Part 25 (1/2)

Dollie chewed her lip thoughtfully. ”I'll know when I look into his eyes or when he kisses me. It will be pure magic! Do you feel like that with the man you love, Lidian?”

Lidian hesitated for a long moment. Whatever magic she had felt with Chance had faded long ago. A year of waiting and wondering had taken its toll on her emotions. There was so much that was still unresolved between her and Chance. ”I think I did,” she said quietly. ”But being in love is not all magic, Dollie. And it's not something I'd care to experience again.”

Dollie looked intrigued and sympathetic. ”Uncle Garrett says the same thing. Now that his wife is gone, there's not enough of his heart left to give to anyone.”

”Your poor uncle,” Lidian murmured sincerely. Although he could be surly and short-tempered at times, she rather liked the man. There was a softness beneath his gruff facade that she had discovered a few days ago, when he had accidentally intruded on her while she was reading by herself in the library. Embarra.s.sed to be caught with a novel ent.i.tled Love Lost Forever, she had jumped slightly and set the book aside.

Usually Garrett was indifferent to her, but there was an amused gleam in his dark eyes, and the lines on his face had relaxed a little. ”What are you reading, child?”

Lidian had flushed guiltily. ”A romantic novel,” she had confessed. It was one of her favorites-she had read it many times and brought it with her from Acland Hall. ”You must think I'm very silly, my lord, indulging in idle fancies.”

”No,” he had interrupted quietly. ”Such fancies can make life very pleasant.” He went to pour himself a drink. ”Continue with your reading, child. I'll be gone in a moment.”

”Lord De Gray...you won't tell anyone, will you?” She couldn't bear it if anyone else found out that she had been reading love stories, and teased her about it. She could only imagine how Eric De Gray would mock her.

”Certainly not.” He had actually smiled. ”If you prefer, you may call me Uncle Garrett, as Dollie does.”

Since she already referred to the earl and countess as Uncle Edgar and Aunt Julia, Lidian had nodded in agreement. ”Thank you. However...I'm not certain my mother would approve.” It was clear to everyone that Elizabeth did not hold Garrett in the same high regard she had for the other De Grays. Elizabeth frequently directed small barbs at him, criticizing his drinking, his smoking and gambling, and his habit of coming and going at all hours.

”Yes,” Garrett had said dryly, ”your mother and I don't seem to be on the best of terms.”

”I think that is a pity.”

”Oh?”

Lidian chose her words carefully, knowing that Garrett had never seen the side of her mother that was loving, charming, and vulnerable. All he had seen was the reserved, disapproving facade that Elizabeth adopted whenever he was near. ”I know my mother seems to be prim and proper, and rather critical...but underneath she is a warm and delightful person. She misses my father terribly, and she's had so much responsibility since he died. If only you...” Lidian stopped, having said more than she had intended.

Garrett's expression had been unfathomable, but for a moment there had been a curious look in his eyes. ”If only?” he prompted.

”If only you would try talking to her some time,” Lidian said earnestly, ”I think you would like her very much.”

He had responded with a sardonic snort, nodding to her as he departed with his drink in hand. Lidian had wondered if he would follow her suggestion. She soon concluded that he wouldn't.

One evening Garrett brought a guest to share supper with the De Grays, a beautiful woman with white-blond hair, pouting ruby lips, and a lazy, melted-sugar voice. Although she was dad in a dark, high-necked gown, the woman, whom Garrett introduced as Lady Hewet, seemed barely respectable. At supper she slid Garrett long looks through the black fringe of her lashes and told amusing-if shocking-stories about the latest scandals in London.

”Have you heard that Lady Montbain has recently given birth to her fifth child?” Lady Hewet asked with a catlike smile. ”A dear little boy with curly black hair.”

”How wonderful,” Julia replied sincerely. ”Lord Montbain must be terribly proud.”

”He would be,” Lady Hewet said with a throaty giggle, ”if the baby resembled him. Unfortunately the child bears a striking likeness to his best friend, Lord Lambert!”

Garrett smiled slightly. Dollie and Edgar looked down at their plates with severe concentration while Lidian felt her face turn pink. She darted a quick glance at her mother, whose lips were compressed so tightly that they appeared to have been sewn shut.

Mama, please don't say anything, Lidian thought, but Elizabeth spoke in a crisp, controlled tone.

”Lady Hewet, I fear that such conversation is not suitable for the ears of impressionable girls.”

