Page 18 of His Improper Lady

“No. He’s not going to do anything to me. He’s angry because he found out Falk hired me. I told him about the ring and my father. He knows that trying to do anything to me will mean a scandal for his precious Morelands.” Her voice was bitter; she could deal with the man’s anger, but the contempt in Quick’s eyes burned her.

“Will it?” Brock asked. “Mean a scandal?”

“No! How could you ask that? I don’t have any desire to do anything to the Morelands.”

“What is it you do want, Dez?”

“I don’t know,” she replied candidly. “I just... I don’t know anything. About them. About him. I never knew him, never knew my mother.”

“You were only a baby when they left.”

“I don’t even know what she looked like. I mean, Bruna told me when I asked her, but you know how Bruna was—it was ‘blond hair, blue eyes’ and a shrug.”

His mouth twitched up on one side. “Bruna was never one for words.”

“Tell me about our mother, Brock. You knew her. You can remember. What was she like?”

Brock sighed. “Let’s go to my study.”

They walked down the hall to Brock’s study, and Desiree sat down in one of the wingback chairs grouped before the fireplace. Brock went over to a cabinet and poured himself a glass of whiskey.

“Bit early for that, isn’t it?” Desiree teased. “It’s not quite noon.”

“Somehow I think this conversation deserves it.” Brock sat down with her and took a sip. “Very well. Our mother—I don’t remember a lot. I was only six when Stella left. She was blonde and blue eyed, as Bruna said. Her hair was lighter than yours, more the color you and Wells had when you were little, almost golden. She was very pretty, but when she smiled, she was absolutely stunning. That was her nature, too—bright, sunny. She was...fun.

“I remember her teaching me to tumble—not the very first lessons, because I must have started when I was two or so, but later, around the time when she put me in her act.” He glanced at his sister, explaining, “I did the same sort of thing you and Wells did at first—Stella dressed me up as a cherub with a little harp. My halo happened to fall off, and I chased it as it rolled across the stage. The audience roared, so she incorporated it into the act. I don’t really remember that. She told me about it so many times, though, it seems as if I knew it.”

“I remember doing that act,” Desiree told him. “Wells would pull my hair or untie my sash, and I’d chase him about trying to hit him, and we’d do flips and cartwheels and all that.” Desiree stopped abruptly, remembering the young Brock, sitting apart, watching them, no longer a part of the act. “I’m sorry. I—maybe you’d rather not talk about the act.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t bother me. That was long ago. And accidents happen.”

“But it didn’t have to,” she said hotly. “They should have checked that rope. You wouldn’t have fallen. If we had been in London, they could have found a better doctor. He could have set your leg straighter.”

“And we should have listened to you. It was just that you were so young and no one knew about your gift. But I think you feel worse about it than I do.” Brock smiled faintly. “It wasn’t the end of the world. I was able to do other things around the circus. A little limp has never stopped me from doing what I wanted. The acrobatics didn’t mean that much to me. I was never as good at it as you and Wells. Besides, I would have grown out of acrobatics. Sooner or later, I’d have been too big. Now, as I remember, you wanted to talk about Stella...”

“Yes. Go on.” Desiree wasn’t sure how much she believed her brother’s denial, but it would serve no purpose to pursue the issue. “You were telling me about her teaching you to tumble.”

“Stella was patient, a good teacher—not as good as Bruna was. Stella was too easygoing. She let mistakes slip by without saying anything. But we laughed a lot in my lessons, and afterward, we’d have milk and biscuits. And she sang. I remember her singing me lullabies at night. She had a lovely voice. We had this little one-room place—I only vaguely remember it—but it was cozy. Then she met your father, and everything changed.”

“What do you remember about him?”

“Even less. He was tall and slender. He looked a bit like Wells, now that I think about it. Not his coloring. His hair was dark. I don’t remember the color of his eyes—something light, I think. But his face, his body had something of Wells in them.”

“Do you remember anything else? Anything about him?”

“I’m sorry. I know how much you want to know about your father. But it was so very long ago, and I was a child. Children look at things differently. Mostly what I recall is that everything was different after that. We moved into a bigger house, where I had my own bedroom. There was all this space. I remember liking to run up and down the stairs. But suddenly everything revolved around him. Stella was with him or she was thinking about him. Buying his preferred wine, keeping the humidor filled with his favorite cigars, preparing the dishes he liked. And crying when he didn’t come for dinner as he’d said he would.”

“She was unhappy?”

“More often than she had been before he came along. She was giddy with happiness when he was there, when she was getting ready for his visit, but he was only there sometimes. A few hours here or there. No doubt he had a wife and another family. Legitimate children. I think she cried as much as she laughed. She was besotted with him. It shouldn’t have been any surprise when she ran away with him.”

“You disliked him.”

“Yes.” He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how much of my opinion of the man was colored by the fact that he took Stella away from us, that he left us behind like old luggage. There was no reason for him to care about me, but you and Wells were his children. So, it’s hard for me to remember exactly how I felt before that happened. I’m not sure if I disliked him. But I didn’t like him, either.”

“Was he mean to you?”

“No, not at all. Whatever else I think about him, he was obviously mad for Stella. He wouldn’t have done anything that would make her unhappy. He tried to win me over. That’s why he gave me that ring you set such store by. He was trying to please Stella. I knew it was only a bribe.”