Redeeming the Deception of Grace (9 page)

"
I can see that
,
sir.
"
After a moment
,
Whit
moved to stand beside Ewan in front of the fire
.
"
So, what are you going to do about it
,
sir?
"

"
Do about
Grace
? Nothing. That is the difficult part. I want to charm her, woo her…
"
He paused with a small curse
.
"
I want to ruin her
,
Whit, so I can force her to marry me, but I won
'
t do it.
"
H
e
looked heavenward.
"
I can
'
t
.
T
his
love business is miserable.
"
Ewan
'
s
spoke
more to himself than
to
anyone else.

"
So you
'
re going to give up?
"
Whit
'
s question sounded more like a challenge.

"
Yes
—
no
…
I don
'
t know.
"
Ewan shook his head as he deliberated.
"
I didn
'
t think so, I even issued a
n
overt c
hallenge to Shiply earlier
,
but now I just don
'
t know
.
"
The clock
'
s ticking echoed in the silence as Ewan lost himself in thought
.

Only
after a few minutes did he realize that Whit
had also been quiet
.

"
Sir, have you ever considered that perhaps
Lady Grace
deserves the option of choosing you
?
"
Whit turned to face Ewan.

Ewan gave a humorless laugh
.
"
Me? Why would she choose me?
"

"
Ah, so Shiply is better for her?
"
Whit continued
to prod
.

"
Shiply, no! Not at all!
"
The horror Ewan felt at such an idea must have been apparent on his face
,
for Whit gave him a cautionary look before continuing.

"
But by giving up
,
you let him win, or give him the chance to win by default
.
H
ave
you considered that?
"
Whit
asked softly
.

"
Actually, no
,
"
Ewan admitted, a fierce hope illuminating his
heart.

"
I see.
"

"
But
what if Shiply is honorable in his intentions? What if…
what if he is reformed and is g
enuine in his affections toward
Grace
?
"
Doubt settled once again into Ewan
'
s
heart
.

"
Could he love her more than you
do
?
"
Whit asked
.

"
No.
"
Ewan knew it wouldn
'
t be possible, so he spoke his answer with strength and confidence.

"
Could he protect her heart better than you?
"

"
No
,
"
c
ame Ewan
'
s definitive reply
,
full of the passion of a man in love.

"
Who knows her better?
"

"
I do.
I
'
ve known her my whole life.
"
Ewan
'
s thoughts followed the trail that Whit had led him toward.

"
You
'
re right
,
Whit.
"
He slapped his
butler
on the back and grinned.

"
I usually am
,
sir.
"
Whit remarked with a sly grin, alleviat
ing
some of the tension in the room.

"
I will never admit that
,
"
Ewan replied giving him a sidelong glance.

"
So now
,
sir, if I may ask?
"

Ewan rolled his eyes.
"
Whit, would you stop your
'
feigned humility
,
'
as you call it? We both know you
'
ll ask
,
regardless of my gra
n
ting you permission.
"

"
Sir, what are you going to do about
Lady Grace
?
"

With a fierce beating in his heart,
Ewan placed a strong hand on Whit
'
s shoulder and looked him in the eye.
"
Win her
,
Whit
.
I
'
m going to win her heart
.
"
Ewan
felt his
face br
a
ke into the grin of a man that had hope once again.

"
Excellent
,
sir! Excellent
.
See that you do.
"
Whit nodded his approval
,
walk
ed
to the table,
and pick
ed
up the cure he had prepared for Ewan
'
s diminishing headache
.

Ewan grimaced as he accepted the glass
and held it up in a toast
.
"
To love.
"

C
hapter Six

Upon arriving at the Lordington
'
s
impressive
mansion
,
Ewan immediately searched for
Grace
but was unable to locate her
.
After thirty minutes of searching, ducking debutant
e
s intent on securing a dance and a few dowagers wanting far more than a
n innocent
dance, he found her
.
Glowing in a gown of light gold highlighted by a cream
-
colored jacket
,
she floated into the room on the arm of Shiply
.

Ewan struggled to keep his temper in check but failed when she gave Shiply an adoring smile and laughed at something he said
.
Unable to resist,
Ewan
began his advance toward the corner of the ballroom where
she stood conversing
.

When he
drew
closer
,
Grace
looked up at his approach
,
and upon seeing him rather than offering him a smile or small wave
,
she turned to Shiply
,
and he escorted her to the dance floor
.
It wouldn
'
t have been as suspicious if she hadn
'
t checked over her shoulder to make sure Ewan had stopped his pursuit
.
Glowering,
he took up a position
at
the edge of the room.

****

"
Quit your brooding
,
dear
.
Y
ou
'
ll
scare everyone away!
Or perhaps that is the idea?
"
Lady Jarvais
asked as she
joined
Ewan on the side of the room
.

Ewan nodded to her but was distracted by the beauty of the room he hadn
'
t noticed in his efforts to secure Grace
'
s attention.
The hall was beautifully decorated
,
with holly and cedar boughs covering each
mant
el
and highlighted by
hundreds
small candles. The air was thick with
the scent of
cedar
and
a hint of cinnamon that was intended to
put
the guests
in mind
of the joy of the approaching Christmas
h
oliday
.
But Ewan didn
'
t feel like celebrating, not yet.
The effect was lost on Ewan
,
and
he continued to brood, all but ignoring
Lady Jarvais
.

"
Really, Ewan, what has you acting positively boorish tonight? What has gotten into you?
"
Lady Jarvais
'
s brow rose
as she
looked
him over from head to toe.
"
Are you ill
,
dear?
"

"
No, I am not
,
"
Ewan replied impatiently.

