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“I hear you do some little jobs for Doctor Simmons, too. I hope you aren’t fleecing that gentleman, Jackson.”
“Nah, he pays the going rate. Now can I get back to sleep? If you’re finished with me, that is? I was up until the church clock struck five.”
There didn’t seem much point in staying any longer and Rufus left him to it. But as he walked back up the stairs the stirring of unease returned, a prickling that warned him something wasn’t right. Jackson and Sally, neither of them were to be trusted. There was something going on, and even though he was no longer a Guardian, Rufus knew he wouldn’t be happy until he found out what it was.
CHAPTER NINE
* * *
The Honorable James Blainey smiled at the two women, and Eustace, with Hercules at his side. “I say,” he said cheerily, “this is pleasant, isn’t it? No wonder Eustace came over to visit. Not,” he added, with a belated frown at the boy, “that he should have. His father won’t be pleased.”
“Then don’t tell him,” Eustace said practically.
“Well, I have to, Eustace. I’m in the bad books and anything I can do to get out of them, well, I have to do it. You understand.”
Eustace appeared sulky.
Averil smiled. James Blainey was a rogue but a polite and rather charming rogue, and although, from what she’d seen, he might have a gambling problem, there was no viciousness in him.
She turned to Beth, to ask if she would ring for more tea, and found her companion a little flustered. “Of course,” Beth said, rising to her feet. “Do you wish for more cake, as well?”
“Oh please, may we?” Eustace piped up.
“We rarely have cake at home,” James mused. “The housekeeper says she has enough to do, and besides, I’m too old for cake.”
He sounded so woebegone that Beth’s heart seemed to soften. Her smile was warmer than she probably realized. “Cake it shall be, sir.”
Averil looked away so that they wouldn’t see her surprise, and amusement. Was this practical Beth? Who’d just this moment been warning her about the perils of taking in more strays?
James was openly admiring Beth’s trim figure as she pulled the bell rope, his dark eyes full of warmth. “I was under the impression that Miss Harmon here was a dragon. Wasn’t that what you said, Eustace?”
“I said that Papa said she wasn’t a dragon,” Eustace replied through clenched teeth. “And it’s rude to repeat what I said in private, Uncle James.”
James was unabashed. “Oh, is that what you said? Well, I can certainly concur with that. Or if she is, then she’s a very attractive and delightful dragon,” he finished gallantly.
Beth sat down again and didn’t seem to know where to look.
“Are you staying in London long?” Averil asked, to move the conversation on to safer ground.
“I don’t know,” James said, and suddenly he was gloomy, all his smiles gone.
“Uncle James doesn’t like Southbrook Castle,” Eustace explained. “It’s situated in Lincolnshire, and the weather comes straight off the North Sea. The land is very flat so there’s nothing to stop it before it reaches the castle. Sometimes the shudders rattle so hard I’m sure they’re about to fly right off.”
James shuddered.
“Uncle James prefers London,” Eustace added, with a sympathetic smile.
“Well, I prefer London, too, so I can understand that,” Beth said brightly. “Do you like the opera, sir?”
James’s eyes widened. “Goodness, no. It’s the ballet for me. Have you seen the ballet, Miss Harmon?”
“The ballet!” Beth sighed.
Averil sat, bemused, as their conversation went on around her. At one point Eustace caught her eye and grinned, and she nodded toward the garden. It couldn’t hurt, she thought, as she led the boy and dog back outside, to leave Beth and James together. They were not children after all, and they did not need a chaperone.
“I did think Beth was a dragon,” Eustace said, watching Hercules prancing after the ball. “The way you spoke about her that night, when Papa carried you. You seemed frightened of her.”
“I was frightened of what she’d say to me,” Averil explained, “but she only scolds because she cares. I know that. Beth would never hurt anyone. She’s a-a marshmallow.”
