A Guardians Angel (26 page)

“She will have it, but later. Another year or two should make no difference.” He glanced out a window toward the east, and she knew that the one who had the greatest nostalgia for the East was the duke. Her evaluation was confirmed when he added, “I was mistaken to bring them here in the first place.”

“What if the children do not wish to go?”

“Why would they not wish to return home?”

Angela wanted to have sympathy for him, because it was clear that the one who had been unhappiest in Oslington Court was the duke. She must not feel sorry for him when his decision was sure to demolish Leonia’s dream of a Season in London. “Your Grace, I believe they are beginning to see England as home. They were so pleased to come home to Oslington Court after the wedding.”

“So they could play with Harrington’s deaf child.”

“Her name is Delicia.”

Again he waved the page at her. “I was speaking of my plans to take the children on a journey.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Leonia has told me that you have a yearning to travel.”

“I have had.” She lowered her eyes, so he could not read the truth in them. Once she had craved the opportunity to see horizons far beyond England’s. That dream remained, but the timing was not right. For now, she wanted to stay here so she could discover if there was a way she could bridge the chasm that had opened between her and Justin.

“There is little enthusiasm in your voice.” He leaned forward, startling her. When she looked up at him, he said, “I hope you will have more enthusiasm when I speak of what I must next.”

“I will endeavor to.”

“No, do not endeavor to. I wish your
honest
reaction to the question I am about to ask.”

“I promise I will be honest.”

“And do you always keep your promises?” He stood and sat next to her, so close that she could smell the pungent aroma of his favorite snuff. “I own that I cannot imagine you breaking a promise.”

“I am sure I have.” She smiled uneasily. He was acting so oddly. His gaze kept catching hers, then skittering away like Esther when she knew she had misbehaved. “What is it that you wish to ask me, Your Grace?”

“I would ask you to become my wife.”

Angela stared at him in disbelief.
His
wife? Her dreams had been filled with hearing Justin speak these words, but she had never imagined the duke saying them.

“Do you have no answer, Miss Needham?” That whisper of a smile returned. “Or I should say: Do you have no answer, Angela?”

“Your Grace—”

“It would not be inappropriate for you to address me at this moment as Rodney.”

She nodded and forced her lips to shape his name. “Rodney, you overmaster me with your proposal.”

“I do not understand why. It is a sensible solution. I cannot handle the children alone during our journey. When we traveled from India, several servants came with us. They have since returned there, because they had no fondness for England’s cool weather.” He took her hands in his.

She was stunned by his smooth skin, for she had expected a soldier to be hardened by his life. Quickly she reminded herself that the voyage from distant India had been a long one. Mayhap it had been long enough to allow his palms to soften to the texture of Leonia’s. He had not ridden at Oslington Court. Here, he had sequestered himself away from everything in his book-room where he could lose himself in books about the East.

He stroked her fingers, but with no more passion than he would have shown one of the children. “You should not be surprised. You know how dependent this family has become upon you.”

“Dependent?”

“You look displeased. I meant only to compliment your gentleness and your skills which have brought a serenity to Oslington Court that I had not been aware of until Mother’s arrival. Even in the midst of her visit, you have kept the house tranquil. After all, it has been nearly a week since Esther loosed her monkey in the conservatory, and I have not had to chide Leonia once for her mooniness.” He stood, bringing her to her feet. Gently, he tugged on her hands to draw her closer. “Do consider this proposal.”

In spite of herself, her voice squeaked when she gasped, “Your—”

“Rodney,” he corrected. “I await your answer, Angela.”

“I fear I shall embarrass myself if I speak my thoughts.”

“Never fear, Angela, to speak the truth to me.”

“I have no idea what the truth might be at this time.” She tried to keep heat from climbing her cheeks as rapidly as Wallah scaled the nursery curtains.

“The truth is that I am asking you to be my wife. I have seen that you love these children.”

“Yes,” she said cautiously, tensing for the question that she suspected would come next.

