Page 45 of Lady Audacious
‘Ah, that would explain it.’ She smiled too and the gesture lit up her features, highlighting the amusement in her remarkable eyes and drawing Reuben’s attention to the delicate shape of her mouth. The more relaxed she felt in his company, the more things he found to admire about her appearance and forms of expression. ‘But no matter how we come at this, nothing can alter the fact that you are an earl and I am…well, I have absolutely no idea who I am but I am perfectly sure that I am very far from being your social equal.’
‘And that matters because…’
‘Foolish man! You know as well as I do that such things are vitally important.’
‘Perhaps to those who feel they have a duty to maintain appearances, but I quickly tire of the flummery and prefer people who interest me because they are…well, interesting. Or in your case challenging, intelligent and very brave.’
‘Hardly brave, but I will accept the compliment. I have been obedient for as much of my life as I can recall. Taking possession of Fox’s Reach is the bravest thing I have ever attempted, and I have to say that despite everything I am starting to enjoy the freedom to do as I please. Anyway, who am I—a mere nobody—to quarrel with your wishes, so Reuben it is.’
He sent her a wicked smile designed to breach her defences, but it undoubtedly confused her as a rosy blush bloomed on her cheeks. She turned her face from him and he allowed her a moment to regain her composure. He had no business flirting with her when she was totally ill-prepared to respond, but just couldn’t seem to help himself. Her circumstances enthralled him and he enjoyed her challenging company enormously. She didn’t flatter or hang on his every word and didn’t hesitate to contradict him if he said something with which she disagreed. The change from the manner in which the majority of people treated him was as unexpected as it was welcome.
He also suspected that she was completely unaware of her sensual nature. Sensuality was not something that a person could acquire through practice. It was instinctive, and one either possessed it or one did not. Odile most assuredly had it, leaving Reuben in a near-permanent state of frustration when in her company as a consequence.
The chit had a lot to answer for.
‘I am glad we are agreed then,’ he said when she returned her attention to him. ‘I won’t tell you how to conduct yourself, but a word to the wise. Make sure Harris or one of your other male servants is always around when you are at home. I don’t mean to frighten you, but I sense we haven’t seen the last of Brigstock, and there will be others like him hoping to prey upon your weakness as a lone woman in possession of a valuable inheritance.’ He removed one hand from the reins and waved aside the protest he sensed her formulating. ‘Oh, I know there is nothing weak about you, but others do not, and you are not versed in the ways of the real world.’
‘If that is what you think then you have never had to control a gaggle of pubescent girls who are constantly laying plans to entice the young men who attract their interest.’ She grinned. ‘Some of the wild suggestions I have overheard in my time gave me a very torrid glimpse of the real world, as you put it, and the lengths to which desperate people are willing to go in order to get ahead.’
He laughed. ‘I can well imagine, but silly young girls dreaming about glittering futures are a far cry from the harsher realities. Suffice it to say there are few stratagems that those desperate to exploit your good fortune will not be reduced to.’
He expected her to protest, to make it clear that she could take care of herself, but she surprised him as she so easily could by inclining her head in a gesture of accord.
‘Thank you, Lord…Reuben. I am grateful that you have spared a thought for my welfare, given that we are barely acquainted. I am not sufficiently naïve to suppose that I will be safe, or vain enough to imagine that anything other than my inheritance will appeal to Brigstock and his like. You can be sure that I will be on my guard.’ She smiled. ‘Besides, I have Willow to protect me.’
‘Well then,’ he replied, returning her smile as he drew his team to a halt outside her house, ‘I am clearly worrying needlessly.’
‘Thank you very much for your help today,’ she said as he assisted her from the conveyance. ‘Naturally, I will be glad to know what your man discovers about the elusive Mr Smythe. I have a feeling that his enquiries will lead us to more answers.’ She sighed. ‘Whether or not I shall want to hear them is another matter. You know, I have spent the last eleven years telling myself that I will eventually get to the truth, no matter how harsh. Now that it seems I actually might achieve that ambition, I am nervous.’ She paused and fixed him with a look of anxious uncertainty. ‘More nervous that I imagined possible. Everything has happened so fast.’
‘We can leave things be if you would prefer.’
‘Heavens no! I am no coward. Whatever it is, I want to know.’
‘That is what I supposed.’ Having helped her down, Reuben raised the hand he still held in his to his lips and kissed the back of it. ‘And you are assured of my continued help.’
‘Oh!’
She appeared taken aback, and widened her eyes as she looked up at him with a combination of astonishment and a dawning of awareness. Reuben suspected that no man had ever kissed her hand before. Her reaction to what was a commonplace occurrence in Reuben’s world showed just how sheltered her upbringing had been, releasing something deep inside of him that kept him immune from the normal range of feminine wiles.
Odile wasn’t attempting to procure his interest by exaggerating an instinctive reaction to his gentlemanly gesture. She was bewildered, a little lost and exceedingly vulnerable, abruptly cast adrift from everything that was familiar to her and let loose on the world under circumstances that she was struggling to understand. Damn it all, this time last week she had still been a school teacher, wrapped in the protective cocoon of a familiar routine, with absolutely no idea how comprehensively her life was about to change.
Her situation had stirred his protective instincts and he would help her with his dying breath, with no expectation of reward other than another of those wide-eyed looks of admiration that made him feel as though he could walk on water.
It was the most extraordinary thing.
‘Good day to you,’ he said, releasing her hand, raising his hat and reluctantly returning to his carriage.
She stood where she was as he whipped up his team, watching him until he turned a corner and was lost from view.
Reuben drove home thinking that Musgrove, his dog trainer, would be the best person, the one he trusted the most to do the questioning about the elusive Smythe. He frequented the taproom at the Portcullis most evenings, where he was a well-known and respected regular. He went in search of him as soon as he had surrendered his curricle to his groom and had been reunited with an ecstatic Chase.
He found Musgrove putting the young dogs through their paces in the field set aside for that purpose. Reuben stood at the fence with Chase at his side, taking pride at the natural manner in which his greyhounds took to tracking, loping after the scent that Musgrove had laid out for them and instinctively competing against one another in their pursuit of it.
‘Archer’s a natural to take over from his father,’ Musgrove said, joining Reuben once the dogs came to the end of the track with Archer easily outstripping them all. A handler collected them and took them back to their kennels.
‘So it would appear,’ Reuben said, showing less enthusiasm than was customary for a subject that ordinarily occupied his full attention. ‘Anyway, I have another sort of job for you and it’s delicate.’
‘Right. I can do delicate.’ Musgrove pushed his cap onto the back of his head and scratched his scalp. ‘What do you need of me?’
