An Unexpected Gentleman (3 page)

She heard the edge of amusement in his voice and could have cheerfully murdered him in that moment. At the very least, she would have liked to snatch the weapon back and take aim at his head. But ever the practical woman, she took the poker instead and slipped out the doors and into the garden.

Mr. Brice fell into step beside her. “There’s a rarely used door around the back of the house. It opens to a short hall and stairwell that will lead you back upstairs.”

“I know that.” Her sister, Isobel, had an insatiable curiosity. She’d explored every inch of the house on their first day and then given a detail accounting of the building that evening. Adelaide made a mental note to apologize for the lecture she’d delivered to Isobel on the perils of snooping.

“Why are you following me?” she demanded.

“What sort of gentleman would allow a lady to traverse a dark garden alone?”

“The gentlemanly sort.” Her eyes scanned the grounds for other guests, but their side of the garden was still and silent as a tomb. “Why on earth did you come into the room? You should have remained in the hall.”

“
I
should have? Why not you?”

“Because . . . You opened the door. I assumed—”

“That I opened it for you? There’s a fine bit of arrogance.”

She tried to remember if he had motioned her inside the room or not and was forced to admit he hadn’t. “Nevertheless, you should have remained outside once I had gone in.”

“You were not the only person hoping to avoid a particular guest,” he reminded her.

How was it she could be walking in a dark garden while carrying a fire poker and fearing for her future—all because of the man beside her—and still feel as if she needed to apologize for the circumstances?

She was not apologizing. Probably. She would reconsider the matter when she was safely back inside. For now, she needed to concentrate on the best route through the garden.

The single path before her split into three. The one to the right went to the front of the house. The path to the left led to the back, but it wound about the flower beds close to the house. It was visible to anyone who happened to look outside. The path in the center led deeper into the garden where they would be shielded from view by a hedgerow. She could make her way to the back of the house from that path, but she hesitated at the thought of going further into the darkness with a near stranger for company.

“If I wanted to hurt you,” Mr. Brice said conversationally, apparently aware of her line of thought, “I’d not have troubled to introduce myself first. Nor suggested a better choice of weapon.”

Adelaide had to admit that he made a sound point. But, all the same, she readjusted her grip on the poker before setting off down the middle path.

T
he trip through the garden began in silence. Adelaide steered them past sweetly scented flower beds and shrubs, a pretty stone fountain, and a small reflection pool that sparkled in the light of a full moon. The warm air was cooled by a soft breeze, and the occasional hum of music could be heard in the distance.

When they passed under a long arbor thick with climbing roses without incident, Adelaide let out a quiet breath and loosened her hold on the poker. If Mr. Brice was interested in assault, he could not have chosen a better spot than what essentially amounted to a long, dark tunnel. Evidently, he wasn’t interested.

“May I speak now without sending you into a faint?” Mr. Brice inquired.

He’d been so quiet until now that the sudden intrusion of his voice sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness of the garden. She started a little and wished she hadn’t.

“I’d not have fainted.” She might well have swung the poker at him if he’d startled her before the arbor, but she wouldn’t have fainted.

Flicking a glance at him, she saw he was striding along beside her with his hands behind his back, his long legs taking one step for her every two. He turned his head, caught her eye, and smiled amiably, looking for all the world as if they were out having a perfectly innocent, perfectly harmless evening stroll.

“You’re being very cavalier about this,” she muttered.

“I’m remaining calm,” he corrected. “Would you prefer I panic?”

“No.”

“Would you like me to distract you from your panic?”

“I am not panicking.” Not yet, she added silently. If they didn’t reach the end of the path soon, that might very well change.

“I’ll distract you for my own amusement, then. Do you suppose there are more of us?”

“Us?”

“Refugees from the ball. People hiding amongst the roses and hyacinths.”

They weren’t taking refuge so much as they were trapped, but the image of guests scattered about the garden peeking out from behind the plants brought a reluctant smile.

“Hyacinths grow no higher than twelve to fourteen inches,” she informed him. “And they’re not in bloom.”

“I imagine a few of the guests fancy themselves dainty enough. Sir Robert amongst them.” He smiled at her scowl. “Twelve to fourteen inches. You’ve some interest in horticulture.”

“Two insults in under a quarter hour. You’ve some interest in Sir Robert.”

“Indeed, I do.”

He didn’t comment further, and she didn’t ask him to explain. Mr. Brice’s opinion of her suitor didn’t concern her at present. Her primary focus was to find the safest, most expedient way through the garden and back to the house.

The path widened into a graveled clearing featuring several small iron benches with elaborate scrollwork. She rushed through the opening, eager to get to the other side where the end of the hedgerow marked the boundary of the garden. Once she rounded the corner, it would be but another forty or fifty yards of clear lawn to the house.

She stepped out from the small courtyard, careful to stay in the deep shadow of the hedges, and had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the open lawn and the house before Mr. Brice grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“We’ve an obstacle.”

He jerked his chin toward the house, and when she peeked around the bushes again, she saw the door she’d been hoping to use, and a heavyset man sitting on a bench not six feet away. Her premature relief died a swift and painful death.

“Oh, no.” Oh,
damn
. She glared at the back of the man’s head. They didn’t have an obstacle. Obstacles could be gotten over or around with a bit of maneuvering. What they had was a blockade.

“Can he hear us?” she whispered.

“Not unless we shout.”

That was something, anyway.

