A Momentary Marriage(19)

“You can see where Dem’s heart is,” James commented.

“The kitchen? I’ve noticed.”

James offered her his arm. “Come. We might as well get this over with.”

“Hah. Don’t pretend you’re reluctant.” Laura took his arm. “You’re looking forward to tossing the cat amongst the pigeons.”

“But of course.” He led her across the marble-floored hall and into the hallway opposite. A pair of doors stood open, revealing the people inside. “Good God,” James murmured. “Patricia and Archie have decided to plague us with their presence.”

One young man turned toward the door and saw them walk into the room. “James!”

Just as everyone turned to follow his gaze, Laura felt James’s arm jerk, and his hand began to spasm. He let out a low curse. Laura clasped his hand and pulled it down to her side, while at the same time moving closer so that the folds of her skirt concealed their interlaced fingers. James glanced at her sharply.

“Mother. Everyone.” He sketched a bow. “I hope you will pardon our unannounced arrival. I was eager to introduce you to my bride.”





chapter 7


The room quivered with silence. James turned fractionally aside, releasing Laura’s hand and placing his trembling arm behind his waist in a formal pose.

“My dear, allow me to introduce you. My mother, whom I believe you already know. My brother Claude, his lovely wife, Adelaide . . .” He went on, listing all the names he had told her about in the carriage, though he stopped on the last person, raising his brows in a look that hovered between inquiry and disdain. “And Mr. . . .”

“Netherly, sir.” The man bowed. He was elegantly dressed and his manner polished. His hair was dark, with a dramatic sweep of silver at the temple. “No doubt you don’t remember me, but I have been privileged to call upon your mother in London.”

“Ah, yes, of course. Mr. Netherly.” James inclined his head graciously. Laura was uncertain whether James’s inability to remember the man’s name was an indication of failing memory or a lack of regard. With James, it could be either.

The usually voluble Tessa was for once too shocked to speak. Her face had paled at their entrance, and something almost like fear shone in her eyes. Claude, too, had gone bone white at his brother’s introduction of Laura, but it was anger she saw flash across his face immediately after. Apparently James had drawn the reaction he desired from him.

The young man who had spotted them (his brother Walter, if Laura had the names right) stepped forward. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” He smiled shyly at Laura. Moving past her to James, his smile grew more frozen. “Congratulations, James.”

“Walter.” James nodded pleasantly enough in acceptance of the man’s greeting, though he added drily, “Sent down again, eh?”

“Well, uh . . .” The young man blushed. “Yes.”

“I’m glad you are here,” Laura told Walter, smiling and offering him her hand. “Else I wouldn’t have met you.”

“Oh. Well, um, thank you.”

As Walter stepped back, James leaned in and murmured, “Already a conquest, I see.”

Laura sent him a repressive look and went forward to make her curtsey to his mother. Tessa had recovered her composure, and she rose to kiss Laura’s cheek.

“What a lovely surprise. Laura, my dear—I hope I may call you that, given our long acquaintance—it is a pleasure to welcome you to the family. We must sit down and have a tête-à-tête. I want to know all the details.”

“I look forward to it, Lady de Vere.”

“Oh, no, you must call me Tessa. Lady de Vere sounds so old, don’t you think?”

“I’m sure no one would ever regard you as old,” Laura responded gracefully.

Tessa beamed at her, then swung away, wagging a playful finger at her son. “James! You are wicked not to give me even the slightest hint. Here we are without any preparations made.” She smiled prettily up at him and patted his cheek.

“No doubt Simpson is adequate to the task.”

“Naturally. Still, I’m sure your new bride would have liked to take a rest before being rushed into supper with her brand-new kin.”

“I think you’ll find Laura is made of sterner stuff,” James told her, and the smile he gave his mother was the warmest expression Laura had yet seen on his face. Apparently he was capable of affection, despite his razor-edged comments about his family.

“I confess that a meal sounds excellent to me,” Laura said. “If I could just wash away the dust of the road . . .”