Page 38 of An Engagement with the Enemy

Berating herself every step of the way home, Jessica couldn’t explain what had happened. All she knew for certain was that she could never create a situation like that again. Not with James.

Everything about that moment, the way her stomach had twisted and heat had filled her cheeks, was far too dangerous.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Acknowledging a hard truth ought to be a turning point in a man’s life. Perhaps even cause the foundations of his being to quake and shift, changing the geography of his nature and character. Yet, as James stood in the library, the room in the castle that most felt like home to him, he stared out of the stained-glass window at a rose-colored world and felt remarkably steady.

It was as though he had stumbled upon an essential truth, one that had been quietly lying in wait, patiently anticipating the moment he would uncover it.

Yes, he realized with a clarity that pierced his soul, he was attracted to Jessica. And it wasn’t just a fleeting fascination. It was a deep-rooted, undeniable pull that stirred him in a way that was as frightening as it was surprising.

The door to the library opened and James turned as one of the footmen bowed. “Mr. Leonard Harrington to see you, Mr. Aldwick.”

James didn’t have a chance to respond before his cousin strode in, a wide grin on his face and a large parcel tucked under his arm. “I hear you aren’t leg-shackled yet?”

Trust Leo to skip over all formalities and dive into the fray of whatever mess James was in.

He was the best of friends in that way.

“Not yet.” James relaxed and came forward, meeting Leo at the center of the room with a firm grasp of his forearm. “And you didn’t meet your end in Northumbria, I see.”

“Not this time. Though my great-uncle certainly gave it his all to make one of us expire before the end of my visit. Yet we both survive.” He sighed deeply, with a dramatic heave of his shoulders. “I brought you a gift.”

“A gift?” James looked down at the parcel as Leo shifted it to both hands, holding it out between them. “Are we to be those sorts of friends now? Every time I leave home, I’ll have to return with some knick-knack for your shelves?”

“I’ll pitch you headfirst into the lake if you try to fill my home with clutter,” Leo retorted. “My mother does enough of that. We have more statuettes of shepherdesses than there are sheep in England.”

James accepted the parcel and took it to the table at the center of the room, where a large globe held a place of honor. He put the package down and untied the twine. “I cannot think what in Northumbria would merit being brought all the way back to Yorkshire.”

He pulled away the thick brown paper and found a box with an intricately painted lid featuring a pretty woman with a wedding veil held aloft by tiny creatures with wings, arm-in-arm with a man whose head was shaped like a donkey.

James recognized the scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and he laughed as he shook his head at the detailed work of a scene that only someone with both talent and an excellent sense of humor could have wanted to depict.

“Titania’s devotion to Bottom,” his friend said, slapping him on the back. “An avid reader of Shakespeare couldn’t fail to appreciate such a find, I should think. And the subject matter seemed appropriate, given your forthcoming nuptials.”

It felt good to laugh. “Where did you discover this? It is perfect.” He’d put it somewhere prominent at once. The confusion it would cause guests as they tried to sort out where the scene was from, or whether or not to pay it a compliment, would amuse him endlessly.

Leo spoke as though the matter was of no consequence, which made the last several words of his explanation all the more surprising. “My great-uncle introduced me to the most delightful young lady. I think you’d like her, which is why I cannot introduce you to her at present, given your marital obligations. I intend to keep her for myself.”

“You what?” James gripped his friend by the shoulder. “You are betrothed? In so short a time?”

With a wry smile, Leo stepped out of his friend’s grasp. “Don’t be ridiculous. She doesn’t even know her days as an unmarried lady are numbered. In truth, if she yet remained in my uncle’s neighborhood, I would still be there. But she’s coming here, James. She’s the younger sister to the rector’s wife, and they told her all about the fair your family is hosting, so she is coming as their guest.”

James crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “I am wounded, cousin. You came back to follow some poor, unsuspecting woman rather than to support me in my time of need? Such betrayal.”

His friend snorted and dropped into a chair near the cold hearth, across from where James usually sat to read. “Your time of need? Poor James. Forced to sit at home while women are brought to him, one by one, for his choosing. When the reality none of them know is that you’d rather tuck yourself into a book than into a wedding costume.”

Inspecting the box, James opened the lid to find the inside empty. He closed it again, noting the detail the artist had given to the donkey-headed groom’s finery. “Your artist must have an excellent sense of the ridiculous.”

“She does. And a dry wit to rival even Jessica Westcote’s.”

James stilled at the mention of Jessica. Leo had been about enough in their childhood to have been party to pranks played against Jessica, and he’d been on the receiving end with James when Jessica and Catherine retaliated. The four of them knew each other quite well.

But Leo had become friends with their former foe several years before. She’d seemingly accepted a truce between them. It hadn’t ever bothered James. Not until that moment.

“You compare your romantic interest to Jessica?” James closed the box again. “Interesting. I didn’t think you found much about her appealing.”

“Jessica?” Leo stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankle, lazily tucking his arms behind his head. “I think she has many admirable qualities, but as she’s your sworn enemy, we’ve never had reason to discuss them.”