"
Well, something is amiss
,
"
s
he remarked as Ewan continued to watch
Grace
,
but he felt the sensation of someone watching him
,
as well
.

The sensation was indeed accurate. Lady Jarvais was studying him without apology. Her
gaze
traveled from
him
to
Grace
and back, realization
illuminating her countenance
.

Ewan felt his upper lip curl in disgust at being so transparent
,
but there was nothing he could do about it now. With a
n
i
mpatient huff, he turned toward
Lady Jarvais
,
who now
wore
a smug expression that he had learned to avoid even as a boy
.

"
You should not act as if you are constantly angry or upset with her. It will not endear her to you, you know
.
"

Lady Jarvais
'
s
words earned her a menacing glare from Ewan
.
After pouring out his bleeding heart to his butler, the last thing he wanted to do was repeat the process.

"
It won
'
t work on me
,
Ewan
.
You might as well come clean
,
"
s
he remarked, giving him a stare-down of her own
.

Ewan tried to appear unaffected
.
"
I resent that you believe me to be angry with her continually
,
"
h
e stated firmly, returning his gaze forward, searching for
Grace
'
s form
.
Another grimace twisted his features once he found her again in Shiply
'
s company.

"
I don
'
t think you
'
re angry at her
,
love. I think you don
'
t know
what
to be with her
,
w
hich in turn frustrates you greatly
,
leading you to drink copious amounts of
b
randy.
"
Lady Jarvais
spoke with a quirk of her lips and a raised eyebrow.

At her words Ewan
'
s head swung about as he narrowed his eyes.
"
If Whit…
"

"
Oh dear, no
,
not Whit. Although I
'
m sure I
'
ll hear about it later when he visits his brother. After all, they can
only
share their adventures with their eccentric employers
with each o
th
er
.
"
She waved her hand in the air completely
,
disregarding his fears.
"
But I wouldn
'
t worry about it
.
Your secrets are always safe with us
—
or
with
Taite, however you wish to look at it
.
But we digress
…
The heart of the matter
,
dear
.
I believe that is the core issue.
"

With a look of resigned disbelief aimed at her assurances of Whit
'
s
and Taite
'
s secrecy, he began to shift as he considered her other question
.
He was just becoming the slightest bit comfortable admitting to
himself
his feelings for
Grace
that went far beyond friendship
.
But to admit those same emotions to her mother? Ewan wasn
'
t so sure he was ready for that step
.

As he deliberated in how to answer her question
,
he was saved the trouble as
Lady Jarvais
spoke once again.

"
Sometimes love grows slowly
,
s
o
slowly that the change is imperceptible until one day you discover
its
overwhelming presence in your life
,
smoldering and unable to be quenched
.
Sometimes love grows quickly, consuming you like wildfire, but that can burn out quickly
.
And sometimes
…
sometimes
,
love is both
—
a slow burn that doesn
'
t reveal itself until it
'
s out of control and smoldering at the same time
.
When that happens
,
it can be the most fearful experience of your life, but also the most worthy, if you
'
re willing to risk the danger.
"

"
What is the danger, exactly?
"
Ewan asked, his words a small whisper in response to the truth in Lady
Jarvais
'
words
.

"
The danger is that you will no longer own your heart, but act in faith and give it away.
"
She smiled sweetly
,
with a hint of
sy
mpathy before patting his shoulder and walking away
,
leaving Ewan alone with his thoughts once more.

Could he risk his heart? For all he knew
,
it was already gone
—
given to
Grace
—
and that scared him more than anything else
.
How could someone be cautious with
h
is
heart when it was no longer
his
own? Worse, how did one know
his
heart was safe
,
when the person holding it was completely unaware of the fact
?

With
a hardened inner resolve,
Ewan decided he needed to take more assertive action. He had thrown the gauntlet with Shiply
,
but
Grace
was still blissfully unaware of his affections, something he
'
d have to remedy quickly
.
Even though he had just spoken about this same issue with Whit, somehow Lady
Jarvais
was able to put it in a clearer
light
.

Striding toward the end of the hall where
Grace
had just returned from the dance floor
,
he tried to meander around the milling people. Annoyed with his lack of progress
—
especially when he saw
Grace
begin to dance with yet another potential suitor
—
he cursed under his breath and headed to the farthest edges of the room, hoping to find more room to make h
is way.

As he reached the edge
,
he noticed various pots and plants adorning the edge of the room, all decorated with bows and woven silk scarves in crimson and sapphire
.
As he skirted around the edge of a tree
,
he looked out into the sea of humanity searching for
Grace
when he ran into something.

"
Oh!
"
c
ame a startled voice that went tumbling backward from the force of Ewan
'
s stride.

Ewan had just made eye contact with
Grace
and was reluctant to break it, but couldn
'
t help it once he knocked over the poor girl. Looking down
,
he saw beautiful creamy skin poke out from beneath her white debutante dress leading down to shapely ankles
.

He averted
his eyes and congratulat
ed
himself on his gentlemanly behavior.
"
Pardon
,
m
iss
. May I help you rise? Are you injured?
"
h
e asked, belatedly
.

He waited for the debutante to look up
,
and when she did
,
he noticed that she was beautiful
.
Soft spun hair cascaded down her shoulders as it had come undone from her original style in her tumble
.
Her eyes were a clear blue fringed
,
with dark spiked lashes and a lower lip that was fuller than the top, adding interest to her face.