AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did she?”
“If you’re not careful, Aido, old man, you’ll lose your chance at her. Not to mention that enticing marriage portion.”
Aidan drew the covers over his head. Jack sober and nagging was bad enough. Jack drunk and nagging was more than he could bear. “It won’t matter if Sir Humphrey doesn’t give his consent. He thinks I’m only after her money.”
“And aren’t you?” Jack’s voice came muffled, but come it did. “With a bit of the old Aidan Douglas persuasion, her father’s objections could be a thing of the past.”
“Ruin her, you mean?”
“I prefer to call it introducing her to the joys that await.”
Aidan snorted into the quilts, almost suffocating beneath the heavy layers. “Why are we having this conversation again?” he mumbled, emerging long enough to send his cousin a dirty look.
Jack shrugged. “Not tired yet.” Changing tack, he continued, “Heard you’ve had a bit of excitement here tonight. Sorry I missed it.” He beamed down at Aidan with glazed eyes and a stupid smile. “A woman. I heard she’s still here.” As if Cat might be hiding beneath the covers, he made a quick scan of the bed.
Aidan squirmed with the memory of his last and very vivid dream, blinking away a pair of inviting green eyes and a taut, quicksilver body.
Dragging himself up against the headboard, he plowed a hand through his hair, knowing he’d never rid himself of his drunken cousin if he didn’t come clean. “Miss O’Connell has been hired to do some translation work for me. I’ve decided it’s best if she remain here for the time being.”
“Translation work. Good one.” Jack’s brows waggled in appreciation. “I’ll have to remember that.”
It was like talking to a rambunctious sheepdog. Aidan wished for the thousandth time he’d not given in to a moment’s madness and invited his cousin to visit Kilronan House. That had been two years ago, Jack managing to turn a fortnight’s stay into a permanent posting.
He straightened. “Right. Well, see you in the morning, coz.” He started for the door, far too easily satisfied with the bullshit story for Aidan’s peace of mind. He’d expected quizzing. A cousinly interrogation peppered with snide innuendo. Even a drunken harangue. This instant acceptance was completely out of character.
The reason struck him with the force of a backhand. He kicked himself out of his covers. Lurched across the room. Shoulder slammed the door closed before Jack could depart. “Miss O’Connell’s under my protection. Off limits. End of story. Do you understand?”
Jack glowered, holding his fingers, the tips of which had come close to being crushed by the heavy door. “I just wanted to introduce myself. She probably doesn’t realize she’s staying with two of the most sought-after bachelors in Dublin.”
“Oh? Invited guests in, have you?” Aidan couldn’t resist.
“Touché.” A smile quirked Jack’s lips, but the bullish jut of his chin told Aidan he wouldn’t be put off. “Heard you caught the chit trying to make off with Douglas heirlooms. Not exactly a Trinity scholar in languages. Come, Aidan. I’m not stupid.”
“She’s Other.” There. Let him chew on that one. “And as I said before, off limits.”
Jack scraped his knuckles over his chin as he digested this bit of news. “Well, that changes the outlook slightly. So she’s an Other chit. Really, Aidan what are you trying to do? Have us murdered in our beds?”
“She’s a thief, not a murderess. And right now she’s neither. She’s in my employ.”
“You sure she didn’t land you a crack to the skull?” Jack asked, worry beginning to cloud his otherwise glassy gaze.
Aidan started to defend himself, but arguing would only prolong the conversation. And right now, he needed sleep more than understanding. “Let me worry about her. You just forget she’s even here.”
Jack shot him a doubtful look, but his offhand nod seemed genuine. “Right. Well, I’ll leave you to her then.” He headed down the corridor with the hangdog air of someone losing his buzz, pausing only to focus his thoughtful gaze back on Aidan. “She must be something, to drag you out of your shell.”
Aidan closed the door, his hand white knuckling the knob, his bowed head pressed against the wood. Not a shell.
A prison.
But if he’d judged correctly, Cat O’Connell held the key.
Shoving aside the hated accounts ledger, Aidan took a swallow of tea and grimaced. Stone cold.
Out of habit, he’d risen at dawn. Spent the past hours bent over the labyrinthine convolutions of his financial picture. Only in the last year had his parsimony paid off. His revenues finally eclipsing the pile of inherited debt. But he still didn’t take anything for granted. As surely as the wealth accumulated, it could drain away.
An advantageous marriage to a woman of birth and fortune would put the final stamp on six years of hard-fought struggle. Barbara Osborne fit very nicely into that category. Sir Humphrey blustered at his only daughter tossing away her chances on an impoverished earl whose family had for generations possessed a reputation for being not quite bon ton. But a title, no matter how tarnished, was still a title, and a baron couldn’t be too picky where a countess’s coronet stood in play.
On the other hand, Aidan couldn’t assume her partiality. A note and flowers sent with his regrets at being otherwise occupied the previous evening would go a long way to assuring his continued place in her affections. Women loved that sort of thing. Coming to a decision, he pulled a piece of stationery out of his top drawer. Chewed the tip of his pen as he pondered what to write.
