Page 39 of A Scandalous Proposition
Ramon stood protectively in front of his two sisters, shielding them from the intruder by puffing out his thin chest and spreading his arms wide. He frowned and babbled away in rapid Spanish, causing Florentina’s heart to go out to him. He was only twelve but had already learned that strange men were not to be trusted.
‘It’s all right, Ramon,’ she said in their own language. ‘Lord Fitzroy intends us no harm.’
‘Perfectly true.’ Adam crouched down, also speaking in Spanish. And then to Florentina, in English. ‘Will you introduce me?’
Florentina shared a swift glance with Christine, who nodded just once. Aware that further denial would be futile, she rested one hand on a shoulder of each child.
‘This is my sister Sophia and brother Ramon,’ she said. ‘Sophia, Ramon, this is Lord Fitzroy.’
The children, round-eyed with fear, kept darting questioning glances at Florentina.
‘Good afternoon,’ Adam said in English.
After several prompts from Florentina both children responded to him in the same language. Florentina was proud of the elegant curtsey Sophia executed. Ramon still stood in front of his sisters, fists now clenched at his sides, too rigid to even attempt a bow.
‘Go back to your duties and I will be with you directly,’ she said.
They obeyed with transparent reluctance. As soon as they were gone, Florentina fell onto a love seat and Adam took the chair opposite her.
‘Well, ladies,’ he said pleasantly.
Christine poured him a cup of tea, providing Florentina with precious seconds to gather her scattered thoughts.
‘I can see that you won’t be content until you know all of my business,’ she said.
‘Since you reside in my mother’s household, I don’t think that’s so very unreasonable.’ When she didn’t immediately respond, he spoke again. ‘My mother thinks highly of you, and I respect her opinion. But it’s apparent that you’re living under considerable strain, presumably because of whatever it was that caused you and your siblings to flee Spain. I’m well aware of the unstable situation in that country.’ He smiled directly at her in a manner that made her feel most peculiar. ‘If I can help to ease your burden you have but to say the word.’
He sat back and looked at her expectantly but still Florentina hesitated. Secrecy had become second nature to her, and although she instinctively felt she could trust Adam, it was still difficult for her to open up to him.
‘Tell him,’ Christine promptly gently.
‘Muy bien.Since you insist. But there’s little you can do to help.’
‘I might surprise you.’
His expression was solemn, but there was a vivacious light in his eye that caused her to wonder at the precise nature of his thoughts. She’d seen that same soft expression enhancing his features during their tryst in the summerhouse, and it was that recollection that decided her. He could have taken advantage of her but hadn’t done so. Enough gentlemen had tried to compromise her during her marriage to Simon, and even more since then. Few, she suspected, would have controlled their carnal desires in the way Adam had managed to. He was an honourable man and she would trust him with her secret.
‘Very well.’ She paused to clear her throat. ‘My family lived very comfortably in Saragossa before the start of this cursed war. It’s a small town in the northeast of Spain, close to the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, near the French border.’
Adam nodded. ‘I know where it is.’
‘My elder brother Eduardo and I speak excellent English. That’s why, when the war came, we both volunteered to become scouts for the English. We were accepted at once because of our local knowledge and ability to pass without suspicion amongst all walks of society. That’s how I met my husband.’ She smiled at the memory. ‘Simon was a captain with the Forty-third Light Infantry and was assigned as our contact. Eduardo and I passed any information we gathered directly to him.’
Adam nodded. ‘Local women are often used in such roles.’
‘I found the work exhilarating and never thought myself to be in serious danger.’
‘I believe you’re being too modest. The mere fact that your town is situated so close to the French border makes it vulnerable to rogue raiding parties.’
‘Yes, but I spent most of my time away from home so I wasn’t aware of that.’ She shook her head. ‘Would that I had been. However, first things first. I was explaining about Simon. We enjoyed what time we were able to snatch together and made plans to settle in England when the war came to an end. Then he perished at the Battle of Copenhagen.’ Desolation swamped her, as it always did when she allowed herself to dwell upon the demise of her brave husband. ‘That part of my account was true.’
‘I never doubted it.’ Adam’s tone resonated with sincerity. ‘But it still leaves a lot of things unexplained.’
‘Yes, I know.’ Florentina pleated the folds of her skirt between her fingers, lost in the past. ‘It was some time before news of Simon’s death reached me. When I recovered from the shock, I threw myself even more wholeheartedly into my work as a scout, determined to do what I could to aid the British cause.’ She risked glancing at him, dreading to see compassion in his eyes. She could handle anything but that. To her relief, he merely looked as though he understood her need to keep active. ‘It was over a year after his death before I returned to Saragossa, and what I found there shook me rigid.’ She paused to sip her cooling tea. ‘My parents were both dead from a fever. We’d been attacked by a band of marauding French deserters and our house had been stripped of everything of value. I found Sophia and Ramon hiding in the cellar, half-starved and scared out of their wits.’
A tear trickled from the corner of her eye and she dashed it impatiently away.
In one fluid movement, Adam crossed the room and sat beside her, producing a handkerchief, which he passed to her.
