AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Then what the blazes is going on between you?’ Freddie began to pace. ‘All cosied up at Lady Bulphan’s ball, whispering and giggling together. I was prepared to let that slide as a one-off—’ his friend paused only long enough to jab his index finger Jasper’s way ‘—then last night happened and you turned up to a musicale out of the blue and dominated her time all over again.’ Another pause. Another violent point. ‘A musicale! You! Who has never attended one of those awful things in your entire life!’ Off he went again, wearing a groove in the Persian.
‘Tongues are wagging, Jasper! Insinuations are being made!’ When he paused this time, Freddie’s clenched fists went to his hips. ‘Speculations are being printed in the newspapers! Linking my baby sister and you! With Cora Marlow barely gone a week!’ His anger turned swiftly to sympathy as Freddie clearly realised his outburst had touched a nerve. ‘My sincerest condolences on that score, my friend, I know she meant—’
Jasper shook his head, not ready to talk about Cora, even to one of his closest friends. He had never discussed the full extent of his relationship with her with anyone—it was, to quote Hattie, nobody’s business. ‘Thank you.’
Freddie nodded, swallowing his frustration even though this time he had a good reason to expect answers. The anger still shimmered off him in waves. ‘As her brother, I demand to know exactly what the blazes are you up to with Hattie?’
‘I am not up to anything with Hattie.’ It was an unconvincing denial and his friend deserved better, so Jasper huffed to stare at him levelly. ‘Nothing beyond rescuing her as she rescued me.’
‘Rescuing her?’ Freddie threw his hands in the air in exasperation. ‘Oh, please! Do I look like I was born yesterday? Who does Hattie need rescuing from apart from an opportunistic chancer like you?’ Out came the disapproving finger again, wagging for all it was worth. ‘You are taking advantage of a fragile young woman who is in a delicate state! Who lacks confidence and self-worth. You are preying on the vulnerable! Ruining any chance she might have of securing a decent husband who will look after her...’
Jasper surged to his feet, more offended for her than guilty at his inappropriate attachment to her. ‘Oh, for pity’s sake! Listen to yourself! Delicate. Fragile. Vulnerable!’ He resisted the urge to shake his friend by the shoulders. ‘Do you even know Hattie at all, Freddie? Delicate and vulnerable are not adjectives which describe your sister who has more confidence and self-worth than anyone I know. She is determined and tenacious, strong and stubborn and she deserves better from her brother than having him press-gang and cajole eligible gentlemen her way with glasses of sherry at balls on sufferance in the vain hope one might take enough pity on her to marry her!’
Angry himself now, because he suddenly completely understood her frustrations, Jasper began to pace. ‘She loathes other people’s pity, you idiot, and certainly doesn’t deserve it.’ He wagged his own finger. ‘And shame on you for thinking that she does!’
Freddie’s eyes narrowed. ‘You like her, you scoundrel!’
‘Of course I like her! What’s not to like? She is clever and witty, kind and generous, and the most genuine and compassionate soul I have ever met.’
Instead of agreeing, Freddie hit the roof. ‘Oh, my God! It’s worse than I thought! You not only like her—you’re besotted by her!’ The accusing finger did not wag this time, just pointed unwavering. ‘Stay away from my sister!’
‘Freddie, you’ve got the entirely wrong end of the stick.’ Jasper spread his hands placatingly even though inside he was panicking. How to make her overprotective brother understand what was really going on without betraying Hattie’s trust and being prevented from seeing her?
When he had to see her.
‘Hattie and I are friends.’ And that friendship already meant the world. ‘After she saved me from making a fool of myself at the Queen’s ball when I wasn’t in my right mind after I heard about Cora...’ He could admit that truth aloud at least. ‘Making the Season more bearable for her seemed the least I could do in return. She loathes being viewed as an object of pity, Freddie. Hates all the awkwardness of those conversation partners you foist upon her—but also wants to avoid all the fortune hunters and social climbers who gather in the wings like vultures. Godawful men like Cyril Bloody Boreham and their drooping bouquets and unwelcome advances, who fancy themselves as a son-in-law to a duke and see her as fair game now that she limps.
‘If I am guilty of anything, it is of running interference for her sake while distracting myself by feeling useful rather than hopeless.’ At least that was the truth too, not that he was ready to admit that it was fatherhood he was hopeless at.
Freddie absorbed this, and to his credit, allowed his own guilt regarding his treatment of Hattie to show. ‘I suppose I have been running interference too. Trying to help in my own overbearing and ham-fisted way.’ He sighed and finally sat down.
‘Help her to what? Find her feet? Find herself? I can assure you she requires no assistance with either. Or are you genuinely trying to help her find a husband because you believe she needs a man to look after her?’ Jasper sat too, keen to build a bridge when he sympathised. ‘Because if you are, and that is the underlying motive for sending every unmarried and blatantly uninterested fellow you know her way, then it begs the question have you actually asked her if she wants one just yet? Or are you assuming, like Lord Boredom but with less selfish motives, that an uninterested man’s ring on her finger is the best achievement in life that she can dare hope for after the accident?’
His friend raked a hand through his hair. ‘When you say it like that I feel dreadful.’
‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’
A throwaway comment which also gave Freddie pause for thought. ‘Indeed it is, which is why I am going to have to put my foot down about you dominating Hattie’s time in public.’ Not at all the measured consequence Jasper had envisaged. ‘People are already talking and with your shocking reputation your good intentions, no matter how apparently noble, could destroy hers. Scandals are always worse for the woman. Always.’
‘Are you still saying I cannot speak to her?’ Alarm tinged with hurt bubbled again. ‘Even though my intentions and my behaviour have been nothing but honourable?’ Which was true. His behaviour, if one ignored the brandy incident, had been that of a gentleman and he really wanted all of his intentions to be honourable.
‘Not alone. On that I must insist.’ Freddie stood and set his jaw. ‘I have never pried into your personal affairs, nor ever sought to judge you for some of your choices as heaven only knows I’ve not been a saint myself, but I cannot allow certain aspects of your unconventional lifestyle and dubious past choices to bring her flawless reputation into disrepute.’ He was alluding to Cora. They both knew it although Freddie, like everyone, did not know the half of that shocking story.
‘You can converse to your heart’s content at any soirée in a crowd where it is acceptable and anywhere else where she is properly chaperoned by a family member. Anything else is not. And I would like your word as my friend and a gentleman that you’ll adhere to those parameters.’ He stuck out his hand to shake on the bargain. ‘Do the decent thing for Hattie’s sake. She does not deserve to be sullied by your reputation.’
Jasper had no clue how to respond to that so simply stared, his mind reeling and his heart sore as he reluctantly shook his hand while Freddie smiled the smile of a man who had just offloaded a great weight from his shoulders. ‘I am glad we got that all sorted.’
