your favorite restaurant.”

“My favorite place to eat isn’t a restaurant.”

“You can cook?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted. “I have a wonderful woman who prepares my meals. When I was given a choice of the family’s estates as part of my inheritance, I chose Donan. Half the castle was in ruins, as it still is, the other half hadn’t been occupied in years and was in need of serious renovation. But I wanted it, and the Clarks, who had been with my father for years in Sussex, have kin in the area and were eager to take it on for me.”

“You’re lucky you can run your business from a place like this.”

“Yes,” he said quickly.

Having already seen the first floor, she knew the way to the dining room and turned in that direction as they passed through the great hall.

Christopher touched her on the arm. “Hold on a moment. Let me check with Mrs. Clark to see how close our dinner is to being ready.”

Jennifer wandered into a side room and contentedly browsed along the dark-paneled walls. When she had been here with her group, Christopher had pointed out one of Alexander Nasmyth’s oils of a Borders landscape. The mist-enshrouded body of water in the center looked a lot like nearby Loch Kerr. Then there were two portraits that appeared somewhat older, in the opulent style of John Wright, though she was no expert on seventeenth-century art. For all she knew they might actually be Wrights—in which case they’d each be worth a small fortune.

She followed a narrowing corridor and found a canvas whose artist she was sure of—one of her favorite painters, Anne MacBeth. Anne had been a member of the so-called Glasgow Girls, at the turn of the previous century, who had rocked the art world with their daring experiments combining art nouveau and Celtic influences. Jennifer was delighted. Either Christopher or someone in his family was a serious collector of female artists as well as the established masters.

Christopher returned, smiling when he found her in front of another MacBeth painting. “We can sit down now. It’s ready.” He stood behind her and rested his wide hands on her shoulders when she lingered just a moment longer in front of the painting. Jennifer felt comfortable beneath his steady palms. “I was going to take you around the rest of the castle, if you’d like, but since the meal is hot and you’re hungry…”

“I am famished,” she admitted. “But I’m curious about the upper floors. I would love a tour after dinner.” She wondered what other treasures might be hiding in dim corners or forgotten rooms, waiting to be brought out into the light.

They ate wild duck, prepared with a deep red Burgundy sauce she would have thought a more likely match for beef. It was a surprisingly delicious combination. They drank a local wildflower wine from Cairn O’Mohr, which seemed perfect with the meal. She had never eaten game before. At home, everything in her fridge came from the supermarket, and most of that was in the form of frozen commercial dinners. She favored quick-and-easy, low-fat meals. Tonight the textures and colors on her plate resembled an artist’s palette, and the flavors were amazing. She savored every bite.

“I must tell Mrs. Clark how wonderful a cook she is.”

“I’m afraid she’s left for the day,” he said. “I told her I’d wash up after we finished eating. It didn’t seem fair to make her stay while we indulged ourselves in a leisurely meal.”

Jennifer smiled. “That was nice of you.” She caught a mysterious twinkle in his eyes and wondered if his motives for dismissing the woman were all that pure. Sending the staff home to leave their master alone in the castle with a female guest…this had all the makings of a classic seduction. She wasn’t sure whether she was more nervous or excited at the prospect.