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Feeling more uneasy under Dixon's intense scrutiny than she had at Adam's, Helena's cheeks heated. She was almost certain her escort was referring to more than a morning ride. Perhaps Charis had been right when she'd said Helena elicited a passionate response from gentlemen.
Not sure what she ought to do about it, Helena kept her response strictly mundane. '"Tis not fashionable, Aunt Lillian told me, but I fear I do rise very early. I'm a rather restless soul, as I suppose you've noticed. Despite the slow pace of the drive, 'tis wonderful to be outside again after being tethered to the house for weeks."
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"You spent much of your youth out of doors?"
Into her head flashed the image of the barred room, the airless, lightless priest's hole. "Not enough. I was often...constrained to be indoors and vowed that someday I would spend as much time driving and riding as possible."
"Adam tells me your home is on the coast? I e xpect the weather often forced the ladies indoors. Were you condemned to take your exercise strolling the Great Hall under the disapproving eyes of your ancestors?"
Since there was little she could or wished to say about her home and upbringing, she replied instead, "My mother's passion was raising thoroughbreds. As she was the foremost horsewoman in three counties, I sat a pony before I could walk and practically grew up in the stables. I can't wait to begin riding again."
If he noted her evasion, he did not comment on it. "Then as we progress at our shamefully slow pace, you must point out the horses that interest you."
For the next half hour they exchanged observations on the points of the various bays, bloods and grays under saddle of the passing riders. They had nearly finished their first circuit of the park when a congestion of horsemen and vehicles gathered about one carriage brought their already slow progress to a complete halt.
Seated in the central carriage was a woman with white-blond hair wearing a scarlet gown and pelisse with the lowest decolletage Helena had ever seen. At this distance she could not ascertain the color of the woman's eyes, but her lips and cheeks were so arrest-THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
ing a rose, Helena knew she had to have resorted to a rouge pot.
"Who is that lady?" she asked her companion— whose enthralled gaze, she noted, was fixed on that very subject.
As if startled, Mr. Dixon turned quickly back to her, his fair skin flushing. A guilty look in his fine blue eyes, he cleared his throat as if uncertain what to say.
"Is she one of the pleasure women?" Helena asked. As Mr.
Dixon's face flushed even redder, she waved off his garbled response. "I suppose she must be. My apologies! Charis did warn me I should not mention such women."
While her escort remained speechless, Helena shook her head and sighed. "I must say, it seems there are a great number of interesting topics one is 'not supposed' to discuss. But I have embarrassed you, so I promise to at least pretend to avert my eyes and return the conversation to more proper channels."
Though, Helena thought as she made a show of primly directing her eyes straight ahead, she might have to figure out a way to meet the woman. Ladies of that class were probably the only members of her sex with either the willingness or the experience to discuss the fascinating topic of men, women and desire.
The knot of carriages moved apart and they were able to ease past the vehicle. She turned to find Mr. Dixon's frankly assessing gaze on her. When she lifted an eyebrow inquiringly, he chuckled and shook his head. "You are a remarkable lady, Miss Lambarth,"
he said, the color in his cheeks beginning to recede. "Gen- 179
tlemen do not discuss certain...topics with ladies to spare their more delicate sensibilities. However, since you appear more curious than embarrassed, I hope that, despite my reaction a moment ago, you will feel free to ask me any question you wish."
"Eve n on 'forbidden' topics?"
Though his cheeks colored again, he replied firmly,
"Especially on forbidden topics. I greatly admire indi viduals who
think freely, not meekly accepting rules simply because Society dictates them. Ask me anything."
Studying him and deciding his offer was genuine, Helena nodded. "I shall do so, then. Is that not the entrance we came in? I expect we can return now."
"So soon?" He looked startled. "Have I been that poor an escort?"
"You have been charming," Helena assured him. '"Tis just that, due to that restless nature I described, if I'm forced to endure this maddeningly slow pace much longer, I fear I may leap from the carriage and run screaming out of the park—a scene that would have to embarrass you as much as it would distress Aunt Lillian. To avoid so dreadful a prospect, would you take me home? I shall not return to the park unless it is deserted enough for me to ride as fast as I wish."