“And I know that you love the idea of traveling, for I have heard you often asking the children about their journey here. In addition, I saw how pleased you were with our journey to Scotland.”

“Yes.” She did not add that a great part of her pleasure had been the thought of coming back here and the chance to see Justin again. How much more she would have anticipated the sojourn if she had guessed she would be able to spend a glorious evening with him, his lips on hers!

“Then why not come with me?”

Angela lowered her eyes again. She could give him one reason. It came from the depths of her heart. She did not have a
tendre
for him. She was in love with a man he despised … a man who had thrown her out of his life.

“I need time to think,” she whispered, wondering if even an eternity could make her more certain about this unexpected proposal. The duke—Rodney—was correct. It made sense for her to stay with the children, especially during this trip across Europe. Yet she did not need to be a duchess to accompany them. Her position as Leonia’s companion would lend respectability to the arrangement.

“We leave the day after tomorrow for Dover. I will need an answer by then.”

“But that would make it impossible for us to marry, and I could not possibly travel with you as your
fiancée.
” Her qualms were incredibly soothed by this excuse that would not offend him.

“Do not be so parochial. You think only in terms of England. The laws are quite different beyond these shores. We need only set sail, and the captain of our ship can speak the wedding ceremony before we reach Calais.”

When she took a step away from him, he released her without comment. She wished she could hear her thoughts over the rapid pounding of her heart.
This
she had not guessed was on his mind.

She began, “This is a great honor—”

“You sound as if you are about to make a speech in the House of Lords. Speak plainly.”

Angela gnawed on her lower lip, then said, “I am not sure what to say.”

“Angela, the answer is simple. Say that you will marry me.”

“I will—”

At a gasp from the other side of the room, Angela spun to see Leonia and the children. The younger ones were wide-eyed with astonishment, but Leonia’s eyes were swimming with tears. They fell along her cheeks as she whirled and ran out of the room.

Angela stared after them in dismay as she realized her request to have more time to think about his offer had been misunderstood. Leonia’s gasp had interrupted at the very worst moment. She must speak to Leonia.

“Angela?” The duke took her hand and drew her a step closer.

In dismay, she stared at him. Her heart thumped against her breastbone. As he bent toward her, she stiffened. Was he planning to kiss her? She could not kiss a man she did not love, especially when she longed to be in the arms of the man she did love. When the duke gave her a taut smile, she feared he had perceived the course of her thoughts.

“I must go and talk to Leonia,” she whispered.

“She—”

“Please let me talk with her now.”

He nodded, although his expression revealed his confusion.

Angela ran after Leonia and reached the young woman just as Leonia was going into her room with her face awash with tears.

Leonia turned to face her. “Why are you following me? Don’t you have any decency?”

“I want to talk with you. I think you have misunderstood.”

“Misunderstood what? Rodney asked you to marry him and you told him yes.”

“No, I did not tell him yes. I was about to tell him I needed some time to think about his offer.”

Leonia shook her head. “I trusted you, Angela! I trusted you with the truth of my hopes and dreams. And then you—you do
this.
”

“I have not agreed to marry the duke.”

“But if you tell him no, he will just ask someone else.” Her voice broke as she whispered, “Whether it is you or someone else, it does not matter.”

“You love him so much?”

“Yes! I thought you knew! I thought you would be the one person who would understand.” She grasped the door. “I should have listened to Thomas when he chided you as my guardian’s angel. Now you will be Rodney’s Angela. I hope you will be very happy knowing you have broken my heart. I thought you would understand!”

The door slammed.

Angela knocked on it and called Leonia’s name. She heard only the sound of desperate tears. With a sigh, she sat in a chair in the corridor. She
did
understand. All too well, she understood having a broken heart.

Eighteen

“I hope you are satisfied.”

At Mrs. Graves’s unusually sharp tone, Justin looked up from the article that had been delivered in just the past hour from Oslington Court by a very nervous footman. Angela must have been determined that he would not toss aside the idea of sending Delicia to the school for deaf children near Paris. The information in the newspaper article was cursory, but it had, as Angela must have known it would, piqued his curiosity. Dozens of questions bounced through his head.