Lady Hewit's red lips curved in a droll smile. ”They must learn about life sometime, dear.”

”Perhaps,” Elizabeth replied. ”But not now...and not from you.”

Lady Hewit's smile disappeared with a twitch, and she turned to Garrett, whispering slyly in his ear, while Julia hastened to find a new topic of conversation.

Later that night, Elizabeth aired her feelings to Lidian as she unpinned her hair at the dressing table. ”Garrett De Gray is offensive in too many ways to count,” Elizabeth exclaimed, dropping the pins in a heedless scatter. She picked up a silverbacked brush and dragged it through her dark hair in swift strokes. ”I can't think why Edgar and Julia allow him to stay here with all of his carryings-on, bringing women of questionable reputation to supper...how such a refined family could produce such an abrasive creature is impossible to fathom! Did you see the way he allowed that woman to rub every part of her anatomy against him? And in front of everyone!”

Lidian repressed a smile, suspecting that Elizabeth would rather die than admit that she was jealous of Garrett De Gray. ”He's not completely objectionable,” she said lightly. ”You must admit, he is rather attractive for a man in his late forties.”

”Is he? I've never been able to see him clearly through the cloud of cigar smoke swirling constantly around his head.”

Lidian laughed. ”Poor man. He wants reforming badly, doesn't he?”

”There's not a woman alive with the strength and patience to do it,” Elizabeth said darkly, and set the brush on the table. ”Certainly not Lady Hewet!”

”Perhaps Uncle Garrett needs the influence of a woman like you, Mama,” Lidian dared to say, watching her mother's face in the vanity mirror.

Elizabeth seemed astounded by the remark. ”Me?...I would prefer to have as little exposure as possible to that ill-natured man!”

”I think his bad behavior may be a result of loneliness,” Lidian remarked. ”It's very difficult to love someone for so long and then lose her-or him-unexpectedly. You of all people can understand that, Mama.”

”I would rather not discuss him anymore,” Elizabeth said in a no-nonsense tone, and Lidian agreed dutifully.

Seated at one of the mahogany desks in the De Gray library, Lidian added stacks of figures from an account book that had been delivered to her by the temporary estate manager at Acland Hall. She concentrated on the numbers, unaware that someone had entered the room until she heard a familiar voice.

”Miss Acland. What a pleasant surprise.”

Lidian rose from her chair with such haste that she nearly knocked over the inkwell on the desk. She stared at Eric De Gray, lean and powerful in his riding clothes. Although she had tried to prepare herself for when they would meet again, she was aware of a breathlessness she couldn't quite control. His self-a.s.surance was formidable as he stood there with a casual smile playing on his lips. All at once she remembered the way he had kissed her, the warmth of his mouth, the light grip of his hand on the back of her neck. A blush covered her face, and she tried in vain to recover her wits.

”I'm sure it's no surprise to you,” she finally said. ”You must have known that my mother and I were staying with your family.”

”Do the accommodations please you, Miss Acland?” He spoke with such excessive politeness that it almost seemed like mockery.

Lidian nodded cautiously. ”De Gray House is magnificent, and everyone has been very kind.”

”A fortunate coincidence, that our mothers have renewed their acquaintance.”

”Fortunate for whom?” she parried, backing away as De Gray came farther into the room.

His glance encompa.s.sed her from head to toe, taking in every detail of her brown-wool-and-corded-silk gown. Was it her imagination, or did his gaze linger at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s? The high-necked gown had fit perfectly three years ago, but as she had matured, the bodice had become a little too snug. Unfortunately there hadn't been enough money to have more than one or two new gowns made every season. Lidian stared at De Gray defensively, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest.

”You're more beautiful each time I see you,” he murmured.

”Lord De Gray...I want to make something clear,” Lidian said uneasily, ignoring the compliment. ”I have come here against my better judgment because my mother was adamant about it. I certainly hope you don't think I have any designs on you merely because I'm staying at your parents' home.”

De Gray stared at her speculatively and reached into his pocket. ”I happened to find these at the Willoughbys' ball after you left me. They belong to you, don't they?”

Lidian blushed fiercely as she stared at the pair of white gloves in his hand. They were the ones she had left in the parlor when she had rushed away after he had kissed her. She must have them back, or he could use them to tarnish her reputation. ”My lord...you wouldn't tell anyone about that night, would you? You must keep your silence-”

”Of course.”

”Thank you,” she said in relief, holding out her hand for the gloves.