full glory of her golden curls, piled high on her head, competed with the morning sunshine gleaming through the window panes.
Tucking the eyeglass into the pocket of his waistcoat, Charles trod over to take Serena’s hand, bowing with great elegance. ‘Your servant, ma’am. Forgive me, Nicholas did not warn me I was about to encounter such a vision of loveliness. Your presence alone has made my journey worthwhile.’
Serena smiled politely, rather nonplussed to find herself in such obviously elevated company. ‘How do you do,’ she said, remembering her manners just in time, and dropping an elegant curtsy. She turned to Nicholas. ‘Forgive me, if I had known you had a guest I wouldn’t have intruded.’
He smiled reassuringly. ‘Charles is a very good friend, there’s no need to worry. Stay for coffee at least.’
She agreed because it would seem rude not to, sitting down in her usual chair by the fire. In the presence of Nicholas’s friend all the impropriety of their situation hit home with a vengeance. She was embarrassed and disconcerted. Frustrated, too, for she had hoped to get the difficult conversation she had resolved to have with Nicholas out of the way as soon as possible.
Charles chatted amicably about the house party he had temporarily abandoned, the latest on dits, and a wager made on a race between a frog and a chicken. By the time Nicholas recounted the story of his first meeting with Serena, she had relaxed enough to be able to laugh about it.
‘I thought he was a groom. It never occurred to me that I was watching the master of the house stripped to the waist and fighting the local blacksmith.’ She looked up teasingly at Nicholas, who was standing with his back to the fireplace. He returned the look with a smile of such warmth that she raised a hand towards him, remembered that they were not alone, and dropped it. Remembered, too, her resolve to put an end to things between them.
Charles observed the by-play with interest. Now he had met her, it didn’t surprise him that Nick had kept such a beauty hidden away. She was almost flawless, the mysterious Mademoiselle Stamppe, it would take a strong man indeed to resist her charms. It wasn’t like Nick to be so reticent about his lady loves. He had carefully refrained from discussing Serena, though it was obvious they were intimate. Their bodies gave them away, constantly moving towards one another. The way they looked at each other, too. And that smile—they might as well have kissed. Nick was in deep with his adventuress. Charles wondered if he realised just how deep.
‘I hope you won, Nick. The fight, I mean.’
‘Of course I did. Samuel landed a couple of good punches, but he’s slow.’
‘You’re getting too old for that sort of thing.’
‘I know, I know.’ Nicholas looked down at his hands, the faint scars the only reminder of the recent mill. ‘I tell myself that I won’t do it any more, but you know how it is. I can’t resist a challenge.’
‘Yes, but the next time you might lose. Give it up, Nick, you’re almost thirty. Time you settled down.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Nicholas said curtly. He didn’t want to think about his father’s damned will.
‘You’ve got less than three months left,’ Charles continued blithely.
‘Not now, Charles.’
Watching him, Serena was confused by the lessthan-subtle change of subject. The awkwardness of her situation returned to her. She rose to go. ‘I’ll leave you two to catch up. It was a pleasure to meet you, Lord Avesbury.’ She curtsied, then turned to Nicholas. ‘May I speak with you tomorrow? There is a matter I am most anxious to resolve with you.’
‘You are not the only one who is anxious for resolution,’ Nicholas whispered in her ear.
Serena blushed furiously, then looked stricken. ‘I will see myself out.’ She left, resolutely closing the door before he could demand to know what was wrong.
Nicholas and Charles passed a pleasant day tooling Charles’s phaeton round the countryside, before partaking of a rustic meal at an inn some miles from High Knightswood.
‘I bumped into your sister and your stepmama at Almack’s the other day,’ Charles said, touching his whip to his horses. ‘Georgie was queening it over a pack of young pups.’
‘Brat. Did you speak to them?’
‘Of course I did, for I had already determined to come and see you. Georgie wanted to know when you were coming back to town, and said to be sure and tell you that she’s a blazing success. Melissa was—well, you know what Melissa’s like.’
Charles concentrated on overtaking a lumbering cart. ‘Dashed attractive woman, that Serena of yours,’he continued when the manoeuvre had been stylishly executed.
‘Very,’ Nicholas agreed drily. ‘What are you implying?’
‘Ain’t implying anything. I’m happy to tell you straight to your face, Nick, it’s obvious how things are between you two. The way you were looking at each other put me to the blush. Don’t tell me it’s finally happened,’ he said with a sudden guffaw of laughter. ‘Has the lovely mademoiselle given you a coup de foudre?’
‘You’re being ridiculous Charles, I’m not in love with her.’
‘Whatever you say. It’s just occurred to me, though—maybe Jasper wasn’t too far off the mark after all.’
‘What’s my cousin got to do with this?’
‘Fretting himself to death at the thought of you getting hitched.’
‘But I’ve no intention of getting married. Leastways, not until it’s absolutely necessary.’
‘Lawyers still claiming they’re making progress? Depend upon it, they’ll be saying that on the day of your birthday, it’s what you pay ’em for. Don’t believe a word of it. You need to get hitched, no two ways about it, and the perfect candidate’s fallen like a ripe peach into your hands. Beautiful, obviously more than willing—in fact, I’d say the chit’s besotted with you, although you don’t notice, of course—and, what’s more, not someone who will give you any trouble.’
‘You’re serious,’Nicholas said incredulously, staring at his friend as if he had just escaped from Bedlam.
‘Of course I am. Think about it for a moment. I don’t think you’ve quite grasped the severity of your plight. If you don’t marry, you’ll lose everything.’
‘Not everything, I’ll still have the Hall and estate.’
‘Much good they’ll do you without funds. You’ll have to give up your gaming, your expensive women, your hunters. You’ll have to rusticate here for ever, in penury.’
‘It won’t come to that.’
‘It’s coming mighty close,’ Charles said exasperatedly. ‘You can’t let Jasper inherit, Nick. What isn’t swallowed up by his debts will be tossed away on the hazard table. He’s playing very deep these days, he’d be back under the hatches in less than a year.’
‘I am aware of that. But it doesn’t alter the fact that I have no desire at all to be married.’
‘What
