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He allowed his gaze to return to Miss Lambarth, garbed this morning in a plain, high-necked gown of deep rose-apricot—its hue like that of the banked coals glowing on the hearth. And like them, she radiated a warmth and energy that urged one to draw nearer. Dismissing the whimsical analogy, he said, "Miss Lambarth, I see you've reconciled with the ladies?"
She smiled slightly, a hint of the expression that had captivated him at their previous meeting. "Aunt Lillian is still not entirely happy, but I've been most penitent. Have I not, Charis?"
"If you're referring to Nell and Dickon, Adam, after Helena explained to me how they were circumstanced, I understood perfectly why she felt it essential to hire them. A brave decision on her part, do you not think?"
While Helena shook her head in demurral, Adam replied,
"Risky, certainly."
198 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
"I shall endeavor to do nothing else to distress Aunt Lillian,"
Helena asserted. "I am even being careful in my conversation when we go out, that I not embarrass her."
"I don't think you need to worry about that," Charis said.
"Since her drive with Mr. Dixon a few days ago, Helena has been surrounded by admirers at every call we've made. I think she shall be the hit of the Season!"
Adam found the notion curiously distasteful. But if she was to marry, which was the best solution for them both, he would have to cease resenting her admirers.
"I'm merely the latest curiosity," Helena countered, "soon to be forgotten when the next oddity appears." She chuckled. "Or when the arbiters of Society find someone else to correct. 'Scarlet is not a color to be worn by a damsel in her first Season,'" she intoned.
As Charis burst into giggles, Adam was taken aback, for she had mimed perfectly the intonation and pitch of Mrs. Drummand Burrell, a redoubtable Society patroness.
When he turned to his sister, eyebrows raised, Charis said,
"She captures Princess Esterhazy and Lady Jersey just as well, Adam. Tell him what 'Silence' replied when you were told that, Helena."
Her eyes alight with mischief, Miss Lambarth switched to
Lady Jersey's softer tones. '"Not by ordinary damsels, Charlotte, but Miss Lambarth is quite exceptional.'"
"You've a definite talent for mimicry, Miss Lambarth," Adam said with admiration.
The light in her eyes faded and her voice went dry. "In my youth, I sometimes found the skill quite useful."
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He could only imagine to what end she'd employed that gift—
to evade her father, perhaps? He wished he could ask—but revealing details of what she'd endured would upset his sister and, if that grim line about her mouth were any indication, wasn't something she would relish retelling.
Before he could speak, her smile returned. "Although it is the dress, rather than the voices, of Society's notables I find fascinating. Mr. Byng, in his pastels accompanied by his poodles.
Lady Wimbleton, whose bonnets remind me of those illustrated in a book in your library about the court of Marie Antionette."
"Surely not that exaggerated," Adam protested.
"But they are!" Charis confirmed, giggling again. "Birds, fruit, feathers, plumes all together atop a huge construction of straw and net."
"Incredible," Adam said with a shudder.
"All too real," Helena affirmed. "Only look!" Putting down her cup, she snatched up a leaf of the previous day's newspaper, then strode over to pluck a bit of charcoal from the hearth. With
the charred piece she quickly sketched the profile of a woman with a long nose, protruding lips and fantastic headdress displaying all the previous items plus a quantity of lace and bows.
"Why, 'tis her very image!" Charis gasped. "Helena, you are so clever!"
As Adam wondered to what use that talent had been put during her grim youth, Miss Lambarth shook her head. "Not at all.
Sketching helped pass the time when I was.. .forced to be idle."
200 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
"When have you ever been idle?" Lady Darnell's voice came from the doorway. "Adam! How delight ful to see you!"
After kissing his stepmother's hand, he protested, "You both speak as if I've become a stranger to my dearest ki n. I see I shall have to breakfast with you more often."
"That would be lovely," Lady Darnell said.
"If Miss Standish can spare you," Chads added, an edge to her voice.
