Page 38 of Adeline

Three identical brows arched in question, and the group focused once more on their sister.

“She didn’t tell you about Adrian’s tendency for sweets, did she?” the eldest boy, Alfred, asked. His intense scrutiny said that Jasper’s answer held much importance.

“Of course, she would never share such a private matter,” Jasper confided.

“What about Amelia’s habit of taking jaunts about the house in her sleep?” He elbowed his sister in the side with a chuckle.

“I do not—“ The girl at his side shrieked as her face blossomed with embarrassment, a mirror image of her older sister, though her hair was shorter and her complexion paler.

“A gentleman would never speak of such a thing, and neither would a proper lady,” he chastised the boy, yet kept his tone light. “And your sister, Miss Adeline, is undoubtedly a proper lady.”

“Where is Alistair?” Adeline cut in, stopping the banter before someone’s feelings were injured.

Jasper hadn’t any notion what it was like to have siblings—younger or older—but he could sense how teasing could easily get out of hand.

The trio looked between one another, their faces draining of the joy they’d had at seeing their sister safely home.

It was the youngest boy who spoke, the older two siblings avoiding Adeline’s stare. “Alistair and Theodora are waiting for you in the study. Brother is awfully cross that you dallied on your way home. I dare say you—“

Adrian’s voice stopped as Adeline pushed past him and started out of the foyer and down an empty hallway.

Jasper only paused a moment before hurrying to catch up with her. If her brother were vexed at Adeline’s tardiness, it was his fault. He’d been the one to send his sister out into the England countryside in a decrepit carriage. If the man did not see that and still needed someone to cast the blame on, Jasper would take it. He’d been waylaid by the storm and unable to repair Adeline’s carriage.

Either way, Adeline was not to blame for any of this, and Jasper would be damned if he’d allow her to be punished for something not in her control.

Chapter 15

Adeline did not slow for Donovan—or Jasper. But she knew both followed as she stormed toward her brother’s study—the butler because it was his duty to announce her arrival, which would not happen. And Jasper because she’d become very familiar with the heaviness of his footfalls. Though his pursuit did not slow her down either.

Pushing the door open, Adeline sent it slamming against the wall, eliciting a shriek from Theo as she jumped from her seat on the lounge, dropping the book she’d been reading to the floor at her feet. Adeline’s anger subsided slightly when her friend—and now sister-in-law—smiled and rushed to her.

Their embrace was as it always was: genuine.

Much like everything about the woman before her.

Theo pulled away, bringing Adeline farther into the room.

“I am overjoyed to see you are safe,” Theo gushed, clutching Adeline’s hand. “I was ever so worried, but I see there was naught to fret over as you are home and in one piece. Isn’t that right, Alistair?”

Adeline gave her friend’s hand a tight squeeze, signaling that Adeline was truly fine and was prepared to handle whatever mood Alistair was in before stepping away to face her brother.

Alistair glared at her, his lips flattened and his hands folded on the desk he sat behind. His posture and stare were meant to intimidate her; however, Adeline had done nothing wrong. In fact, she’d been put in jeopardy because of him.

“You are a day late arriving home, Adeline,” he said, staring down his nose at her, which she could only assume was made difficult by his seated position. “I gave you leave to spend one night at Miss Emmeline’s School, but that would have seen you home yesterday. Where have you been?”

Adeline crossed her arms over her chest and matched his glare with her own, but she refused to give any explanation as to her whereabouts after leaving Arabella and Ainsley at Miss Emmeline’s School.

“Theodora—with the help of Lady Josie and Lady Georgina—have worked tirelessly in preparation for your twenty-first birthday celebration tomorrow eve. They have been worried sick that something dreadful happened to you.” Alistair sighed, and the fight drained from him. Could it be that he wasn’t angry with her, only concerned over her safety? “But that is neither here nor there. You are home”—he took in her appearance from head to toe—“and you seem to be in as much the same condition as when you left.”

Same condition as when she left?

Certainly not. So much had changed. She’d met Jasper, hunted for true game, witnessed the rescue of a man in peril, and survived a six-hour journey in the confines of a coach with the Beast of Faversham.

Conditions had changed greatly in the last several days.

Finally, the news sank in. Birthday celebration? “My birthday is not for another fortnight.” She glanced at her brother as he sat back in his chair and then she looked to Theo, who could barely contain her smile.

“If she had planned it for the actual day of your birth, you would have expected it, and the surprise would have been ruined.”