Part 7 (2/2)
”Am I a man of my word, you mean, Lady Lydia?”
”You may address me as Lydia, please, as we're going to be, as you said, so much in each other's company. But if we are to cry friends, you really must answer my question.”
”And you may honor me by addressing me as Justin, please, even if you'd rather I fly to the ends of the earth on a dragon's back rather than be much in your company. And, yes, I was teasing. I very often say things only to elicit a response that may amuse me. It's a failing. But I do not always tease. The problem, if you were to see it as such, is deciding when I am teasing and when I am...deadly serious.”
”Is that a problem for you, as well? Knowing when you are being flippant, and when you actually mean what you say?” Lydia asked, her blood flowing rather quickly through her veins. He did make her feel alive, that was certain. But being alive, at the level or even many levels upon which the baron seemed to operate, would probably be quite fatiguing. She had the feeling she could never quite relax her guard in his company.
He looked at her with such intensity that she had to fight the urge to rub at her nose, as if she had smeared ink on it or something when she was finis.h.i.+ng her letter to Nicole.
Ah, Nicole. She would know how to handle the baron. She would return his stare, unblinking, that's what she'd do. And she'd outlast him, too.
But she wasn't her twin. Lydia looked down at her clasped hands, unsurprised to see that the knuckles were rather white.
”You and I have only barely met, Lydia,” Justin said at last, ”and yet you may know me better than does the majority of my acquaintance. That's rather unnerving. Ah, and here he is, the Duke of Ashurst.” He stood up, turning to greet Rafe, his bow once more elegant, and only slightly overdone. ”May I take it, Your Grace, that you have condescended to meet with me even as I dared arrive without an appointment?”
Rafe looked to Lydia, and smiled. ”What say you, sister? Shall I meet with the man, or simply toss him out on his ear for being an a.s.s?” He put out his hand to the baron. ”It's been a long time, Justin. You look none the worse for wear.”
”It's my tailor,” Justin drawled as the two shook hands. ”He's the making of me. How have you been, Rafe?”
Lydia looked back and forth between the two men. ”You know each other? Well, of course you do, don't you. That was a silly question.”
”London is large, but society as a whole is small, Lydia. Justin here and I traveled much in the same company the single Season I was in town before my uncle purchased my commission.”
”We met in a gaming h.e.l.l in Piccadilly, as I recall the thing,” Justin told her. ”You were about to call out the dealer as a cheat, and I stopped you.”
”Which probably saved me several broken bones. I hadn't noticed the two hulks waiting in the shadows to take care of any troublemakers. I haven't gambled since, you know, except for playing at tame stakes with my wife. Who beats me nearly every time, I must say.”
”Ah, yes, your wife. Tanner tells me she's soon to present you with an heir. My congratulations.”
”Thank you. And soon may be the operative word, I found out this morning. We'll be heading for Ashurst Hall tomorrow, even as Lydia is on her way to Malvern.”
Justin slid his eyes toward Lydia, and smiled. ”Yes. I've heard that, as well. In fact, I shall be a part of the party, which is what brings me here, not that I'm not delighted to see your ugly puss again. If you have a moment, Rafe, and a place where we two can be private...?”
Lydia rolled her eyes and looked away, now confident that the baron was doing his best to make a May game out of her, and then turned her head as the butler announced the Duke of Malvern.
Tanner walked into the drawing room with a smile of greeting on his face and the easy manner of a frequent guest, but then stopped where he was, to look at the baron. ”Justin?”
”Tanner?” the baron replied in the same questioning tone, with only a hint of mockery to be found in it.
”Rafe...Lydia,” Tanner said, joining them all in the center of the large room. ”I'm here to escort Lydia to a shop I wish her to see.”
”A shop? You're here to take her to a shop? Such a man of adventure, Tanner. Bordering on the hey-go-mad, one might say. How exciting for her,” Justin said, and then raised a hand to his mouth. And yawned.
Lydia bit the insides of her cheeks, to keep from giggling, but Rafe seemed to know she was struggling, and winked at her.