Did his sister feel abandoned? Adam wondered with a pang of guilt. He had been avoiding the house—for reasons he could hardly confess to Charis. But though his nerves continued to hum with the awareness of Miss Lambarth's nearness, this visit had otherwise gone well. Perhaps as he got to know her better and the searing impression of the courtesan in his library was overlaid by images of her as a lady of quality, his baser reaction to her would dissipate. So he could chance spending more time with the ladies.
"Actually, 'twas upon that topic I wished to speak. Priscilla and I both agreed that the great occasion of you ladies attending your first ball demanded an escort. So after dining with her tonight I would like to return here, if you will grant me the privilege of escorting me loveliest ladies in London to Mrs.
Cowper's ball."
He felt amply rewarded when Charis's face lit. "Oh, Adam, that would be wonderful! I've been so nervous, but I shall feel much more confident with you at my side."
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The little sister he ought to protect had been apprehensive, and he too absorbed in bis own problems to notice, he thought with a surge of guilt and regret. "I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else. I know I've.. .ne glected you of late. Please forgive me, Charis."
"Tis very kind of you and Miss Standish," Lady Darnell said.
"But after the gentleman of the ton see my girls at their first ball, I doubt that they will lack for escorts. You need not fear we shall trade upon your fiancée's generosity too often."
Though he ought to be pleased at the picture of other men standing in for him, freeing him to escort his betrothed, for some reason he was not. Dismissing that illogical reaction, Adam turned the conversation to fixing the time for their departure and took his leave.
His baby sister had grown up, he thought as he walked out, feeling suddenly older and a bit wistful. Though he'd wrestled with details of finances and dowries, not until this moment had it truly struck him that soon, some man would claim Charis as his wife and remove her from Adam's house and care forever.
The bittersweet thought of losing her made him appreciate more keenly what she must have been feeling since his engagement. He vowed to savor the time they had left before each took lifelong vows pledging their primary allegiance to another.
He would be proud to stand beside her as she made her debut.
And with a curiosity still tinged by jealousy, he admitted he was intensely interested in observing Miss Lambarth's launch, as well.
202 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
With a sense of anticipation, Adam returned to Darnell House that evening to collect the ladies. Bennett Dixon had promised to join their party. He'd also had a note from his friend Nathan Blanchard, newly returned to town and whom he'd not yet encountered, saying he would look forward to seeing Adam at the ball and standing up with each of Darnell's ladies.
Obviously watching for him, Lady Darnell hurried down to greet him the moment he crossed the threshold. Her eyes bright with happiness and excitement, she blushed as he complimented her great good looks and stylish toilette of deep green satin, admonishing him to save his pretty words for the young ladies.
Taking his arm, she turned him to watch as Charis slowly descended the stairs, twirling for his inspection as she reached them. "So, how do I look, big brother?"
"Like a fairy princess!" As truly she did, from her blond curls done up with pearls and gold ribbon to her gown of white silk trimmed with tiny clusters of pearls to the golden slippers on her dainty feet. With the respectable dowry he could now provide, Adam thought fondly, Charis should have no lack of suitors.
After giving his sister's hand a kiss, Adam turned his gaze
back to the landing, wondering in what guise the unpredictable Miss Lambarm would appear. He started when he heard her voice coming out of me shadows to his left
She emerged from the darkness of the hallway and he literally caught his breath. In defiance of tradition concerning the proper dress for young
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maidens, she was garbed from toe to chin in shimmering gold cloth. As she glided toward them with the proud carriage of an empress, her dark eyes and ebony hair gleaming above the flash of fabric, his dazzled brain conjured up the image of a pagan queen, a gilded Cleopatra.
She halted beside him, near enough that every nerve tingled. It took him several minutes to get his galloping pulse and shaky breathing under control.
So much for becoming used to her attractiveness, he thought wryly. Given its effect on him—he who had been primed to expect the unexpected—he could only wonder at the reaction her appearance would provoke at the ball.
Still, as he angled his head to give her a covert inspection, he had to confess one small disappointment. Bad as it was of him, he'd ho ped for a ghmpse of the shoulders and bosom normally exposed by a ball gown. But though its color might shock, like her other gowns, this one covered her to the tips of her ears.
