Page 55 of Holding Onto Love

He saw her face. Her refusal. Her confusion.

“Please.” He said it forcefully. Not like a request. “Do it. For me.”

*

He did not permit her to veil herself or steal into the house through the servants’ entrance. He took her up the wide walk to the massive front door. A very stiff butler opened it.

“Peters,” Jasper said, hand on her elbow, steering her inside. “Will you ask the earl if he can see me? I’ll wait in the small parlor. Please tell him Mrs. Wardrip is with me.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Vanessa had never seen a face so blank of expression. Her father’s butlers, a succession of them, tended to sneer.

The earl’s house was grand. Grandeur did not awe her. Old money was still money. Things were just things. But there was, she had to admit, an atmosphere here. Rarified air. As if all loudness, all unpleasantness, must be muffled.

She and Jasper were very quiet. They had used up all their words.

They entered what Jasper called the small parlor. Decorated in forest green damasks, with mahogany furnishings, it was, of course, not small. There was no fire in the grate. Jasper lit a lamp. He indicated one of the chairs. Floral cushioned. She was comforted, against all reason, to see the seat cushion was indented from frequent use. Jasper had taken her into one of the family rooms.

Nevertheless, the earl could not walk in to find her seated as if she belonged. What was Jasper thinking! They stood there. Listening to the wall clock tick.

The earl arrived. He did not look as affable as he had at their parting in the gardens. He looked coiled with controlled fury.

“Jasper, what is the meaning of this?”

“Good evening, Father. Perhaps you didn’t see Mrs. Wardrip standing right here?” He gripped her elbow, pulling her a hair closer. She realized she had tried to hide in his shadow.

The earl closed his eyes and breathed…mightily. He opened them.

“Good evening, Mrs. Wardrip. I did not mean to be rude.”

“My lord.” She dipped a curtsy. And thought better of saying anything more.

“I apologize, Father, for this intrusion. I would not impose like this, but I’m concerned for Mrs. Wardrip’s safety.”

The earl pursed his lips. “Because tonight is Hazard’s gamblers’ rout?”

“You know—

“Yes, I know about it. Hazard invited me. I told him he was absurd.”

Jasper looked a little hurt. “I know it is rather melodramatic, but…”

“It’s clever enough.” He sniffed. “But Hazard knows I won’t step foot in Brooks’s. Bunch of foxed Whigs! But that’s neither here nor there.” He looked from one to the other. “Has Hilyer made threats?”

“No,” Jasper said. “Not threats.”

“You cannot have been intimidated by that pea-brained insult in the scandal sheet.”

Jasper groaned. A muffled but definite groan. He was not pleased his father was aware he’d been deemed a handsome bed.

“It’s an overabundance of caution, but I don’t want to leave Mrs. Wardrip alone.”

Was that it? Her heart melted, just a little. He meant well. But he didn’t understand. She would still be alone. Still listening for his footsteps.

“I don’t know, Jasper. This is beyond—”

The door sprang open and another Taverston skidded into the room.