him. ‘I shall send Melia down to you so that you may talk in private.’
‘Oh, no,’ he said quickly. ‘Pray send your servant to fetch her, ma’am. There is nothing I wish to say that you may not hear...’
‘We have an engagement for the theatre tomorrow evening,’ Paul told Adam when they met at the boxing club that afternoon. ‘Please keep the evening free, dear fellow. I want you to escort my ward, while I entertain her chaperon.’
‘Do you mean Lady Moira?’ Adam asked, reluctant, for he had not liked the lady Paul had chosen for the task when she called at the house.
‘Oh, no, that is all changed,’ Paul informed him in a blithe tone that made him arch his brows. ‘Lady March will be accompanying us. Melia is happy with her and there seems no point in taking her away from where she is settled. Besides, it was all arranged on the spur of the moment. I did ask Viscount Salisbury—Lady March’s brother—to accompany us, but he was engaged to play cards that evening.’
‘So you thought I would oblige?’ Adam gave him a clear look. ‘I suppose Miss Bellingham looks like a horse?’
Paul gave a shout of laughter. ‘I think her quite pretty. Of course she cannot hold a candle to Lady March... She is lovely, Adam. Truly lovely...’
‘Good grief, if I did not know better I would think you smitten,’ Adam said and his eyebrows rose higher as he saw the expression on Paul’s face. ‘Are you? Is she more beautiful than Annamarie?’
‘Completely different and utterly wonderful...’ Paul shook his head as he saw the astonishment in his friend’s eyes. ‘Yes, you may stare. Such a letter she wrote me! I thought she must be some old trout and went there prepared to put her down—but one look from those eyes and I was floored. I just stood there and couldn’t speak for some minutes. I have never experienced anything like it, my dear fellow. She took my breath away when she smiled.’
‘You have got it bad,’ Adam said drily, still hardly believing that he was hearing those words from Paul’s mouth. ‘In India you could have had any woman you wanted...including the daughter of an earl, but you barely spared any of them a look.’
‘Wait until you see her,’ Paul said. He grinned at his friend. ‘If you value your life, please do not fall in love with her. She’s mine...’
‘Prepared to fight to the death for her, are you?’ Adam teased, thinking he was merely jesting, and then caught his breath as he saw the answer in Paul’s face. ‘What is so special about Lady March?’
Paul stared at him for a full minute in silence and then shook his head. ‘I’m damned if I know, Adam. She is beautiful, but it isn’t that...the laughter in her eyes, perhaps, and yet it isn’t just that. To be honest, I have no idea why I feel this way; it just came out of the blue. I was angry, prepared to come the injured party and demand my rights, but then...it was just so sudden. One minute I wanted to strangle her, and the next it took me all my resolve not to take her in my arms and kiss her until she surrendered.’
‘I should not advise that you do any such thing,’ Adam warned. ‘I met her brother this morning at my club and he told me that Jane is still grieving for her husband. He has only been dead just over two years.’
‘Jane...her name is Jane? Sweet Jane, my love,’ Paul said and sighed. ‘Yes, I was told she was recently a widow but I didn’t realise...I thought her older. She is the woman for me. If she will not have me then I shall never marry.’
‘Nonsense,’ Adam chided. ‘You do not know her yet. Supposing she turns out to have a vicious temper and a sharp tongue?’
Paul looked rueful. ‘She may have, for all I know. She certainly wrote me a cool letter but perhaps I deserved it, for mine to her was curt and I was angry when I left the viscount’s house.’
‘Be careful, my friend. You do not know this lady yet. Take your time, for if you plunge straight in one of two things will happen...’ Paul looked enquiring and he smiled. ‘Either she is on the catch for a husband and she will take you for your money—or she truly loved her husband and will break your heart by turning you down instantly.’
‘I do not think there is a lack of money there,’ Paul said. ‘Nor do I think she is on the catch for a husband—but she would very likely turn me down flat. No, you are right, Adam. I must play a long game—but I could not help sharing my feelings with you. You are the only other person I care for in the world. Had I had you for a brother I should have counted myself fortunate.’
‘Speaking of brothers, have you heard from that lad—your stepbrother?’
‘Mark? No, I have not and I do not expect to. He must be at Harrow or Eton by now—and I heard that his mother had remarried to a rich man. I believe she thought my father wealthy and must have been disappointed when she discovered that he was far from it, and a gambler to boot. He would have spent all she had, I dare say, leaving her only with her widow’s settlement.’
‘You are not thinking of settling money on her, I hope?’
‘Certainly not,’ Paul said and his expression hardened. ‘She and her brat may go to the devil for all I care. She was already carrying her son when they married. I believe the affair had gone on for a while before my mother died of a broken heart.’
‘Well, I am glad of your decision,’ Adam said frankly. ‘You have one weakness—a soft heart for those in trouble. Do not let your family take advantage of you—and make certain this widow is what you think her before you offer marriage.’
‘I would go down on bended knee and beg her to marry me today if I thought she would say yes,’ Paul told him and smiled wryly. ‘Do not worry, my friend. I shall exercise all the caution you advise in other matters—but where Jane is concerned...’
Adam shook his head and gave up, grinning from ear to ear. ‘I never thought to hear those words from your lips, but if you feel that way, Paul, I can only wish you joy.’
‘Save your good wishes until she takes me,’ Paul said. ‘You will come to the theatre?’
‘Wild horses would not keep me away now,’ Adam replied with a twist of his mouth. ‘I am curious about Miss Bellingham—and even more interested in meeting Lady March...’
* * *
‘I wish you had not agreed to go to the theatre with that fellow,’ Will said to his sister that afternoon at tea. ‘I would not have minded if I could accompany you—but we hardly know him, and I do not trust him near Melia...’
‘I believe him to be a gentleman.’ Jane smiled and placed a gentle hand on his arm. ‘Do not concern yourself, dearest. Lord Frant has no interest in Melia other than as his ward. I think he found the whole business troublesome and was glad to leave her in my care once he understood that we were respectable. He is to settle five thousand on her, which is a decent sum. Not that you care one iota for a dowry, but others might.’
‘It does not matter what others think,’ Will said loftily. ‘Melia is already sure of her future...should she wish it.’
Jane looked at him intently. ‘Melia is very young, my
