Page 24 of Inconvenient Honor
He ignored his sister. He hadn’t seen Lily Thornton in four weeks. His eyes devoured her, taking inventory. She had her hair in some ridiculously complex knot. It hid the lights. He wanted the lights. She looked thinner. She looked pale.
Could she be with child? Then she would indeed be my problem.
The look in Lily’s green eyes, wide with alarm, brought him to his senses. He straightened his spine, forced his eyes away, and squashed the flicker of hope that plagued him.Absurd!
Georgiana’s raised brow looked like it owed more to amusement than impatience. My sister is too perceptive by half.
“Social call, Richard? Family matter?” she asked. He heard laughter in her voice.Minx.
“Business I fear. I went to call on Miss Thornton and found her here. Perhaps she could join me in the foyer for a few moments. That should be proper enough.”
“I think not,” Lily murmured. She gripped the arm of her chair. “There is nothing I have to say to you that my friends can’t hear.” All three women watched him expectantly.
“Perhaps, but there may be things I have to say for as few ears as possible.”She looks like she wants to bolt.“Come, come, I won’t eat you,” he insisted. He regretted his choice of words when he saw her eyes widen.
“Very well,” she said. She followed him to the foyer where he dismissed Georgiana’s curious servants.
“We had word about your father.”
Color drained from her. If he thought her pale before, now she looked positively wraithlike. She swayed backward.
Richard grabbed her elbow and rushed to assure her. “He is well.”
She shook off his hand; hope flickered in her eyes. “Is he here?”
“No, delayed.”I’ve disappointed her.He hated the way the light went out in her eyes.
“Still in Russia,” she gasped. Her hand, pressed to her chest as if to steady her breathing, drew his eyes to her breasts.
“No, no,” he floundered, pulling his attention back. “I’m making a hash of this. He left as scheduled, but the ship floundered. It limped into Copenhagen. They await repairs.”
“Too close,” she whispered.
“Pardon?”
“Too close to St. Petersburg.” He watched her pull herself together.Good girl. I can almost see her mind assessing the information.
“He is well guarded.” Richard prayed that was true. “Travel delays the Russians as much as us.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she said turning away from him.
“Are you well?” he asked her retreating back.
She turned and studied his face gravely. “Do you mean, have there been consequences? It is too soon to tell.” Their eyes caught for a moment.
“You will?—”
“Tell you if such a catastrophe occurs? Perhaps. Good day, my lord.” She left with a swish of skirt.
Why does she have to be so damned prickly?Richard retrieved his hat, put it on with a disgruntled slap, and walked out into the late afternoon shadows.
John Thornton can deal with her. When he arrives, she’ll be his problem, not mine. Not mine, he repeated as if to reassure himself and dampen any surge of disappointment.
Unless she’s with child.He envisioned Lily big with child, and his lip quirked in the smallest of smiles.
Chapter Ten
Pembrook’s ballroom radiated heat, noise, and the odors of seething humanity. Lily sat next to Roger Heaton and tried to formulate ways to discourage the man.
