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A flush of heat rose in her. No, she had better not claim his escort to Hampton Court. But though attrac tion had sizzled between them as fiercely as ever this afternoon, she'd also felt Unked on a different, deeper level. The temptation to a touching of flesh was both intensified and enriched by a touching of minds.
She'd been amazed that Darnell seemed to comprehend her poorly articulated feelings of restlessness. Having discovered her secret excursion, once again he'd tried neither to bully nor intimidate, but to under- 269
stand—with an empathy she had not experienced since her mother's flight.
Adam Darnell was almost bringing her to believe that men existed who could be not just desired, but admired and trusted.
Admired, trusted—and loved, as she had loved her mother and now loved Aunt Lillian and Charis? If that were true.. .what would that mean to her plans for the future?
A swell of longing intensified the now familiar desire still spiraling in her belly.
But the only such man she'd met was Darnell, and he was spoken for. Having already seve ral times examined the implications of that fact, she locked her roiling emotions away and forced her mind to focus on the most intriguing information
?
she d overheard outside White's.
Deciding to search out the truth of it, she went to Charis's chamber, where she found her friend still at her dressing table, absently combing her hair.
"What a slug-a-bed you've become!" Helena exclaimed with a smile, gesturing to the mantel clock.
"I haven't your energy, Helena! Though I noticed you weren't up to greet us when we returned last night."
Helena squelched a guilty pang at the reason for that omission.
"Hurry, now! Your beaux will be calling soon."
Charis shrugged. "Charlbury and Lord Newsome will stop by, probably. Mr. Dixon, of course, but he comes to see you."
"And Lord Blanchard, I expect," Helena said, noting
270 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
how Charis looked quickly away, her fair skin coloring. So her friend was definitely not indifferent to Blanchard.
"Lord Blanchard comes to see you, too," Charis said.
"I hear he's hanging out for a wife. What do you think of him?" Helena asked.
Charis glanced up quickly, looking surprised and more than a little dismayed. "Would you consider his suit?"
"It isn't me that his eyes rest on when he sits in our parlor..
.but a lovely blond lady," Helena pointed out.
Charis dropped her eyes. "I admit I like him far better than any other young man I've met. But it doesn't matter. He is looking for a wife, and Adam has already warned me he must wed a rich one.
I shall have but a thousand pounds. A man with Lord Blanchard's position and connections can do much better than that."
"He is in the diplomatic service and liable to spend much of his time abroad. Didn't you tell me you'd prefer to marry and settle at a snug country estate?"
"I do prefer Claygate to London. But.. .how exciting to travel in foreign lands! Such a vast responsibility to represent the interests of one's country abroad."
"Would you accept an offer from Lord Blanchard?"
"'Twould be like a dream come true," Charis admitted. "But
'tis impossible. Adam told me so weeks ago, when I first hinted I would like him to call. Why do you ask?"
Helena grinned. "No reason—except that I wish to 271
keep abreast of what will make my almost-sister happiest."
Giving Chads a hug, she rose and headed for the door.
"I'm sure he would be willing to offer for you, if you gave him the least encouragement," Chads said with a cheerfulness that sounded forced.
Helena laughed. "Heavens, no! I'm merely the excuse that allows him to call so often. I expect if he thought for a moment I actually believed he was courting me, he would hire the next available transport and flee back to Vienna!"
While Chads disputed that assessment, Helena blew her friend a kiss and walked out. A rising excitement distracting her from her own unsettled emotions, she skipped to her room and penned a note, then summoned Dickon to deliver it and wait for an answer.
Her note found its recipient and generated an immediate reply.
An hour after her talk with Charis, Helena sat at a table at Gunter's, Nell discreetly behind her. Moments later, Lord Blanchard rushed in.
Scarcely waiting to complete the usual greetings, he blurted,
"Exc use me for being abrupt, but you said the matter was grave and involved Miss Darnell. Is she well?"
"I didn't mean to worry you," Helena replied, not at all sorry to have provoked that telling demonstration of concern. "Yes, she is quite well."
Blanchard exhaled a gusty sigh. "Thank the Lord. Then with what might I assist you in her regard?"
