He’d been uncommonly drawn to her when she’d swept into the room at the French chateau and looked at him the first time. He knew immediately she was an English beauty, elegant and refined and not one of themany ladies there looking for the unrestrained sexual behavior that usually went on at such a ball.
His uncles certainly thought highly of her too. Who wouldn’t? A beautiful young lady who’d maintained unblemished widowhood for five years was deserving of respect and extremely enticing at the same time. He was up to a new challenge. What better way to get his uncles and neurotic family off his back than to solicit help from the one lady who had no plans to marry?
But, if he wanted to get past Mrs. Feld’s front door, he would first have to get her attention. He looked toward the roofline of White’s again and thought of that book.
Zane didn’t know anything about being a proper earl, and the hell of it was he really didn’t want to learn. But if there was one thing he knew, it was how to get a lady’s attention.
Chapter 3
Brina Feld entered the front door of her house and caught the mouth-watering scent of fresh-baked bread, cooked fruit, and cinnamon filling the air. A pleasant change from the common smells of oil polish, beeswax, and burnt wood that so often lingered in the rooms. She could hardly wait to cut into one of Mrs. Lawton’s fruit tarts, spread it with butter, and eat as many of them as she wanted.
Nothing invigorated Brina more than a brisk walk to Town when the sun was shining brightly, and the air was as chilling as dipping her bare toes into a deep winter stream. And having some of the girls from the school join her made it an especially pleasing day. Much to the girls’ delight, they had spent the morning in Town looking through the collections of merchandise at several shops. None of the girls had ever had a reason to venture inside a business establishment, and it was a good learning experience for them.
Their first stop had been at the largest linen draper in London. It sold a wide variety of different fabrics. Fanny hadn’t wanted to leave it. Next on the list was the haberdashery, which was Mathilda’s favorite shop. The number of buttons, ribbons, and lace the store carried was astounding to them all. The last place they went into was the milliner. None of the four girls were impressed with the shop. They all wanted to sew beautiful gowns and dresses trimmed with bows, flowers, and beads. Not make hats.
It made Brina happy to see awe and wonder in their faces as they looked around the shops. She wasn’t sure everyone would be pleased with her decision to parade the girls downtown and then take them into some of the stores, but she didn’t care. It was an enlightening and well-deserved outing for the older ones, who had two years of schooling behind them.
Now Brina was eager for Adeline and Julia to arrive so she could tell them about some of her plans for the future. She wanted to give the girls painting lessons. Perhaps it was a bit frivolous for girls learning the seamstress trade to engage in a Society lady’s pastime.
But, so be it.
Brina wanted to do all she could to see the girls had some refinement and enjoyment along with their arduous studies and the task of learning how to sew. They were all doing so well with a needle now. She’d argue that painting could prove useful in teaching them where to place bows, ribbons, and add an embroidery of flowers on a dress.
Too, she had to invite Harper to dinner soon. She’d promised her father she’d stay in touch with her cousin. And she wanted to. She’d had a lingering concern about him. The last time she’d seen Harper, he had a cut lip and the faint shade of bruising around his mouth. It hadn’tseemed proper to ask him about it. Perhaps her father had seen that too and wanted Brina to make sure he was now doing fine.
Harper was a happy and mild-mannered person, but she supposed it was inevitable for a young man to get into scuffles from time to time and take one on the chin. Even well brought-up men like her cousin were sure to have disagreements that ended badly. It was part of the male nature. And it was Brina’s nature to want to care for people and help them if she could.
After shedding her woolen cape, she draped it across a chair in the entry and started untying the bow under her chin. It felt wonderful to be in a home of her own. She loved her parents, but they were overwhelming at times. They doted on her, smothered her with affection, and sheltered her with protection. For a time she had needed that, but she was glad to have finally left their home to make her own way in life. The two months she’d been living in the house in front of the school had been the most contented she could remember in years.
Now that her parents were off on their journey to Northumberland to visit her mother’s sister, Brina felt as if she were truly on her own, and it was a freeing feeling. The glorious spring weather had brought her many wonderful ideas. The list of things she wanted to accomplish for the girls’ school and the charitable work she did for the Sisters of Pilwillow Crossings were many, and it was growing longer every day. She was going to rejoin the reading society, return to her painting, and embrace the joy of living life again after years—
“Let me help you with those things, Mrs. Feld,” her housekeeper said, hurrying up the corridor toward the entrance.
“Thank you, Mrs. Lawton, but no need. I can managethis. It smells as if your special tarts are ready to come out of the oven.”
“And I have water heating for tea, but there’s something I have to tell you first.” She moved closer to Brina and whispered, “There’s a gentleman in the drawing room waiting to see you.”
A gentleman waiting for her? Brina laid her bonnet on top of her cape and started pulling on the fingers of her gloves. Because Mrs. Lawton whispered, Brina felt she must too. “You know I don’t receive gentlemen callers.”
“I do,” the housekeeper said, softly but emphatically. “I told him you weren’t here, thinking that would be the end of it and he’d go away, but instead, he said he’d wait for you. He then took it upon himself to walk right past me and into the house. I didn’t know what to do but show him to the drawing room.”
“That doesn’t sound like something a gentleman would do.”
“Oh, he’s notjusta gentleman, Mrs. Feld,” she continued in her whispered, but excited voice, her wide-eyed gaze sweeping over to the masculine cloak and hat that lay on a chair on the opposite side of the vestibule. “He said he was an earl and needed to speak to you, so he’d wait.”
An earl to see her? How odd. And which one? There must be close to half a dozen presently in London. Parliament was in session, and the Season’s first ball was already behind them. But why would any of them want to see her? Unless… she studied a moment on the thought his visit might have something to do with the school in the building behind the house. She and her two friends had thought there might be protests from some people in the ton or the neighborhood when they started thesmall private boarding school, but that had been over two years ago.
“Did he say what he wanted?” Brina asked.
Mrs. Lawton shook her head and picked up Brina’s cape and bonnet. “But of course I asked him,” she admitted without guile. “Not to be rude, but wondering if I might assist him for you. He said it was a private matter he’d take up with you. Who am I to question an earl further?”
Titled or not, Brina wondered how she should confront a man who would all but barge into a lady’s house. She didn’t have more than a second or two before she heard the strong sure sound of masculine boots hitting the hardwood floor.
“It’s all right, Mrs. Lawton.” She handed the housekeeper her gloves. “I’ll take care of this. You go finish preparing for Julia and Adeline.”
The housekeeper quietly left, and from behind her, Brina heard a man say, “I thought I heard someone talking.”
That same spark of awareness that she’d only felt one other time slithered through Brina. She went perfectly still.
