Page 9 of Forgotten No More

“I only seek to be blunt myself, one quality I find most society members lack in spades.” He moved to the chaise lounge, a few feet from her, and sat.

Ruby stared. “Whatever are you doing?”

“Sitting,” he answered in an even tone. “And whatever are you doing?”

His phrasing and pitch mimicked her own, further maddening her.

“I did not invite you to stay.” She wanted to shout, stomp her foot at the man for taking such liberties, but refrained. She wasn’t one for such childish displays, though they surely were tempting. “It is not proper for a man and woman of a certain age, unmarried, to be alone.”

He laughed. The sound echoed through the large room and out to the hallway beyond. Maybe Ruby’s speculation about his mental stability was not too farfetched. Thankfully, a servant would no doubt arrive shortly to intervene thanks to the excessive noise he made.

“What is so comical?” Ruby asked.

“Why would I need to be invited to stay?” he asked.

“Do not answer my question with another question. It is very rude.”

“Would you like to know what I find rude?”

She pondered answering his clearly rhetorical question, but kept quiet instead. Ruby glanced toward the door, which stood open as society deemed acceptable for an unmarried woman in the presence of a man without the proper chaperone. She shouldn’t care what society thought of her or her actions since she barely hung on the fringes of the ton, never making her grand coming out to society.

When she turned back to him, he only stared at her quizzically. In his stare were all the questions he wanted to ask but was too much the gentleman to do so.

He lifted his arm and pointed to the seat across from him. “Do have a seat, Miss Ruby.”

Leery of his return to formalities, she again looked to the door, hoping for someone to rescue her.

“I do not bite,” he said with a wink. “Unless you want me to, but I fear our acquaintance has not progressed to that point as yet.”

Ruby didn’t remember the man being so candid. In her mind’s eye she remembered the lanky young boy who’d explored the land between her estate and Lord Haversham’s. He’d rarely said a word, and she was having trouble assimilating the man before her with the boy she thought she had known in her childhood.

“That is a highly inappropriate thing to say to a lady,” Ruby scolded as traitorous thoughts of Harold nibbling her neck floated into her mind. The reprimand sounded petty, but she was at a lack for any other words. “What do you find rude?” She tried to soften the sting of her last comment.

“Ah! Now, that is far more appropriate a topic than biting.” He smirked and again motioned to the seat close to his own. “It’s very rude that you didn’t inform me last night where you were staying in London.”

Ruby gave in and sat. “Maybe I preferred not to further our acquaintance.” She sounded callous, but she was in London for a reason, a very specific reason—and it did not include renewing outdated friendships nor a dalliance with any man, no matter how tempting. She’d seen how that had paid off for her mother. Harold Jakeston had no place in her life, and she could have no place in his. “I hope you didn’t work overly hard to learn my location.”

“Oh, it was hardly any trouble at all.”

Ruby had been certain to keep a low profile, but had known the inevitability of her and Harold crossing paths while residing in the same townhouse. Now, she only hoped he didn’t go about town telling all and sundry of her presence. “If you will excuse me, I have many correspondences to write.” When he continued to watch her intently, she rose. “It was nice to see you again.”

She meant the words to be polite, yet dismissive. When he continued to look relaxed, her thoughts again settled on his lack of a sound mind. She’d been told that men of the ton could be thick headed, but did he not know a dismissal when he heard one?

But Harold was not a man of the ton, she reminded herself, any more than she was a lady of the ton.

Perhaps she should blame his lack of manners on his many years in the country.

She cleared her throat to gain his attention. “If you do not mind—”

“I do not mind at all, please carry on with your correspondence,” he said, settling further into the lounge. “I will not disturb you. Shall I ring for tea?”

She could only gawk as he gazed back at her. There was a polite smile on his serene face, yet his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“That will not be necessary. I think I shall retire to my room to ready for my midday meal,” she said, barely managing the words through clenched teeth. No doubt he was a pretty face, but the man was maddening—and possibly mad. She gathered her things in a rush, more determined than ever that no man, least of all Harold Jakeston, would drive her off course.

She fled the room as if the devil himself were on her tail. If he needed any convincing that the woman was up to something, then her demeanor proved it beyond a doubt. While he had little experience with women and their fickle actions, he was sure he hadn’t offended her so greatly that she’d seek to quit every room he entered.

She made no sense, but what woman did? He was wont to meet one who didn’t speak in guarded words, half-truths, or outright lies.