Vivian shook her head. A small smile appeared.
I missed you. His desire to touch her had him reaching out to brush his fingers against her gloved ones. Vivian took a step forward, her eyes twinkling as if she read his thoughts.
The front door suddenly filled with swirling skirts as Gabrielle and Vivian’s aunts came bustling through. “Oh, dear, what happened?” Lady Waverly said, looking at the broken shards of the vase.
Vivian and Jack both stepped away from each other. Jones came through the door right behind the ladies, saw the broken vase, and blanched. Recovering quickly, he hurried forward.
“It’s good to see you again, Miss Jamieson. Let me call someone to clean this up. Ladies, step carefully. Perhaps to the drawing room?” He threw Jack a pointed look.
Poor man. Jack stepped forward. “Ladies, if you will?”
****
Vivian turned to the butler. “Sorry, Jones. I bumped into the table by accident. I managed to save one, though.” She gave her best apologetic smile. Unfortunately, she had to use that smile often.
Ever gracious, Jones replied. “Perhaps that table takes up too much space here. I will see about having it moved.”
She hurried a little to catch up with the others. As she entered the drawing room, her aunts were settling into a lively interrogation of Jack. He looked up at her as she came in, relief etched in his features.
“Captain Aston, I know Louise is so happy to have you home for an extended period. But where is your primary residence? Or do you just live on your ship?” Aunt Evelyn asked, her nose wrinkling.
“My business runs primarily out of the Port of Nassau. I have recently bought a small island off the coast and built a house there.”
“Your own island; how decadent.” Aunt Grace exclaimed, looking at her sister pointedly.
Aunt Evelyn ignored her and asked, “But how did you come to be in the merchant trade? Not very seemly for the son of a duke.”
“Aunt Evelyn.” Vivian gasped at the rude comment.
“Better a successful businessman then wastrel second son.” Jack looked Aunt Evelyn directly in the eye. “I prefer to be judged for the accomplishments I have earned than to drift through life with my only accomplishment being born into the right family.” He gave her a lethal smile.
At first, Aunt Evelyn looked taken aback, but then she smiled and tilted her head in a nod of agreement. “True enough. Lord knows I have known enough wastrels, even been married to one.”
Vivian relaxed, sensing Jack had passed some test. She hoped he would be able to excuse her aunt’s forthright questions. Aunt Evelyn only had her best interests at heart.
“Would you ladies like to be shown to your rooms? I can ring for Jones.” Jack asked politely.
“Yes, that would be lovely. Where is your mother?” Aunt Grace asked.
“You know, I have no idea.”
Jones entered the room. “Ah, Jones, do you know where Mother and Caroline are?”
“I believe they are visiting with the vicar this afternoon, though I expect them back shortly. Shall I show the ladies to their rooms?”
Jack appeared quite glad to shed his duties as host. “Yes, thank you. Ladies, I will see you at dinner.” He gave a polite bow and quit the room with all the haste of a man fleeing his execution.
That night Vivian sat brushing out the tangles in her hair. Jack had been charming at dinner and on his best behavior, no doubt trying to make up for his boorish conduct from the docks last week. About half of the guests had arrived today, filling the dining room with well-dressed ladies and gentlemen. Not seated near Jack, she instead sat down the table next to some French count and his somewhat tipsy guest, Lord Hollister.
Jack appeared uncomfortable, his smile tight and his posture stiff, as he made small talk with the two ladies seated next to him. Miss Fairly kept leaning over on one elbow to gaze with interest at him, placing her impressive cleavage on display. At one point, he had caught Vivian’s eye and sent her a rather desperate look. She’d put her napkin over her mouth to suppress a giggle at his expression. She had every intention of finding him in the drawing room after dinner, but he hadn’t come back to the room with the other men after their port.
In the week since they had been apart, doubts about him had begun to creep up. Despite their letters back and forth, she knew very little about him. Mostly she wrote him—he, in fact, had only written a handful of letters to her. He wrote about his house and some anecdotes from his trip, but nothing really about himself.
Mentally she ticked off what she had learned about the man. It wasn’t much. He was a good captain, he loved living in the islands…he made her blood boil every time he kissed her. She set her chin on her hand, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Thinking about those kisses made her skin flush, the heat spreading across all the places his lips had pressed.
Noticing the starry-eyed girl reflected in the glass, Vivian frowned. She couldn’t let her strong pull of attraction to him influence her decisions. She needed to be practical. Picking up her brush, she gave a particularly tough knot a vicious tug. What she needed to do was get to know him better. No more silly infatuation. She set her brush down decisively with a thunk. Tomorrow she would start her investigation into what made Jack tick.
****