Tanner ignored the sarcasm. ”I saw you not an hour ago, and you made no mention of coming to Grosvenor Square.”
”Oh, I wager I did, old friend. You must have forgotten. That fresh bandage looks quite rakish, however. Lydia,” the baron said, pivoting to face her, ”wouldn't you say that our friend Tanner looks rakish?”
”I'd say he looks ready to knock you down,” Rafe interjected, putting his arm around Justin's shoulders. ”You said you wanted to speak to me privately? My study is at the end of the hall. Tanner-good to see you.”
”What was that all about?” Lydia asked as she gathered up her reticule and the rest while Sarah stood by the door, ready to accompany them. ”Why would Rafe say you want to knock Justin down?”
”He's invited you to call him Justin?”
”Yes, right after I suggested he call me Lydia. It seemed simpler, as we're all going to be together for more than a week, in an informal setting. Tanner? What's wrong?”
He shook his head. ”Nothing.” He took his hat and gloves from the footman and slipped a small coin in the boy's hand. He always did that, and the footmen vied to be of a.s.sistance to him each time he visited. ”No, that's not true. Lydia, Justin is a good man. I'm glad you two have cried friends. Really.”
”But?” Lydia nudged as they pa.s.sed through the doorway and down onto the flagway.
”But it might be unwise to take anything he says with more than a grain of salt.”
”Oh, that,” she said, still pulling on her gloves. ”I already knew that.” She looked toward the Square and saw that Tanner had driven his curricle this morning. She turned to her maid. ”Unless you wish to hang on the back like a tiger, I think we can safely dispense with your company this morning, Sarah.”
”Yes, mi'lady,” Sarah said, bobbing a curtsy. ”I'll get back to packin' up your duds, then.”
”Do you have many duds?” Tanner asked as he helped her up onto the plank seat. ”I'd planned on only the one extra coach for luggage and servants.”
Lydia waited until he'd walked around the back of the curricle-surrept.i.tiously watching from beneath the brim of her bonnet, to see if she could ascertain any spring in his step. Alas, she didn't. Or perhaps this was a good thing. Justin had clearly upset him in some way, and she was fairly certain that she figured into that discomfort somehow. It was really rather delicious, all this attention from two handsome, likeable men. She must be careful, or it all would go to her head, make her silly.
Although she was rarely silly, so that the idea of simply allowing the Fates to carry her along held more appeal than she would have thought a week ago, even a year go. Ever.
”You won't have to go to the bother of another coach. I'll be sending most of my things straight to Ashurst Hall with Rafe and Charlotte. Unless you travel with all of your belongings?”
”Not me, but I have a feeling Justin will bring more than his share. As I remember it, he includes his own linens, much of his own food, and at least three changes of clothes per day. Very impressive, if you're not the one responsible for toting his trunks.”
”So you're saying he's a fop?”
”Hardly. If he meant any of it, then he'd be a fop. But as Justin himself says, he dresses only for effect. He does, says, very many things in order to see how others will react. It amuses him.”
”I've noticed that, too. But he's your friend. You like him.”
”I like him very much. And I shouldn't have said anything. It was unfair of me. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions.”
”I agree,” Lydia said, nodding her head, while inwardly wis.h.i.+ng Tanner would just say what was on his mind, because she was hoping what was on his mind was what was on her mind, and if he said what was on his mind, and she said what was on her mind-no, that wouldn't work; clearly her mind was currently too muddled. ”But thank you. You're a good friend, to warn me about your own good friend.”
”Yes. A good friend,” he said running his gaze over her face, his eyes rather bleak suddenly, although he quickly smiled. ”Something to aspire to, I suppose.” He then unwrapped the reins from the brake and looked at her once more. ”The horses are still fresh, so I'd like to take them around the Square a time or two, until they've settled. Ready?”
She held onto the metal ring at the side of the plank seat, that fleeting look in Tanner's eyes enough to tell her she was in danger of losing her balance, although not because of the horses. ”Ready,” she said, and they were off.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
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