Eleanor froze, her gaze on her lap still, afraid to look at him. Had he just . . . helped her? She darted a quick look at him under cover of her eyelashes and found him watching her with the oddest expression on his face, almost . . . gentle?
She lowered her gaze again, confused. Perhaps it wasn’t gentleness she saw in his eyes, but pity. He must be quite sure he’d triumph over her if he’d begun to pity her.
Whatever Mr. West’s motives were, they succeeded in distracting Robyn. “Indeed? What inducement was that?”
“I’d been in India for six years when my employer offered to sell me a part-share in one of his ships. He wanted me to remain abroad for five more years and help run the business from there so he could remain in England.”
“Is it not quite risky, Mr. West, to remain so long in India?” Lady Catherine asked. “What with the dreadful fevers, and cholera?”
“Yes. Risky enough, but like most twenty-three year old gentlemen, I thought myself invincible, and my arrogance paid off. By the time I returned to England, my employer wished to retire. He sold me his three best ships. One of these became theAmelia, and she’s now the crown jewel of the fleet.”
Robyn set his wineglass down with a sharp click. “TheAmelia? The devil you say.”
“Robyn!” Lily glared at her husband, scandalized.
Robyn turned to her. “I beg your pardon, my dear, but surely you’ve heard of theAmelia? That ship’s a legend in London. The sailors say she can’t be sunk, that she sails with the hand of God on her mast. I hadn’t any idea you owned her, West. I’d love to get a look at her sometime.”
“I’d be more than happy to take you aboard. I love to show her off.”
Eleanor tightened her grip on her spoon. Show her off? Is that why Mr. West wantedher, then? To show thetonthat the finest gentleman among them couldn’t bring her to heel, but he could? Despite his denials, perhaps that was the real reason he wanted to force marriage on her. He already had the best ship in London, and now he wanted a famously unattainable woman as his wife.
Another conquest.
Ellie looked at Robyn’s eager face, then glanced at Alec, who looked as impressed as Robyn did.Blast it. She’d counted on her brothers to despise Camden West, or at least to be suspicious enough of him to hold his feet to the coals. Instead they both looked as if they were about to beg him for a bedtime story.
Tell us more about your ships, Mr. West, do!
What was happening here? Even Charlotte hadn’t said a word during his story about India, and Eleanor could swear at one point her sister looked as enthralled as everyone else at the table.
Why did no one see Camden West for the villain he was? Did they not see the man thought to court her? Or, good Lord, was it possible they saw him as a potential match for her, and wished to encourage him?
For pity’s sake. Alec had nearly thrown Lord Ponsonby out on his ear when he asked for her hand, and Mr. Fitzsimmons hadn’t got the first word of his proposal past his lips before Alec refused him. But now here her brother sat, chatting with Mr. West as if overjoyed at the prospect of welcoming him into the family.
Eleanor narrowed her eyes on Camden West and tried to see him as her brothers might. She supposed his was a commanding presence, in part just because of his height, but also because of the way he carried himself. He had the air of a man confident in his abilities.
Confident. Eleanor felt a scowl tighten her lips. Arrogant was more like it.
Still, her brothers would respond to a man like that, a man who’d turned challenges into remarkable successes. Alec and Robyn weren’t like many gentlemen of theton. They’d admire a self-made man like Mr. West, rather than look down on him for being in trade.
Mr. West.Camden. She rolled the name around on her tongue. It had a smooth feel to it, rather like sweet, thick cream. She quite liked it, but then smooth could turn bitter in the blink of an eye.
“Your ship, Mr. West. TheAmelia,” Lady Catherine said. “The little girl you brought to Lady Abernathy’s garden party yesterday is named Amelia. Did you name your ship for your sister?”
“I did, my lady.”
Delia and Lily both sighed at the sweetness of the gesture, and even Charlotte’s face softened a bit.
“What a lovely thing to do,” Lily said. “I imagine she liked that very much.”
Mr. West smiled. “She was . . . quite pleased, yes.”
Eleanor stared at him, and a strange feeling blossomed in her belly at his expression. All of his sarcastic grimaces and warning glances hadn’t prepared her for the wide, lopsided smile that lit his face now. Two deep dimples flashed at the corners of his lips, like a special reward for those fortunate enough to tease a genuine smile out of him.
He didn’t smile much. Perhaps he should do so more often.
What would it be like to wake up next to him every morning? To be the woman who coaxed that smile from him, before his head even lifted from his pillow? She thought of his face this afternoon as he’d kissed her hand, her wrist, his green eyes hidden under heavy lids, his mouth open against her skin, his hoarse whispers . . .
Eleanor twisted her hands in her lap. Foolish, to imagine such a thing. The best she could hope for as his wife was a lifetime of sarcastic grimaces and warning glances.