Not one was focused on the school. Instead, his mind taunted him endlessly with the scene of Angela leaving Harrington Grange. She had not left in anger, but hurt by his words that had guaranteed she now would easily come under Oslington’s thumb and stay far from Harrington Grange. The pain that he had vowed to avoid had been shunted over onto her, and he had not escaped it himself. He had made a muddle of the whole of it.

“I can assure you, Mrs. Graves,” he replied, “that I am far less than satisfied.”

Her brows rose at his tone that was as uncommonly sharp as hers. She started to speak, then stepped aside, with a slight smile, as Delicia rushed into the parlor.

Justin held out his arms, and his daughter clambered into his lap. As Delicia cuddled close, he sighed. He adored these moments when his daughter curled up against him as she had when just a baby. Yet his arms ached for a more mature love … the very love that Angela had offered him, the very love that he had denounced.

“So you have heard?” asked Mrs. Graves.

“Heard what?” He looked over Delicia’s head to the housekeeper who continued to wear a frown that lengthened her thin face.

“The tidings from Oslington Court.”

“I have heard that Oslington is taking his household away for an extended trip.”

“Back to India, it is being said.”

“That should please all of them, save for Her Grace. I cannot imagine her traveling farther from England’s shores than Europe.”

“She is not going anywhere but London.”

“That is no surprise. Her idea of primitive conditions is living in a house with less than a dozen servants.” He smiled at Delicia. “I must own that I shall be glad to hear that she has departed for London. That woman delights in creating an uproar wherever she goes.”

Mrs. Graves’s face took on an expression that might have been the very source of her name. “’Tis as I suspected. You have
not
heard.”

“There is more?”

“Yes.” That single word seemed reluctant.

Justin frowned. It was not like Mrs. Graves to be so circumspect. Her forthrightness had made her service in Harrington Grange even more valuable. “If you were to enlighten me, Mrs. Graves, then I can tell you if I am already aware of the gossip or not.” He glanced down again as Delicia tugged on his arm to get his attention.

Delicia’s hands floated about her shoulders with an urgency he could not ignore. Did Delicia possess some sense that compensated for her hearing loss? He recognized what she was trying to communicate with her hands. She was asking about Esther at the very moment he was discussing the residents of Oslington Court with Mrs. Graves. Delicia put her fingers to his lips, then made the motion again.

He shook his head, and her face fell into grief. Regret pierced him like a long thorn. He never would have guessed that the echoes of a friendship that had been disintegrated before his daughter was born would still resonate to wreck her camaraderie with Esther Sutton. This was all wrong. What had happened when he married Elizabeth should have been forgiven and forgotten … by both him and Oslington.

“You really should listen to this,” said Mrs. Graves.

Justin nodded, glad to escape the tangled mesh of his own recriminations. “I am listening, Mrs. Graves.”

“The messenger who came from Oslington Court told me that there soon will be a wedding ceremony there.”

“So Oslington is getting married, is he? To whom?”

Mrs. Graves cleared her throat. “My lord, it is said he is marrying Miss Needham.”

“Angela?” He stood and set Delicia on her feet. “You must be mistaken, Mrs. Graves.”

“I asked several times for the lad to confirm to me that his information was authentic and accurate.”

“And he did?”

Mrs. Graves tried to speak, but seemed incapable of it. She nodded as her shoulders hunched.

Justin stared at her, then turned to go to the window that gave him a view with Oslington Court in its center. By Jove, he should have seen this coming. How like Oslington to take advantage of Justin’s most foolish mistake!

When Delicia threw her arms around his legs, he bent and smoothed her hair back from her face. “Not again,” he said. “I shall not make the same mistake again.” Standing, he led Delicia toward where Mrs. Graves was standing. “Mrs. Graves, please get Delicia’s bonnet.”

“Where are you going, my lord?” Her voice dropped to a whisper as her eyes grew round.