This wasn’t quite the response Jem had expected. Something else was going on that he didn’t get.
“I’m not an Englishman,” he said, “and you’re a man, just like me.”
The Earl straightened, his expression dangerous.
“Are you really venting your spleen at me,” Jem said as understanding struck him, “or at Reese, um, Miss Clarisse?”
The anger fled from the other man’s face, and his shoulders slumped.
“I have never met a woman like her before. She is—” The Earl’s mouth worked, but he couldn’t seem to come up with the right word.
“Exactly,” Jem agreed, and the two men nodded in understanding.
“What are your intentions toward my sister?”
“I have no intentions toward Lady Ellen,” Jem said. “She’s a lovely girl and has shown herself to be a good friend to Clarisse.”
“You cannot tell me that you are ignorant of her interest inyou.” The Earl’s eyes narrowed, and he looked threatening again.
“Until recently, when Aunt Nellie brought it to my attention, I was not.” Jem shrugged. “My emotions are otherwise engaged.”
His lordship pinned him with a hard glare, daring Jem to name her.
“Yes, my lord. Clarisse.”
“Yourcousin.”
“It’s a courtesy title only.”
“Icould make her a countess.”
Jem chuckled. “You’ve known her, what,threedays maybe? Do you really think she cares about being a countess?” He really hoped she wasn’t tempted by it. “I’ve known her since we were children.”
The Earl regarded him with pinched lips. Then his expression turned shrewd, and he grinned. All of Jem’s doubts returned, and he had to fight to stay in character.
“May the best man win, then,” Jem said.
“Iintend to.” His lordship turned toward the door but looked over his shoulder. “You must not forget to bathe that hand. I do not wish Clarisse troubled should it become infected.”
When the man had left, Jem let out a deep breath. His hands were shaking again from another adrenaline rush. All the verbal sparring he’d done back home hadn’t prepared him for this guy.
Someone tapped on the door.
“Enter,” Jem said.
A manservant entered the room with a jug of hot water and a bar of the harsh soap they used at the tenant village. Jem looked at the cut on his palm. This was going to sting.
Chapter 21
THE NEXT MORNING, REESE FELT a little bemused when she rose. Still bruised and battered, both physically and emotionally, she found herself anxious and lighthearted at the same time. The warring emotions didn’t make for good companions.
If that sweet newborn was an Rh baby, there was nothing she could do to save him. She’d had more than one dream of arriving at the home this morning to find the severely jaundiced child dead in his mother’s arms. Reese blinked against the stinging in her eyes. She couldn’t dwell on that.
Her dreams had also included Jem and when he had come to her. The memory of the happiness of that moment dimmed a little of her worry about the baby.
“Your bath is ready, miss.” Lulu stepped forward and gasped. “Good heavens, what happened to you?”
Reese rose from the bed and groaned. Everything seemed to hurt.
