“I thought you had gone to bed.”
“I need to talk with you.”
Nellie didn’t quite roll her eyes but nodded toward her morning room. She sat in the chair at her desk and pushed aside a ledger she must have been working on earlier. Leaning back, she rested her elbows on the arms and steepled her fingers.
“What can I help you with, young Jem?” she asked.
“What is the protocol for a single man to visit an estate?” he asked.
“For an untitled American to visit the home of a Peer to whom you have not been introduced?” she asked.
Jem winced. “But what if that single man has been introduced to that Peer’s younger sister?”
“I repeat. You have not been introduced to his lordship. I’m sure Geoffrey would have told you this already if you had asked him.” When Jem opened his mouth to argue, she spoke more firmly. “It does not matter anyway, young Jem. Lord Hildebrand is home now, and you must wait for him to make the first move before visiting.”
“But what about Reese?”
“Reese has a charity project that is doing quite well.” A number of emotions crossed Nellie’s face, but she finally smiled. “I believe she may have saved at least one child’s life.” She shot him a hard look.
Jem wondered why she would look at him so intently—and then he knew. He had been so preoccupied with Reese that he hadn’t paid attention to Ellen. If she were crushing on him, of course she would have mentioned him to her brother.
“I haven’t done anything to lead Ellen to think I like her like that. It’s Reese. It’s always been Reese.” Saying the words aloud, Jem felt a rush of emotions flood through his body, and he knew they were true. How had he ever thought differently?
“I am glad to hear you have not been toying with Lady Ellen’s affections. I would have been even more disappointed to find that you would lead on one lady while claiming an emotional attachment to another,” she said. “You must find a way to let Lady Ellen down gently. She is not one to give her affection frivolously. I do not wish to see her hurt.” Nellie dropped her hands to open her desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. With a considering expression, she tapped it on her chin before holding it out to him.
“What’s this?” Jem took it. The envelope had his name, Mr. Jamison Taylor, written in a beautiful script. He didn’t recognize the writing.
“I believe it is an invitation to Kellworth,” Nellie said.
Jem jumped to his feet. “I’ll leave right now.”
“I think not. It is merely an invitation to dine, not to stay.”
“Oh.” He sank back into the chair and noticed the seal on the back was still unbroken. “Hey, how do you know it’s an invitation?”
“We fae have our ways.” The mischievous twinkle returned to her eyes.
“How long have you had it?” Jem had to work to keep down his anger.
“It came this afternoon.”
Would she have shared it with him if he hadn’t approached her? “Why are you so determined to keep me out of Reese’s way?”
Nellie let out a deep breath, all humor gone. “The magic knows.”
“You’ve said that before, and all it does is make me crazy.” He hit the envelope on the wooden arm of his chair, and a corner of the hard-wax seal broke off. “You make it sound like this magic has predetermined her future. I don’t believe it, and I won’t sit by and let it happen.”
“Do you believe that Clarisse could be forced to do anything she does not wish?”
“There are different kinds of persuasion, some I’d call coercion. That’s exactly what it is if you make her feel guilty about how many lives are depending on her inthistime.”
“I believe she has a task that has the potential for far-reaching consequences.”
“That’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Jem said. “Isn’t it dangerous, changing something in the past?”
“Remember, time is a fuzzball.” Nellie shrugged. “If something takes place in the past, itdidtake place.”
Jem played with the edges of the envelope. If he couldn’t convince Nellie, how was he ever to convince Reese? His stomach knotted, and he closed his eyes against the picture his mind insisted on showing him—of Reese staying here with another man.
