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Nick felt his jaw hanging open. Intellectually, he knew that closing it would be the right move. Yet somehow he could not get it to obey. All he could do was stare at the tall, wet man hugging his darling.
As quickly as the shock overcame his body, it was replaced with gut wrenching nausea. Oh, no. He was going to be sick.
Well, at least that got his mouth to close.
“Giulia, introductions are in order,” Robert said authoritatively.
Good, Robert. Gain control over the situation.
“Yes, right…” Giulia stammered. She turned back toward their table, her hand clutching Ames’s arm. Her eyes shot right to Nick’s before looking away again. Was that…yes. It was. Giulia had the decency to blush. The first time Nick finally got to see her perfect cheeks tinge the most beautiful shade of pink and it was because of Ames. Brilliant.
“Ames, I’d like you to meet my uncle, Lord Hart, the Earl of Hart. And his heir, Mr. Nicholas Pepper.” She took his hand and pulled him closer to the table. “And Lord Hart, Mr. Pepper, I would like you to meet my dear friend, Mr. Ames.”
“Just Ames, please,” the man said.
Well, there went my jaw again, Nick thought. At least the action of dipping his head in a semblance of a bow was enough to cause him to close his mouth this time. She had done it. After all of that, she had actually called him Mr. Pepper, and she hadn’t even flinched. Giulia had blushed, and she called him Mr. Pepper. Could this evening get any worse?
“You have come to help, then?” Robert asked, gesturing to the seat beside Giulia’s usual place at the table. Wonderful, so now it was time to get down to business. Let the poor man change into dry clothes first, at least.
“In a sense, I suppose.” Ames glanced at Giulia with another grin before following her to the table and sitting beside her. She could not stop staring at him. Why on earth could she not stop staring at him? His dark hair was unfashionably long and fell over his forehead, and his smile did not even reach his entire mouth, it was an abominable sort of half-smile. There was no way she found that attractive.
Except, she must.
“I came as soon as I got Jules’s letter.” His expression transformed into one of concern as he narrowed it at her. “Have you seen your mother again?”
“Yes, actually.”
Ames’s face hardened, his voice matching his expression. “Did you speak to her? Did she wield a gun this time?”
“I did speak to her. But I believe her to be harmless. I’m not even certain she meant to shoot at me that day.”
“Shooting a gun is not harmless, Jules,” Ames said. “Regardless of the intent.”
“On that we can agree,” Nick said with a raise of his glass. Ames glanced at him and then back to Giulia. The disregard he showed Nick made him bristle. He was the next earl, for pity’s sake! And besides that, he had been there for Giulia for the last few months while Ames had been absent.
“What is your plan, my lord?” Ames addressed Robert.
“We know where she is staying. You brought Patrick’s things, I assume? We need to search everything for a potential hiding place. Patrick was smart. He would have hidden it somewhere indispensable to assure that it never got thrown out, yet obvious enough that he knew it would be found by the right person.”
“Which begs the question,” Nick intercepted. He was going to have a say in this whether Ames or Giulia wanted him to or not. “Who would he have wanted to find the key?”
“Jules,” Ames said at once.
“I am not so sure about that.” She shook her head, gazing into Ames’s eyes. “I would not be surprised if he left it for you to find. He trusted you so much.”
He appeared to think over that, his dark brows coming together as his eyes shot skyward. “Perhaps. We would do well to search everything.”
“Then it is settled. We find the key, and then we deal with the woman.” Robert stood. “We will adjourn until tomorrow. I assume you would like to rest from your journey, and I can speak for this household in saying that we have had quite an adventurous afternoon.”
Everyone stood, bidding the earl good evening as he walked away. Ames made no move to leave. Which, in truth, made sense. He probably did not know where he was meant to go.
“Shall I fetch Wells to show our guest to his room?” Nick directed his question to Giulia.
“I believe we shall sit in the parlor for a spell,” Giulia replied before turning her attention back to Ames. There was a sudden fierce glint in her eye and Nick was grateful he was not at the other end of her ire.
“I will leave you to it, then. Goodnight.” He received a halfhearted reply from each person and then spun toward the door. Ames better not have planned on a long stay, for this was essentially Nick’s castle. And if it was Nick’s decision, Ames was not a welcome guest at all.
