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"Let's set a time frame. Five weeks. From now until the onset of the Season. During that time, we do things as I've depicted. Let me call on Noelle, act as her protector, if you will. I'm closing in on Baricci; I can feel it in my bones. I'll have him by then, expose him for the criminal he is. I vow it to myself and to you."
"And with regard to Noelle?" Brigitte asked softly.
Ashford drew a slow breath. "As I said, give me five weeks. If I haven't sufficiently overcome the obstacles, I'll step aside and you can introduce Noelle to the fashionable world as you intended."
"Obstacles," Eric repeated. "That sounds rather ominous, Tremlett. It also sounds as if there's more involved here than just apprehending Baricci."
A prolonged pause before Ashford replied, "You'll just have to trust me, Lord Farrington."
While that statement had been sufficient reassurance for his own father, it had little effect on Noelle's.
"Trust you? We're talking about my daughter, Tremlett." Eric scowled, met Ashford's challenging gaze with his own. "What if I refuse this proposition of yours, this five-week time interval during which you've vowed to set everything right? What will you do then?"
"If you're asking for my agreement not to pursue Noelle, I can't offer it to you," Ashford returned bluntly. "Especially not if she comes to me—which I truly believe she will. I can't change my feelings, Lord Farrington, nor can I change Noelle's."
"If you're waiting for me to applaud your candor, don't hold your breath," Eric bit out. "In fact—"
"Eric—please." Brigitte stood, planting herself between the two men and nipping the oncoming argument in the bud. "Don't do this," she said softly for her husband's ears alone. Then she turned to face Ashford. "You've been both frank and realistic, Lord Tremlett. Before we continue, may I speak with my husband alone?"
"Of course. I'll wait outside." Ashford walked across the room, stepping into the hall and shutting the door.
"Brigitte—" Eric began.
"Darling, listen to me." Brigitte seized his hands in her own. "Noelle is in love with the earl. You see it as clearly as I do. What's more, he's
in love with her, Whether or not he's actually uttered the words. No amount of your ranting and raving is going to change that."
Eric's brows drew together in a scowl. "But he hasn't uttered the words. Nor is he ready to admit them—not to us, to himself, or to Noelle. There's a world of difference between having strong feelings for someone—feelings like fascination and desire—and seeking a lifetime commitment."
"I realize that, Eric. So does Lord Tremlett. He said he wanted to see Noelle happy. Don't you think he understands what that means?"
"I don't know. You seem a hell of a lot surer than I about the earl's intentions. And as for his obstacles—doesn't it bother you that he's hiding something?"
"Having matters to resolve doesn't necessarily mean hiding something. The earl isn't a child, Eric. He's a grown man. He had a busy and complex life before meeting Noelle. He has a right to sort out that life, to come to his own resolutions with a modicum of privacy."
"Busy and complex indeed," Eric muttered. "Lord knows how many women he's involved with."
"If that's the case, he'll deal with them accordingly."
Eric shot his wife an incredulous look.. "How can you be so bloody calm? You've heard rumors of Tremlett's womanizing."
"Indeed I have," Brigitte concurred, meeting Eric's gaze head-on. "I also recall a time when I heard rumors—scads of them—about your lunacy, your heartlessness and cruelty. What if I had believed those?"
For the first time, Eric's resistance wavered. "That situation was entirely different."
"Was it?" Brigitte lay a soothing palm against his jaw. "I love Noelle as much as you do, darling. That's why I'm urging you to give her this chance. Five weeks; that's all the earl is requesting. It's a brief enough time frame, one we owe to Noelle."
"A lot of damage can be done in five weeks."
"Lord Tremlett vowed that he wouldn't hurt Noelle. I believe him. I believe in his honor—and that's based upon firsthand perception, not hearsay. Besides, he's right. If we forbid Noelle from seeing him, she will slip off and meet him on her own. Just as she slipped off when she wanted to catch a glimpse of Baricci."
"That was curiosity over the identity of her sire. This is infatuation over a man she scarcely knows." Eric's brow furrowed. "We'll caution her, remind her of Tremlett's reputation, of her own innocence and vulnerability. Somehow we'll convince her."
"Like Grandfather convinced me when he cautioned me against wedding you?"
Almost against his will, Eric thawed, his lips curving ever so slightly. "He wasn't very successful."
"No. He wasn't." Brigitte regarded her husband with quiet intensity. "I would have done anything to be with you, Eric. And I'm not nearly as strong-willed as Noelle is. I was a quiet, obedient child. But I grew up. When I had the chance to become your wife, no force on earth, not even my love and respect for Grandfather, could deter me. What's more, by trying to prevent Noelle from seeing Lord Tremlett, we'd only end up encouraging her efforts to do so. Not to mention intensifying rather than squelching her feelings for him."
