Page 141 of Storm of Bells
I grinned. ‘Quite sure.’
Amy took another precautionary stepbackwards. ‘Oh well. It’s your head.’
Mr Rikkard Ambrose stepped forward. ‘MissWeston. I may not have been clear on this point when you firstarrived, so let me rectify this right now: where you come from, itmay be acceptable to barge into people’s private quarters withoutwarning, but here, such behaviour is not acceptable. You may havebeen invited here by my bride-to-be, but you are staying at mysufferance. So, tell me, Miss Weston—who or what exactly gave youthe idea that you may barge into my personal chambers withoutsuffering the consequences?’
Behind Amy, the door creaked open a bitfarther, and Adaira stuck her head into the room. ‘Oh, that wasme.’
‘Adaira!’
‘Oh, don’t give me that look, big brother. Icame into your room all the time when you were eight or nine, andtrust me, you don’t look any more interesting now.’
I discreetly cleared my throat. ‘I beg todiffer.’
Adaira slipped all the way into the room andgrabbed me by the hand. ‘Oh, you’ll be begging all right—but Ithink it’ll be for mercy, by the end of the day. The vicar isdownstairs to discuss the seating order at the wedding. And MrsIngleby, Mrs Ritson and Mrs Geoffries just happened to be passingthis way on their way to the grocer’s which is in the completelyopposite direction. Mr Benson has some staff matters to discuss,and—’
‘That will have to wait!’ Mr Ambrose cut heroff. ‘We have to discuss plans to—’
All female eyes in the room moved to stare athim. Abruptly, he snapped his mouth shut.
‘Plans?’ Adaira frowned. ‘Since when areyouinterested in seating plans?’
Mr Ambrose opened his mouth, about to explainto his little sister in clear, precise words all about thedangerous maniac attempting to ruin her best friend’s wedding viablackmail—until I stepped on his foot.
‘He isn’t. Not in the least.’ I wiggled myeyebrows suggestively. ‘We had some plans of our own, if youunderstand what I mean.’
‘I don’t. Or at least I really, really don’twant to.’ Adaira shuddered. ‘You couldn’t perchance marry mybrother and become my sister without doing any of that with him inthe process, could you?’
‘Sorry. No chance.’
‘Ugh!’ She gave another shudder. ‘Well, Isuppose I’ll have to live with it.’ Grabbing me by the hand, shestarted to tug me towards the door. ‘But not right now.’
‘Adaira!’ Stepping forward, Mr Ambrosereached out. ‘You can’t go out there. Not while…while…’
Our eyes met—his hard, mine pleading. Thiswas our time. Not just mine. Not just his. Ella’s. His family’s.Even, though the grumpy bristly beard would die a torturous deathbefore admitting it, Karim’s. In a way, we all were family.Dalgliesh had no right to intrude on us, no right to throw a shadowover this happy time. Besides…
I was not the kind of woman to let otherssolve her problems.
Taking one swift step towards me, Mr RikkardAmbrose grabbed my free hand, and grasped it so tightly not Adaira,not Amy, not anyone had a chance to tear me away. By purecoincidence, the hand he was holding was the one on which I wore myring.
‘Take care.’ His voice was as hard asever—but for once, not cold at all. ‘Don’t let anything or anyoneget in our way.’
His hand squeezed mine, once.
Well…perhaps I would rethink my position.Perhaps, just perhaps, now my problems wereourproblems.
Warmth spread through my insides. For thevery first time I had something I could rely on. Oh, of course, I’dalways had Ella. But unfortunately, my little sister’s way ofdealing with trouble was fainting and hoping the trouble would takepity on her and call for someone with smelling salts beforediscreetly going away. Not the most efficient way to deal with amegalomaniac tyrant with three whole armies at his command. MrRikkard Ambrose on the other hand…
I only had to look into his eyes to know thathe would stand by me against anybody.
‘Come on, let’s go, Lilly! And you there, letgo of my sister-in-law-to-be, or I’ll tell her about that time whenyou were seven and a frog hopped into your bathtub.’
Ah. Anybody except his little sister,apparently. Mr Ambrose let go as if my hand were on fire.
‘Let’s go! The others are waiting. We girlsare going to have so much fun! Amy’s friends, Jenny and Cora, areso funny!’
She tugged me towards the door. Mr Ambroselooked from me to the door, and then to the window. To the outside,where Dalgliesh was waiting.
‘Karim?’
