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“And your injury?” He gestured toward her cane.
“I am recovering,” she replied calmly. “How is Eustace?”
“Eustace is well. I have given him firm instructions that he is not to frequent London by night again.”
“I think that is wise. You could point me and my injury out as a cautionary tale.”
“I have.”
Her mouth twitched up despite herself, and then she giggled. “I’m glad our adventure served some purpose, my lord.”
He smiled back. “Our adventure. I like that.”
Averil was looking into his eyes as if she had all the time in the world, and Rufus was sorry to have to break whatever spell she seemed to be under. His next words sobered her. “I wished to speak to you about your sister. I presume you have not found her?”
Her manner grew less calm, and she glanced across at the doctor and the baroness, huddled together in furious discussion. “I would rather not discuss that matter, my lord. It is a private one.”
After a moment of awkward silence she took a step closer, and lowered her voice. “I do not wish to be rude, Lord Southbrook, but why are you here? I do not believe you have any intention of donating to Doctor Simmons’s cause, and as you can see, you are disrupting our guests.”
His smile was rather grim. “Disrupting your guests was not what I intended when I decided to come here tonight, Lady Averil. I wondered if you were recovered from . . . well, recovered, and I thought I would be able to speak to you without doing you any harm, with so many watchful eyes upon us. Eustace wanted to call on you at your house, you know, but I dissuaded him.”
Averil blinked up at him. He noticed her hair was beginning to hang rather unsteadily from its pins and the wax flowers were sliding down from her crown. His fingers itched to free the heavy tresses and he clenched his hands to remind himself where he was.
“Then . . . you came here to see me?” she said. “But why?”
“I did come to see you,” he agreed, “but don’t tell anyone. It would ruin your reputation if they knew the Wicked Earl was seeking you out. I have only to smile at a woman and she is cast out.”
&n
bsp; Averil gave an impatient sigh. “Don’t be silly,” she declared. “You are not as hazardous as you think you are, my lord. Your reputation may be a little shadowy but it isn’t so very bad. Is it?”
Mockery filled his face. “You underestimate the power of public opinion, Lady Averil.”
“Oh, but surely—”
“Please, no pity. I am happy being an outcast. I can no longer imagine putting up with the excruciating boredom of conforming to society’s rules.”
Her gray eyes sparked a challenge at him. “And yet you have conformed enough to come here tonight.”
He noticed that her cheeks were colored a faint, delicious pink, and surprised himself by wondering whether her blush went below the neckline of her silk gown as well as above it. He could see the swell of her breasts over the top of her dress, the way the rose silk nipped into her small waist, and he found that his imagination was perfectly good enough to visualize what she looked like without her clothing.
Could he marry Lady Averil Martindale for her fortune? Always assuming she would take someone who was an outcast from society! For a moment he allowed himself to imagine pursuing her, wooing her, making her fall in love with him, wedding her and bedding her in that order. Or maybe the wedding and bedding could be interchanged, if it became necessary.
And afterward?
Damned and blasted misery for them both, more than likely.
No, it would not do and he must stop thinking that it would. Lady Averil was no solution to his troubles, no matter what James might think.
“Lady Averil,” he said, bending his head to be closer to her. “I visited St. Thomas’s for you last week, aware as I was that you were incapacitated. I hoped you would be glad of my help.”
“Hush!” She put her hand upon his arm to stop him, evidently innocent of the fact that it was unseemly to touch a man such as he. “This is a private matter, as I said before.”
There were tears in her eyes.
Something in his heart gave a little tremor, but he ignored it and continued on.
“Lady Averil, I can help you in this matter. Indeed you would be doing me a favor if you allowed me to help; I need a distraction right now. And I know those streets well. At one time I worked for the government. I was the man who delved into the dark places of London for all the missing people no one else could find. I promise you that I will find your sister.”
