Page 25 of The Earl Next Door
If only her mind could enjoy such tranquility. But no. Lyon was a constant disruption to peace. She kept thinking about how he looked standing in front of the school. Half-dressed. Hair tousled from sleep. Passionate with anger. Filled with vitality. If she hadn’t beenso angry with him, she would have wanted him to kiss her. Maybe she had wanted him to, anyway.
“Do you agree with that?” Julia asked.
“Yes,” Adeline answered, hoping she was agreeing to something she wanted to do. “Tomorrow I’ll be at Mrs. Le Roe’s for a fitting. Will either of you be there?”
“Not me,” Brina said. “I don’t even want to talk about the Season. I’ve been in London less than a full week and already three gentlemen have sent notes asking to call on me.”
“Only three?” Julia said with a wry smile.
Brina wrinkled her forehead and placed her napkin on her lap. “I know it sounds callous of me not to be flattered, but I’m simply not interested in a gentleman who is trying to win my hand or even asking me to save him a dance at the first ball. It’s the truth and I don’t want to pretend otherwise with you.”
“We don’t want you to,” Julia defended. “But I’m afraid I’m not feeling the freedom a widow is supposed to have. I think I would rather have a family who was pushing me to marry again than a duke who is watching my every move in hopes I’ll cause a big enough scandal he can justifiably cut my allowance and take my son from me.”
“Oh, Julia, I’m sorry. You know we don’t want that,” Brina said. “I sympathize with you because the duke is so old and strict with what he feels is appropriate behavior.” Brina touched the back of Julia’s hand briefly, then gave her a teasing smile. “You know I do, but can we switch places? I think I’d much rather have your problem than mine. It seems as if every man I see is being pushed upon me.”
“That’s because you are young, beautiful, childless, and wealthy.”
“You are all those things, too,” Brina argued. “Well, not childless, of course.”
Adeline stayed quiet once again and let her friends have their battle. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to get involved in. Brina and Julia knew Adeline wasn’t interested in matrimony, but for different reasons from Brina. She had loved and adored her husband and wasn’t ready to give up her mourning. Adeline struggled with guilt for not mourning her husband enough. It simply wasn’t in her to do more than feel deep sorrow for his family’s loss.
She knew a wife’s primary duty was to give her husband a child. A son, if he had a title to carry on. Adeline had failed. She’d drunk every potion put before her, stayed flat on her back in bed for days as Wake had ordered after he’d lain with her. She’d endured every examination he’d insisted upon. To no avail. Perhaps all he had asked of her would have been easier to bear if he’d just once identified with her rather than constantly remind her of the shame she brought on him because his mistress had given him a healthy child.
Adeline hadn’t.
So, matrimony? No. Adeline would never put herself through that again, but it didn’t mean she didn’t desire a man’s touch.
“Speaking of gentlemen, Adeline,” Brina said, “have you seen the beast, Lord Lyonwood, since we were here last week?”
Images of the handsome earl flashed through Adeline’s mind. She cleared her throat, relaxed hershoulders. “Yes, we had words this morning,” she said cautiously, not wanting to get into what had happened with the girls. She knew Brina and Julia wouldn’t like his storming over to quiet the girls any more than she had.
“Was the meeting any more civil than the first time you met?”
“Probably not.”
“Why?” Brina asked. “Did he not apologize again for thinking this a pleasure house?”
“No, thank goodness. I’d really rather he never bring up that conversation again. It was extremely uncomfortable for both of us.”
“Yes. Of course.” Brina sipped from her cup and gave Julia an expression that let both of them know she hadn’t meant to tiptoe onto what was so obviously the thorny side of the garden path concerning Lord Lyonwood. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It should be forgotten by all of us.”
“But really, how can we?” Julia stated, insuring she wasn’t going to be as accommodating as Brina and reminding Adeline she was more perceptive than their younger friend. “Apparently, the earl is not putting forth his best efforts to win favors from you. What kind of words did the two of you exchange this morning?”
“It was only a slight tiff about the school.” Had she really said it was slight? “We each had our say, and that was the end of it.”
Julia would not be put off. “What was it about?”
“Noise,” Adeline admitted. “And perhaps the girls were a little loud for such a quiet neighborhood, but he and I settled it.”
“For now perhaps,” Julia said. “But the school isn’t going anywhere and neither are you. Is the earl?”
“I have no idea about him,” Adeline said.
“I would think not,” Brina offered, “but he could cause us trouble concerning the school.”
Adeline was determined not to start thinking again about how attracted she was to Lyon. She wished she could tell Brina and Julia with all truth that she hoped she never saw the man again. But she couldn’t. The unescapable fact was that she was drawn to him. It didn’t matter that he’d thought her a madam and had yelled at the girls. There was a strong charm about him and his reasons for doing so. She sensed a code of honor inside him that what he was doing was right. Defending the community from an unsavory element or a calamity of noise.
Adeline placed her untouched tea on the tray in front of her. Wanting to change the subject from Lord Lyonwood, she said, “But I have a favor to ask of you, Julia.”
