Page 36 of His Wicked Charm

“It was Sir Jasper. That’s an entirely different matter.”

“Why?”

“Because Sir Jasper isn’t a temptation,” Helena said with far more candor than was customary. She sighed. “Hopefully no one will learn of this afternoon’s misstep. We can count on Sir Jasper not to say anything. But now you’re proposing to hare off to Somerset with Constantine Moreland! To stay in the same house with him!”

“People frequently invite both men and women to house parties. Even unmarried men and women.”

“But they are chaperoned. There are other people there.”

“We will be chaperoned. My aunt lives there.”

“Vesta?” Helena made a noise that would have been termed a snort in anyone less refined. “Your father’s sister is no chaperone. She’s worse than no chaperone. She’s the one who created the storm to begin with. And the way she’s been flaunting herself all over Europe since then! Calling herself Madame LeClaire, though everyone is certain she’s never been married.”

“I won’t be swayed by Aunt Vesta. And I should hope that I have established a good enough reputation that it won’t be tarnished by being in the same household with my aunt for a week or two.”

“I would never question your morality, dear. But it’s how it will look.”

“Isn’t the important thing how it will be?” Lilah shot back. “Don’t you care about that?”

Helena’s eyes widened in shock. “Lilah, how can you question that?”

“I’m sorry. Truly. I don’t question your love or concern. But I do think that I should be able to have some freedom.” The feelings she’d been having the past few days—no, weeks—welled up. “To decide for myself what to do.”

“I have no desire to cage you. But I worry about you. I remember how unhappy and frightened you were when I first brought you here to live. The times you awakened from nightmares. The tears you cried.”

Some of the tears had been for her father and her home, though she doubted Aunt Helena ever realized that. But Lilah remembered, too, how Aunt Helena had awakened her from her nightmares and held her, how she had sheltered and protected her. Lilah smoothed down her irritation.

“I know. But I’m not a child anymore, Aunt Helena, and you don’t have to shield me. Aunt Vesta has written me several times, asking me to come see her.”

Aunt Helena let out an indelicate snort. “No doubt because she wants something from you. That woman cares only about herself.”

“I am well aware of that. But she is, after all, my father’s sister, and as such I must show her respect. It has been rude of me not to go there.” This, more than anything, would sway Aunt Helena’s mind. “I won’t be influenced or hurt by Aunt Vesta. Nor am I weak and silly enough to allow Con to take liberties.” She already had of course, but there was no need to tell Aunt Helena that. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you.” Aunt Helena took her hand. “It’s Lord Moreland I don’t trust. I’ve heard he behaves most peculiarly. That agency he runs—they say he dresses up in disguises, pretends to be all sorts of low creatures. You know that people call them the Mad Morelands.”

“That’s most unfair and unkind,” Lilah protested hotly. “They are not mad.”

“They’re odd. They don’t behave as they should. They’re different.” Aunt Helena turned away with a gusty sigh and dropped back down into her chair. “How I wish you had never gotten tangled up with the Morelands. Why couldn’t Sabrina have married a nice, normal young man?”

“Alex is normal.”

“I fear he will lead you on and break your heart.”

“Con?” Lilah let out a short laugh. “There’s little danger of that.”

“He’s a very personable young man, handsome, as all the Morelands seem to be, and he has that dash of something wild about him that’s so intriguing.”

“Aunt Helena!” Lilah gaped at her aunt, mildly shocked.

Her aunt made a little moue. “Do you think I don’t remember what it was like to be a young girl? How alluring a rogue can seem? I also know that’s the sort who will leave you weeping. He is friends with that Hetherton set, and they’re interested only in having a good time. I fear he’s not looking for marriage.”

“Then it’s fortunate that I am not looking for marriage either. I know Con flits from girl to girl like a butterfly. But he’s no deceiver. He’s honest, even rudely blunt. I shan’t swoon over him. He and I have managed to get along, after a fashion, since Sabrina married his brother, but that is the extent of our ‘friendship.’”

“Then why are you running off to Somerset with him?” Aunt Helena narrowed her eyes at Lilah. “And don’t try to fob me off with that silly story about the architecture of that monstrosity of a house.”

Lilah’s mind raced furiously. “No, that’s not the real reason. It’s the official story, the one we are putting about. It concerns Sabrina, so we didn’t want to make it known.” That much, at least was the truth.

“Sabrina?” Her aunt frowned. “But Sabrina isn’t even here.”