"Lord Blanchard, I fear I am also about to be rather abrupt.
But I need to know if the.. .story I've heard of your deep regard for Miss Darnell has any truth."
272 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
For a moment Blanchard looked away. "I hope," he said at last, "I have not raised expectations that, sadly, circumstances do not permit me to satisfy. Though I have tried to maintain a proper distance, she...she is so enchanting, it is very difficult to pretend myself indifferent." He looked up suddenly, his eyes widening.
"Pray, assure me I have not caused her any distress!"
Ignoring the question, Helena said, "Am I to understand, then, if a, um, distant relation were to settle a rather large sum upon Miss Darnell, you would like to know?"
He frowned. "But Adam assured me she would have no dowry but such funds as he could wrest from the estate."
"Yes, but what if it happened that Miss Darnell were to become the recipient of, say, fifteen thousand pounds?"
After staring at her, perplexed, a slow smile formed on his lips. "If she were dowered with a penny over ten thousand pounds, I should be the happiest man in England."
Helena smiled back. "I recommend you call on her tomorrow.
I believe she may have interesting news." She rose and extended her hand. "Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Lord Blanchard."
Blanchard seized her hand and kissed it fervently. "If you mean what I think you mean, Miss Lambarth, you are an angel and"! will thank you to my dying breath."
Helena retrieved her hand. "You may thank me, JULIA JUSTTSS273
Lord Blanchard, by remembering, once you possess an angel, to treat her accordingly."
"I will worship her all my life!" he vowed as Helena curtseyed to his bow and bid him goodbye.
Highly satisfied with that interview, Helena proceeded to Mr.
Pendenning's office. After a short wait, his clerk ushered her in.
"Miss Lambarth!" He took her hands and looked her up and down, smiling broadly. "How wonderful you look! I knew living with Lady Darnell would be good for you."
"You were right. She and Charts have become as dear to me as my mother." Better to say nothing of Lady Darnell's intriguing stepson, Helena thought, suppressing a sigh. "Speaking of Chads, I have finally decided what I wish to do with that unwanted inheritance from my father."
Shortly after noon the next day, Adam Darnell stared at the lawyer's note in his hand, too shocked to speak.
"It's true, then, isn't it?" Charis asked, her face radiant with excitement. "Adam, you will allow me to accept it, will you not?
Lord Blanchard has just arrived, asking to speak with you. Helena told me he would call. Oh, please say it's true and you will give us your blessing!"
Numbly, Adam looked up. Of course he could not deny his sister's happiness—or his friend Blanchard's, for that matter. Not for so small a thing as his pride.
"Send Nathan in," he said.
Charis sprang up and seized him in a hug so tight 274 THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
his neckcloth almost choked him. "Oh, best, most wonderful, most excellent of brothers!"
The smile on Nathan's face as he came in was almost as brilliant as the one worn by Adam's sister. "I expect you kno w why I've come."
"I knew you admired Charis, but I admit, I never expected a declaration."
"That was before a certain relative intervened. Cousin Cornwallis, I believe her name is? Or so Miss Lambarth just informed me."
"Cornwallis," indeed, Adam thought, recalling the location of Lambarth Castle. "What if there is no endowment?" he asked, trying to check his irrational anger.
Nathan's grin faded. After regarding Adam for a thoughtful moment, he shrugged. "So be it, then. I've come to realize a lifetime of happiness with someone you adore is worth far more than advancement in your career. Adam, have I your permission to ask Charis for her hand?"
Feeling a bit ashamed, he replied, "Of course, Nathan. I shall be proud to call you 'brother.' And by the way—the endowment, in the amount of fifteen thousand pounds, has already been deposited to my bank. Call upon me later and we shall set the lawyers to drawing up the settlements."
Blanchard's smile returned. "Charis and the dowry? 'Tis almost too wonderful to comprehend! Though I can understand your.. .disgruntlement, a little. A man has his pride. Suffice it to say, I shall always be very grateful to the eccentric nature of your distant connec- 275
tion, Miss Cornwallis, for choosing to bestow so generous a gift on her only living unmarried female relation."
