Pity instantly swirled in her eyes. ‘Forgive me... I should have offered my condolences before... I am so very sorry about your brother.’
‘Not as sorry as I am.’ Although more for himself than out of actual grief. It was difficult to mourn a stranger, especially such a callous, inhumane and cruel one. ‘They are proving to be big shoes to fill.’
‘My father only painted him last year and at that time your brother was in rude health.’
The penny dropped. ‘Your father is Augustus Brookes?’
She nodded and beamed properly for the first time, leaving him once again staggered at just how beautiful she was. ‘And my mother is Roberta Brookes the famous soprano, who was obviously a little put out when you didn’t realise it earlier. Now even my elder sister Faith is making a name for herself in the art world, so I know all about big shoes to fill.’ Her expression momentarily clouded. ‘It can be daunting...particularly if you share none of their obvious talents and none of them quite understands yours.’
‘I have no idea what I am doing.’ The words tumbled out before he could stop them. ‘I was never meant to inherit, I certainly never expected to and nobody prepared me for it. I was perfectly content running my little slate quarry and fixing my own ancient and leaky roof in the middle of nowhere, but now I have land and tenants, stocks, shares, employees and property coming out of my ears and none of it makes any sense to me at all and I have no clue what to do with it.’
‘Don’t you have an estate manager or something?’
‘Oh, I have managers, three of them, and I am sure they would much prefer that I left them all to it like my brother did, but I am not built that way. I’ve never been one to rest on my laurels, I have always had to work for my living and I am used to understanding everything that is my business to know. I hate feeling so beholden and out of control.’ Being out of control made him feel sick and scared and impotent again like he had when they had locked his mother away and he couldn’t rescue her. But why the blazes he was telling her all this, he had no idea, other than he had the overwhelming compunction to tell someone and she was the only person he had met in London that he felt comfortable discussing it with. Something—probably extreme tiredness—told him she would understand.
‘I can’t even find someone decent to redecorate this house who doesn’t want to swindle me. Upstairs looks like a brothel...’ Should he be saying the wordbrothelin the presence of a lady? ‘And downstairs looks like a tart’s boudoir.’ He definitely shouldn’t be saying that, but he currently didn’t have the capacity, the energy or the wherewithal to filter out the inappropriate.
She snorted, then laughed. It wasn’t the least bit false or delicate but it was genuine. ‘The decor of Lord Clacton’s mistress is not to your taste then?’ Curiosity then clearly got the better of her. ‘Is it reallythatbad?’
‘Come over...see it for yourself. On second thoughts, don’t you dare. I pride myself on my strong constitution, but the colours are so shocking they make my head spin. I need to have my mother over for a visit, but I daren’t invite her with it looking like this!’
‘My father could help.’
‘I thought he painted portraits, not walls.’
She giggled again and he found himself laughing too. It felt marvellous. ‘I meant he knows lots of reputable and reliable tradesmen and will happily advise you tomorrow at tea. That’s if he can get a word in edgewise, of course. My mother is beside herself with joy at the coup of being the first matron to take tea with the dissolute new Marquess of Thundersley.’ She said this unapologetically, those cat-like eyes dancing.
‘The newspapers only think I am dissolute because you pushed me in the fountain.’
She snorted at that. ‘They think you are dissolute because you were found in that fountain drunk. I accept no blame for that, sir.’ She had him there. ‘And be in no doubt, my mother only invited you to tea because she adores gossip and likes to be the first to have it so that she can spread it. You have quite the bad reputation, Lord Trouble, and her mission tomorrow will be to grill you until she confirms it and then we will all have to give you a wide berth while she warns the rest of the capital of your depravity.’
‘I guarantee she will adore me before the first cup is drunk. I am told I have a way with people, especially women, and I can beverycharming. So charming it’s a wonder some woman hasn’t already snapped me up and rushed me down the aisle. And with my shiny new title, I am assured I am quite the catch.’ Because her eyes widened at his barefaced nerve, and because she was at her loveliest and most unguarded when vexed and flustered, he couldn’t resist flirting a bit simply to enjoy her reaction. ‘Admit it, Hope—you are more than a little bit tempted by me yourself.’
She didn’t disappoint, piercing him with a glare which was as cold and unrelenting as ice. ‘What an over-inflated opinion you have of yourself. But, alas, like me, my family will see right through you. The entire Brookes clan have a nose for ne’er-do-wells.’
‘Is that a challenge?’
‘It’s a fact, Lord Trouble, so gird your loins and prepare yourself for the Spanish Inquisition. My family are also loud, boisterous, interfering and not the least bit subtle about it. Which reminds me...’ She broke eye contact to stare down at her hands. ‘Thank you for not apprising them of our previous encounters. I flatly denied having anything to do with pushing you in that fountain when the papers linked me to the incident.’ Her teeth worried her plump bottom lip, making him wonder if the mere mention of the fountain made her recall their splendid kiss exactly as it had him. ‘It’s probably best not to mention these unchaperoned little chats across the balcony either. My mother, especially, can be very protective...and I am rather fond of this room.’
‘You have my word, as a man of honour, that they will be our secret.’ Because he certainly didn’t want them to stop. Not that he would have ever said anything to inadvertently malign her in the first place. He had been brought up to have the utmost respect for women and especially their fragile reputations. He had fiercely protected his mother’s for years.
‘Yes...’ She smiled a little shyly this time, giving him a glimpse of the real her beneath all the tart bravado. ‘That is probably best.’ Then, as if she was mortified she had shown him too much vulnerability, she licked her fingers and briskly snuffed out her candles, plunging them both into virtual darkness before she gathered up her papers and stood. The only light now was the weak glow from the solitary lamp he had lit behind him by his bed which, to his still wandering mind, only served to make things feel more intimate. ‘I might not be quite pious and prudish enough for a nunnery, but my mother certainly is and if she knew that...um...’
‘We had shared a splendid kiss on our first meeting, you were confronted by the sight of me naked on our second and we keep having these gloriously unchaperoned and improper visits on the balcony, she’d have an apoplexy?’
‘Precisely.’ He could hear her amusement at his cockiness. ‘And despite all that impropriety being entirely your fault, I’d be shipped off to that nunnery quicker than I could shove you in another pond for being so annoyingly smug about it all.’
‘Fear not, my lips are sealed.’
‘Thank you.’ She exhaled in relief as she backed a little further through the doors. ‘And tomorrow we shall behave as proper, polite and indifferent strangers and continue in that vein henceforth.’
‘While you have my solemn pledge that I will behave in public, I absolutely refuse to do so in private. I see no reason to add propriety into our relationship at this late stage of the game. Especially as I find myself thoroughly delighted by the impropriety of it all.’
‘You are incorrigible.’ And he could still hear her smiling.
‘That I am...but I suspect you already rather like that about me.’
‘I see, my poor misguidedLord Trouble, that you are arrogant and deluded too.’ Her affected huff lacked conviction. ‘As I can assure you I have found little to like so far.’