"I hope you'll allow me to accompany you."
"But you said yo» prefer not to rise early."
"I said I'd come out early for the right reason."
She grinned. "You believe you can keep up—once I'm mounted on the excellent horse you shall find for me?"
He returned another of those heated, hungry looks. "I believe I am up to the challenge."
180 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
"Ventre à terre, the complete circuit?"
Mr. Dixon put his gloved hand over hers and turned to look into her eyes, his own smoldering with intensity. "I shall look forward to it with utmost anticipation."
She was struck agai n by how much the heat of his gaze resembled the look in Adam Darnell's eyes that night in the library. But instead of being mesmerized, Helena had to resist the urge to move away. Gently removing her hand from his, she replied, "Very well. So, what is your opinion of the dissolution of the Italian states?"
Tacitly accepting her retreat, during the drive back to St.
James Mr. Dixon talked with her about the recent initiatives put forth in the international discussions. By the time they reached the Darnell town house, as impressed by Mr. Dixon's knowledge as she'd initially been by his charm, Helena hoped he would indeed turn out to be the friend he showed promise of becoming. He left Helena with a pledge to inspect the current offerings at Tattersalls for her.
She had just arrived in her chamber, where Nell waited to take her pelisse and bonnet, when after a short knock, Dickon rushed into the room and skidded to a halt.
"Miss, I be so terrible sorry!" he cried, wringing his hands. "I never meant to mull things up so." Turning to his sister, he added,
"I'm sorry for you, too, Nell!" With that, he buried his face in his hands and sobbed.
Exclaiming with alarm, Nell gathered the weeping lad into her arms. Before she could extract any information from him, there was another knock and Chads entered.
Her face distressed, she came over to Helena. "Is it true, what Harrison told Bellemère? It upset her so, she suffered another of her spasms."
Casting a glance at Helena's two servants huddled together in the corner, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Did you really hire Nell and Dickon out of a workhouse?"
CHAPTER 14
After her call on his stepmother, Adam had driven his fiancée to the park—where he had the dubious pleasure of seeing, at a distance, his best friend so absorbed in chatting with Miss Lambarth that he failed to notice Adam.
The other gentlemen riding or strolling about had certainly noticed Miss Lambarth, her pale oval face luminescent as a pearl above the emerald satin of her gown, displayed as upon a stage in that ridiculously high excuse for a carriage. The progress of Dix's phaeton seemed to Adam to have created nearly as great a stir as that of the Divine Alice, a Fashionable Impure whose great beauty was exceeded only by the high cost of her upkeep.
His disgruntlement was not eased when Priscilla patted his hand and said she thought it very bad of Mr. Dixon to show off Miss Lambarth almost like a man would flaunt.. .another sort of creature. Perhaps Adam ought to put a word in the ear of Lady Darnell or his friend, since the poor untutored girl obviously didn't realize that riding about in such a vehicle, with only the gentleman's groom as a chaperone, might make her appear quite
"fast."
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That probably wasn't reason enough for him to feel so tempted to knock Dix's teeth down his throat, but Adam was too irritated to want to examine the impulse any further. Impatient to go home and make sure Dix had taken her straight back to St. James Square, he had to force himself to calm down and accept Priscilla's offer of refreshment.
He had just taken a seat beside his fiancée in the Standish parlor when a footman entered, bearing a note from his stepmother. From what little he could decipher of the wildly crossed lines, Lady Darnell implored him to Return Immediately to Deal With a Matter of Grave Import.
"I'm sorry, Priscilla, but I shall have to beg off. Something has arisen that requires my immediate at tention."
"That phaeton! I hope there hasn't been an accident."
Alarm flashed through Adam before he recalled that, unstable as the phaeton might be, with Dix at the reins an accident was most unlikely. "I trust not, but Bellemère implores my assistance, so go I must."
"Of course you must! You will report back later and set my mind at rest? Dear Lady Darnell will be my mama-in-law soon, and I am most concerned for her welfare."