“Right.” She worried her lip with her teeth. “Well . . . There are other doors. Other rooms.”

“All leading to the main hall, the kitchen, or the servants’ quarters,” Mr. Brice reminded her. “You’ve a far better chance of returning undetected if you use that door.”

“Not at present.” She went back to biting her lip. “Perhaps . . . Go up there and . . . and ask to be shown to . . .” She had no idea to where a gentleman might wish to be shown. “To somewhere. The library.”

A short pause. “Everyone knows where the library is.”

“Then ask for something else. Just make him go away.”

He leaned to look around the bushes. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because that”—he pointed toward the door and the man—“is Mr. Birch. He has known me for fifteen years and not believed a word to come out of my mouth for the last fourteen and a half. If I try to lead him into the house, he’ll march straight for the garden.”

She took a long, slow, deep breath through her nose and held it. She would not panic, nor would she shout at Mr. Brice, because neither response would bring her any closer to a solution.

He gave her a sheepish smile designed to charm. “Shall I apologize for a misspent youth?”

Rather than answer—and risk the temptation of punctuating her answer with the fire poker—she began to pace, a habit that always helped focus her thoughts and settle her nerves.

“He must be made to move. My absence will be noticed. A maid will be sent to my chambers. My sister will tell them I left—”

“It’s a masquerade, Miss Ward.” Mr. Brice settled his tall frame on one of the benches. “No one will know you’re not amongst the guests.”

“Sir Robert will know. You said he was waiting for me.”

“He was. And now he probably isn’t.” He shrugged, looking very much at ease with the situation. The blighter. “The man has a remarkably short span of attention.”

“You should go back inside, through the study, and—”

“I’ll not leave you in the garden alone.” He leaned against the back of the bench and stretched his legs out before him. “What if you should run across Sir Robert in the dark?”

“This is not a jest,” she snapped. “Go
back
and—”

He held a hand up, cutting her off. “That last was a bid to make you smile, I admit, but I meant the first. This is a masquerade, Miss Ward. The house is crawling with revelers, gentlemen emboldened by an excess of drink and the anonymity afforded by their masks.”

Again, he had a point. She’d never attended a masquerade before, but she’d heard her share of stories. Masquerade balls could be quite wild in nature. Several of the younger ladies at the house party had been denied participation by their chaperones.

Evidently, Mr. Brice was—in a roundabout and rather ineffectual way—attempting to be a gentleman. It was only fair she acknowledge his efforts.

“I appreciate your concern,” she said at length. “And I apologize for being short with you.”

To prove her sincerity, she propped the fire poker against the hedge and stepped away . . . But not too far away. She was apologetic, not stupid.

Mr. Brice nodded. “A very nice show of faith.”

Pleased he thought so, she resumed her pacing, taking care to not walk too far from the poker.

There had to be another way to sneak into the house. There had to be a way to make the man move. There had to be a way to make Mr. Brice stop staring at her so she could
think
of a way to make the man move.

Nothing about the way Mr. Brice was watching her was overtly threatening. But everything about it was distracting. He was so very . . . present. His large frame looked out of place amongst the feminine benches and moonlit blooms. And yet he appeared perfectly at ease, perfectly content to sit still and silent and follow her every movement with those piercing green eyes.

She tried to put him out of her mind, but her body stubbornly refused to cooperate. Her pulse raced, and her skin grew over-warm under the silk of her gown. She gave brief consideration to walking a bit further into the garden so she could pace in solitude, before deciding he would only follow.

“May I make a suggestion?” He gestured to one of the benches across from him. “Have a seat. Settle your nerves. Our obstacle will bore of the night air soon enough. Another quarter hour at most. You’ll be free to return to the ballroom, and Sir Robert will be none the wiser for your little adventure.”

She shook her head. She couldn’t sit still when she was anxious.

“Then again,” he continued, “he might be a little wiser if you return looking as if you walked a half mile down the road.”

“What?”

“Bit of breeze tonight,” he said and pointed to her mask. “And you’re kicking up a fair amount of dust.”

She stopped and looked at her mask and her gown. The former was rapidly disintegrating into an unrecognizable mess of feathers and ribbons, and the latter was covered in a fine powder of dust.

“Oh, no,” she whispered. Her heart sank. The gown could be shook or brushed out, but she’d never be able to repair the mask. And without a mask, she couldn’t attend the ball. Without the ball, there would be no offer from Sir Robert. How had things gone so wrong so quickly?

Her voice shook. “What am I going to do?”

“You are going to sit,” Mr. Brice told her gently. “And you are going to listen to reason.”

If he had snapped at her, or ordered her to comply, she might have found the strength in anger to argue. But his soft tone drained the last of her fight. She nodded, but she didn’t move her feet. She felt deflated, lost, and uncertain of herself.

Mr. Brice rose from his bench and walked to her. He slipped a finger under her chin and nudged until she looked up, meeting his eyes. There was kindness and warmth there, and the spark of something else, something she thought prudent to leave alone.

“I’ll see you through this, Miss Ward.” His rubbed his thumb lightly along her jaw. “Trust me.”

She didn’t trust him. She had no reason to believe him. And yet, as improbable as it seemed, she took comfort from his touch, reassurance from his words. When he took her by the elbow and led her to sit next to him on the bench, she followed without protest.

“You’ve not disappeared from the ball.” He spoke over her head. She could feel his breath against her hair. “You simply haven’t arrived yet. You’ll concede there is a difference.”